Saturn in Pisces

[Jim Eshelman]

Saturn enters Pisces in April (and never retrogrades back into Aquarius). It's close enough I should start gathering data. Here we go... starting with dates Saturn has been in Pisces for the last couple of centuries.

Mar 22 1819 to May 24 1821
Oct 29 1821 to Feb 13 1822

May 8 1848 to Sep 4 1848
Jan 31 1849 to Apr 3 1851

Mar 13 1878 to May 13 1880
Nov 20 1880 to Jan 26 1881

Apr 28 1907 to Sep 25 1907
Jan 21 1908 to Mar 25 1910

Mar 4 1937 to May 4 1939

Apr 16 1966 to Oct 16 1966
Jan 4 1967 to Jun 29 1968
Sep 14 1968 to Mar 14 1969

Jun 26 1995 to Jul 15 1995
Feb 23 1996 to Apr 24 1998

Apr 5 2025 to Jun 12 2027
Oct 8 2027 to Mar 3 2028

[Jim Eshelman]

Mar 22 1819 to May 24 1821
Oct 29 1821 to Feb 13 1822

Memphis, TN was founded.

A British cabinet meeting convened to discuss the adultery of the Prince of Wales' wife with her servant. They decide a trial would embarrass the nation too much, so they drop it. Later, the aged King George III died and is succeeded by his son and regent, King George IV (the aforementioned Prince of Wales).

Pogroms against Ashkenazi Jews in the German Federation. Many deaths.

After playwright and diplomat August von Kotzebue is murdered the reactionary Carlsbad Decrees issue throughout the German Confederation suppressing liberal and nationalist views.

Antarctica is discovered.

The nation is Liberia is founded by 86 African American colonists sailing from New York to Sierra Leone. The goal is to create a home in Africa for freed American slaves. They found Monrovia.

The Missouri Compromise became law, allowing Missouri and Maine admission to the U.S. as, respectively, slave and free states.

Joseph Smith received his first vision in Palmyra, NY.

NOTE: I noticed a trend through these years of increased bigotry. This may be unsupported but I want to watch for it in later periods.

[Jim Eshelman]

May 8 1848 to Sep 4 1848
Jan 31 1849 to Apr 3 1851

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War.

Founding of Prudential marks the creation of the first multinational life insurance and financial services group.

June Days Uprising in France. France had previously created the National Workshops to provide work and baseline income for the unemployed; in 1848 they closed the National Workshops and this uprising broke out (and was suppressed by the military, resulting in over 10,000 deaths and injuries). Commentators said this signaled "the end of the hopes of a Democratic and Social Republic." A theme matching the present is that progressive voices were seriously worried by the election of a conservative government that seemed bent on eroding or removing progressive gains.

Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention.

Pres. Polk annexed the Oregon Territory.

The Republic of Yucatan officially united with Mexico in exchange for Mexico's help suppressing a revolt by the indigenous Maya population.

Gold Coinage Act allows the minting of two new gold coins, a dollar and double eagle. I suspect this is related to the on-going California Gold Rush which started a year earlier and really caught fire in '49.

Various wars for independence against the Hapsburg Empire, e.g., the major Hungarian Revolution.

Ireland's Great Famine (Irish Potato Famine) was 1845-1852 - longer than this period and started before this period, though it hit some of its crisis points during this time.

Montreal Riots, including burning the Parliament buildings while legislators sat in session. (This was a key event leading to Canada's democratic federal government.)

Much of Garibaldi's early military activity to unite Italy.

The Compromise of 1850 passed, temporarily easing the slavery tensions between states and ultimately guaranteeing the Civil War would occur. It admitted California but also passed the Fugitive Slave Act (which, of course, inadvertently strengthened the underground railroad).


[Note: The violence against ethnic groups by powerful governments continues with such examples as the Mexican military suppression of the Mayans, the Anglo-Sikh War in India, and strengthening of fugitive slave laws in the U.S.]

[Jim Eshelman]

Mar 13 1878 to May 13 1880
Nov 20 1880 to Jan 26 1881

There a number of notable shipwrecks, just as there have been occasional water-related events in other periods (floods or water-caused landslides causing harm). I'm not quite sure what to do with these, though, or how relevant they actually are. Also, there are occasional sea explorations (mostly what was possible during this period and before) and, again, I'm unclear how much attention I should give them. (Do they branch into space exploration periods later?)

Several international boundary issues seem a setup for 30 or (more) 60 years later. The Ottoman Empire is starting to get worried attention. A treaty made Serbia, Montenegro, and Romania independent countries.

Per the Specie Resumption Act, U.S. currency's value is fixed to the same value in gold for the first time since the Civil War.

Mary Baker Eddy founds the Church of Christ Scientist.

Edison finds the filament that makes the first practical light bulb. Over the remainder of this period, it started spreading around the country. Edison then starts testing his electric train. Edison and Bell together form the Oriental Telephone Company on the last day Saturn is in Pisces.

Brussels confronted an international sex trafficking scandal, the White Slave Trade Affair.

[Jim Eshelman]

Apr 28 1907 to Sep 25 1907
Jan 21 1908 to Mar 25 1910

Portuguese king and crown prince are murdered in Lisbon.

Further Japanese emigration to the U.S. was forbidden (and Japanese nationalists already here protected) buy the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907.

Tunguska Event.

Ford's Model T is launched.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Empire, starting the Bosnian Crisis. This was soon after Bulgaria declared independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Slavery is outlawed in China.


[However, there are few (perhaps no) events in this period that seem truly representative of Saturn in Pisces symbolism or resemble events of other such periods before or after. Other factors must have been intervening, such as (perhaps) the major Uranus-Neptune opposition. I suggest ignoring these years.]

[Jim Eshelman]

Mar 4 1937 to May 4 1939

New London School explosion.

Ponce Massacre: On order of Puerto Rico's governor, police opened fire on peaceful demonstrators (killing 17) protesting the arrest of an opposing party leader. - Memorial Day Massacre, where Chicago PD shot and killed ten unarmed demonstrators.

The Spanish Civil War is ongoing with Nazi Germany supporting Francoists (vast causalities). The second Sino-Japanese War.

Hindenburg disaster. - Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan disappear. - Howard Hughes sets a world record with a 91-hour round-the-world flight. - Wrong Way Corrigan famously ends up in Ireland when he meant to fly from NY to California.

Marijuana Tax Act was an early step on the path toward marijuana criminalization. (LSD was later criminalized with Saturn in Pisces. Is the placement anti-intoxicant? But LSD was first synthesized in 1938.)

Stalin's "Great Purge" begins large-scale elimination of "anti-Soviet elements," eventually killing 724,000 people. - In 1939 he launched the Third Five Year Plan.

Hitler abolished the German War Ministry and created his own High Command of the Armed Forces. He then removed political and military leaders thought unsympathetic to his views and policies. - Around Europe, Fascist leaders were assuming increasing (generally total) power such as Carol II of Romania, Franco in Spain, and Mussolini in Italy (and, of course, Hitler and Stalin). Hitler takes the Sudetenland. Kristallnacht occurs, forcibly enacting the Holocaust agenda by arresting or killing Jewish businessmen and sympathizers, looting Jewish business, and burning hundreds of synagogues. Hitler starts planning the invasion of Poland.

Nuclear fission is first produced in a laboratory and the results published.

[Jim Eshelman]

Apr 16 1966 to Oct 16 1966
Jan 4 1967 to Jun 29 1968
Sep 14 1968 to Mar 14 1969

First artificial heart implanted. Later, the world's first heart transplant. [Notice these did not occur with Saturn still in Aquarius.]

Massive anti-war protests in the U.S. including tens of thousands of demonstrators surrounding the White House at one point (and increasingly massively during the entire time). MLK Jr begins speaking out against the war, eventually denouncing it passionately. Fighting is quite violent and accelerating in Vietnam. Riots accelerate across the U.S. including all large urban areas. Anti-war candidates (McCarthy and Kennedy) eventually become the strongest voices in the process of seeking the 1968 Democratic nomination for president.

Civil rights activist James Meredith is shot during a Mississippi march. Loving v. Virginia decision invalidates all laws preventing interracial marriage. Orangeburg Massacre in South Carolina (police break up anti-segregation demonstration, three students are killed).

National Organization for Women founded. Black Panthers founded.

Richard Speck murders. Charles Whitman killings from University of Texas tower.

The Beatles complete their final U.S. tour and end touring altogether. Soon after, LSD is criminalized in the U.S. (including shutting down medical research). Jimi Hendrix emerges (first album). Hair opens. The Beatles release Magical Mystery Tour.

U.S. and U.S.S.R. sign a treaty prohibiting WMDs from space. Nearly all of the Apollo program occurred in this time, beginning with the deadly fire in what was retroactively called Apollo I. Apollo 8 orbits the moon. (The Moon Landing does not fall in this period.)

Six-Day War in Israel.

North Korea seizes the U.S.S. Pueblo (and holds it until December).

Viet Cong, newly empowered by unlimited support by China, launch the devastating Tet Offensive, includes a direct attack on the U.S. embassy in Saigon. My Lai massacre. Paris Peace Talks start gaining traction. Richard Nixon elected president.

U.S. repeals the requirement to have its currency backed by a gold reserve.

Pres. Johnson announced he would not seek re-election. Martin Luther King Jr. murdered. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy murdered.


[As with many of these periods, this is a time of fear and distrust, and often betrayal. Much of the time felt like a melt-down of sanity (and fueling of outrage?) with some of the events (including nearly all of 1968).]

[Jim Eshelman]

Jun 26 1995 to Jul 15 1995
Feb 23 1996 to Apr 24 1998

Iraq Disarmament Crisis: Saddam Hussein is uncooperative with inspection and monitoring agencies and discloses new information about the strength of Iraq's biological and other weapons. This crisis is an active story from the first to last weeks of Saturn in Pisces (along with many other stories of distrust, uncertainty, and betrayal).

Srebrenica massacre, a deadly, terrible beginning event of the eventually cascading Bosnian crisis.

A season of accelerating suicide bombings in Israel. And, although there are always violent acts recorded, this period seems to have an accelerated number of them worldwide in military, nonmilitary, and individuals accelerating campaigns of violence.

Netanyahu first comes to power in Israel.

Osama bin Laden issues a jihad against the United States calling for the removal of all American military forces from Saudi Arabia. - In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture Kabul, expelling the president and executing another former leader.

Heaven's Gate mass suicide in San Diego as Comet Hale-Bopp makes its closest passage.

Princess Diana died. Her funeral is viewed by over two billion people.

Significant specific events furthering space technology concerning the ISS, space shuttles, satellite exploration of other planets, and more.

A medical journal report (based on manipulated, fraudulent data) starts the anti-vaccination movement, with long-term consequences of increased disease spread.

Near the end of the period, news of Pres. Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinski breaks.

[Jim Eshelman]

Saturn will transit the constellation Pisces April 5, 2025 to June 12, 2027, then (after a brief dip into Aries) from October 8, 2027 to March 3, 2028.

In theory, we expect this to resemble a blend of Saturn transiting everyone's Neptune while Saturn transits everyone's Venus. Saturn-Neptune means grief, loss, and fear (horror), emotional turbulence, intensified or exaggerated negativity, and undercutting feelings of security. Conditions demand our sacrifice and renunciation. We expect scandal, corruption and betrayal. Saturn-Venus, in theory, signals loss of what is most loved, spoiled fun (“the party's over”), and even hate, remorse, and loss of friendship.

That's the theory. What does history tell us has happened before (and likely will happen again)?

Historically, years with Saturn in Pisces have been times of increased bigotry and narrowed tolerance. Antipathy has festered and erupted based on racial, ethnic, or other cultural differences fed by almost manic fear. The "red scare" era of McCarthyism in the early 1950s did not have Saturn in Pisces (it was in the opposite sign, Virgo), but did have a Saturn-Neptune conjunction with the same toxic, insidious, and paralyzing suspicion, distrust, betrayal, and dread typical of Saturn in Neptune's constellation. The late 1960s transit was similarly a time of fear, distrust, and betrayal that by 1968 often felt like a melt-down of sanity and intentional fueling of outrage. The central key of Saturn in Pisces seems to be fear (and consequent suppression) of the foreign.

For example, the 1819 Hep-Hep riots were pogroms against Ashkenazi Jews in the German Federation. 1848-51 included further violence against ethnic groups by powerful governments such as Mexico's military suppression of the Mayans, the Anglo-Sikh War in India, and strengthening of fugitive slave laws in the U.S. New Japanese emigration to the U.S. was forbidden by the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907. In 1938, Hitler's Kristallnacht ("Night of Broken Glass") launched his violent Holocaust agenda by arresting or killing Jewish businessmen and sympathizers, looting Jewish business, and burning hundreds of synagogues. About the same time, Stalin's "Great Purge" began eliminating anyone deemed "anti-Soviet," eventually killing 724,000 people. In 1966-69, anti-civil rights violence accelerated in the American south, including the murder of activist James Meredith during a Mississippi march and the deadly Orangeburg Massacre in which police forcibly broke up anti-segregation demonstrations. The My Lai massacre represents the emotional violence extremes of the Vietnam era. In the Six-Day War, Israel faced off against Arab nations. In 1995, the Srebrenica massacre served as the terrible start of the soon-cascading Bosnian crisis, and Osama bin Laden declared jihad against the United States.

These were all racial, ethnic, or other cultural differences fed by almost manic fear.

Against this, the depths of accumulated suppression sponsored positive actions of hope: Eighty-six African American colonists sailed from New York to found the nation of Liberia as a home for freed American slaves. The Missouri Compromise and Compromise of 1850 temporarily eased pressures as sincere (and ultimately futile) responses to the polarized slavery struggle. In Seneca Falls, NY, the first women's rights convention was held. China outlawed slavery. In the 1960s, Loving v. Virginia invalidated all laws preventing interracial marriage, and N.O.W. and the Black Panthers were founded. In the 1878-81 pass, Edison and Bell transformed the day-to-day American landscape: Edison perfected the first practical light bulb, which rapidly lit the country. Edison and Bell together formed the Oriental Telephone Company on the last day Saturn was in Pisces.

New, non-mainstream religions, serious and enduring, emerged: Joseph Smith received his first vision in 1820. One Saturn orbit later, Mary Baker Eddy founded the Church of Christ Scientist.

Historians mark key events from these years as moments when liberal democracy teetered and might have fallen: In the June Days uprising (France), after the government closed National Workshops that guaranteed work and a baseline income to the unemployed, riots were suppressed by the military with over 10,000 casualties. Progressive voices honestly feared that an incoming conservative government was bent on eroding or removing all progressive gains. Sometimes this actually happened: After playwright and diplomat August von Kotzebue was murdered in Germany, the reactionary Carlsbad Decrees criminalized and suppressed liberal opinion. In 1937, armed authorities caused vast civilian death in the Ponce Massacre (police were ordered to open fire on peaceful demonstrators) and Chicago's Memorial Day Massacre (police shot and killed unarmed demonstrators).

Inebriants and consciousness altering substances have been suppressed: The Marijuana Tax Act in the late '30s started the path toward marijuana criminalization. LSD, which was first synthesized in 1938, was criminalized in the U.S. one Saturn cycle later.

Broadly, these were times of great turbulence reminiscent of stormy, bloody seas, fueled by bleak unhappiness of common people and a resulting collective insanity. See the periods and events listed above through this lens. Add to them the massive anti-war protests and urban riots in the '60s, or the rising totalitarian control in Europe thirty years earlier (Hitler's replacing existing political and military leaders with those sympathetic to his views, and the increasing strength of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Franco, and others). Consider the era when the Taliban first seized control in Afghanistan.

This is the world we have to wend our way through for the next three years.

Fear and suppression of the foreign. More bigotry, less tolerance. Antipathy festers and erupts based on racial, ethnic, or other cultural differences. Toxic, insidious, paralyzing. Suspicion, distrust, betrayal, dread. Intentional fueling of outrage. Times of great turbulence reminiscent of stormy, bloody seas, driven by bleak unhappiness of common people and a resulting collective insanity. In response, the depths of accumulated suppression will sponsor positive actions of hope and efforts at redemptive compromise. (New, non-mainstream religions, serious and enduring, likely to emerge.)

[Veronica]

Well I suppose I better take these antibiotics and get better quick so I can spread some good cheer and some lines from the silver lining playbook….

What an interesting aspect in that Saturn moves into the Neptunian constellation with a conjunction with Neptune.
How would we calculate when the last time Saturn was Conjunct Neptune in Pisces?
I’ve often wondered for example when were the times Jupiter was conjunct Neptune in Scorpio, but I struggle with how to build the formula to accurately figure it in my head quickly.

[Jim Eshelman]

How would we calculate when the last time Saturn was Conjunct Neptune in Pisces?

Feb 17 0053 14°Pi30'
May 23 0375 01°Pi05'
Jul 14 0375 00°Pi44'
Mar 9 0878 18°Pi10'
Jun 9 1200 04°Pi20'
Jul 12 1200 04°Pi07'
Jan 25 1201 02°Pi46'
Mar 27 1703 NS 21°Pi08'

I’ve often wondered for example when were the times Jupiter was conjunct Neptune in Scorpio, but I struggle with how to build the formula to accurately figure it in my head quickly.

Jan 15 1153 20°Sc48'
Jun 4 1153 19°Sc27'
Aug 27 1153 18°Sc38'

Mar 8 1319 24°Sc03'
Apr 4 1319 23°Sc47'
Oct 2 1319 22°Sc01'

Oct 28 1485 25°Sc24'

Nep Dec 4 1638 01°Sc49'
Nep Nov 30 1651 28°Sc47'

Nep Dec 29 1804 05°Sc08'

Feb 1 1971 08°Sc26'
May 22 1971 07°Sc24'
Sep 16 1971 06°Sc17'

[SteveS]

I am most interested in seeing if the partile Sat-Nep-Mars Aug Caplunar aspects times some kind of world crises.

[Jim Eshelman]

Sure. But that's a separate issue from the three-year Saturn in Pisces passage per se.