Time to Get Real
Saturn and Neptune are touching noses this year. Here’s what that means.
Saturn and Neptune will be conjunct at 7 degrees of sidereal Pisces this summer from June 13, 2025 until August 10, 2025. Midway during the transit, on July 13, 2025, Saturn will station retrograde, and remain hovering around that 7 degree mark, alongside Neptune, until August 11, 2025. This conjunction will peak at that time, and the heat will really be on, as when a planet stations retrograde, its influence bears down on earth the most. If you have planets at 7 degrees of Pisces, Taurus, Virgo, or Sagittarius, you’re most likely to feel this transit the most now. Saturn and Neptune will keep transiting closely for the next several years.
What does that mean?
In general, Saturn represents the materiality of life. Think of the earth, our bodies—the physical things we can explore with our five main senses; i.e., the things we can see, smell, taste, hear, and touch. Anything that falls under this category is in some form under the purview of Saturn.
By virtue of this, Saturn also represents the limits of our lives. These limits can be anything from physical limitations to more conceptual limitations like time. For example, Saturn gives us a body, which we have a limited time to use. Saturn reminds us we have work to do here, and we have a finite time in which we can accomplish it.
Neptune is very much the opposite—it represents the illusory nature of life. Where Saturn gives form and structure, Neptune gives formlessness. Where Saturn creates limits and boundaries, Neptune dissolves them. In its highest sense Neptune rules spirituality and a sense of “oneness”—the innate understanding we have that as we leave this earth, we “dissolve” back into something greater—even if that’s simply the ground beneath our feet.
Saturn and Neptune move very slowly. Saturn takes a few years to transit a sign and Neptune much longer—approximately 14 years. I should mention that Jyotish, or Vedic Astrology, does not formally recognize Neptune as a planet, but I find it useful to note. Its effects are noticeable enough in transits to mention, even if they can be accounted for by other factors (e.g., the nodes).
As a result of their slow orbits, Saturn and Neptune only conjunct every few decades. The last time they came together in a sign was in 1989–1990. When they come together, they clash—in good and bad ways.
For one, our illusions might get tested. Maybe we’ve been living in a situation we know isn’t working, but have been avoiding doing anything about it (Neptune). Maybe we have been living in a situation we’ve believed is working, but isn’t (Neptune). Maybe we’ve been “checked out,” zoning out on alcohol, weed, or scrolling the night away (Neptune) as a way to cope with our general day-to-day. Maybe we have had a dream to do something but keep thinking “one day” we’ll get to it (Neptune).
Well, this summer, Saturn will come together with Neptune to let us know it is time to get real.
Something will likely to happen this summer relating to this transit—you may feel an itch (Saturn) telling you it’s time to stop avoiding and start dealing with something. Or, something will happen where you can no longer look away—life is bringing you a situation or a person that is showing you what you have to face. If you’ve had a dream to do something, and have been putting it off, Saturn’s going to start breathing down your neck to do it. Maybe you need to get real about your health, and really start to take care of yourself.
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."
Thoreau
I know for me, the Saturn-Neptune conjunction has been inching closer in my 10th house of career. For years, I’ve been very compartmentalized in the way I earn money and what I do for a “career.” Since March, I’ve been doing the very uncomfortable, arduous task (Saturn) of actually merging the two, and my efforts are intensifying now. Cue Saturn-Neptune.
As I’ve been writing this, I am realizing that 1989 is a particularly strong birth year, and that was the last time these two planets came together. Notably, several people born that year are very powerful in the world. One example? Taylor Swift. What can we say she did—remarkably? Got real about her dreams.
So go after it. Saturn is waiting.
I leave you with a video from one of my recent walks at the shore. Maybe it will inspire you to get reflective about this powerful time.
Cheers!
xo