Orpheus was a poet, musician, and singer.  His music resonated every layer of creation from people to animals, plants, and even rocks which melted to the sounds. His art penetrated so deeply because it was an expression of the love that makes up the fabric of the universe itself. It dissolved the boundary between spirit and matter and revealed the dark universal void that binds all of existence together.

He married Eurydice and their wedding was like a dream. However, after the ceremony, Eurydice strolled with her companions where she was bitten by a snake and perished; dimming from the world like a fading song. This was bliss that was elevated to its highest, but so fragile it teetered on boundary’s edge and quickly fell into tragedy. Just like nothing in the material world can be held onto, no matter how extraordinary.

Orpheus couldn’t comprehend a world without her. He refused to let go of what he perceived as divine. He grieved and felt a depthless longing, perhaps a struggle between reality and illusion. And so, he set out to retrieve her from the underworld.

As he entered Hades, his music enabled him to cross uncrossable boundaries. The guardians let him through—and even helped. Neptune is like a trickster, but not through deception, rather through enchantment. And because love has no opposite, it dissolves the boundaries between everything.

Orpheus stood before Hades and Persephone and sang of Eurydice with a truth so raw that the rulers of hell could not deny its validity. They allowed Eurydice to return on one condition: that he would not look back at her as he led her out.  This was a test of his faith and ability to adhere to boundaries. 

Were the possibilities of illusion plaguing him so much that he could no longer trust what was promised but unseen? As he led her out, his sense of longing grew so strong that at the very moment of crossing the threshold, he turned to look at her. She instantly faded back into the underworld forever

Orpheus was devastated and sank into dispair. He completely swore off women no matter how wonderful or beautiful. But through his devotion to music and investigation into his darkness, he was able to see into other people’s suffering and understand that his suffering was not “his suffering” but part of the greater whole.

His music continued to enchant; irresistible to some around him. A group of Maenads became obsessed with him, but he refused their advances. Neptune’s power to dissolve boundaries can attract those who wish to merge completely, who become possessive, obsessive, and demand one join their fantasy.

Out of rage, they tore him apart. His power to enchant attracted forces that ultimately destroyed him. But his legend lived on through song…

And at last, in the underworld, he was reunited with Eurydice. The Neptunian dissolution comes to a resolution, as death is not an ending, but a dissolving back into the source.