Drink up! Saturn is in Pisces now.

 

We cannot help being thirsty,
moving toward the voice of water.
–Rumi (Coleman Barks)

The shifting times are taking us toward the voice of water. In a later stanza of the same poem, Rumi asks us to cleanse our ears and listen for something we haven’t heard before, which is perfect advice for this moment. Saturn is entering the oceanic-water sign of Pisces for the first time in 30 years.

After testing the floorboards of institutions and governments in grim and earthy Capricorn (from roughly 12/2017 to 12/2020), then stretching the social fabric all the way from social activism to social terrorism in air sign Aquarius (from 3/2020 to 3/2023), Saturn now enters water sign Pisces, the last stop of the zodiac.

Saturn is thirsty. And tired. Yet he can’t help himself. He likes to work and test limits wherever he goes. He drops his newly minted fins into Pisces’ ocean on March 7, 2023. With a gesturing hand he advises us to follow along. We have new work to do. Until February 2026, it’s time to build, re-structure, or polish and shine what’s invisible. We’re meant to work with intangible things, like creativity, emotions, spirituality, intuition, compassion, and dreams.

If you’re old enough, you can look back to what happened before, in 30-year increments. Saturn stays in a sign for about 2.5 years; at the edges, he dips back and forth between the next and previous signs, making the following dates mostly accurate:

 

• May 1993 to April 1996
• March 1964 to March 1967
• February 1935 to January 1938

 

What happened last time?

The past brings clues—though we’re always new—individually and collectively. The past is only predictive when we don’t grow. Yet the themes will repeat. That’s because growth always goes in spiral directions. If you study your past experience with any transit, be sure to also study how much you’ve grown since then.

For your backward (and forward) glance, start by looking at notable events and circumstances through the Pisces lens. Factor into your contemplation the part of your chart where Pisces falls. This might be one or two houses, depending on the degrees of your house cusps. In my chart, all but a few degrees of Pisces fall into my 7^th house of relationships.

Saturn made me grow

During Saturn’s last transit through Pisces, it was a relationship that profoundly restructured my inner seas. I went from whatever I was before—to becoming a mother, a transformation unlike all others. During the first three years of Branden’s life, I was drawn into new depths of emotion—nectars I’d never tasted. New delights, fears, angers and strengths were revealed to me. It was not easy. There were days I felt like a werewolf in her first transition, bones twisting and snapping painfully into new positions. True to Saturn, it was hard work!

I also struggled with my significant other, Branden’s father. Bill and I were living together when Saturn entered Pisces. By transit’s end, we were co-parenting from separate domiciles at opposite ends of the valley. Astrologers typically say of Saturn transiting the 7^th, a significant relationship will end—or re-commit. But actually, surprisingly, I got both results. The distance made us a better family. And now, a full Saturn cycle later, we can say that we’ve spent nearly every family holiday together ever since. Branden says he loves the odd way that he grew up.

It’s only now I see how my Pisces pattern stretches further back, to the prior transit, when I was in my teens. That’s when my parents’ marriage got so bad it ended in divorce, which like a china plate thrown against the wall, forever broke our difficult family. So—spirals for me. In the 90’s, I experienced both the marital conflict of my childhood and the grace of a better outcome. I wonder what this new transit will bring!

Pisces is an odd sign for Saturn. He typically prefers working above ground in full view, setting a fine example for others. He’s the guy with gumption and impressive goals. He likes telling everyone else what to do. It’s wise to call on him whenever you want to get ahead, get things in order, or under control. The ultimate realist, he’s cautious, strategic, thorough, and stoical. He’s the energy inside bones, mountains, skyscrapers, governments, corporate boardrooms, museums, and sturdy shoes.

But now put him in water. He starts to dissolve. He could confuse you. If you don’t adjust your forward motion, you might feel lost or stuck in mud. He could care less about your outer success. He’s  inviting you to restructure the very expression of your soul. This is your once–in–a–30–year opportunity, to draw closer to your innermost self. Usually, you don’t have to wonder long where Saturn is standing. He shows up wherever your life feels ambitious, pressured or hard.  Find that edge in your life. Sit there and feel for the spacious wordlessness within. What it is that you’re thirsting for?

With Saturn in Pisces, you have 2.5 years to make an important dream come true. What are you willing to do? Which Saturn offerings of work and discipline are you willing to make?

Here are a few suggestions to start your own thinking:

• Practice deep-water breathing; learn how to navigate through difficult emotions like sorrow, helplessness, loneliness, and shame.
• Consecrate yourself to something meaningful. Practice devotion—to a cause, to a project, to your well-being, to a deity.
• Manifest something you desire. Use the practicality of Saturn and the magic of Pisces to improve your life in wondrous ways.
• Meditate. I meet more people who wished they meditated than ones who actually do. Here’s your chance to call your own bluff. Use this Saturn interval in Pisces to go to the mind gym. Learn how to tame your mind, while falling more deeply in love with yourself. The signs your meditation is working are equanimity and bliss.

But you have to work at it.  That’s where Saturn comes in.  Enjoy the swim.