Neptune, the planet of dreams and illusions, has been in retrograde position since June 18, 2018. What does this mean exactly? Well, a retrograde is when a planet that is moving in a forward motion in its orbit, suddenly slows down and stops entirely appearing to move backwards in the sky. Any time any planet is in retrograde position, it means that the energy and effect it usually has being expressed outwardly suddenly becomes inward.The planet of dreams and illusions is the natural ruler of Pisces, the sign of the fish. Often caught up within themselves, the dreams and fantasies they create and the ability to go with the flow and quickly retreat from danger, Pisces is at home and comfortable in the rivers, lakes, and oceans within. Pisces is capable of being a fun loving playful minnow basking in the shallow waters, a beta fish capable of self-destruction, or being the great white shark, the ruler and predator of the sea. Pisces doesn't like to deal with reality and the harsh truths of it all. It will maneuver its slippery self through whatever obstacles they're faced with all to avoid the confrontation of reality.Neptune, Pisces natural ruler exercises a great layer of fantasy or dream like sense over us when in it's direct position, however, since June 18th, it has been in retrograde, stripping us of illusion and forcing us to face life and the cold hard truth of reality of it all face on.It is no coincidence that Neptune went into retrograde when it did. This year has been riddled with retrogrades and eclipses so powerful that many of us have had our lives totally restructured both inside and out. Neptune going into retrograde at the time of the year it did, meant we had no choice but to see life as it actually was, deep, dirty, and disastrous, instead of being comforted with a filter of dreaminess like Neptune usually provides us with. This whole time of having our foundations and structures rattled and crumbling to the ground, our inner worlds raw and unable to escape from our inner most thoughts and feelings, and of course the details of our relationships and how we value love were stripped of the rose-colored glasses that Neptune and Pisces both fashionable wear.As raw as these changes have been, if Neptune had have stayed direct throughout all the other shifts we endured, we wouldn't have gotten the message. We wouldn't have seen it, the death and destruction of parts of ourselves and our lives as we knew it. With Neptune direct, we would have been desensitized to the pain and horror of what was actually happening. We wouldn't have seen the changes we needed to make in order to live more authentically, and we sure as hell wouldn't have felt the pain we needed to feel to catapult us on the path of healing.Now that Neptune is going direct again, still in Pisces, we are able to feel the layer of illusion blanket our lives again. Since surviving the shifts of the year, and making it out of Scorpio season, we are now under the gloriously optimistic, bright-lights of the Sun being in Sagittarius, Venus being direct again in the Libra, smoothing out the details of our relationships, and Jupiter cozying up in its natural place of comfort in Sagittarius. We now have the icing on the cake which is Neptune being direct again in Pisces.We will now feel better about moving forward as we pick up the pieces of raw truth delivered to us without tact during the alignments in Scorpio. We are excited and super hopeful for our futures and moving forward towards our new goals with Jupiter and the Sun in Sagittarius, and even though Mercury is in Retrograde, the dreaminess we are returning to with Neptune going direct isn't going to slow us down in manifesting our dreams.When Mercury is Retrograde, we are slowed down in life, and usually forced to revisit, re-examine and re-edit situations in our lives. Many people dread a Mercury Retrograde but I feel that it's a gift given to us 3 - 4 times a year that allows us to make sure we are on the right path.Often times we are lead back to the past where we can see clearly how we maybe made mistakes in standing up for ourselves and honouring our dreams. Or, we are taken back to a situation that requires a "do-over" of sorts.After what we've endured in 2018, as far as having ourselves stripped of everything we thought we knew, this Mercury Retrograde allows us to slow down and revisit our dreams.Neptune being the dreamy visionary that it is, couldn't go direct at a better time. Here we are standing in the mess and rubble that was a result of our foundations, belief systems and structures having been smashed to the ground. Surrounded by the darkest details unearthed by Scorpio season, we have the dustpan in hand as the Sun in Sagittarius has us super excited to clean up the mess and start with a clean slate.Jupiter in Sagittarius is asking as to strengthen our spiritual beliefs and manifest the very highest vision we hold for ourselves, and up until now, we might not even know what that vision is! With Mercury Retrograde taking us back to prior situations, we are able to clearly pick out the elements that once worked for us and dust them off to see if we can reintroduce them to our current state of reality. We often times find ourselves straying from things that served us, and this is a great time to explore and discover elements that we should invite back into our worlds.With all the puzzle pieces now organized and flipped up right exposing glimpses of what will be a bigger picture, we can start assembling the puzzle to reveal a grander image of what path we will be, walking into 2019.One by one we see what pieces fit together and as they reveal smaller bits of details that will make a larger picture, we can begin to dream what the full sized completed puzzle will actually look like. Use this Neptune direct in Pisces energy to dream again. Explore all the different versions and scenarios that your future could be. And as the pieces snap together revealing the greater picture, ingrain the elements of the pieces into your mind.This is a time to retreat from the outside world and all its rawness to rework your dreams, revisit past dreams and see if they can somehow still help build your future. Dream with purpose, exploring every last detail of your grander vision with such intensity that you are essentially living it in your inner world. When you can connect to that inner power and channel it into your dreamwork, it will naturally manifest as reality literally bringing your dreams to life.If you require any guidance navigating the energies and creating your grand vision, please book a session online and I'd be happy to help.Many blessings to you during these times! Marlee HenryResident Reader & Psychic AdvisorEast Coast Energy Boutique