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Saturn (Return) in Pisces

Saturn enters Pisces on March 7th and is one of the defining Astrological transits of the next couple of years, it will remain here for roughly the next 2.5 years. Cold Saturn first entered distant Aquarius on March 2020, a fateful month collectively; and was in its other domicile, industrious Capricorn, for the 2.5 years before that. Now, after 5 years of a dignified Saturn in rulership, we will be experiencing what it means to have the Planet of reality, boundaries, and structure move out of its home Signs and into the watery Zodiac Sign of fantasy, formlessness, and fluidity…

Read on for what Saturn in Pisces may indicate for us, and what to know if you are having your Saturn Return in Pisces:

Saturn in Pisces

Saturn in Pisces is one of the major Astro events of 2023, it will colour the flavour of this year post-March and into 2024, 2025, and part of 2026 (moving into Aries for good on Valentine’s Day). While it will retrograde in and out of Pisces and Aries before definitely beginning its sojourn in Aries, it will not dip its toes back into Aquarius before moving onto Pisces now, once it’s gone it’s gone! This means no taste-test of what’s to come (or integration and final review period for Aquarius).

Saturn in Pisces may temper the explosion of spiritualism, but also feel like an erosion of time and reality itself. While Saturn fortifies and solidifies, Pisces melts and dissolves- which one will place greater force of influence on the other? Only time will tell, but it may be a melting pot of both.

Read more details in our 2024 Astrology Forecast!

The Planet Saturn

Saturn, the classical outer-limit, the wall, represents boundaries, structure, and reality. It has a “cold” and “dry” temperament, being the most distant from the Sun and ruling over the Signs of deepest Winter in the Northern Hemisphere (where Western Astrology was developed); Saturn represents hard work, integrity, honour, values, responsibility, discipline, patience, and duty.

It is the clean up after the party- someone’s got to do it! On the one hand Saturn can get a bad rap, but ultimately it is about lessons, Saturn is a teacher and it is up to us how we decided to learn them. The discipline of a rigorous meditation or yoga practice can allow us to stand more firmly within ourselves in an embodied way. Keeping our word and staying true to ourselves builds self-alignment and trust. On the other hand, we may also need to tend over-working or being overly-critical when Saturn is involved. We may hold ourselves, and others, to too high a standard, harshly punishing when we fail. Realism may veer into pessimism.

Traditionally Saturn is the Planet of agriculture, time, and wisdom. It is the taskmaster known as “Kronos” or Grandfather Time. Mythologically, Titan Saturn, descendant of Gaia and Uranus, ate his children for fear of a prophecy that dictated he would be usurped by one of them, until he was overthrown by his son Jupiter with the help of his mother, Rhea.

Where Saturn is in our Chart can show us areas that we may struggle with, that pose challenges, where we felt othered, especially pre-Saturn Return (or for those with Night Charts). It can show us where we hold high morals and, depending on the other configurations, where we may feel a sense of lack, hardship, guilt, fear, shame, burden, self-consciousness, or fear of (perceived) judgement. It also shows us where we may need to put in extra effort but will be rewarded in kind.

On a mundane level, Saturn represents governments, hierarchy, order, rules, regulations, structure, corporations.

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The Zodiac Sign Pisces

Pisces, the 12th Sign of the Zodiac, represents the end of the Astrological cycle, as well as the simultaneous pre-conception before a new cycle begins afresh, the proverbial womb-space. It is said to contain elements of all that have come before it and thus is both innately wise and naive.

Archetypal Pisces is the Sign of devotion, soul union, and Universal oneness. It is soft, fluid, and empathetic. Like a sponge, it has the capacity to energetically absorb all around it, its intuitive perceptions strong. As such, when the weight of the world becomes too much for sensitive, compassionate Pisces that feels it all, it can be prone to disassociation and escapism.

As an inherently creative and artistic Sign, the watery fish has the capacity to envision new worlds, wont to live in fantasy lands. As Mutable Water, it is the wateriest of all, passive and receptive, flowing and adaptable.

As the nocturnal domicile of Jupiter, its expansive energy is turned within. Jupiter is the Planet of optimism, faith, and belief. In Pisces, it trusts there is a higher plan. In the Tarot, Pisces correlates to the intuitive yet confusing Moon card.

For connecting to the Pisces area of your Chart and the season as we transit through it, get the Pisces Workbook!

Saturn in Pisces

Boundaries is a keyword with both Saturn and Pisces. One known for its rigidity with them and the other for its lack of them. Will Saturn ensure the more usual slippery Pisces-related themes are solidified, will Pisces loosen the inflexibility of Saturn? Or will Saturn harden the gentleness of Pisces, and Pisces obscure the framework of Saturn? How do you build a wall in the ocean? Naturally there seems to be a bit of a mismatch between the energy of Saturn and the energy of Pisces.

Both are necessary- good boundaries are to be firm yet flexible. Containers are essential for growth, indeed Saturn is the ruler of both skin and bone- we could not stand without either! On the other hand, what is life with beauty and poetry, who are we without hope? Pisces is where compassion thrives, a reminder that we are all inextricably, intimately interlinked. What is a world without love?

In our Natal Charts, Saturn entering into our Pisces House may indicate a separation or lessening here. It can also offer us the potential for the laying of important groundwork for years to come, Saturn is the ruler of legacy after all.

Saturn entering into Pisces also signifies its co-presence with Neptune, Planet of illusion, for the next 6 years (they will officially conjoin a 0º Aries, a critical degree). When Neptune first entered Pisces in 2012 we saw the rise of spirituality and witchcraft, an interest in mysticism and the occult positively exploded. Now, with the Planet of harsh realities and sternness entering, we may expect to see a dampening of these flames.

All “trends” inevitably see a backlash, and with Saturn entering Pisces the time may be nigh for these Piscean areas. It can also represent a fortification of our emotional boundaries or a founding of our spiritual values on grounded practicality instead. A dose of realism and a dash of woo.

With both Saturn and Neptune in Pisces (and Pluto entering into Aquarius!!!), the diffusion between what’s real and what’s not may become more blurred. As Neptune is elusive, it may be hard to pinpoint an exact moment in time or events that have shifted. But in looking back once both these Planets have moved on, I think our perception of the world as we know it know may be profoundly different.

Saturn will retrograde in and out of Pisces between 2025 and 2026, giving us a taste of what’s to come in its traverse through Aries, as well as allowing for any final reviews and integrations of its passage through Pisces. What does it mean when the Zodiac Sign of dreams, buoyant hope, and optimism is weighed down by harsh reality? Will we find more rootedness in our spiritual essence, discipline and dignity in the rigour of our care, empathy, and spirituality or creativity; or will we veer into a bleak realism, a decrying of the magic of the human essence?

Either way, the most rigid of Planets moving through the most fluid of Zodiac Signs is sure to be interesting!

Saturn Return in Pisces

The Planet Saturn takes roughly 29-years to complete a cycle through the Zodiac. If you have Saturn in Pisces in your birth chart, congratulations- you will be experiencing your Saturn Return for the next couple of years. But not only people have Saturn Returns! Everything does, so for example: the public launch of the internet is just finishing up its Saturn Return now in innovative Aquarius- how did we see more regulations and discourse in the structure of the world wide web?

What is a Saturn Return?

Our Saturn return is when Saturn returns to the same Zodiac Sign it was in when we were born, with the peak when it returns to the exact same degree it was at at our moment of birth. Thus, while traditionally we are said to be in our Saturn Return the whole time transit Saturn is in our Natal Saturn Sign, due to its retrogrades we may experience the “crux” three times as it passes back and forth over our exact natal degree.

For example, if you were born between 1993-1996, or 1964-1967, you may have a Pisces Saturn. We go through our Saturn Returns every 29 years, with the peak occurring sometime between 28-32 years old and as we approach 60. If you have your Natal Saturn at 29º Pisces, say, the peak “Saturn experience” may occur for you later in its transit through Pisces, so into 2025 and 2026. However, the whole phase is still important as a culmination period, including the lead up as a setting of the stage, and in the immediate post-Saturn Return phase as the integration period (sometimes overlapping with the so-called Christ Year).

Saturn Returns are times when the foundations of our lives are stress-tested, anything built on rocky foundations may come crumbling down. Ultimately this is so that we can build sturdier, more aligned infrastructure. During our Saturn Return is when we can come into a truer sense of selves more, an authentication of our values, morals, integrity, and what we stand for is built now. It can set the scene for the rest of our “adult” years to come as we prepare to leave our ‘20s with our first Saturn Return.

Because it is the first time we are experiencing it, often the first Saturn Return can be more jarring or pressurised (again, especially for Night Charts and depending on the nature of Saturn in your own birth chart). As we enter into our second Saturn Return, it is more of a looking back on our life’s work and what we have built since our first Saturn Return- is it in alignment? Here we may reap what we have sown and begin to pass down the baton to future generations, a synthesis of the legacy we have created (similar themes can be seen as we enter our 3rd Saturn Return approaching 90)!

Learn more in our Saturn in Aquarius post! Or, for those of you coming out of your Saturn Return with Saturn in Aquarius, get the Aquarius 2024 Forecast!

Saturn Return in Pisces

A Saturn Return in Pisces can deal with setting strong yet fluid boundaries in place in this area of your Chart. It can look like downsizing, simplifying, or minimising something here. Saturn asks us to keep only the essential, in Pisces this can also deal with our beliefs, creativity, and emotional baggage and connection to others. Is there somewhere you over-give or martyr, where are the edges blurred? Does blind faith lead you somewhere, or a trust in the flow when being proactive could be more constructive? Do you need to soften and lean into your magic?

What values do you hold in regards to the House Pisces is in for you? Do you feel a sense of lack or hardship here? Have you ever felt isolated or othered in this regard? Of course, as with any Astrological reading, it is absolutely ESSENTIAL to take into account the other factors of your Chart! For example, do you have any other Planets or sensitive placements (AC, IC, DC, MC) in Pisces (even if you don’t have Saturn here this is still an incredibly influential transit for you, including with other Mutable placements - Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius!), what connections is Saturn making to other areas of your Chart? What is Jupiter, the ruler, doing?

For personalised insight on how to navigate this infamous yet foundational rite of passage, book in a 1:1 Saturn Return reading with me!

For a very brief and generic rundown, here is where Pisces is in your Chart based on your Rising Sign using Whole Sign Houses:

Aries - 12th House of Shadow (themes of mental health, spirituality, solitude, retreat, self-undoing, psychology, dreams, isolation)
Taurus - 11th House of Friendship (themes of community, hopes, wishes, memberships, alliances, friends, groups)
Gemini - 10th House of Career (themes of purpose, vocation, legacy, public image, profession, life path)
Cancer - 9th House of Wisdom (themes of long-distance travel, beliefs, personal philosophy, Astrology, spirituality, religion, higher education, publishing)
Leo - 8th House of Shared Resources (themes of inheritance, taxes, investments, grants, debts, your partner’s money, cycles of life and death)
Virgo - 7th House of Relationships (themes of intimate, one-on-one partnerships such as spouse, business partner, clients, therapists, best friends)
Libra - 6th House of Work + Health (themes of daily rituals and routines, day-to-day structure, your job, wellbeing, pets, employees, colleagues)
Scorpio - 5th House of Creation (themes of play, joy, romance, sex, sexuality, children, inner child, creativity, sports, hobbies)
Sagittarius - 4th House of Home (themes of family, ancestry, lineage, house, property, real estate, inner world, sense of belonging, origin story)
Capricorn - 3rd House of Communication (themes of mindset, self-expression, learning, short-distance travel, siblings, relatives, local neighbourhood)
Aquarius - 2nd House of Income + Values (themes of money, finances, possessions, skills, talents, resources, self-worth, personal values)
Pisces - 1st House of Self (themes of identity, sense of self, body, vitality, appearance, persona, style, body)
If you are a Pisces Rising and would like more insight and guidance for a 1st House Saturn transit, get our Pisces 2024 Forecast!

So that’s an overview of Saturn in Pisces and what you may expect with a Saturn Pisces Return, I hope it’s insightful for you! Let me know in the comments section below if you have anything else to add or any other questions. If you would like me to personally interpret your yearly horoscope for you, book in a 1:1 Year Ahead session with me!

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