Neptune in 1st House
Those with Neptune in the 1st house often feel lost and confused around their identity. Neptunian’s are not always clear about what they want in life. The lines become blurred when the individual attempts to establish a solid and grounded sense of self-definition. The Ascendant is our place of birth; it is the house of identity, approach to life and personal outlook.
With Neptune in this position, there may be a dreamy, sensitive, other-worldly, mysterious and far-away quality in their appearance. Neptune in astrology often mirrors the needs of others unconsciously, rather like slipping in and out of different characters. The trait was particularly evident in Marilyn Monroe’s personality. The Hollywood pin-up, actress and singer had Neptune rising.
Thousands, even millions of American men projected their internal feminine onto Marilyn Monroe. Projections without personal contact can damage the person receiving them. We have to say that Marilyn Monroe called for these projections as a part of her power and longing, and her disturbance must have gone back to victimization in childhood.
In Bly’s view such projections can be dangerous. Nonetheless, Marilyn had the gift of pleasing others and ability to mirror others emotional needs whilst fulfilling untold fantasies. With Neptune here the individual may be a channel for the expression of ideals, longings and dreams. Neptune in the 1st house represents a mutable, feminine, watery planet and is both sensitive and impressionable, but others may play on this vulnerable exterior.
This person is also uniquely gifted in picking up the emotional tone in the atmosphere and responding sensitively. Neptune acts like an emotional sponge and tends to pick up the qualities of the atmosphere and feeling tone, representing the chameleon and changeable side of the planet.
The Ascendant will often describe one’s birth and the circumstances surrounding it. This can even stretch into early childhood events. The experience of physical birth may be felt by the person with a 1st house Neptune as a process in which he or she has no volition or choice. It is the mother’s will, or perhaps that of the doctor or midwife, but not one’s own; and the archetypal Martial component of struggle, inherent in the birth process, is often curiously absent.
I have seen this placement in the charts of many people whose mothers were drugged into unconsciousness during the birth process, and both mother and infant share in the topor and lassitude which results. The whole experience takes place, as it were, under the water. Later in life the individual tends to deal with external reality with the same lassitude and passivity.
Life possesses a strange unreality when viewed through a cloudy and emotional lens. Neptune in the 1st house lies directly opposite the house of one-to-one relationships, both public and personal (7th). Relationships are sometimes comprised of the victim/saviour dilemma, and with Neptune’s addictive propensities, it can lead an individual to be dangerously needy of others and emotionally manipulative. The fear of separateness can dominate and the need to fuse with others can be just as powerful.
However, Neptune here may also indicate a highly compassionate nature and someone who looks to others for an emotional connection. This person may be attracted to healing and counselling roles that suit their capacity for empathy, sympathy and ability to enter into another’s feelings. Neptune has weak boundaries and merges with the immediate environment.
Imaginative, artistic, psychic or even musical, those with Neptune placed here can happily drift into different spheres of creative expression. Neptune also rules escapism and so some may be drawn to drugs and alcohol as a way to escape the challenge of life. On this path, the individual will take the line of least resistance and has a tendency to drift. The Asc rules the physical body and so there is sometimes tiredness and general lethargy and confusing illnesses. Above all, the sensitive qualities are highly unique and when used positively this person expresses great compassion towards everyone they meet.
Neptune in the 1st House
You might express yourself artistically, and come across as gentle, sensitive, and dreamy, especially if Neptune is close to the Ascendant (within 10 degrees). You are extremely sensitive to your environment. Others tend to see whatever they want to see in you, and you thus can come across very differently to different people.
You might tend to encourage this, even without knowing. Your appearance and mannerisms tend to be chameleon-like. You are a peace-loving person. While you don’t come on strong, you can be subtly alluring and intriguing. Others can be drawn to you and feel that you understand them. You can be moody and your first reaction to problems might be to escape or to feel sorry for yourself, or helpless.
You may not feel a strong sense of identity and struggle with your own impressionability. Like a sponge, you absorb the moods of others. Your imagination is powerful. You have an easygoing manner - a "what will be, will be" approach to the world.