Saturn in Pisces:Working with Grief

Now that Saturn has arrived in Pisces, I’m able to take what my brain knows about the transit and start to merge it with how the energy feels. So I'm here to riff a bit. You can hear more about my take on this podcast episode, through the recording of my Astrology of 2023 lecture, or the recorded Saturn in Pisces AstroCircle.

We have reached a moment when Saturn -- planet of structure, linear time, maturation, limitation and crystallization -- is returning to the watery depths of the Piscean abyss. 

Two images keep coming to mind when I think about this combination. Many years ago, I was visiting the northern part of the Washington coast. In this part of the world, the ocean is permanently wild and tumultuous and the beaches are rocky and treacherous to the (Aquarian) ankle. I’ve had to adjust to the notion that the Washington coast, unlike the typically placid shores of the Gulf of California where I spent so much time growing up, there is no swimming in this ocean. It is too cold. Dramatic. Rip tides are common. Sneaker waves reach out without warning to pull you in. 

Point being that during aforementioned visit, I became acutely aware of the majestic intensity of the ocean pounding away at rocks over time... The slow polishing of stones in a river... 

I also keep thinking about deep sea diving. The containment and gear necessary for a human body to enter the depths of the ocean. Past a certain point, scuba gear fails and deep sea researchers need vessels equipped to handle the pressure. And there are some depths to which humans can’t journey. We send robots with cameras.

Saturn deals with material reality. Pisces with the ultimate. When this life is done, we return to the abyss. 

The shift of Saturn into Pisces is remarkable for several reasons, one of which is that for the last 5-6 years, Saturn has been traveling through its home signs of Aquarius and Capricorn, and therefore strong. We live in a highly Saturnian world, and the initial shift of Saturn into Aquarius coincided with global lockdown. We were confronted with the necessity of having actual physical walls between us. 

We were also confronted with the ways some of our social safety nets (Aquarius) were up to the task, while others were not. Saturn can bring cold, hard reality checks. During its time in Aquarius, much of which was squaring the lunar nodes, issues of mental health came front and center. To say that isolation, not to mention global pandemic and a multitude of other intensely leaden and difficult realities, took a toll is an understatement. 

One of the many manifestations of Saturn in Pisces can be seen as a response to Saturn in Aquarius. Where Saturn in Aquarius isolated and compartmentalized, building containers within and without, Pisces is the deluge that knocks down those sea walls. 

In that, what was once contained can begin to flow. What was once cordoned off can be overwhelmed. 

I have created a lot of different offerings around the theme of Saturn in Pisces, but as I have tried to figure out how to zero in on a particular aspect of it, I keep coming back to a topic near and dear to my heart: grief work.

One of the questions I ask myself often is: How do you keep an open heart while also being awake to the realities of this world? I’m definitely a lover and feeler of the whole “unbearable lightness of being” thing, but this world pushes that way past the edges of comfort all the time. To be deeply feeling during this time is to be continuously confronted with the ebbs and flows of grief, pain, anger and just how poignant life can be.

My point, in all of this is that Saturn’s transit through Pisces is a time when creating containers for grief work would be extraordinarily helpful. And necessary. And worthwhile. And supported.

Just as Saturn can get overwhelmed and broken apart at the bottom of the ocean, it can also create vessels that can hold the waters of life. The chalice. The cup. The therapy session. The grief ritual. Saturn is our scuba gear.

Using astrology consciously allows us to participate in the mystery of the cosmos, illuminating ways that we can consciously work with the energies, supporting the interplays of fate and free will. When we can look at a transit and see its difficulties, we can also see its life-enhancing potentials. Whereas Saturn can be heavy and depressing, it can also fortify and strengthen. Whereas Pisces can leave us feeling hopeless and dissolute, it can also remind us of the beauty of interconnection, compassion and empathy. 

As the two interact, there is the potential that emotions begin to move within us that have been stuck for quite some time. So... how do we hold that possibility without fearing it? Preparation is usually helpful. Spiritual connection. Relationship. Support. 

Pisces and Saturn each have their own mechanisms of denial. Pisces clings to fantasy, dons the rose colored glasses, idealizes, dissociates and escapes. 

Saturn avoids through repression and containment or compartmentalization, building stoic walls between the harsher realities and the need to keep going. 

Neither is inherently bad. We need doses of escape and indulgence in fantasy. Compartmentalization is a handy helper when emotions are big and you have to Get Shit Done. Saturn can contain overwhelm. 

Regardless, we are reaching the three year anniversary of a global pandemic that has had significant impacts on the emotional, mental and physical health of millions. Some of us need more support in that than others. I am feeling attuned to the potential for taking responsibility for working through what emerges at the same time as I am aware of the increased potentials for avoidance, escape and denial. 

And then there is the grief. My favorite teachings come from the work of Joanna Macy -- The Work That Reconnects. These teachings remind me that in order to move forward and be able to even envision and then move towards a more life-enhancing and supportive civilization, I have to honor my pain for what has and is happening. 

This is where I also remember that Saturn is also about legacy. Thinking in terms of the legacy we leave -- not only for the generations being born today, but for those 1000 years down the line -- helps to create a framework for engagement with the world around us.  A push towards accountability and maturation; doing what needs to be done. In this case, for some of us, I do believe that will be dealing with our complex emotional realities.

Pisces lends itself to recognition of what needs to be felt,  surrendered, sacrificed or forgiven. At its heart, it reminds us of the indomitable power of compassion and empathy. 

Ah. Working towards and leaving behind a legacy of compassion and empathy. What better work is there?

Amanda is a queer astrologer who is very into relational, evolutionary and psychological astrologies. You can support her work — and get rad incentives like monthly AstroCircles, New Moon ritual guidance and one on one sessions — on Patreon.