Uranus Sextile Neptune: New Ideas and Ideals on the Same Line

With Uranus and Neptune two signs apart, innovative thinking and inner ideals lend each other a hand, and most people born in the late sixties carry this aspect. This page starts from what Uranus governs (breakthrough, change and independence) and what Neptune governs (ideals, imagination and dissolving boundaries), then looks at how the sextile makes the two interact, how it tends to show up in everyday life, its strengths and blind spots, and some advice for it.

Uranus Sextile Neptune at a glance

Percentages are our own calculation from 8,401 charts of people born in Taipei between 1960 and 2005 with random birth times, using the same orbs as our chart calculator.

The core meaning of Uranus Sextile Neptune

Uranus stands for the power to break with custom and bring in new methods. Neptune stands for dreams, inspiration, and a longing for something larger. The sextile sets these two slow planets in compatible positions, where the urge for change and the picture of an ideal can back each other up and neither overrides the other. The aspect belongs to people born in the late sixties, and children born in the late twenty-twenties will have it too. It is a placement an entire generation shares and speaks of the mood of those years; individual differences have to be read separately.

A sextile offers an opportunity, and it only counts when someone uses it. The late sixties were a time when new currents of thought were springing up and music, art, and social attitudes were all loosening. This generation absorbed that nourishment growing up and later had the ability to turn ideals into workable new methods. Next to the seamless blend of the conjunction generation, they see more clearly which part is the ideal and which is the means; next to the square generation, they have one less layer of inner strain. Only when the aspect touches your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant does it become a talent you can personally draw on.

How it feels inside

Inwardly, this generation is usually not opposed to change and also not made anxious by a need for it. You are curious about new ideas and keep a touch of romance, a belief that things can get better. Mostly this attitude sits quietly at the bottom of the heart and is not much advertised. If one of the two planets aspects your Sun or Moon, you will more often feel inspiration and the thought of a breakthrough arriving together: you hear a song or watch a film and suddenly see how you want to adjust your life next.

In love and relationships

In love and friendship, most of this generation lived through the shift from traditional to open. The ideas you took in when young leaned conservative; later society changed and you were willing to adjust with it, and you are often more tolerant of the different choices of your children or juniors than your own parents were. On a personal level, if the aspect involves Venus or the Moon, you can accept each partner keeping some space and you enjoy talking with your partner about ideas. Where you need to take the initiative is in saying this openness out loud so the other person knows it.

At work and in getting things done

At work, this generation was often the group that brought new tools into old organizations. You started out with traditional methods, met computers and the internet partway through, and many of you made the turn by learning, becoming a bridge between two ways of working. If the sextile connects to your Sun, Ascendant, or Midheaven, you have a good nose for trends and suit work that joins creativity to technology. This ability will not switch itself on. It becomes useful when you go out and learn new things and try working across fields.

Strengths

• Still able to learn: You stay curious about new tools and ideas and are willing to learn again as you get older, so the changing times do not easily leave you behind.
• Ideals with a method: You know what you want things to look like and will look for practical ways to get closer, so the distance from idea to execution is short.
• A natural go-between: You understand the old way and accept the new one, and between generations or departments you can often put things so both sides understand.

Blind spots

• Gone if left alone: The help this aspect offers has to be claimed. Once life gets busy you fall back on old methods, and when inspiration comes you do not follow up.
• Change that stops short: You are used to gentle adjustment. When bold action is needed you hold too much back, and old and new end up mixed with neither done properly.
• Ideals kept too quiet: You rarely state what you long for, so the people around you cannot easily tell what you care about, and you miss chances to be supported.

Advice for Uranus Sextile Neptune

This sextile is a generational undertone, so first check whether it connects to the Sun, Moon, or Ascendant in your chart. Either way, you can use it to practice one thing: every so often pick a new tool or field you have never touched, spend a few weekends playing with it in earnest, and then ask whether it could serve something you care about. The benefit of this aspect shows itself gradually through experiments like these.

What to keep in mind when reading this aspect

1. The tighter the orb, the more it matters. In our calculations, only 13.6% of all major aspects are within 1° of exact, and 41.2% are within 3°. If your Uranus sextile Neptune is tight, the traits on this page will be more noticeable; if it is close to the 5° limit, they will be much fainter.

2. Applying and separating. An aspect is applying when the two planets are moving toward the exact angle and separating once they have passed it. Tradition holds that an applying aspect is still taking shape and acts more strongly. Our chart calculator marks which one you have.

3. Watch for out-of-sign aspects. Two planets in sextile are usually two signs apart, in compatible elements (fire with air, earth with water), but an aspect is measured by actual distance. In our calculations, 9.5% of sextiles do not match the usual sign relationship (one planet late in a sign, the other early in another). The nature of the aspect is still there; it just shows up in a less typical way.

4. This aspect is shared by a whole group of people. Uranus and Neptune both move slowly, so everyone born around the same time has Uranus sextile Neptune; it describes the common backdrop of that period. How strongly it shows in you depends on which houses the two planets occupy (see Planets in the Houses) and whether they aspect your Sun, Moon or Ascendant.

5. Then look at each planet’s own placement. The signs Uranus and Neptune are in decide how each one expresses itself; see Planets in the Signs. If either planet has other aspects, read them together. For a complete reading, use the In-Depth Chart Reading.

Other aspects between Uranus and Neptune

Conjunction · Sextile · Square · Trine · Opposition (none in modern times)

The sextile with other planets

Uranus: Sun sextile Uranus, Moon sextile Uranus, Mercury sextile Uranus, Venus sextile Uranus, Mars sextile Uranus, Jupiter sextile Uranus, Saturn sextile Uranus, Uranus sextile Pluto.

Neptune: Sun sextile Neptune, Moon sextile Neptune, Mercury sextile Neptune, Venus sextile Neptune, Mars sextile Neptune, Jupiter sextile Neptune, Saturn sextile Neptune, Neptune sextile Pluto.

All Uranus aspects · All Neptune aspects · Planet aspects overview