The possibility of ecstasy where Neptune is in our birth charts is so enticing that we inevitably move towards it even when we keep experiencing its dark side. In the world we are bound by ties that restrict our movement. These ties may be those of home, career, financial status, parenthood and childhood - you can think of others. Many of these restrictions are simply what follows from living a human life - we have to observe them if there is to be any order in the world. Other restrictions we impose on ourselves without a thought as to whether or not they are necessary. These may be totally unconscious, and arise out of assumptions we have taken on board during our lives.
To lives so bound, whether with good reason or otherwise, Neptune offers an invitation to paradise. It offers the possibility of living life without the restrictions of everyday life. We could be released from the limited sense of the self as the centre of life into an awareness of a wider cosmic reality, the unconditional love of the divine which can shine and act through us. Since unconditional love must be expressed, the experience of release which Neptune gives us sends us back into the world of limitation, but with a new sense of our place within it. We are still bound by the limitations that are inevitable simply as a result of being human, but we are aware of a divine life infusing us, such that we feel we live in two worlds at once.
We could also experience release from limitations through drink, drugs and sex. Used solely for the sense of release they give us, these have no power to transform for the good our lives in the world. When the effect wears off we are simply back where we were, or may even be in a worse state than we were before. We could drag others down with us as well. Like all planets, the reality symbolised by Neptune can be accessed both positively and negatively. Either way, we will always be drawn to it.