Neptune is at home in Pisces and spends about 14 years in each sign, retrograding each year for approximately five months at a time.  This retrograde began on July 4th in Aries, the sign Neptune entered back on March 30th. When it comes to illusion, Neptune is the master, but when retrograde, the truth of the illusion is revealed.  The reality you discover may not always be pretty, but it will be the truth of the matter.  Neptune’s effects are more greatly felt when it is aspecting other planets because it tends to operate in more subtle ways which are not so easily discernible when it comes to realizing Neptunian influence in your life.