Neptune in Aries and Cultural Eras
I was analyzing the history of European culture through Neptune in Aries (and I also included Neptune in Scorpio as part of the picture), and here’s what came out of it.
Neptune in Aries occurred in the following past periods (in parentheses are the corresponding Neptune in Scorpio periods, which happen about 70 years earlier), along with the beginnings of the cultural eras that these positions seem to have triggered:
- 1861–1875 — Impressionism, new art (1791–1805 — French Revolution)
- 1697–1711 — The Enlightenment (1628–1642 — Scientific Revolution)
- 1534–1548 — Mannerism (1464–1478 — Printing Revolution)
- 1370–1384 — The Renaissance (1300–1314 — Humanist Revolution)
I didn’t look further back — maybe I should have — but cultural phenomena tend to spread out over time, and I suspect it would have been harder to see anything concentrated.
I know there will be objections about the exact boundaries of cultural periods. There’s also another complication: Neptune in Scorpio prepares the new era that fully arrives with Neptune in Aries, which means many elements of the coming era already appear in the interval between Scorpio and Aries.
Still, I think this kind of periodization looks interesting, because it really does line up with important turning points in Western culture. If anyone’s curious, I can go into more detail about my reasoning and why these particular eras and periods matter. I could also try to imagine what the next new era might be.
Upd: Neptune in Aries is only the beginning of an era, and the era itself lasts until the next Neptune in Aries, that is, 165 years. The Renaissance, the Mannerism/Baroque, the Enlightenment, and Modern Art—these are all long eras.