Cosmic Insights

Saturn in Pisces: Fact Versus Fiction

Feb 28, 2023

March 7th, 2023 - January 26th, 2026

With Saturn moving into Pisces, things are about to get strange.

The boundaries that define our consensus reality are about to become muddled and blurred, making it harder to discern fantasy from reality, truth from deception and fact from fiction.

Combine all this with the Pluto in Aquarius AI situation, and we might have a bizarre mess on our hands.

That being said, Saturn in Pisces isn’t all bad. This is one of the best influences for merging the seen and unseen realms and grounding our dreams into reality. Saturn in Pisces brings form to the formless.

Saturn: The Great Retractor

While it may be tempting to “blame” Saturn for the various challenges, restrictions, and overall unpleasantness that may come up in the coming months and years during its transit through Pisces, that simply isn’t how Saturn works. Saturn is a reap-what-you’ve-sewn energy that only brings forward the results of what we’ve created through our thoughts, behavior and direct actions over the last seven, fourteen, or even 28-30 years.

Saturn often gets a bad reputation (and rightfully so) due to its connection to rules, regulations, restrictions, endings, losses, death and depression. Saturn transits are notorious for bringing those extra hard-to-learn “lessons” in responsibility, self-discipline and self-restraint.

However, this dark planet of enforced boundaries isn’t all bad. Saturn’s “lessons” serve an essential purpose.

Saturn brings form to the formless. It’s what makes our reality real. When Saturn transits any area of the birth chart, it tests our foundations to ensure they are rock solid. Saturn firms up the structures that are already time-tested and strong to ensure they stand up to the test of time. It demands that we approach our issues rationally and take care of problems the right way, not the easy or fast way.

Saturn is all about delayed gratification and lasting results.

Saturn in Pisces: The Devil’s in the Details

Pisces is a mutable water sign, meaning that it’s the least stable, most adaptable, and most impressionable sign of the entire Zodiac. While Saturn rules boundaries, Pisces is boundaryless.

Saturn in Pisces is all about integrating seen and unseen realities. It’s about cultivating a deep understanding of natural law and the spiritual underpinnings of the universe and sorting out a way of harnessing that knowledge in our everyday life. It’s about mapping out the invisible threads of interconnectedness that permeate our experience and making practical use of a more profound understanding of all that is.

While the ultimate goal of Saturn in Pisces is to accept, understand, and learn to work with the boundaries between the fantastical and the tangible, accomplishing this goal won’t happen without a certain level of difficulty.

It is Saturn, after all.

Saturn is the “Great Malefic,” bringing hardship, limitations, and losses.

Pisces, at its worst, can become overly malleable, floaty and downright aimless. Connected with the problematic influence of Saturn, Pisces can also represent an absolute disconnect from concrete reality.

Saturn dictates consensus reality, corresponding with the agreed-upon rules, standards, and perceptions the majority adheres to. Pisces represents our relationship with what lies beyond the boundaries of consensus reality.

With Saturn in Pisces, many will find the harsh realities of the tangible world too heavy a load to bear. They will choose a more comfortable escape into fantasy, delusion, spiritual bypass and substance abuse. At its worst, Saturn in Pisces may manifest as increased psychiatric issues, especially conditions involving psychosis.

Pisces is also a sign of lies and deception. With Saturn moving into Pisces, the masses become less discerning and more gullible. During this transit, it may become much easier to fool people into a false sense of security or get them fired up on behalf of less-than-noble causes under false pretenses.

Similarly, Saturn in Pisces can cultivate a false-savior mentality in which people are more than willing to give up responsibility for their choices, actions and behaviors to a higher power or false guru. In my recent webinar, Navigating the Astrology of 2023, I did a historical dive into the energy surrounding increased cult activity that seems to strengthen during Saturn-in-Pisces transits.

On a more mundane level, Pisces rules medications as well as poisons. With Saturn in Pisces, we may see increased pressure around regulating both.

Pisces also rules water, the Earth’s oceans, and marine life. Combine this with its connection to poisons and Saturn’s deadly influence, which could be a recipe for ecological disaster. This correspondence already began as Saturn was ingressing into the most nebulous sign of the Zodiac in the form of a rather nebulous and nefarious situation involving a train derailment and the intentional burning of toxic chemicals in Ohio.

With Saturn transiting Pisces, the devil is in the details. When a planet expresses itself through the energy of Pisces, it becomes murky, ambitious, shadowy and imprecise. Important details become lost in the cloudy Piscean waters, and critical objective truths are neglected.

Navigating the two-and-a-half-year transit of Saturn in Pisces requires understanding and accepting the boundary between the imaginary and the real, which can be a difficult challenge to take on—especially in the beginning. Early disappointments and betrays can lead to pessimism and hopelessness, but only if we allow it.

Committing ourselves to the hard work and discipline required to pursue a creative, spiritual or compassionate undertaking is one of the best uses of Saturn in Pisces. Creating magic in the material world and bringing form to the formless requires sacrifice, responsibility, discernment, and constant adaptation and adjustment. If we commit ourselves to the task, I believe this transit has a happy ending.

Ready to understand how Saturn in Pisces will impact you, more personally, over these next 2.5 years? Check out my extended forecast for Saturn in Pisces in all 12 Zodiac signs below! (Make sure to listen for your Rising, Sun, and Moon signs to get a more holistic overview of the unique impact of Saturn in Pisces in your life!)

Additional, Detailed Insight Into Saturn in Pisces

Saturn in Pisces: The Main Events

Saturn Enters Pisces—March 7th, 2023
Jupiter sextile Saturn—June 19th, 2023
Mars opposing Saturn—July 20th, 2023
Jupiter in Gemini square Saturn—August 19, 2024; December 24, 2024; June 15th, 2025
Saturn sextile Uranus—April 4th, 2025; August 12th, 2025; January 20th, 2026
Saturn enters Aries—May 24th, 2025
Saturn re-enters Pisces—September 1st, 2025
Saturn FULLY enters Aries—February 13th, 2026

Saturn through the Pisces Decans

Pisces I—March 7th, 2023 through March 1st, 2024

The first decan of Pisces is ultra-mutable and ruled by Jupiter (modern/Vedic) and Saturn (traditional/Hellenistic). During this time, there’s an increased focus on discovering and understanding natural law. During Saturn’s transit through these first ten degrees of Pisces, the potential for escapism and delusion is most potent as people are more willing to abandon reality in pursuit of a deeper connection to the unseen world.

Pisces II—March 2nd, 2024 through February 22nd, 2025

The second decan of Pisces is more cardinal in nature. It’s ruled by the Moon (modern/Vedic) and Jupiter (traditional/Hellenistic). This decan is all about balancing and integrating spiritual energies with the material. While Saturn transiting the first decan of Pisces can dissolve boundaries, becoming disconnected and aimless, Saturn in the second decan is geared toward learning to accept and work with the boundaries between the physical and non-physical realms.

Pisces III—February 22nd, 2025 through February 13th, 2026

The third decan of Pisces is more fixed in nature. Mars rules this decan in both modern and traditional astrology. Saturn transiting this decan represents an ambitious quest to ground our dreams and fantasies into concrete reality. It’s an uncompromising energy that can lead to inevitable disappointment when this process is rushed. Sacrifices must be made, and hard work must be put in so that, over time, something of value can be created.

Written by Heather Eland