Three things the Universe wants you to know about Saturn Retrograde 2023
Most people have heard of Mercury retrograde, whether they understand what it means or not. But Saturn Retrograde? What’s that all about?
Whenever a planet goes retrograde, it appears as though the planet is moving backwards in orbit from the vantage point of the Planet Earth. Just like when you’re stitting still in a lane of traffic and the other lanes start to move forward and you feel as though you’re moving backwards. You’re not, of course. It’s an optical illusion. Same for the planets– they never move backwards, it just appears that way for a certain amount of time. In this case, Saturn will be retrograde in the sign of Pisces from June 17, 2023 until November 4, 2023.
Great, but what does that mean for me?
This Saturn Retrograde in Pisces offers us a time to review what we’ve been moving through in our lives, specifically since March 7th of 2023, when Saturn entered Pisces for the first time in nearly 30 years (think back to 1994-1996 when Saturn was last in Pisces!). During this retrograde, Saturn will revisit the points between zero and seven degress in Pisces. To maximize the lessons being taught by this Master Teacher planet, it’s beneficial to be familiar with your personal astrological birth chart, as that will illuminate the planets, points and houses in which this retrograde is personally afffecting you (to learn how to ready your personal birth chart, click here). If this seem like a bunch of astrological mumbo jumbo, never fear– even without the specifics of your birth chart, you can still gain insight from Saturn’s Retrograde in Pisces.
Before we get started, it’s important to understand what Saturn and Pisces represent in the Astrological world (I highly encourage you to watch Molly McCord’s video below for a thorough explanation). Essentially, Saturn is the reality check of the astrological world. He likes to dole out harsh lessons on boundaries, order, efficiency and adjusting expectations. Pisces, by contrast, is the Zodiac sign known for being the dreamer, the mystic, the connection to emotions, death, rebirth and the underworld. And that’s where Saturn is currently hanging out and doing it’s retrograde thing.
Three Lessons:
After listening to Molly McCord’s explanation of this Saturn Retrograde, I’ve synthesized her teaching into three main lessons from which we can all benefit:
- Kaizen that shit!
- Let it flow, let it go!
- Embrace the void
1) Kaizen that shit!
A friend of mine introduced me to the Japanese word “kaizen” which I loosly translate as the art of bringing order and efficiency into your daily tasks and routines. Let me tell you, I have been living an anti-kaizen life recently. I can also say that there’s only so much chaos that I can tolerate in my physical world before I start to crack (which maybe happened a few weeks ago for me!). One of my favorite quotes from Gretchen Rubin is “outer order, inner calm” This is the first lesson that Saturn wants to teach us. Take a look at your closet, your garage, your junk drawers. Where can you bring order to your physical world?
For me, I had to have a serious “come to Jesus moment” with the chaos of my garage. It was slowly closing in on my car and my mental peace and something had to give. For me, I have trouble thinking when there is chaos surrounding me and since Saturn sits in Gemini in my third house of communication, I realized that this Saturn Retrograde was forcing the nudge for me to become more efficient in my outer world, so that I can be more efficient in my inner world. Although I still haven’t found my hammer, I am pleased to report that after a week of purging, organizing, and trips to the Goodwill, my garage is once again a calming place to enter at the end of the day.
Is there some shit that Saturn can help you “kaizen” in your world?
2) Let it Flow, Let it Go
Pisces is a water sign, and as such, it loves to go with the flow. Saturn is like the banks of a river, setting firm boundaries on an otherwise ever-expanding emotional aquatic energy. During this Saturn Retrograde in Pisces, Pisces is telling us that whatever Saturn is removing from our lives right now is for our best and highest good, even if it doesn’t feel that way. Which begs the question, how do you deal with letting things go?
When I look at my astrological chart, I don’t have many planets or points in the water signs (Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces), which means for me, it’s extra hard to let things go. Saturn in Pisces wants me to know that letting go doesn’t have to be painful. Instead, there is a beauty in allowing things to clear out from our lives in order to make space for something new.
Tomorrow I’ll be going to Paris, France with a group of students from Sage International High School. It’s my last hurrah as a high school French teacher and I couldn’t wish for a better group of students to travel and close out this chapter with! What I find particularly interesting right now is that the last time I was in Paris was in May of 2017, just weeks before moving to Boise, Idaho and getting hired as a French teacher at Sage. I remember floating down the river Seine on a rainy dinner cruise and when we passed the Notre Dame cathedral, there was an intuitive knowing that I would land that job at Sage. I did. And I have loved it and am so greatful for the incredible community of coworkers and students there. But now, six years later, it’s time to say goodbye to Sage and to move on to life’s next adventure for me.
This Friday night my students and I will be taking that same Seine river cruise. Pretty incredible how life works out, isn’t it? I’m once again floating down that river with an unknown future stretched out before me and I wonder what Notre Dame will have to tell me this time? With Saturn in Pisces, I plan to lean into the flow of the Universe as best as my Taurean nature know how. I’m grateful that I know what I’m being called to let go of, and I’m grateful for the full circle moment that the Universe is providing me.
What’s Pisces asking you to let go into the flow?
3) Embrace the Void
When we let go of personal items that clog our garage and closets, the empty space is a welcomed change. It’s a lot more challenging when we let go of a profession, or a relationship, or place of residence. No matter what we’re releasing, there is an empty space left behind. The void. How and where is Saturn in Pisces calling you to surrender to the mysteries of the unknown?
Back in November of 2021 I wrote a blog post called “Back into the Void” where I talked about my fear for the unknown and defined FEAR as Face Everything and Rise. The Void (the empty space of the unknown) has become a familiar place for me, but it never really looses its scary edge. In Rebecca Campbell’s Starseed Oracle deck, she writes this about the Void:
From The Starseed Oracle:
“The message of the Void is to surrender to the unknown. To allow the fertile darkness of nothingness to nourish the new seeds growing within you. Regardless of whether you know what they’ll one day become, you’re being called to surrender to the mystery of what’s next.”
It is not the absence of fear that makes one courageous, it’s the recognition of fear and facing it head on anyways, knowing that when you embrace the Void and await whatever new and beautiful thing/ person/ job/ location is coming to you, it will be even better than you imagined! We’re being called by these powerful planets of Saturn and Pisces to surrender, to sit in the womb of transformational change, to find comfort in the empty space knowing that the Universe has our back.
How are you being called to surrender? Are you willing to face the darkness, to embrace the cosmic womb of the Void?
Conclusion: Good Goes the Bye
There is so much happening energetically right now and it’s my sincere hope that these three lessons extracted from Molly McCord’s Saturn Retrograde in Pisces Energies podcast can help bring some sense to the un-ease that you may be experiencing. This is the time to review the events, the emotions, the stories that have transpired since March 7th of 2023. Particularly if you have points or planets in Saturn, Pisces, the water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) or the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo and Sagittarius), you are going to feel this retrograde more strongly. If you’d like to know more about your astrological birth chart, contact me to schedule a reading! I would be honored to help you along this path to greater self awareness.
The invitation of Saturn’s Retrograde in Pisces is to embrace the void, get into the flow of the present energies and kaizen your shit so that you’ll be ready when your seeds of intention have sprouted. This is your life and YOU have ulitmate control over how you choose to face the lessons that are being offered. How will you respond?
I always like to share a song to assist in the lesson being offered and there are so many great ones to choose from on this topic. Ultimately, however, I am going with Kelly Clarkson’s song “Good Goes the Bye“. It was introduced to me on a healing playlist that a friend shared with me when news of my impending divorce just became public. I’ve marveled at how the song grows with me and helps me through every release on my journey. I hope you will find comfort and inspiration in her lyrics too as you surrender to the goodbye.
Namaste
