Saturn Retrograde Returns to Pisces: The Architect Who Returned to the Swamp
How Saturn's journey back into Pisces is editing us all—and why it's not a setback, but a collective post-production.
There's a scene in Tarkovsky's film Stalker that explains it all: three men venture into “The Zone,” a place where the laws of physics are mere suggestions and deepest desires materialize in tortuous ways. They advance cautiously, but the path there is not the same as the path back. The landscape reconfigures itself behind them. To return is not to retreat; it is to enter new territory with the same old eyes.
That is exactly what Saturn is doing.
For the past two years and until May 2025, Saturn, our god of time—our internal architect, our reality detector—has been wandering through Pisces. Imagine a surveyor in a grey suit in the middle of an ocean. His job was to chart the unchartable: to learn the laws of the tide, faith, dreams, and everything that resists taking a fixed form. He learned that sometimes, the most solid structure is knowing when to surrender to the flow.
Then, on May 24th, he stepped onto solid ground. He entered Aries. He shook off the water, adjusted his tie, and said: “Enough flowing. Now it's time to build.”
Build what? Aries is the terrain of inception, of the first impulse, of the “I exist.” And Saturn, here, is not content with a simple start: he wants to give shape and structure to that spark. It's not enough to light the flame; one must learn to sustain it. It is the discipline in the affirmation of the Self, the constancy to turn initiative into a foundation.
It was a gasp of air after much swimming. But Saturn does not walk a straight line. His method always includes retracing his steps. That's why, in mid-July, he began his retrograde in Aries, and on September 1st, he crosses the border back into Pisces. He will remain there until February 13, 2026, reviewing everything learned in shifting waters, before returning to Aries until April 2028.
And the question that echoes is: is this a setback?
No. This is post-production.
Saturn in Aries filmed the movie of your new identity, your new boundaries, your “I can do it alone.” But something didn't fit. The edit was too abrupt. It lacked texture, atmosphere, layers. So the director has decided to return to the editing room.
What does it feel like in this intermission? A slight disorientation, like when you step out of the cinema into the daylight. The feeling that the project you started with so much impetus now seems... incomplete. It lacks soul. A strange nostalgia for something that has no name. It's not for the past. It's for a depth you knew existed but forgot to include in your plan.
It's not that you “failed.” It's that you realized that building on terrain you didn't fully understand was a poor strategy. The internal architect needs to review the hydraulic blueprints before laying the foundations.
The journey is not a waste of time. The journey is the shortcut. It is returning to the second act with information from the third.
And this return of Saturn to Pisces isn't happening in an empty sky. It is part of a collective movement where several major planets are adjusting the script simultaneously. This is not just a metaphor. It is the organic literalness of the moment.
Neptune retrograde in Aries dissolves the myth of the solitary hero. It invites us to review which battles we fight from fantasy and which from true inspiration.
Pluto retrograde in Aquarius dismantles systems based on centralization. It is the force that regenerates the collective, speaking to us of technology, communities, and social systems mutating in silence.
Uranus direct in Gemini is the engine of rapid change in communication. Forcing us to think differently, to let go of old logics.
Jupiter direct in Cancer expands the terrain of the intimate and the familiar. It reminds us that true abundance lies in nurturing our roots.
In this way, Saturn is not alone on its journey. The Piscean revision of personal structures happens at the same time as Neptune questions the myths of the self, Pluto reprograms the collective, Uranus opens new languages, and Jupiter strengthens the heart of the intimate.
Looking at the sky as a whole, we understand that Saturn is not editing this film alone.
Neptune in Aries reviews the myth of the hero.
Pluto in Aquarius dismantles the collective sets.
Uranus in Gemini changes the script on every page.
Jupiter in Cancer reminds us that the story only makes sense if it preserves the intimate.
It is not a linear narrative. It is a choral montage. Saturn returns to the editing room with its blueprints under its arm, but the final cut depends on everyone.
And there we return to Tarkovsky: the Zone was not a place to find answers, but to discover with what eyes we look at the question.
When Saturn returns to Aries in 2026, it will not be a simple return: it will be the premiere of an extended version, where every scene will bear the mark of the invisible and the shared.
The movie has already been filmed. Now, in the penumbra of the editing room, we hear the film reels breathing. And we know that when the lights come on, we will see a story unlike any other: our own, written among all the stars.
So what do we do in the meantime? How does one walk on terrain that reconfigures itself?
The key is not to submit to these transits, but to learn their language and choose how to dance with them. Because this energy is not lived the same way by everyone, and therein lies its organic beauty.
For those who feel in their element (Pisces):
The swimmers, the poets, the daydreamers. This is not their moment to do, but to deepen. Their opportunity is to dive into that nameless nostalgia and bring back images, symbols, songs that will later become the soul of the projects born in Aries. Their attitude: surrender to the internal edit. Trust that letting go of control is not wasting time; it is allowing the story to be rewritten from a truer place.
For those who miss the action (Aries):
Those who need to move, decide, build. Their challenge is to learn the architect's strategy: before raising the wall, one studies the terrain. Their opportunity is to use this forced pause for tests, mock-ups, rehearsals. That project? Design it on paper, not in concrete. That boundary? Test it in small conversations before declaring it loudly. Their attitude: precision over power. Action becomes internal: edit, refine, adjust the aim.
For everyone, without exception, there are three possible gestures:
Map the nostalgia: Instead of ignoring that strange pang, ask it: what do you miss that you never had? It won't be a person or a place, but a quality: slowness, meaning, connection, magic. That quality is the blueprint Saturn went to fetch in Pisces. It is what your Aries construction needs to include.
Edit an old belief: Neptune in Aries dissolves stories. What is your "personal myth" that no longer rings true? "I have to do it alone," "I must be the strongest," "If I don't fight, I sink." Choose one and let it dissolve. Don't replace it with another rigid belief. Leave the space empty. Dissolution is not a void: it is a new freedom.
Ask a question instead of giving an answer: Uranus in Gemini is about curiosity, not certainty. Pluto in Aquarius is about reinvention, not revolution. The next time you feel the urge to assert "this is JUST HOW I AM," ask yourself: "What if, just this once, I tried being a different way?" Power now lies not in affirmation, but in interrogation.
We are not spectators. We are the main characters and the editors of our own storyline. The transits are not the script; they are the narrative weather report. Rain for some, sun for others, wind for almost everyone.
The opportunity is not to "harness" the energy, but to collaborate with it. It is not a duty. It is a possibility.
Do you want to build? Build upon what you learned while swimming.
Do you want to swim? Swim toward the shore where what you want to build awaits you.
The journey out has already been made. This is the journey back. And as in Stalker, we return laden not with answers, but with new ways of looking at the question.
Thank you