Mars-Neptune Quintile

(Transit Mars → Natal Neptune)

Avesalom Podvodnyi. Aspects

Mars quintile: Manifest life force stands in inverse relation to its evolutionary level. At a low level and with afflicted Mars, this aspect (especially with Mars in the eighth house) may produce sadistic pleasure from the suffering of a living being parting with life; but these are extreme cases, and usually the Mars quintile still somewhat softens its aggression, making the individual actively interested in specific forms of vital expression within the planet’s spheres, and inclined to energetically overcome backward external and internal states in these areas. A prominent quintile of Mars to the Moon or Sun may generate a constant interest in biology; if Mars or the planet is in the sixth or twelfth house, activity in animal protection is possible. Affliction to the quintile brings clumsy personal expressions of vitality and external blows against it; lack of processing leads to pathological complexes. For example, the Mars-Saturn quintile gives a person at a medium development level a sense of inability to harm any living being, along with personal vulnerability to external aggression—yet significantly less than the person perceives, and far less than, for instance, with a Mars-Saturn square. The quintile is still a harmonious aspect, and if not strongly afflicted, it provides a certain protection to the individual, at least when they feel and act as a defender of life. At a low level, this aspect inclines toward a primitive understanding of life manifestations, primarily as food-gathering and sexual instincts; at a high level, the ability emerges to subtly support vital expressions and deeply penetrate difficult, backward forms. Neptune quintile: The River of Life, flowing into the ocean of Universal Love, originates in the swamp of Compassion. This aspect imparts vitality through meditation, and at a high level—true understanding of the planetary principle of life and all its manifestations. At a low level, especially with an afflicted quintile, the individual will be interested and active mainly in parasitic forms of life connected with deception, false positions, and secret use of others’ life force within the planet’s spheres. When Neptune is afflicted, the person may be drawn to the lowest forms of life among all those manifesting in this backward form, and will then defend them to the detriment of others; here, processing occurs primarily in the inner world, and sometimes the individual must descend to the very bottom of the corresponding puddle in order to renounce the pleasures of dirty life (which they oppose to pure non-life), although occasionally half its depth suffices: the key is only not to close one’s eyes to what is actually happening. A characteristic unconscious sense of guilt before life in the planet’s spheres arises, which the person attempts to suppress or clumsily compensate. Affliction of the planet with harmonious Neptune produces the rose-colored glasses effect: the person is happily receptive to any manifestations of life in the planet’s spheres, yet finds it difficult to distinguish low from high, or to discern their combinations, thus risking unpleasant situations by attempting to protect what should not be protected, from whom it should not be protected. A harmonious quintile brings mystical fascination with the life of the planetary principle, combined with a certain passivity and inclination to parasitize upon it; at a high level—ability to detect life under incredible conditions and assist its development.