SATURN STATIONS DIRECT
Saturn’s retrograde is over! This morning at 6:21 am Pacific Time, the ringed planet stationed direct at 12 degrees of Pisces.
Saturn went retrograde at the end of June 2024, so from our perspective here on earth it’s been traveling backwards for the last 4.5 months. Now it’s seemingly slowed to a stop and turned around, and will slowly resume its forward motion again. So a station is always a time when a planet pulls focus, and spends a long time influencing a particular degree of the zodiac.
Retrogrades are sort of like a vacation for planets; they simply operate differently than usual. Rather than plowing forward into new territory, they go back and retrace their steps. This makes retrogrades an excellent time for reflection, reevaluation, recuperation, recovery and rest. The biggest problem that tends to arise with retrogrades is when we don’t honor this reflective time, trying to go on with business as usual, and then wondering why our efforts aren’t working smoothly. Retrogrades remind us that growth isn’t linear, and that we all need rest and reflection in order to evolve.
So look back on the last few months - especially on the Saturnian themes of work, mission, consequences, boundaries, solitude and self-discipline. What insights can you harvest from this retrograde? What have you learned and how have you grown, even if that’s internal growth that only you can perceive? To jog your memory, you can review old journal entries, planning tools, or even social media archives. Rather than simply celebrating that the retrograde is over, forgetting it and moving on, I recommend putting this astrological event to good use through reflection - especially with Saturn, a planet that always rewards serious effort.
After integrating retrograde reflections, Saturn invites us to look ahead and plan for the coming months: the winter, the remainder of 2024, and the quickly approaching year of 2025 (starting with the Saturn-ruled seasons of Capricorn and Aquarius). Now we can more easily move forward with our work projects and various plans. We’re still in a darker portion of the year that invites us to rest and go inward. But now we can harness the forward motion of Saturn, the Lord of Time, to set goals and make long-term plans toward achieving them.
Let’s also remember that Saturn is currently in Pisces, until late May of 2025 (when it’ll complete a 29-year trip around the zodiac and enter the sign of Aries). Saturn in Pisces is one of the more paradoxical planet-sign combinations, since Saturn is all about reality and boundaries, and Pisces is all about visions and dissolving boundaries. A planet in the mutable water sign of Pisces tends to be difficult to grasp, to have soft and fuzzy edges, like a dreamy watercolor painting. But those diffuse clouds are colored by minerals from the ground, earthy like the planet Saturn, which supplies the pigments to bring those watery splotches into visible reality.
With the planet of Great Works in the sign of spiritual connection, we’re invited to put serious effort into our souls’ growth and progress. To stick to our practices with discipline and commitment. To use our tools to overcome obstacles, both internally and externally. To take the long view, patiently waiting and working toward our goals. As they say, smooth seas don’t make a skilled sailor - and Saturn is determined to build skill as it sails the zodiac sign of the sea.
Saturn and Pisces are both astrological symbols associated with solitude. Wise Saturn hides away in its magnificent rings, working tirelessly on its legacy. Sensitive Pisces often needs to retreat from the overstimulating world, finding enough peace and quiet to connect with spiritual dimensions and creative visions. So this transit invites us to consider the role of solitude in our lives. How much alone time are you getting? Too much? Not enough? Do you feel lonely and isolated, or do you simply enjoy your own company? Do you want to use your solitary time to work hard, or to do nothing at all and simply exist? What can you perceive and connect with when you’re alone in the silence? Remember that we’re all interconnected with each other, with the spirits all around us, with the inseparable consciousness and life of the cosmos of which we’re all a part. Saturn in Pisces encourages us to meditate on the archetype of the monk or nun, living a solitary life of spiritual commitment and working empathetically for the benefit of all.
Many of us have been distracted in recent months by the circus of the US presidential election. Now that the vote is over, it’s time for us to get to work. Our society is built to serve only a handful of the wealthiest individuals, so understandably, the rest of us are greatly dissatisfied with the status quo. Saturn asks us to roll up our sleeves and patiently dig into the work of community-building, prepping, and activism - each of us playing our parts, putting in effort to create a system that’s sustainable for the planet and for all of us. Pisces reminds us to envision the better future we’re creating, to dream a new world into being - highlighting an understanding of interconnectedness and compassion for all.
