Back in May we explored the archetypes and history of Saturn in Pisces, plus some of the recent history during the last three transits. Saturn will next be in Pisces from 2023 to 2026 with a few dips in and out when he reaches Aries in 2025. In fact, we’re about to enter a liminal space of Saturn Pisces/Neptune energy that lasts five years into 2028.

Saturn enters Pisces on 7 March 2023 and stays there until 25 May 2025 when he goes into Aries and almost conjuncts Neptune. He returns to Pisces on 1 September 2025 and stays there until 14 February 2026, when he enters Aries for good. Neptune leaves Pisces on 26 January 2026 and the exact Saturn Neptune conjunction happens at 0° Aries on 20 February 2026.

The five-year Saturn Neptune period has two sections which will feel slightly different. First, Saturn joins Neptune in Pisces from 2023 to 2026, and then, with a little overlap, they cohabit Aries from 2025 to early 2028, when Saturn enters Taurus. So we’re going to be immersed in these archetypes for a long time.

This could be challenging because Saturn and Pisces/Neptune represent opposites that are difficult to reconcile. We explored this in the Saturn Neptune cycle post here. But in simple terms, Saturn represents reality, structure and boundaries, as well as patience, self-discipline, and wisdom, while Pisces represents the dissolution of separateness and structure, as well as oceanic feelings, imagination, dreams, and transcendence.

So Saturn isn’t happy in Pisces. However, there is some overlap because, as the final sign, Pisces also represents endings and the seeds of new beginnings, while Saturn stands for karma and the end of life. Therefore we can expect this transit to involve many endings and the dissolution of old structures as we deal with the consequences of the last few years.

In the ‘West’, that means the end of the industrial age and the slow decay of so-called Western civilisation, along with the end of abundance and growth and a very different view of the future. Our beliefs and dreams will be testedand the unrealistic ones will be trashed or shown to be empty and meaningless.

As the ‘American Dream’ dies (and the European one), we must return to reality and give up our comfortable fantasies and delusions about progress. (Pluto in Aquarius will help with this too.) This will probably involve a period of collective suffering not usually experienced in the ‘West’ – at least, not by the middle classes. But it may also awaken our compassion and a desire to help those who are drowning.

This may manifest through a rise in utopian ideals and ideological political movements like socialism and communism. These ideas often coincide with Saturn Neptune alignments, and Pluto entering Aquarius may reinforce the tendency. Whether any of it works in the long-run is another matter – ideologies rarely do well in the face of practical reality. (Some excellent context on this here.)

Obviously, how you experience this transit will depend on your local and personal circumstances, as well as the position of Pisces in your chart. Anyone born during the previous cycles of Saturn in Pisces will have their Saturn return over the next couple of years. Those born in 1993 to 1996 will reach adult maturity, and those born in 1964 to 1967 will reach elder maturity. More on Saturn transits to its natal placement here.

The next three years represent a period of testing of all things Piscean. As Pisces is a dual sign, this will manifest in contradictory ways, both material and spiritual, disorienting and uplifting. How it manifests for you will depend on how willing you are to work with the energies involved, as well as the area of your chart affected and the aspects made by Saturn to your natal placements while he’s there.

It’s a good time for creativity and spiritual practice and doing inner work to heal your psyche. But you may also need to tie up loose ends in the Pisces area of your chart and let go of what is no longer needed. This may involve a confrontation with karma and the reaping of what you have sown, whether positive or negative – and usually both.

The biggest challenge of Saturn in Pisces may be disillusionment on a personal and/or collective level. It may be a time of sobering up as Saturn pops illusory bubbles and brings you back to reality. The mood could be sombre and a bit grim, with a rise in anxiety and fears coming up from the subconscious. You may feel trapped or isolated, cast out of Eden, or overwhelmed by a sense of hopelessness and loss in a crisis of faith or dark night of the soul.

You may want to escape from this gloominess into fantasy or addictions of all kinds, but Saturn won’t allow it. Or if he does, you’ll have to face the consequences later and take responsibility for your feelings and the messes you have made. At worst, you could end up bitter and cynical, cut off from others and your own inner life, jerked around by subconscious fears and unhealed wounds.

This process of emotional testing and the ending of illusions is never easy, but the only sensible approach is to take it seriously. Turn towards the suffering and confusion and see what it can teach you.

Something may happen that forces you to turn inwards and deal with the feelings you’ve been denying or repressing. Or you can choose to cooperate with this transit by taking the opportunity to do some inner work and soul searching rather than running away from it. By doing this you can develop Saturnian graces such as patience, discipline, and wisdom. You may even transcend your limitations and find inner peace by letting go of the past and having faith in life.

This is a great time to keep a dream diary or explore your subconscious using active imagination, shadow work, introspection, and meditation. You may want to go on a retreat, or just spend more time alone to contemplate the mystery of the universe and your own psyche. These practices can help you to dissolve negative unconscious patterns and habits, and develop greater self-acceptance and inner wholeness.

Another way to deal with the influx of unconscious material is to channel it into creativity and imagination. Saturn can help to ground your ideas in creative work through music, film, photography, fashion, drama, poetry and novels or short stories. You can test your visions and ideas by working to make them real, giving them form and structure to bring them alive.

This process may not come easily and there could be times when you feel blocked or confused about what you want to say. Some of your ideas could be unworkable or unrealistic, while others may need a lot of hard work or just a few tweaks to make them real. But if you continue to do the necessary work, you may be surprised at how much you can create.

Your dreams could become real during this transit, although this will depend on your willingness to work at it and how well you’ve prepared before this time. However, not all dreams have the potential to be made real and you may discover that some of yours are fantasies. A fantasy is just a daydream that might feel good but will never work in reality.

By testing your dreams and confronting your illusions you can become stronger, more resilient and grounded in reality. But this raises an important question: What is reality?

Saturn (the materialist) and Pisces (the mystic) give very different answers, rooted in the conflict between reality and imagination. On the other hand, everything in your life has to be imagined before it can become real, so perhaps the pertinent question should be: Where is the line between reality and imagination?

That line may become blurred during this transit which could be confusing, but it may also allow you to discover the hidden order of life. The apparent chaos and illusion of Pisces isn’t random or unreal, and there are divine principles that underpin everything. Ultimately, the spiritual and material worlds aren’t separate or opposed, but are one unfathomable mystery.

Liz Greene points to this possibility in her description of Saturn in Pisces in Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil, where she says:

“The real potential of Saturn in [Pisces] is unfortunately only available now to those of a mystical bent who are inclined toward the path of inner contemplation.”

She goes on to say that the positive gifts of this placement include the power to serve others and:

“to experience the sense of unity which the mystic is forever seeking and the sense of responsibility and detached love which accompanies this unity.”

The mystical path isn’t an easy one, and to paraphrase her your potential in terms of inner peace, understanding, and wisdom is as great as your potential for despair. In other words, you have to go through hell to find heaven – or descend into the realm of the unconscious and deep soul and then dig your way back out again.

Whether you’re a mystic or not, true spirituality requires the kind of work and self-discipline that Saturn loves and excels at. Even if you have sudden flashes of grace and bliss, you still have to do the work of integrating those insights into your life, and that takes time, effort, and sacrifice.

Saturn in Pisces is the perfect time to make a commitment to serious spiritual study, contemplation and meditation. Through discipline and self-mastery you can learn to surrender to the mystery of life and may experience a renewal of faith, even in the face of suffering or hard times. You may want to pour your compassion and sensitivity into service, and this may lead to a greater sense of meaning and connection with others.

However, the blurring of boundaries could lead you to ignore your limitations and give too much of yourself or sacrifice too much. In your desire to help everyone, you could end up feeling overwhelmed or burnt out. You could also fall into what the Buddhists call ‘idiot compassion’, where you keep helping someone who needs to learn for themselves or is clearly taking advantage.

Saturn may require you to take better care of yourself by maintaining good boundaries. You don’t need to be a martyr to your compassion for others and you may need to have more compassion for yourself and your own needs. Try to only take responsibility for what is truly yours to carry and remember you’re not a saint!

You may also need to watch out for spiritual bypassing and using spiritual practice to avoid real problems, whether inner or outer. The next few years could be depressing and you may be tempted to escape into trance states or ungrounded practices that feel good but don’t really help. Again, Saturn probably won’t let you get away with this for long, bringing you back to reality with a bump.

Saturn may also encourage you to question the types of spiritual practices you do or the beliefs that you have, especially some of the more outlandish fantasy-based ideas of the New Age. When faced with serious suffering, airy-fairy waffle isn’t going to cut it and won’t get you through a dark night.

This transit may see the end of many fake spiritual teachers and new age grifters, and a return to a more realistic spirituality grounded in truth. But again, what is the truth?

Saturn in Pisces may reveal that you don’t know what reality is and may not be able to handle the truth if you could see it. Perhaps the hardest truth to face is: You Can’t Handle the Truth!

This is why we live inside illusions and the stories we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better. Until one day, those stories collide with Reality and the truth of the illusion is revealed. So what is that truth?

“Brahman alone is real
The world is illusory
Brahman is the world”

This may be harder to accept than you think…

Resources for Saturn in Pisces

• The Saturn Neptune Cycle and the Dream of Reality
• Posts on Saturn in Pisces
• Resources for Surviving a Dark Night of the Soul
• The Mystic Warrior Practice series
• Free Your Pen – for writers but can be applied to any kind of creative work
• Excellent talk by Adam Elenbaas on Saturn in Pisces

Images: Rain; Fishing; Trees

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