Neptune in Pisces: bringing
back the beard
Astrology can account for anything, including beards. Tim Heyer (see his bearded
mugshot) tells of the comings and goings of facial hairstyle fashions through the ages –
and names Pisces and Neptune as “rulers of the beard”
Through the ethereal mist of a midnight
Neptunian fog came the casual inquiry:
“What’s with the beard trend? Why do so
many modern guys have beards?”
The uncanny synchronicity of the
question, which quietly emanated from
the speakers of my Hulu-playing laptop
and seeped between the incipient imagery
of my nocturnal imaginations, woke me
from my half-slumber. Only a few hours
prior, while at work, a fellow bartender
and I had discussed (approximately)
this same topic. And although we
hadn’t arrived at many conclusions
other than somewhat shallow
observations of the male libidinous
drive and the social ramifications
of fashion do’s and don’ts, this time
- for whatever reason (possibly I
ought to credit Neptune himself) I pondered the meaning
behind the meaning:
the astrology of the
beard.
Which sign or planet could represent or
have instigated this hirsute phenomenon?
I’ll endeavour to show in this article (my
first ever!) how the planet Neptune’s
historic transits of Pisces coincide with
the beard’s rise in popularity and how
Neptune’s placements elsewhere coincide
conversely. Perhaps in a later piece, I’ll
show how the Pisces-Neptune energy
represents itself powerfully in the charts
of famous bearded men and why it makes
astrological sense, from a symbolic and
metaphorical perspective, that Neptune
and Pisces are, indeed, rulers of the
beard.
In his pogonological book, One Thousand
Beards: A Cultural History of Facial
Hair, Allen Peterkin remarks that the
history of the bearded man is as long
as the history of mankind itself. For the
scope of this discussion, it certainly
d oesn’t make sense to explore the
Neptune-beard relationship before
the advent of shaving (some 5,000
years ago). And the relative lack of
historical data before the ancient
Greeks, and during the Middle
Ages, makes it challenging to
comb thorough astro-historical
comparisons. Still, considering
the extensive data remaining, I will
begin my discussion from the 14th
century.
Although the Catholic Church
made many attempts to limit
the facial hair of its clergy
(and compelled the
masses
to
comply
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Sep/Oct 2015 The Astrological Journal
accordingly) during the 1300s, by the
time of the Pisces-Neptune transit of
1357-1371, fake beards of different colours
and facial hairstyles from Spain were very
popular. Contemporaneously, Edward III
of England [who died in 1377] also wore
a forked beard (redolent of Neptune’s
trident?) that cascaded down to his chest.
And, in spite of the clergy’s efforts, beards
once again were fashionably sported by
noblemen and elders during Uranus’
transit of Pisces of 1417-24.
Perhaps due to vanity or greed (historians
remain unclear), bearded men were soon
to face taxation for their facial hair. In
the year 1535 (the same year Neptune
left Pisces and entered Aries), Henry
VIII introduced the first beard tax; and
in 1542 (Neptune still in Aries), bearded
members of the English Bar were denied
admission. Also, in 1553, when Saturn
(planet of restriction) was in Pisces and
Neptune opposed Mars from Taurus,
lawyers with beards were required to pay
a meal tax.
Fortunately for the whiskered, a mutable
Grand Cross (1565) between Neptune in
Gemini, Pluto in Pisces, Jupiter in Virgo,
and Uranus in Sagittarius saw all antibeard regulations repealed thanks to a
facial-hair lobby. Still, the popularity of
the beard remained on the decline and,
by the time of Neptune’s ingress of Virgo
(the sign opposite Pisces and of Neptune’s
detriment) in 1601, the magnificent era of
the beard had all but ended.
It appears that the beard’s popularity
burgeoned once again during Neptune’s
1684-1697 transit of Pisces. Then, as soon
as Neptune left Pisces and entered Aries in
1698, Peter the Great of Russia imposed a
new beard tax on nearly all of the citizens
of St. Petersburg (sound familiar?). In
exchange for payment, they received
a beard token. It might be worthwhile
to note that, at this time, Neptune also
Neptune in Pisces: bringing back the beard
formed a Grand Fire Trine with Uranus
in Leo and Mars in Sagittarius.
The 1700s seemed altogether smoothcheeked, so much so that when French
author,
Jacques-Antoine
Dulaure,
predicted in 1786 a return of the beard,
he was met with scorn and ridicule.
However, his forecast turned out to have
some accuracy, for when Pluto entered
Pisces in 1798, sideburns suddenly
became popular. The sideburn style
morphed into moustaches and the
moustaches morphed into beards when
Neptune moved back into Pisces in 1848.
Indeed, by 1850, shaving was “seen as
peculiar”, notes Peterkin. Even Uncle
Sam had facial hair added in 1855.
Brad Pitt 2009
Abraham Lincoln in 1863
A most fascinating anecdote: Abraham
Lincoln, after conversing with a young
girl named Grace Bedell, became
convinced that growing a beard would
help him win the presidency, and so
he promptly grew one in 1860, when
Neptune was on the last degree of Pisces.
Of course, he won office, becoming the
first bearded president. And the next
seven U.S. presidents (with the exception
of Andrew Johnson, who was born with
a Saturn-Neptune conjunction and took
office when Neptune was in Aries) grew
beards as well.
With the advent of Gillette razorblade
technology in 1895, marking the beginning
of a very-Virgoan hygienic movement
(with retrograde Neptune in conjunction
with retrograde Pluto [in Gemini]), the
popularity of beards waned considerably.
By 1935, a New Statesman article could
mock that “bearded men enjoyed all the
Jake Gyllenhaal 2015
privileges of bearded women”. But, in
1954, when Jupiter conjoined Uranus in
Cancer and T-squared a Libra Neptune
and a Capricorn Mars, Barber’s Journal
commented on the growing popularity of
beards on Madison Avenue. This trend,
however, seemed remarkably different
from those in centuries past – it did
not last long (maybe seven years) and
was more an expression of rebellion
against establishment norms than a due
conformity by allegiance to a specific
political, religious, or socio-economic
group.
In the 1960s and 1970s, men resumed
their shaving regimens, and the 1980s
were about as hairless as the 1700s. While
the 1990s witnessed the growth of genteel
goatees (Neptune was in Capricorn, the
sign of the sea-goat), beards did not begin
to return to their full glory until Neptune
re-entered Pisces in 2011.
Now, in 2015, we are seeing the scruff
getting scruffier, and the beards growing
longer. Will the beard survive the
negative media attention brought by
Saturn’s upcoming square to Neptune?
Or does Neptune’s presence in Pisces
until 2025 indicate that the furry faces
are here to stay? As a pogoniate [i.e.
bearded] astrologer myself, here’s hoping
that, when Neptune moves into Aries, we
can avoid another beard tax and enjoy
the barbate beaus in their majestic,
mysterious splendour for decades to
come.
Time Heyer
Tim Heyer is a Denver-based
astrologer and bartender. After
studying
biochemistry
at
the
University of Colorado at Boulder, he
moved to New York City, where, while
continuing to pursue metaphysical
and musical interests, he worked as a
Coffee Master and Barista Trainer for
the Times Square Starbucks flagship.
A classically-trained pianist and
contemporary composer, Tim returned
to Colorado in 2012 and now plays
piano and bartends for a Denver
city club. He has since resumed his
university studies, with an emphasis in
psychology and philosophy, and does
astrological counselling on the side.
He can be reached at
[email protected].
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