This webinar explores the experience of Neptune aspects and transits through the lens of Homer’s masterwork, The Odyssey, the tale of Odysseus’s 10-year-long journey home to Ithaca from Troy – a trip that he thought would take only a few short weeks – due to the influence of Poseidon/Neptune. Odysseus was not a hero in the usual sense, and as anyone who has lived with a strong natal Neptune or Neptune transit knows, this is not a god who is interested in human heroism or valor. Repeatedly described as “he who was born for pain”, Odysseus is shipwrecked and beached again and again, onto island after island full of strange and otherworldly creatures. Instead of force and will, he must embrace strategies of indirection: surrender, disguise, shapeshifting, loss, altered states of consciousness, and multiple forms of the archetypal feminine along his journey home to Ithaca.
We explore several of the key chapters of Odysseus’s journey to deepen our understanding of Neptune aspects and transits – his famed encounters with the Sirens, the monsters Scylla and Charybdis, the sorceress Circe, the goddess Calypso, and some other less well-known experiences. We work with in-depth and nuanced psychological interpretations of these stories, and explore through case studies how these myths have played out in the lives of individuals during the course of long-term psychotherapy, where these themes were actively engaged and worked with. We also explore how the stories of the Odyssey can provide a deeper felt sense of Neptune’s aspects and transits in your own chart. We’ll especially consider the Mercurial nature of Odysseus – wily, tricky, and clever – and his chief advocate amongst the gods, Athena, to see how both Mercury and Pallas can act as something of a counterpoint to Neptune, offering ways to mutably adapt to the ups and downs of the seas.
This video is taken from a live online webinar given for the Mercury Internet School of Psychological Astrology (MISPA) by Jason Holley in 2020. Duration: 2 hours 26 minutes