Hey Saturn in Pisces Folks,
Welcome to Your First Saturn Return!
Saturn is leaving the zodiac sign of Aquarius and entering Pisces: March 7, 2023
Saturn’s final exit from Pisces for this cycle is February 14, 2026. So, about 3 years of Saturn Return for people with Saturn in Pisces in their natal chart.
Who has Saturn in Pisces in their natal astrological chart:
People born during between May 1993 and April 1996 will mostly have Saturn in Pisces in their natal chart. At the time of writing, y’all will be ages 26–29.
May 21, 1993, through Jun 30, 1993 —> Saturn in Pisces
Jun 30, 1993, through Jan 28, 1994 —> Saturn in Aquarius
Jan 28, 1994, through Apr 7, 1996 —> Saturn in Pisces
Additionally, most people born between March 1964 and March 1967 will be experiencing their second Saturn Return, people currently ages 56–59.
Mar 23, 1964, through Sep 16, 1964 —> Saturn in Pisces
Sep 16, 1964, through Dec 16, 1964 —> Saturn in Aquarius
Dec 16, 1964, through Mar 3, 1967 —> Saturn in Pisces
And I suppose most of those born between February 1935 and January 1938 will be in their third Saturn Return. Ages 85–88.
Feb 14, 1935, to Apr 25, 1937 —> Saturn in Pisces
Apr 25, 1937, to Oct 17, 1937 —> Saturn in Aries
Oct 17, 1937, to Jan 14, 1938 —> Saturn in Pisces
What is a Saturn Return?
This is a notable astrological cycle that happens about every 28-30 years. When Saturn completes a full cycle around the zodiac chart and re-enters the zodiac sign it was in when you were born, we call it your Saturn Return.
For many people, passing through a Saturn Return is an experience of deep maturation. If you’ve ever heard that real adulthood starts in your 30’s, this is likely why.
A Saturn Return is a period of deep growth, of addressing long-standing challenges, and of major life changes.
What is Saturn about?
Limiting things—Imposing Structural Limits
In astrology, Saturn represents structure and limitations. It’s like Saturn imposes a filter on an area of life that forces it to be more efficient if it wants to survive. It’s time to shape up. The difficulty increases for the aspects of life connected to the zodiac sign that Saturn is in.
Saturn’s limits are not just in your head. These are real world circumstances that force limitations and shape your experience. For example, as Saturn entered the sign of Aquarius in March 21, 2020, much of the world entered lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
These limits and issues don’t come out of nowhere. Problems that have been building up gradually in the world will come to a head during a Saturn transit. This will be the time when unaddressed problems will fire up and demand attention.
What is Pisces about?
Connection, Togetherness, Unity, Shared Emotional Experience
Music! Art! And other social tools of emotional expression.
Faith, Spirituality, Higher Purpose, Soul Searching
Dreams and Visions, Mysticism
(The feeling aspect of these, not the ideological components.)
And to an extent, Religion, as it relates to the above.
Pisces is the mutable water sign of the zodiac, ruled by Jupiter (traditionally) and co-ruled by Neptune (modern), and the last sign of the zodiac cycle.
Saturn arriving here indicates challenges and limits on these aspects of life.
Saturn brings new challenges, but also brings a seriousness and readiness to address the challenges and make structural changes to our approach.
Some of my predictions for the world during this Saturn in Pisces transit:
Faith crises:
Personally, I am anticipating a lot of religious scandals to come to light that may bring a crisis of faith for many new people. I perceive this to be building up as a social undercurrent already, and it’s the sort of challenge I’d expect of Saturn. My expectation about this is also related to Pluto’s movement (see Pluto section below). Circumstances may put a strain on people’s ability to access spiritual connection. Illusions about spirituality may crumble in the face of reality. Religions and conservative media will likely use a new extreme of fear-mongering in an attempt to distract from scandal and control doubts.
There could also be a rise in religious movements that are fairly devoid of emotional and spiritual connection, as if people don’t trust their feelings. Or potentially an increase in piety in an attempt to reconnect to something that feels gone at the moment. Lots of changes in faith and spirituality overall.
Humanity’s purpose on the planet, spiritual relationship to nature especially as it relates to climate change:
There will probably also be a lot of spiritual challenges related to nature and climate change, and dealing with the existential feelings related to that. We may think more deeply about our spiritual relationship to climate change, not only the practical problems of it. Perhaps we will find ourselves looking to indigenous cultures for wisdom on building a holistic relationship to the land. Maybe we will take another look at the hippie movement of the 60s (a Saturn in Pisces period) and see what was effective about it. There may be movements that attempt to develop a more serious spiritual relationship to nature.
Challenges to Art:
There will likely major tone shifts in all art industries, music especially. Probably a shift towards something more serious and emotionally expressive of harsh realities. Also related might be the new AI tools effecting art and expression. Dealing with the question: what is the purpose of art and creative expression? Perhaps it’s time to rethink the cultural tendencies to consider art as content, something consumable and always for sale.
I am also noticing in myself, a lower tolerance for vapid, time-wasting art and content. I have been wanting to engage with content that has a spiritual purpose.
Even more therapy:
More people delving deep into their experience. Probably an increased interest in therapies using hypnosis, psychedelics, and EMDR approaches. A move away from intellectualizing experiences and moving towards dealing with emotional experience. People seeking real and substantial changes to their emotional experience.
These are just some of my personal predictions. There will be many more Pisces challenges that I haven’t personally noticed or thought of.
What does it mean if you have natal Saturn in Pisces? what to expect…
As Saturn in Pisces natives, you may have seen some of these problems coming. You Saturn in Pisces folks have already faced this sort of thing throughout your life. Questions of meaning, purpose, and connection are already in your awareness.
You may be called on by your family and community to help others navigate such things. You might feel particularly ready for it. Or maybe particularly vulnerable to it, depending on the rest of your chart.
If you have inborn psychic or spiritual gifts, they may become more active and require more attention. If you have artistic pursuits, you may end up finding a deeper purpose in them and take them more seriously. If you have religious or spiritual beliefs, you may be driven to dig deeper.
It is common to go through a lot of major life changes during your Saturn return. Often, changes for the better, but changes due to unavoidable circumstances embedded in your experience. If you have a difficult natal Saturn position, this may be a time to seek out more resources, to challenge yourself in seeking better support and connection, to notice and redirect negative patterns in your life.
You are theoretically more prepared than others for this Saturn transit. Something that has always been a challenge area for you is going to be more challenging for the whole world for a few years. You might see people struggle for the first time with something you’ve always known was hard. This might be a good time to step up to the plate and lead, or experiment with new solutions. You may develop some new understandings of your role in life and of your passions and purpose.
Saturn can seem like a cruel master, but it also teaches you how to fight for things. It teaches how to make things last. And how to let go of what isn’t working.
This is a time for endurance. And know that it won’t always be like this—in fact, there is a set end date. Hold strong and learn what you can. Progress made during this time should be more lasting and impactful on your future.
A planet in your natal chart is an energetic pattern that is carried with you. There are other energetic patterns that you carry, separate from this, so it doesn’t account for everything. But it does predict how you experience and handle that area of life, in an archetypal way.
Looking at your own Saturn position
If you know your birth time, you can check which astrological house Saturn is in and which astrological house or houses Pisces spans. This will indicate more about which areas of your own life are particularly effected by Saturn. Your birth time will give you the most personalized information.
Even without knowing your time of birth, checking the chart for your day of birth will give you more information. Planets with significant angles (astrology calls these “aspects”) to Saturn will be relevant to your experience of Saturn. If you have other planets in Pisces besides Saturn, you may be even more effected by this Saturn Return than others. The angles of other planets in your chart in relation to Saturn will also have an impact on how your Saturn is expressed and felt.
Also, if your ascendant/rising sign is Pisces, or Capricorn or Aquarius (the Saturn ruled signs), you may have a deep shift in your personal expression and identity during your Saturn Return.
There are many free sites which you can use to generate a free natal chart and report. Look at the house of Saturn in your chart (if you have your birth time) and at any significant aspects of other planets to Saturn (conjuctions, oppositions, squares, trines, sextiles). A quick search engine query about an aspect to Saturn will pull up many articles about potential expressions of that Saturn aspect.
Try a report from Café Astrology or Astrotheme and look at your Saturn position, house, and aspects.
https://astro.cafeastrology.com/natal.php
https://www.astrotheme.com/horoscope_chart_sign_ascendant.php
These generic reports are very helpful and give a good sense of the basics of astrology. Where they currently fall short compared to an experienced astrologer is how a generic report lacks the capacity to judge the balance of competing energetic tendencies, to discern an overall life narrative, and to account for different types of astrological techniques simultaneously. In sum, they lack discerning judgment, which you’ll notice if you see contradictory descriptions reading through a report.
HEADS UP ABOUT INCOMING PLUTO CHANGES
Another major, uh, “malefic” planet, Pluto, is changing signs. Pluto is moving from Capricorn (where is has been notably messing with our economy, industries, and infrastructure) into Aquarius on March 23, 2023. These two planetary shifts do not typically sync up, Saturn and Pluto. I expect it to be quite complicating, but well-needed. There will be new Aquarius-related changes that will effect us all.
Saturn has just finished passing through Aquarius, so think back through the last three years (March 2020–March 2023) and how much has changed, especially in terms of systems of belief and ideas. Pluto moves much more slowly and can be much less abrupt, but the changes it brings are complete. Pluto is the unraveller, bringing true endings and rebirths to things that are unsustainable.
Pluto will be in Aquarius (mostly) until 2043 when it moves to Pisces. So we have 20 years of incoming changes to our societal values.
The sign of Aquarius is the fixed air sign, and is more about ideologies, the communities formed around shared purposes (not shared feelings, so things like schools, governments, communal spaces), and technology and futurism. Whereas Pisces is more about the feelings and emotional experiences of groups, Aquarius is about our values and the ideas that structure our world.
I’m planning a full article on Pluto in Aquarius coming soon.
Also in the works is an article looking back at Pisces in Saturn in the 90s.
I have only been studying astrology since Jan 2022, so check out these articles by more established astrologers:
Astrologer and author Chani Nicholas’s article: What You Need to Know About Saturn in Pisces
Writer Amara Amaryah‘s article: Mid-90s Babies, It’s Time To Prep (And Not Freak Out) For Your Saturn Return In Pisces
If you’d like a personal consultation from me about your natal chart, about Saturn’s role in your own life, or just discuss an astrological worldview—
I am still setting this up properly, and hoping to be available for booking by April.
Most of the astrologers I follow are very booked up but I can recommend the UK-based astrologer and mystic James Burgess and I presume any astrologer on this list of astrologers by The Astrology Podcast’s Chris Brennan would be very appropriate for a personal consultation.
The excellent Adam Elenbass creates daily forecasting information and astrological breakdowns on youtube:
James Burgess and Julia Sophia on Saturn in Pisces:
Additional Reference:
Dates of Saturn in Signs by Cafe Astrology. https://cafeastrology.com/natal/saturn-signs.html
