These are global energies of Neptune in Cancer or in the 4th House which must be nuanced according to your birth chart, see the article Neptune in birth chart; see also the article on the general interpretation of Neptune.
The planet Neptune is one of the attributes of the Anima in the chart, as such it can indicate a projection of this one, especially intellectual Projections on “social entities” (political party, club, syndicate, nation, church, etc), everything that concerns more directly mysticism, and a notion of universality, or even a form of artistic sensibility…
It can at the same time lead to dreaming, to naivety, to the fantasy of reality, to drugs… as it can also be the driver of self-denial and of the most beautiful and deep feelings possible, an opening on the monad and on a “christic” aspect of existence (forgiveness, love and faith in God, redemption of sins, humanism, respect of the fellow, values of peace, justice and harmony).
Values that are too earthly and materialistic constitute a powerful antagonism to this planet.
As Neptune remains in each sign for about 14 years, its position in houses is more meaningful for personality. The energy of the sign gives above all a basic elemental coloring, common to a whole generation, which will apply more personally to the sector of life signified by the house. Therefore, focus first on the house affected, the sign giving a background tone.
Psychological depth, but instability
This planet is very comfortable here in the element of Water, under the Moon’s rulership, where it gains a truly significant amount of depth psychologically speaking, as well as a strong connection with the personal unconscious, a powerful link with the collective unconscious, and unfortunately as a result a heightened risk of excess or a downward spiral.
At the same time, having access to these forms of this planet’s expression is not always easy or spontaneous, and it is not rare for the planet to at first create a large amount of emotional confusion, which may be directly linked to these people’s roots, their legacy, their family’s past, or their childhood. As a result, in some cases we find people with this planetary positioning who have been exiled (or moved many times), whose connection to their maternal archetype is relatively complicated, or who subscribe to ideologies that tend not to be limited in any way (such as those with totalitarian tendencies).
These energies are very all-encompassing, inclusive, and “universalizing,” so there is a reason why we often directly link these energies not only to religions and sectarianism, for example, but also to political systems that are similar to communism.
The notion of “family” often verges on a global connection to humanity, a community, a union, a party, or various other figures or structures that take on the role of a surrogate “great universal mother,” and individuality may fade away behind the will of the group.
This planetary position is not helpful for structuring the ego, since instead this planet’s energy here gives it more instability and volatility. At the same time though, it is more adaptable, and it is not rare for these people to have several “personas,” in the Jungian sense of having multiple social masks.
Achieving emotional maturity may be an important goal for these people to set, but it is not easy, since this planet may imply that a there are a large number of things that are buried in these people’s unconscious, or these people may have such a tendency to “flee” from real life to some “fantastic world” that they have a lot of trouble differentiating between dreams, fantasies, or idealizations and reality.
Even more so than with this planet in other positions, externalizing the emotional energies of Neptune in this position may be truly vital. We can do this directly through various artistic disciplines, music, our imagination, meditation, Yoga, and of course contact with Water, whether it be real (an ocean, river, or lake) or symbolic (emotions, our mother), as this element plays an important role here.
For that matter, it may also be in these people’s best interest to work on getting touch with their ancestors in various ways, from simply putting together a family tree to attempting different “rebirthing” techniques (breathing strategies that lead to altered states of consciousness which allow people to get in touch with their “past lives;” see “rebirthing breathwork”, which also warns against using these techniques): these sorts of things. It is important for these people to try to rediscover some of the “deep fundamentals” of their incarnation.
Neptune in the 4th House / Cancer can also simply lead to people having an “iconoclastic” family, in which many patriarchal patterns are called into question, so the parents may be very “progressive” and may try to be “friends” with their children and not impose too many rules on them (so these children may become all-powerful in a way), and as a result their children have to figure out their own rules to follow, etc.
On the other hand, one of the parents may simply be a doctor, clergyman, or artist.
Unfortunately, it is likely that at some point in the early years of these people’s lives, during their childhood, this planet will express itself, and it may have indirect effects on parental archetypes, for example leading to a parent who is absent, either literally or symbolically, and who needs to get distance from the child. As a result, no matter what, the parent’s emotional connection with this child may be rather “nebulous,” though this would not prevent affective dependence on this parent.
There is a good chance that family instability will tend to be repeated once these people reach adulthood and create a family; in some cases, this may be caused by psychological disorders or problems related to drugs, alcohol, or “psychological passiveness” (for various reasons), all of which are things that this planet directly represents.
It may also be a symbol of an important family secret, one that was probably hidden from the person with this planetary positioning early in life and is likely to be revealed if the planet is activated in this sector (through Progressions or Transits). As a result, it may then require a significant amount of work on acceptance and “forgiveness.”
Since this sector symbolically represents the home, Neptune may also represent problems with fraud or abuse that are linked to the household (it is important to be wary of wanting to carry the cross of the entire world on your back) or even literally a heightened danger of flooding or other problems that the family might have related to Water.
More so than when this planet is in other positions, refining the interpretation of this planetary position depends very much on the overall context and the various aspects that this planet may form or receive, especially if they involve personal planets, and of course if the Moon or the Sun is involved (the other planets represent more generational aspects).
Neptune retrograde in the 4th house and Cancer
This planet’s Retrograde motion here tends to add a dose of Earth, which can be helpful for channeling and structuring these aquatic energies, but it also tends to make people more introverted, and thus externalizing things becomes more difficult.
Retrograde motion of Neptune in one’s birth chart is less important than for other dominant features in the chart, since, as it’s a slow, transpersonal planet, it’s retrograde just over five months out of the year.
Nevertheless, it’s useful to monitor the evolution of this retrograde motion through Progressions; a change of state here will not necessarily lead to a specific noteworthy event, but it may indicate a non-negligeable psychological change in how this planet’s energies are used.
Celebrities with Neptune in 4th House
Bill Gates, Sigmund Freud, Joseph Stalin, Lenin, Johnny Depp, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steven Spielberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Charles Baudelaire, Marilyn Manson, Robert De Niro, John Travolta, Coco Chanel, Frédéric Chopin, Hugo Chávez, Neil Armstrong, Al Capone, Aristotle Onassis…
Celebrities with Neptune in Cancer
Mother Teresa, Goethe, Orson Welles, George Orwell, Salvador Dalí, Frida Kahlo, Walt Disney, Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, Howard Hughes, Jean Paul Sartre, Marquis de Sade, Eugène Ionesco, Jacques Yves Cousteau, Antoine Lavoisier, Aristotle Onassis, Louis Armstrong, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, Bonnie Parker…