All but 2.7% of the GQs in this database include the Moon. All but 2.7% include at least one of the outer planets. Luna is essential because she moves so quickly. The three transpersonals are essential because they move so slowly. One would think this generalization should apply to all three of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, since any one of them is equipped by its distance from Earth to anchor the pattern around a handful of zodiac degrees.
So why is Neptune's representation in GQs (40.6%) nearly 10% lower than that of Jupiter, the next highest member? Why is it in fourth lowest place after the Sun, Mercury and Venus? Shouldn't it be closer to Pluto (57%) and Uranus (62%) in the sample? And perhaps even more significantly, why is it so dramatically under-represented in Scorpio just where, according to the lunar cycle control group, its presence should be on the rise? Witness the following saw-tooth pattern:
Once the cycles of planetary motion have been translated into statistics, it is fairly straightforward to follow the interplay of planets through signs by which these aspect patterns take shape. For me, the low incidence of Neptune, and especially its dramatic drop in Gemini/Cancer and Scorpio, is the sole mystery that has remained impervious to common sense observation. I am less concerned about its slump in Gemini than in Scorpio. Neptune is in Gemini or Cancer at the time of a healthy number of GQs but happens not to make quintile orb. In a sample as low as 61, this could be coincidental. Scorpio is entirely different.
Neptune is only in Scorpio during 3 of the 150 GQs and makes the point of a pentagram just once. I have checked the late degrees of Libra and the early degrees of Sagittarius to see if a degree here or there might shift the balance but it does not. There is a process going on here that appears to be more than chance.
It may be worth noting that Neptune does not make much of a "statement" in zodiacal terms. After the Moon, Sun and Venus, it has the least elliptical orbit, with a standard deviation of only 0.3 in the 2,500-year lunar cycle control group. This means that there is no sign where it noticeably "reaches out" to the other planets to participate in GQs (as Mars, for example, does in Leo, or Pluto in Aries). There is, however, some variance in its length of stay per sign and, interestingly, Scorpio is one of the signs in which it passes the most time. Clearly orbital eccentricity is not a major factor in this scenario.
I suspect that this conundrum may have something to do with the 492 year Neptune/Pluto synodic cycle. If Pluto is such a dominant member in GQs, why not Neptune? The GQs containing both these planets are listed below, detailing the dates of entry into quintile and bi-quintile formation between them, and including Uranus' placement as a matter of interest. Highlighting indicates membership in the actual GQ.
All of these GQs take place when Pluto is in one of the signs in which it spends the most time. It is logical to assume that this must be a decisive factor, implying that Neptune is falling in with Pluto rather than the other way around. I proceeded to check the sign placements of all quintiles and bi-quintiles between the two planets over the 2,500 years regardless of whether GQs actually formed or not:
Over this timeframe, there are no quintiles or bi-quintiles between Neptune and Pluto when Neptune is in Cancer or Leo or when Pluto is in Leo through Sagittarius. Since 2,500 years is long enough for five Neptune/Pluto synodic cycles, this is not because the planets have had insufficient time to rotate through the zodiac. A Great Year might well reveal a clearer pattern.
Regardless of the sign issue, Neptune's low participation overall may be a question of velocity and rhythm. We have seen that Mars dominates in these configurations because its speed is neither too fast nor too slow in relation to the other planets. Maybe Neptune is both too fast and too slow. Although Pluto takes much longer to traverse the zodiac, its idiosyncratic orbit must somehow bring it into fifth harmonic attunement with Uranus in a way that Neptune's even pace does not.
In any case, Neptune's elusive behaviour in this study fits right in with its astrological symbolism. Perhaps in the coming decades when space probes arrive at the great planet, there will be something physically deceptive or inscrutable found in its nature. That would be ideal from the viewpoint of this sort of "big screen" astrology!
Return to the welcome page.