Saturn Retrograde: The Return to Pisces Waters (July–November 2025)
Your Complete Guide to Saturn's Descent from Aries Back to Pisces
If April cracked you open, this isn't relapse. It's return.
Saturn isn't just retrograding—it's submerging. After igniting the flame of Aries, it turns back into the spiritual waters of Pisces: not to repeat, but to dissolve what you weren't yet ready to see.
This is not a detour. It's a deepening.
🔑 Saturn Timeline
December 2024: Descent begins (personal crossroads)
April 6, 2025: Saturn enters shadow at 25° Pisces
July 13, 2025: Stations retrograde at 1° Aries
September 1, 2025: Saturn re-enters Pisces
November 27, 2025: Stations direct at 25° Pisces
🄂 From Aries Action to Piscean Surrender
The last few months tested your courage to act. Saturn’s brief dance in Aries—the sign of fire, initiation, and identity—pushed you to step out, start something bold, or face unexpected mirrors. For me, this began in December 2024, when I quit my stable job to pour myself into a dream project: apps and a workbook on money shadows. It felt like liberation at first—vision, fire, freedom. But by April 6, 2025, when Saturn entered its shadow at 25° Pisces, the weight hit hard. Bills piled up, doubts about my project’s worth crept in, and I felt unsupported despite help from family. That week, I faced a visceral choice: keep pushing through urgency or pause to breathe. I chose the latter, writing a letter to my dream on April 17, shifting to a slower, kinder pace.
That moment wasn’t just personal—it was universal. Saturn, conjunct Neptune at 25° Pisces (Sabian symbol: "A Religious Organization Succeeds in Overcoming the Corrupting Influence of Perverted Practices and Materialized Ideals"), marked a karmic fork: clarity versus distortion. We all planted a seed then, choosing between inner truth and fear-based reactions. Some choices sparked flow; others collapsed under pressure. The feedback was immediate—mirrors showing whether our path was aligned.
Now, Saturn retrograde (July 13 to November 27, 2025) pulls us back—from 1° Aries (Sabian symbol: "A Woman Just Risen from the Sea; a Seal is Embracing Her") to 25° Pisces. It starts in Aries, your house of bold action, until September 1, when it re-enters Pisces, the realm of surrender and spiritual clarity. This isn’t about undoing your efforts—it’s about refining them. From Aries’ fire (initiation, embodiment) to Pisces’ waters (dissolution, faith), Saturn asks: What was built on truth, and what needs to erode?
🌄 Why Pisces? Why Aries? Why Now?
This retrograde is a two-part journey. From July to August, Saturn in Aries (your house of action) revisits the bold steps you took since April—perhaps rushed or fear-driven. For me, with Aries in my 8th house (shared resources, transformation), this meant confronting financial fears and control issues around my project. From September 1 to November 27, Saturn re-enters Pisces (my 7th house of partnerships), asking me to dissolve old relational patterns and align with supportive collaborators. The Neptune conjunction amplifies this, urging us to separate reality from illusion. What dreams hold up under this spiritual audit? Those are the ones worth keeping.
Note: Sabian symbols are derived from Dane Rudhyar’s "An Astrological Mandala" (1973).
🌊 Pisces and Aries Retrograde by Rising Sign (July–November 2025)
Use your Rising Sign to find where Pisces and Aries fall in your chart (Astro.com). These houses are your descent chambers—where Saturn refines your foundations. Below, the table focuses on Pisces (active September–November), with Aries themes noted for the early retrograde (July–August).
Don’t avoid the waters. Let them cleanse you.
🜁 My Descent: Virgo Rising, Pisces in 7th, Aries in 8th
This retrograde spans my 8th house (Aries, July–October) and 7th house (Pisces, October–November).
In December 2024, I quit my day job to chase a dream. By April, financial fears and a sense of being unsupported in partnerships (7th house Pisces) overwhelmed me. I paused my project, writing a letter to my dream, choosing a slower pace.
The distortion? Fear of scarcity (8th house Aries) masked as wisdom.
Now, Saturn in Aries asks me to release control over shared resources—trusting collaborators or funding. As it re-enters Pisces, I'm refining partnerships, ensuring they reflect my truth.
The descent is my initiation—discomfort is my mirror.
🜃 What Saturn's Return Means
Clarity comes through release, not control. Let go of fear-driven structures from April.
Your work is to cleanse, not conquer. Dissolve illusions in your Pisces house.
Truth endures; illusions erode. Only what's authentic survives this audit.
Saturn in Pisces is a spiritual reckoning. In Aries, it's a call to embody. Together, they prove your faith.
✍ Axis Journal Prompts
In your Pisces house what relational or spiritual pattern needs dissolving?
Where did urgency override wisdom in April?
What are you grieving that you haven't named?
What dream still calls you, if you stop controlling it?
🜂 Final Word: Devotion, Not Discipline
You're not backtracking. You're baptizing.
By November 27, when Saturn stations direct at 25° Pisces, you'll rise—not with new goals, but with illusions washed away.
Dissolve. Clarify. Devote.
About Nyambura
Nyambura is a spiritual technologist weaving ancient wisdom with modern transformation. She creates AI-powered wellness tools for shadow work, writes about consciousness in the digital age, and guides others through healing in a world obsessed with optimization. Explore her dream workbook and app via inkandshadowtales.com.
Connect: inkandshadowtales.com | Email: info@inkandshadowtales.com | Instagram: Whispers of the Moth
Note: Sabian symbols referenced from Dane Rudhyar's "An Astrological Mandala" (1973). Birth chart calculations via astro.com.