There are a lot of Neptune aspects during the month of April and I have a great Neptune story to tell you. It’s about Elizabeth Holmes and if you don’t know who she is, this is the short version of her story.
At the age of nineteen, she dropped out of college and started her own business in Silicon Valley called Theranos. Her invention was a medical test that takes a drop of blood from your finger, puts it in a black box and the box does over 250 blood tests and you get the results back right away. She was praised in Fortune, Time and other magazines. Even though she never studied medicine that did not stop big names in academia, politics and investment banking from investing hundreds of millions of dollars in her invention. Her board consisted of Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, and General Mattis among other powerful people.
Those who invested in her dream met her in person where they were blinded by the foggy, mystical Neptune. A reporter for the Wall Street Journal, John Carryrou was on the subway in Brooklyn on his way home when he read a piece in the paper about her blood tests and thought, this doesn’t sound possible. Do we have to see the Neptune person to be taken in? He wasn’t fooled like the powerful people on her board and he went on to write a book titled, ‘Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup.’
Elizabeth Holmes was born with Jupiter conjunct her Neptune. Neptune rules fantasy and dreams. Jupiter expands that Neptune so that fantasy and dreams can go totally out of bounds. What I have read and also observed in my practice is that everyone around us sees our archetypes. For example, if you have a Virgo archetype people around you expect you to serve them. With Elizabeth’s natal Jupiter conjunct Neptune she did live in a fantasy world but other highly educated people who should know better bought into her personal fantasy.
A lot of spiritual cults are led by Neptunian types and the followers are entranced by the leader. Also, I think of the customers of the flim-flam men and snake oil salesmen who traveled around in a covered wagon selling their useless products and cures. One of the true stories I love is about ‘The Turk’ which presumed to be an automated chess-playing machine. It was a chessboard with a black box underneath. The Turk was exhibited all over Europe and the Americas for 84 years until it was discovered that there was a chess master hidden in the box. These frauds all took place in the 18th and early 19th century. We feel we are too sophisticated to fall for these kinds of scams now, but Neptune, being Neptune is an archetype that is alive and well.
A disclaimer to all Pisces and Neptune people out there: Don’t be discouraged by what I have just written. Remember C.G. Jung said, “Every archetype is capable of endless development and differentiation”.
I don’t have a birth time for Ms. Holmes so I hope one of the researchers will find her time of birth for me. Her birthdate is Feb 3, 1984, in Washington DC. I want to know her ascendant. Her Moon is in Pisces, whose ruler is Neptune. Her Sun is in Aquarius which fits perfectly for someone whose thinking is way ahead of her time and Aquarius rules technology.
If you want to know how Neptune works and how others pick up on our archetypes, check out the documentary on HBO, ‘The inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley’. It is also on Youtube. A movie about Elizabeth Holmes is being shot right now starring Jennifer Lawrence.
Why does this interest me? Well, my favorite movie of all time is the Wizard of Oz and my favorite scene is when Toto drew back the curtain. I must have a Toto archetype that loves to reveal phony wizards.