March Horoscopes, Saturn in Pisces, Pluto in Aquarius
Augustin Lesage.
Art this month is by mediums and artists directed by spirit, making visible the invisible realms.
March is the most important month of 2023 astrologically: two serious, heavy duty outer planets are changing signs. But before we even get to that, let’s talk about the glorious conjunction of Venus and Jupiter visible in the night sky right now. They come together exactly on the night of 1-2 March, but this lucky conjunction is already casting its influence. It does happen once a year, but this time it’s been spectacular. Look directly West in the evening sky.
Historic Changes
First Saturn, the furthest planet known to the ancients, dweller on the threshold, keeper of boundaries, moves into boundless, watery Pisces on 7 March, for his first visit here since 1996.
Then on 23 March, Pluto steps indecisively into Aquarius, going no further than 0° of that sign, testing that dry, icy landscape for the first time since 1798. Pluto retreats back into Capricorn in early June,, but this is the first rumbling of the revolution that is to come. To put things in perspective, Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008, the year of the Credit Crunch, so we are now on the cusp of leaving an era defined by the planet of wealth, Pluto, in the sign of hierarchy, Capricorn. Think of the 1%. Pluto’s exit is not smooth or easy. It takes until the end of 2024 before he actually gets into Aquarius for good. There is a lot of to and fro before then, or maybe a lot of business to finish off.
The previous period of Pluto in Aquarius (1777-1798) was in the West marked by ideas-led revolutionary wars in Europe, the United States and Haiti, including the Batavian Revolution in the Netherlands and the Irish Rebellion of 1798. This is what historian label a “revolutionary wave”, which was to ripple through the following century, spreading ideas of the Enlightenment such as democracy, equality and human rights around the globe.
In India, it’s notable that the vast, philosophy-imbued Sikh Empire was founded during this period. Among Sikhisms most distinctive features is its recognition of the validity of other faiths.
For context, during this period the Qing Dynasty in China was coming to an end. One-third of the entire population of the planet was under their rulership, as well as the world’s single biggest economy. They too had a strong rebellion to suppress. The White Lotus Rebellion (1794-1904) led by a martial arts expert and herbal doctor grew out of secret meditation societies, and discontent with high taxation. Eventually, at least 100,000 rebels were put to death and the government prevailed, but the massive disruption left the country vulnerable to the growing threat from the West.
Saturn and his Returns
So after that gripping historical digression, let’s get back to March 2023, and the meaning of Saturn in Pisces. This is a much more decisive move. There is no going back for Saturn. Obviously, for each of us this will work differently. But for a start, if you’re old enough, it’s worth looking back at previous instances of this transit —
- 14 Feb 1935- 25 April 1937
- 24 Mar 1964 – 16 Sep 1964
16 Dec 1964 — 3 Mar 1967 - 21 May 1993 – 30 June 1993
29 Jan 1994 – 7 April 1996
If you were born within any of those time bands, you will be having a Saturn Return within the next couple of years.
Saturn Return is a time of accounting. What have you achieved and what have you learned in the previous 28 years. It’s time for stepping into the next phase of your life, accepting responsilbity, and, importantly, cutting your losses. It’s a time for accepting your own authority.
One interesting Saturn Return to watch is Amazon’s, born on 5 July 1994. The “everything store” would eventually dissolve boundaries (a Piscean theme) around the globe, and swallow the competition like a giant whale. Another is the World Trade Organisation founded on 1 January 1995, an organisation that’s about crossing borders. The Taliban political movement in Afghanistan was also founded in that year — another Saturn Return to watch.
Saturn in Pisces can be quite a dissonant combination. It’s the planet of rules in the sign of dissolving, the planet of boundaries in the sign of boundlessness, the planet of mastery in the sign of faith.
Certain long-held beliefs or rules are about to change. For example, last time around, the Anglican Church began ordaining women, Also, the phrase “ethnic cleansing” came into use, initially as a euphemism by the perpetrators during the Yugoslav war, when thousands of Bosnian muslims and Croats were displaced, murdered and raped. The phrase was used again to describe the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. So rules of decent behaviour dissolved, borders disappeared and were redrawn. A less grizzly example of porous borders was the creation of NAFTA in 1994, when a huge free trade area was created between Mexico, the US and Canada.
On a more upbeat note, Nelson Mandela took office as President of South Africa, signalling the total dissolution of the system of apartheid. Again, a system collapse. And similarly, Europe’s Schengen Agreement, which allows free movement of people across the whole continent, started in 1995.
Pisces is also a sign into which one can vanish. The 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, then aged 6, was kidnapped by Chinese authorities in 1995 and has not been seen since, although the Chinese government says that he has grown up as a “normal citizen”. This disappearance of a holy figure into a void seems an appropriate symbol of a certain element of this Pisces-Saturn energy.
On a personal level, these energies will work differently for each of us, so don’t forget to read both your Rising and Sun sign.
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A great read Christina, so wonderfully informative. I love your articles and podcasts too. I’m from the UK but I got married in Poland in 1994, being a Capricorn this was a big deal. It broke plenty of barriers (and some relations dissolved as well and I certainly disappeared from my roots and UK family) I’m still married, happily so and still living here in Poland. I do believe there will be signs of Saturn in Pisces showing up in this part of Europe, wondering how it will affect us all individually and collectively.
Oh that’s really interesting, Jem. Watching Eastern Europe closely. Can’t see it suddenly clearing up at the moment. Take care.
[…] is currently alive with commentary. The introduction to my colleague Christina Rodenbeck’s March Horoscopes gives an excellent summary of upcoming energy shifts, including helpful historical perspectives. I […]