I had a client who told me of a “shared delusion” she had with her ex. I’d never heard the phrase before. I was intrigued.
I asked her questions, while I searched the term. I found it tied to another term, “shared psychotic disorder“. Basically, a person has some delusion. The person near them, their partner, presumably, believes the delusion. I am tying this to Venus (relationship) Neptune (delusion).
I have Venus square Neptune in my chart. It seems it would make me susceptible to this kind of thing. It’s scary but it’s also true! I am vulnerable in this way. I realized this when I could tick off numerous examples of times in my life when this has occurred.
I can’t say I’m comfortable with this! But it’s serious and I think should put this out here on the chance might help someone. I also want to offer an example to limit the confusion that might be caused by this…
I once knew this person; I was very close to him. We met as teens.
He was a prodigy. We were both prodigies, in our own way. But he left the country for specialized training and nurturing of his talent. It was a communist country.
A few years later he returned. When he came home, he thought people were following him. He said he was followed in this other country because he was American.
This sounded feasible. But he thought they were still following him after he got home. This sounded less feasible but possible?
In reality, my friend had(has) a major mental illness. This got to a point where he thought someone was following him in his car. He got pissed off and maneuvered so he could get behind the car following him. He began following them, so they could see what it was like!
He got right up on the bumper of this other car. He was infuriated and the people in the car that was never following him, because frightened. They pulled into a convenience store and called the police. The police came and they argued in parking lot – he’s following me – no, THEY WERE FOLLOWING ME”.
But even after a situation like that, I would still have the capacity to believe the car might have been following my friend. I mean, how can we know?
I’ve also written about Jim Jones and the mass suicide (search the site). My husband had to go clean those bodies up. That was another “shared delusion” on a different scale.
I’m writing this because it came up today but it also seems particularly relevant as most people believe that half the word is living in delusion – not their half of course!
What do you know about Venus aspecting Neptune and “shared delusion”.
Elsa! You should watch the movie “Bug” with Ashley Judd! It is totally aligned with what you are talking about here.
I just watched the trailer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_y5K4GbdXY
Yikes!
Not sure where you got the idea that my “girlfriend” and I don’t love ourselves.
Also, it wasn’t a “girlfriend”, I was talking to. 🙂
Lol
That was funny
lol
Yes i have Venus in some relationship to Neptune (I don’t know well enough to explain) and I have found myself entangled with mentally ill delusional people because I think, well it sounds bizarre but how do we know for sure? For instance one friend claimed she was receiving messages from the dead. I took it as either metaphor (she received information but it was really her own intuition, perhaps) or desire to hear from that person, or desire to have power (she would contact those person’s relatives and make claims, for instance, while they were still grieving). Finally she was diagnosed and treated, and because I didn’t ever flag this escalating behaviour I felt responsible for “indulging” her delusions. Just one example, I’ve had many other people confide their extremely odd conspiracy theories and fixations, and I am getting better at distinguishing what is an intellectual openness and what is way off the map. It’s a risk with this planetary signature.
I should mention Venus is in my 12th house.
I have Neptune in the 9th House trine Venus, and Pluto (on opposite ends of my chart; 11th and 7th. From the sounds of things and your example I’d say Neptune has blurred the edges of my love objects (animate and inanimate) and the Pluto Venus trine creates an illusion or delusion that has best been channeled through my art. A large part of my chart/life is challenging, the blurred edges have brought me the love of my life; and the incredibly dramatic adventures of a very unconventional life.
It’s valuable for me to recognize how important my earthy aspects ground me at opportune times. My husband and I share this delusion of a better world/unconventional manifestation. But it’s our personal charts and character that makes for battles that sort through the delusions thanks to Virgo and Capricorn(Saturn) strong in our respective charts.
That’s actually quite beautiful, Mokihana. Very interesting to consider a shared delusion in a positive light, like a vision for change. I wonder if revolutionaries have this with their comrades?
I believe some of us do, Hortense.
Mokihana and Hortense- both of your writings were intense and beautifully written. My sister in law – lost 2 children and a husband- she is always searching for words from them and hasn’t fully recovered back to her normal self since their deaths. She is always so sad. She reaches for the other side. She can’t seem to nestle back down to earth and ground herself. She desperately wants to have some sort of visitations from them. She had 2 children who feel they have lost her. She can’t move forward. She’s stuck. Some she she is delusional. Idk. I feel SO bad for her.
She’s a Cancer.
That should read- She HAS 2 children here alive who feel they have lost her…..
I have had Venus and Neptune trine by transit for months now. It is separating as I type this. Neptune is sitting on my House 2 cusp and is almost like a hinge just sitting there. I feel its presence for sure.
I also have Moon conjunct Neptune at birth. I think it gives intuition, if one tunes into it. I also have mixed feelings about Neptune. I’m wondering if your cancer relative has any strong Neptune in her chart. I feel badly for her, too. I cannot imagine losing my husband and two children besides. It would be difficult not to focus on communicating with the lost family members, but I’m not sure if there is any truth to the possibility.
How old are the two children at home still?
Un otro mundo es posible.
What comes to mind is a metaphor that the philosopher Elie Wiesel developed once to explain why idealism is necessary. It’s always stuck with me. In a strong crosswind, the pilot of an aircraft must fly slightly off course into the wind in order to arrive at their destination. On the other hand, to apply one’s standard operating procedures under such conditions and steer directly at the desired arrival point, one will go somewhere one does not want to go, although not exactly by intention.
In these strange times, Neptune is slowly applying to a hard aspect with my Venus. Watching all that’s solid melt into the air is to witness madness unfolding. Being frank about this makes me feel almost mad by proxy sometimes, but I try not to forget these days that Neptune can signify some very fine things, too— and these things are what are needed.
Thanks for this comment. I find that Neptune is bringing me weird feelings and flashbacks to my former self that Pluto correctly felt the need to blow up. It’s very confusing and I don’t have a gut to go with anymore.
If we choose to believe a person’s projection, aren’t we sharing their delusion of themselves? Even if we know better and we stay trapped by our own choice…
Venus trine neptune and it’s the aspect I really forget I have. Neglected side. I used to write some silly poems ages ago (nothing romantic). Maybe that. The one opinion I will strongly have about venus square neptune people is that they always buy shoes that don’t fit. Neptune-feet?
I’ve done that shoe thing. 🙂
I don’t understand- it that a metaphor?
The shoe thing…. I’m trying to learn astrology-
Haha, cute Elsa. 🙂 @redbird no, it’s not a metaphor, it’s literal. Mom has this aspect and my friend whom I’ve known of more than 16 years, one has venus in leo square neptune, the other venus leo sesquisquare. It’s something one can see easily. Neptune rules feet and venus fashion/cloting? So I’ve seen them buy ill fitting shoes, too tight, too big. Or they get dissilusioned with clothes which look perfect in the store and at home they don’t like it anymore. For a metaphore, maybe shoes are a constraint to neptunian people because shoes are the closest to the ground/earth and neptune energy is the farthest from grounding energy, it;s high up in they skies, so maybe that’s a hint for their poor luck with shoes. 😀
Wow. Such a newbie w/ astrology. Didn’t realize planets ruled body parts – I’m even afraid to google it- bad bad childhood-
Wow. So interesting- frankly this is so interesting! Thank you so so much ! Take care out there- Redbird
Yes, planets/signs rule body parts but if anything makes you uncomfortable or anxious you should not search more until you feel comfortable about it. Getting into something new takes time and it can be a bit overwhelming at times, right? That’s how I remember when I got into astrology. Also you can’t change the hard things happening in your childhood because that’s in the past but you can live a better today. Hope you will have an easy and fun journey on astrology and on this site. Stay safe too!:)
Wow, interesting, X-rayed. I have Neptune at the very bottom (the root, or foot!) of my chart, trining Venus at the end of house 12. I had beautiful feet for much of my life (tho the rest of me is not especially so), and I spent much of my life selling (and wearing) beautiful, handmade, Italian shoes. If they weren’t always a perfect fit, I would use various pads and insoles to make them so.
As an aside, X-rayed, I once read that shoe stores used to x-ray kids’ feet, to see how the shoes were fitting, before we knew how damaging the cumulative radiation was. Not sure this is true…
Pisces rules the feet. Like we could look at Neptune in Pisces as foot marching by the protestors. Or my Astrological Gardening book says don’t plant potatoes during a pisces moon, they will have toes.
I love this foot thing. It makes me wish I had known about astrology when I was younger. Like the man I dated who had a foot fetish. Take off my shoes and socks and his blood was pumping. So was he a seventh house pisces person. Maybe 7th house pisces venus person. Or a friend was telling me of his friend who had this drop dead gorgeous girlfriend and she had it all going on. When he asked his friend why the hell he broke it off with her, he said she had ugly feet. So like was she a first house pisces dream girl with a planetary affliction giving her ugly feet? Or the woman who told me that sandals should be outlawed because feet are ugly and she could not stand looking at them? What was up with that? Fun stuff.
Oh wow, similar thing here. Dated a pisces sun with neptune in 7th house and he was such a feet enthusiast. I don’t share that enthusiasm at all but it was cute to see him so invested and lustful with just seeing my feet without socks, hehe.
The 12 th house and the 2 nd house are often projected onto others/partners and our 7 th house. The higher octave of Venus – Neptune is related to the 12 th – and Venus is related to the 2 nd.
Here is a link to an article by Dawn Bodrogi on this topic:
https://theinnerwheel.com/2009/09/16/synastry-studies-the-twelfth-house-and-the-double-inconjunct/
Too much emphasis on Venus without recognizing and integrating her unity and partnership with Pluto can yield paranoia. There are things we have to eliminate and destroy in ourselves in order to become whole.
@Don
This is an incredibly beautiful written article. I am so new and this is so extremely hard for me to pick up. Yet- hard to explain – I feel like I’ve known it before. Thank you Don for the article. I sent it to my computer to print out – . “There are things we have to eliminate and destroy in ourselves to become whole.” So true. Xoxo- take care Redbird
You got me thinking about integration. But integration of values. I think that is why I am hearing inconjunct rhetoric. Non integrated values are being projected somewhere else. The ol do what I say, not what I do.
And then picking a faction with loyalty to all the faction is, and foregoing all personal values in complete support. I think personal values are being pushed at this moment in time. In the world of loyalties to this faction or that, personal values are lost in the cause to win.
Anyway, I am ready to read your link.
I can’t really get into the karmic stuff and past life stuff because that can become a prison for me. And I am just so darn excited to be alive right now. Perhaps because the possibility of being dead is so prevalent. I want to enjoy the earthly experience as much as possible in the time I have left here.
But ‘wholeness’. I haven’t heard that word in a long time. And instead of worshipping the other or the thing, what is it about that that I am seeking. The word connection comes to mind. Connecting to what it is in me, instead of wanting to own or follow the messenger, the thing outside of me.
I really feel the need to put a disclaimer on this. I don’t mean to denigrate anyone who needs to do the past life process. While I would never suggest it to anyone, I had to do it. I met someone. We would be together but it was a duality going on, two things at one time. And then the pictures started coming. At first I was mystified. I would paint the pictures and I am a lousy painter. I was hanging on instead of letting it all go. Then the floodgates opened. I would lay down in silence and the pictures of people places things would fly out of me like a movie in fast motion. And I used that process to get it all out. It was very hard, a very hard thing to go through, get through. But like I said I had no choice. It happened to me. He happened into my life the day he strolled up my driveway harmless, just to say howdy. If it happened again, I would say nice to see you again, but I gotta go.
The brain is the most complex and vulnerable organ in the human body. The long term toll on the mind from current world wide turmoil is very concerning. Great article ?
I have a natal square from Leo Venus in the 6th to Scorpio Neptune in the 8th. I am in love with love (&lust!) and it often involves a co-worker or we connect through our pets or health/exercise classes! While I haven’t been misled, I do get disillusioned by shared day to day routines and domestic details. This is astrology 101.
Been there, done that,
time and time again.
Venus conjunct Neptune
5th house Scorpio
Delusion is always a factor for me. I have a loose square between Venus and Neptune. I wanted to believe. I have had to learn to use my virgo to separate the wheat from the chaff. I think the delusions have alot to do with beliefs, what someone believes, and if I buy into it or not. As far as beliefs, that would be Jupiter, the co-ruler of pisces along with neptune. Beliefs and delusion go hand in hand. What someone chooses to believe. The belief is not necessarily based on truth or fact. Why would I choose to believe the delusionist? Idealism maybe. Or
Back in the day, there were stories about mothers who did not believe their children when they said the priest was abusing them. The mother would have many children (pre birth control accessiblity) and a husband who drank the money. She was dependent on the priest for donations of food, clothing, and money. Or the person who buys into any other positioned person’s delusion for personal gain for themselves.
If I hold a kholrabi in the palm of my hand, I know it is a kholrabi. If I am in the place of need of one of the people afore mentioned and they tell me it’s a tomato, I will buy into the delusion and say it is a tomato, out of need.
So I have lunch with a woman and she is ranting about how terrible obama care is. Her political beliefs tell her to hate it. I say to her, but you are on obama care. She answers, Well I lost my job insurance and it’s the only insurance I can afford and I need my meds. That kind of thinking I don’t understand and there is alot of it about in all different kinds of scenarios involving all kinds of beliefs.
When beliefs are not in a person’s best interest, I don’t really get it. I guess I don’t have to. It’s just the way it is. My job is to separate the wheat from the chaff and not get sucked into, I mean share into, those delusional situations. I think delusions are just part of the human experience. Kinduv emotionally based? Beliefs are emotional? Based on need? I dunno. Too deep for me at the moment.
Ta daaaaaa! I have a final thought on all the dogma, and blindly following a faction thing that makes for really confusing conversations with people contradicting themselves. It’s what Pluto in Aquarius will be. It will not be Death to People, but Death to Individuals. It’s the ol Aquarian comic strip thing about the aquarian all caught up in fighting for the cause with total disregard for individuals or the effects their causiness has on individuals. Sign up for your faction, pledge complete loyalty to the faction no matter how inhumane, and f_ck people. Okay, so good to reach completion on this thing that has been eating at my brain looking for an answer.
Venus conjunct Neptune here. None of this is lost on me.
While Neptune is in hard aspect to my sun it’s transiting my Venus in a soft aspect.. I feel lonely these days and don’t know if I can handle being alone during this whole quarantine thing.. I think I’ve been really looking for people
I have Sun/Mars/Venus sextile Neptune in the 12th house, so I guess I am susceptible to shared delusion. But I also an antidote-Mercury conjunct Saturn (my Cap sun ruler).
Great thoughts above. It occurred to me maybe feminism has something to do with Venus Neptune square. It’s gotten a far along now and even to the point of soft laws. that are radically unsustainable in court. Men get the shaft, robbed, and their children taken away from them. Is this a can worms unnecessarily opened?
I think a lot of the time it’s actually perfectly innocent – people thinking they are finding solidarity or relating to one another even if it’s based on a fallacy. We all see the world and our lives in it differently, after all, our charts are all unique; the question is how destructive that is or isn’t, in my opinion. We are seeing tribalism to a ridiculous degree at present on this earth even though if you strip away the hyperbole and dogma we are all more or less wanting the same things. Most parents love their children, and most of us want peaceful lives.
My hope is that we come back to those underlying things we all have in common and drop all that is superficial that surrounds those things and keeps us separate from one another, or even antagonistic toward one another, and I think personally, esoterically, on a universal level, that is what all of this strife is about.
I read somewhere once (sorry, I don’t recall exactly where) that if we simply utterly destroyed ourselves and there were only two people left on the planet, hopefully those two people would have gotten the point and would do better.
I really do believe we have an opportunity to come together like never before, but it takes a bit of courage to do it. The theme of my own life the past number of years has been pushing beyond my personal comfort zones. May we all reconnect to that part of ourselves that realizes our well-being means seeing the truth of all of our fallibility, realizing we have that in common too, and that’s it’s ok, and loving and supporting one another anyway because it is the only way forward.
Yes
You should check out the movie “Bug” with Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon. It’s all about this.
Ha! Just realized someone else has already suggested the exact same film