Saturn enters the Sea
Wandering through wild charismatic revivals, Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music, and nuns out to destroy AI, as Saturn prepares to ingress into Pisces.
It was some Sunday morning in 1994, perhaps 1995…
I was about 9 years old and Saturn was in Pisces.
Nearby to where I stood, leaning against the wall and observing it all, a woman thrashed violently with her arms while her whole torso and neck swiveled side-to-side so quickly it seemed her spine might be at risk. She was surrounded by a group of people with their hands outstretched, but I could still see the blur of her rapid motions moving faster than I thought possible for a human body.
Suddenly a roaring sound came from the back of the building. I turned around to see a man bellowing with his face upturned, his arms and hands reaching out like claws.
I had seen this before and recognized this as an imitation of a lion-like creature. He was quickly joined by another man on his knees with his hands under his armpits and his elbows swinging back and forth, toward and away from his body: “Baawwk bawk bawk BAWWWWK,” he squawked.
I mentally registered this one as a chicken imitation.
Toward the front of the room - closer to the group of people on stage with instruments, softly singing worship songs barely audible amid the pandemonium - there were numerous people lying on their backs on the floor. Others, swaying softly with their “catchers” behind them, would soon join the rest.
The ground-layers were divided into several different groups.
There was the cluster of hysterical laughers. Their bizarre, yet seemingly contagious high-pitched ripples of sound alongside loud, low, guffaws, sent many of them into tummy-contracting squirming and rolling on the ground.
Then there was the cluster of hysterical criers and wailers. This group was surrounded by scrunched up Kleenexes and people praying for them during their transformational experience (that for some, would likely happen each and every Sunday for over a year, but never mind about that).
Meanwhile, in a far back corner someone was making unearthly groaning sounds interspersed with bone-chilling screams as… they were having a demon cast out of them?
Who knows, but that back corner was awfully busy.
There were those who stumbled around greeting people in strange goofy ways, looking like they were severely intoxicated. There were those whose faces were serious and their voices hushed as they went around caring and praying for those in various states of disarray. And then there were the other kids about my age.
Eventually I connected with my peers, there by the wall, and perhaps we talked about the craft we made at Sunday school, or what we were going to do that afternoon... Perhaps we laughed at how we needed to yell at each other to be heard because the room was so filled with the sound of hysterical laughing, crying, wailing, groaning, screaming, roaring, and bawwwking.
Then one of my peers perhaps would mention that the cookies at the coffee and snack table were still there and we would head across the room, heeding the call of sugar - weaving, jumping, leaping over the chaotically strewn bodies on the floor.
It was just a normal Sunday morning church service, after all.
Prior to this scenario I’ve knitted together from fragments of childhood memories, something unusual was happening at a church formally known as the Toronto Airport Vineyard in early 1994.
Beginning on January 20th, when an invited pastor from Missouri began to minister at the charismatic evangelical Toronto Airport Vineyard church for what was supposed to be a few days, strange physical manifestations started to occur among attendees - similar to what I’ve described above. It would eventually be described as the “Toronto Blessing”, a phrase referencing the origin of what would become a widespread Christian revival movement.
According to Wikipedia, by 1995 it was reported that “an estimated 4,000 churches in England and another 7,000 churches in North America had been impacted by this new revival movement.”
I never personally attended the Toronto Airport Vineyard. However, my family’s home church was one of these churches impacted - a.k.a one of the churches who had “caught the fire” of the holy spirit’s movement around the world.
To be clear, for those of you who are not aware of the relevance of this share to the current time period, Saturn is about to enter Pisces again on March 7th, 2023 for an under-the-sea journey that will last until February 14, 2026.
Saturn was last in Pisces from January 28, 1994 until April 8, 1996.
It was just as Saturn creeped onto the final degree of Aquarius on January 20th, 1994 that the revival movement in Toronto began.
Eight days later, by January 28th, as Saturn dove beneath the frothy waves, it was clear that something unusual was in full swing.
Pisces is a sign with an affinity to all things spiritual and religious. It has been said that Pisces has a particular resonance with the religion of Christianity, in part due to how prominent the symbol of the fish is, in this wisdom tradition.
One of the terms and concepts that emerged prominently during this 1994 revival, was that of spiritual “soaking”. Soon there were sessions dedicated to soaking where people would come with blankets and mats on which to lie on the floor… and soak.
“‘Soaking’ is a term used to describe the practice of expectantly waiting and resting in God’s love, rather than striving in prayer… God is releasing His River of Life among us, and He is inviting everyone to plunge in with boldness and enthusiasm!” (source)
People weren’t soaking in literal water, but this concept certainly invokes the wet, immersive quality of Pisces. Pisces as receptive mutable water is also about being, resting, flowing, accepting - it’s not a sign that wants to strive toward a singular goal.
When Saturn enters a sign, it will put the qualities and themes of that sign to the test.
When Saturn enters a sign it is an opportunity to really mature in our expression of that sign and learn how to do it well - by facing challenges that are expertly tailored to that sign’s domain.
Saturn also rules the 180° opposition aspect in astrology. As Adam Elenbaas spoke about recently, Saturn is the planet of polarities and the tension that is held between polar opposites.
So if Pisces represents religion, spiritual faith, and Christianity (broadly speaking), along with altered states of consciousness and experiences of oneness and unity, then Saturn entering Pisces may pose a challenge to these areas in order to catalyze skill development and the deepening of wisdom.
These Saturnian challenges will often emerge at a societal level as strongly opposed tensions and conflicts.
This is what happened with the Toronto Blessing revival movement the last time that Saturn entered Pisces.
The Wikipedia page for The Toronto Blessing chronicles the following:
“The revival impacted charismatic Christian culture through an increase in popularity and international reach and intensified criticism and denominational disputes. Criticism primarily centered around disagreements about charismatic doctrine… and whether or not the physical manifestations people experienced were in line with biblical doctrine or were actually heretical practices.
…Critics referred to it as self-centered and evil and claimed that the strange manifestations were warning signs for other Christian believers to stay away. Others defended the blessing as historically rooted in earlier revivals… and as having positive effects in the lives of participants.
In his book, Counterfeit Revival, Hank Hanegraaff claimed that the revival has done more damage than good and that the Toronto blessing was a matter of people being enslaved into altered states of consciousness where they obscure reality and enshrine absurdity. Hank Hanegraaff also stated in a 1996 Washington Post interview that, "It's nice to feel all these things, but the fact is, these feelings will wear off, and then disappointment steps in. I call it post-Holy Laughter depression syndrome."
…[B. J. Oropeza] concluded that while authentic signs of revival might be present at such meetings, ministerial leaders have a biblical responsibility to ensure that parishioners maintain orderly conduct at the gatherings and this seemed to be lacking at many of the meetings.”
Can you hear both Saturn and Pisces in this excerpt?
The above accusation that the Toronto Blessing movement enslaved people into “altered states of consciousness where they obscure reality and enshrine absurdity” sounds to me like: DUDE, THIS IS WAY TOO MUCH OUT-OF-BALANCE PISCES STUFF WITH ZERO DISCERNMENT.
Like all zodiac signs, Pisces has a shadow side. Pisces’ shadow can express as addictions, escapism, illusions, obscuring reality, cult-like situations, and perhaps, “enshrining absurdity.”
The disillusionment that arrives after a spiritual or substance-induced high, is also a Piscean shadow - e.g., “post-Holy Laughter depression syndrome.”
Saturn keywords and phrases in the excerpt above include: intensified criticism and denominational disputes; biblical doctrine; historically rooted; these feelings will wear off and then disappointment steps in; a biblical responsibility to ensure that parishioners maintain orderly conduct at the gatherings…
Saturn’s journey throughout Pisces eventually led to the Toronto Airport Vineyard ending its affiliation with the broader “Vineyard movement” (that my family was apart of) in December 1995 when the Vineyard Association of Churches decided to “sever ties with the controversial Airport Vineyard fellowship in Toronto” (source).
Saturn often correlates with moments of endings and severing - as well as things like logical management, guidelines, and leadership oversight:
“The reasons for the disaffiliation were for growing tension over the church's emphasis on extraordinary manifestations of the Holy Spirit, the methods used to logistically manage the ministry time during the services, a concern about leaders not abiding by established Association of Vineyard Churches guidelines, and the Vineyard leadership's inability to exercise oversight over the revival.” ~Wikipedia
Beyond the Vineyard Association of Churches, the denominational conflicts and diverging opinions around this contagious Toronto Blessing phenomenon, were fierce.
e.g., Was the Toronto Blessing movement truly god’s holy work… or was it all a manifestation of demonic trickery?
I was aware of these tensions even as nine year old, knowing that my friend’s parents held different answers to the aforementioned question.
So now it’s 2023 and it’s been almost 30 years since the Toronto Blessing movement was birthed.
With it now so far in the review mirror, I sometimes wonder, what was that all about?!
I really don’t know.
Of course there was a lot of “humanness” involved (e.g. attention-seeking, addiction to emotional catharsis), but there was genuinely a Big Type of Energy that was often present. There were things I felt and saw during that time that can not be completely explained away.
Did Saturn send the Toronto Blessing revival movement???
…in order to challenge a group of humans with a heaping spoonful of Big Supernatural Energy so that they could develop a skillset for working responsibly with the infinite, immersive, spiritual nature of Pisces’ domain… via their tiny, limited, physical forms?
…and then the combination of Big Supernatural Energy with messy human bodies resulted in people bawking like chickens, roaring like lions, and laughing, shaking, falling, sobbing, screaming?
🤷♀️
…maybe?
In the years that followed my departure from the Christian faith in 2007, I continued to periodically return to my memories of this time in the hope of making sense of it through different lenses as I developed new spiritual tools.
Maybe Saturn’s return to Pisces will illuminate more of this mystery for me.
The dramatic physical manifestations of the Toronto Blessing revival movement gradually chilled out after Saturn left Pisces in 1996, and became a less and less common occurrence in the church my family attended.
By the time Saturn was solidly into independent and freedom-seeking Aries by 1997, my family had left the Vineyard church due to concerns around how controlling the leadership was becoming.
However, this immersive and chaotic Christian revival experience is what jumps out at me when I reflect back on what was happening in my life the last time Saturn was in Pisces.
If you were old enough to remember…
…what emerges as resonant with Saturn in Pisces themes when you think back to the time period between January 28, 1994 and April 8, 1996?
Astrology is cyclical. Looking back at past cycles of a transiting planet can shed light on what might lie ahead, at least in terms of symbolic themes.
As we hover with Saturn on the boundary line between Aquarius and Pisces, I’ve been thinking a lot about the word “revival” - a word that can exist outside of Christianity:
As we move from rational, inflexible, dry air, ruled by stern Saturn… to the infinite, magical, thirst-quenching, ever-flowing waters of Jupiter-ruled Pisces… dare I say it… beyond the religious connotations, I hope Saturn in Pisces brings revival?
I mean, wouldn’t you like the world to be revived and return to flourishing?
I have lots more to share about Saturn entering Pisces next week (March 7th), but first, here’s my Pisces elemental mood board again to help us anchor into this energy in nonverbal ways:
Note: due to the length of this essay it may be cut off by your email provider. Click here to read the full post on Substack.
On October 29, 2022, astrologer Shawn Nygaard gave a presentation for the Nightlight Astrology Webinar Series titled: “Saturn in Pisces: Dreamtime.” He is a film buff and his discussion of Saturn in Pisces through the lens of numerous movies released during this transit, was fascinating.
Two classic Saturn-in-Pisces films stood out to me in particular: Mary Poppins (released August 27, 1964) and the Sound of Music (released March 2, 1965) - both of which feature Julie Andrews as the leading actress who was born October 1, 1935 with Saturn in Pisces in her chart!
As someone with the Sun, Mercury and Jupiter in Pisces, I loved both of these films when I saw them as a child and I wanted to diver deeper into their symbology in this post.
In the first episode of Shawn’s recently launched podcast called "Imagine That!”, Shawn reflects on the wisdom of a teacher he once had, who was a talent manager in Hollywood for many years:
“[Jim Curtain] understood the way actors playing to their innate archetypal nature was the route to go, and when actors betrayed their archetypal nature it had an effect not just on the success of movies, but how the audiences reacted to that actor in the movie.
And when actors played to their innate archetypal nature, that’s when the magic happens.”
Mary Poppins and the Sound of Music were Julie Andrews’ first and third film respectively, facilitating her successful transition from theatre to the big screen.
Pisces is the zodiac sign with the most affinity to the film industry.
So, in summary, when Saturn was transiting Pisces 60 years ago during Julie’s first Saturn Return, she was offered leading roles in these two films that so clearly invite her archetypal nature out to play.
Magic happened and Julie Andrews quickly rose to fame as one of Hollywood’s most celebrated and legendary actresses.
Julie is now 87 years old and on the brink of her third Saturn Return!
In Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews plays “a magical and loving woman who descends from the clouds in response to the Banks children's advertisement for a nanny [the transition from Aquarius to Pisces?!]. She is firm in her use of authority [Saturn], but gentle and kind as well [Pisces].” (Wikipedia)
In fact, the children’s ridiculously rigid father (Mr. Banks, who works at the bank) had actually advertised for “a stern, no-nonsense nanny,” but some meddling, magical winds interfered and blew in Ms. Poppins.
tbh, the scene where they visit Bert’s Uncle Albert - who frequently has spells of uncontrollable laughter which floats him up to the ceiling - kinda gave me unpleasant revival flashbacks:
Maybe there’s something true about Pisces “enshrining absurdity”?
Pisces expressions are often very, very silly in a way that can be cute and whimsical, but also goofy and weird, I will say that.
This movie is so full of Saturn in Pisces moments, I won’t be able to mention all of them. In general though, with all the magical and fantastical elements we are clearly already in Pisces land with this film. [spoilers ahead]
There’s the song about how a spoonful of sugar [Pisces] helps the medicine [Saturn] go down, where Mary Poppins uses magic to clean up the room while teaching the children: “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun // You find the fun and snap, the job's a game // And every task you undertake becomes a piece of cake.”
Mary Poppins teaches the family about the Piscean values of kindness and generosity through her lullaby "Feed the Birds,” which describes the poor lady who calls out for donations on the church steps: Though her words are simple and few // "Listen, listen", she's calling to you // "Feed the birds, tuppence a bag.”
This leads to the critical turning point in the film where the children are taken by Mr. Banks to visit his workplace - a very serious Saturnian place full of old men where “tradition, discipline, and rules must be the tools // Without them - disorder! Chaos! // Moral disintegration! // In short, we have a ghastly mess!”
My reflection thus far, is that disorder! chaos! a ghastly mess! is part of what Saturn brings in Pisces - perhaps as a by-product of dissolving rigid rules and detrimental limiting walls that need to go (as in Mary Poppins), or possibly as an intentional part of Saturn’s strategic plan to test and develop our skill with navigating Piscean material.
Or, maybe, this experience of chaos is an unfortunate outcome of the planet of order no longer being able to do its job in the zodiac wheel because it’s drowning in Pisces.
When aggressively pressured to invest his tuppence in the bank, the little boy strongly protests because he wants to give it to the bird lady instead (a Saturn/Capricorn versus Pisces archetypal tension). This creates a wild uproar which leads to Mr. Banks being fired.
“My world was calm, well ordered, exemplary [Saturnian] // Then came this person, with chaos in her wake [there’s that mutable chaos again!] // And now my life's ambitions go with one fell blow // It's quite a bitter pill to take,” ~ Mr. Banks.
But then Mr. Banks has a transformative moment (might we say… “a revival”?) where his priorities are reconfigured and he refocuses on spending time with his children, thanks to some wise words and reminders from Bert, the chimney sweep:
“You’ve got to grind, grind, grind // At that grindstone [Saturn] // Though child'ood slips like sand through a sieve // And all too soon they've up grown // And then they've flown // And it's too late for you to give // Just that spoonful of sugar // To 'elp the medicine go down”
Meanwhile, Mr. Bank’s employer actually dies while laughing hysterically (!!!!) after hearing one of Uncle Albert’s jokes which had been relayed to him by Mr. Banks. And then Mr. Banks is re-employed by his employer’s son and goes off to “fly a kite” with his children while Mary Poppins floats away on a breeze with her umbrella. Wheeee!
And there we have it - a unified happily ever after. It’s Pisces’ favourite type of ending (tragic loss and selfless martyrdom being a close second and third favourite).
Less than a year later Julie Andrew’s other film, The Sound of Music, was released on March 2, 1965. Check out this huge Pisces stellium in the release chart:
Similarly, as with Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music features another ridiculously rigid and controlling Saturnian father - Captain von Trapp, who calls for his children to march out to meet him using a unique whistle for each one.
The two films are quite similar. Both films feature Julie Andrews as a nanny or governess to children who are emotionally neglected by their cold and distant fathers. In both films Julie Andrews brings transformative revival to these dysfunctional families.
Julie Andrews again, gets to embody the Piscean spirit of the time and demonstrate a (mostly) healthy expression of Saturn in Pisces (i.e., courageous leadership/parenting, accompanied with heaping spoonfuls of big love and magical, imaginative play and creativity).
In brief, the synopsis is as follows:
“Set in Austria on the eve of the Anschluss in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria, who takes a job as governess to a large family while she decides whether to become a nun. She falls in love with the [seven] children, and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp. He is ordered to accept a commission in the German navy, but he opposes the Nazis. He and Maria decide on a plan to flee Austria with the children.” (Wikipedia)
The film opens and ends with the abbey playing a critical role at the edge of both Saturnian restraint, and Piscean liberation.
The life of a nun fits so well on to the Pisces-Virgo axis which is very strong in the film’s release chart, but of course it also exemplifies Saturn in Pisces (i.e., a life of solitude and separation from society, commitment and consistent rituals dedicated to infinite divinity).
However, Maria’s free-spirited mutable energy doesn’t vibe well with the rules and structures of the abbey.
When Maria is late for chapel because she’s twirling in the mountains (yet again), the nuns sing: “Oh, how do you solve a problem like Maria? // When I'm with her I'm confused // Out of focus and bemused // And I never know exactly where I am // Unpredictable as weather //…She's a darling! She's a demon! She's a lamb! // …She is gentle! She is wild! // She's a riddle! She's a child! // She's a headache! She's an angel! // She's a girl!”
Pisces is often called the chameleon of the zodiac; it’s the last sign that some would say combines the qualities from all prior 11 signs into one big soup. Mutable and ever-changing depending on their environment, it’s impossible to truly catch this pair of slippery, circling fish.
Who is that Pisces, really?
And how do we get them to sit still, listen, and obey? Or, in the words of the nuns fretting about Maria: “How do you keep a wave upon the sand? // …How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? // …How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?”
While at the beginning of the film the abbey appears to be expressing primarily strict Saturn themes in tension with Maria’s Piscean nature, the abbey quickly reaches beyond this binary. In fact, it is the nuns who facilitate the von Trapp family’s escape from the Nazis in the final scenes.
I recommend watching both of these Julie Andrews films from the 1960s to kick off Saturn’s upcoming ingress with an immersive soak in Piscean energy! Remember, Saturn is also a lover of “classics” and all that has weathered the test of time.
There are numerous moments in the film that bring out the Saturn-Pisces dynamic. Here’s one that involves Maria appropriately rising up out of the water (soaking wet after the boat overturned) to argue with the Captain about the abusive way he treats his children:
Continuing with this correlation between Saturn in Pisces and nuns, I was recently quite intrigued when I came across the description of a new series that is set to premiere at the SXSW film festival on March 14, 2023 (just 7 days after Saturn enters Pisces).
The festival website describes the new series with a few punchy sentences:
“Mrs. Davis is the world’s most powerful Artificial Intelligence.
Simone is the nun devoted to destroying Her. Who ya got?”
This kooky science fiction drama seems to me a very timely blend of both Saturn entering Pisces on March 7th (i.e., rebellious nuns) and Pluto entering Aquarius on March 23rd, where it will most definitely explore the dark side of AI’s accelerated growth and its capacity to become “like God” while threatening to usurp humans with its omnipotence!
An interview with the show’s writers in the Vulture provides further descriptive intel about this unusual show:
“Mrs. Davis [is] about a nun named Simone (Betty Gilpin) who, based on her beliefs and a distrust of cheap magic, decides to take down a seemingly benevolent algorithm that has won over the entire world. It is a sci-fi romp about faith and computers and a love story about God and gamification, and it’s somehow also a wacky fetch-quest narrative about death, mid-tier Reno magicians, and the Holy Grail.”
Pisces knows how to deliver the weird and whacky.
Most interesting to me though, in the Vulture article, was this admission by one of the writers regarding the inspiration for Mrs. Davis:
For Hernandez, that image was informed by her long-standing love of The Sound of Music, in which Julie Andrews’s Maria leaves the convent but never loses her sense of joy or her moral compass for compassion and justice.
Simone represents the “running on the hilltop” Maria, Hernandez says, and an ideology built on a love of nature and humanity.
Ahhhh I love seeing these astrological correlations as cycles repeat.
Mrs. Davis will apparently be launched for public viewing on April 20, 2023 via Peacock.
I have so much more to say about Saturn entering Pisces, but I will share the rest of my thoughts in a “part 2” in a few weeks.
In the meantime, keep your eyes, ears, and heart open to signs and omens of Saturn’s upcoming ingress (like this one). The waves are lapping at his feet - we’re only a week away until he dives in and commits to swimming for over two years!
If you know the area of your birth chart that Saturn will soon be transiting, the topics of that house (or planet) might warrant extra preparatory reflection as well!
You might also want to consider what in your life is actively engaged in a process of completing or ending. Saturn is currently at the anaretic 29th degree of Aquarius. What learnings and processes have occurred in the Aquarian house of your birth chart over the past ~2-3 years since late December 2020?
You can refer to my previous post, Your Guide to the Astrology of 2023, for additional planning tips and reflective prompts.
After watching numerous clips from The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins in preparation for this post, I’ve chosen “Climb Every Mountain,” as sung by the Mother Abbess to Maria, for my Saturn in Pisces theme song.
At this point in the film Maria is confused by her growing love for the Captain and feels uncertain about the future. She runs away, back to the abbey.
However, the Mother Abbess, as the voice piece of Saturn, will not play host to Piscean escapism and avoidance:
“Maria, these walls were not meant to block out problems. You have to face them.
You have to live the life you were born to live.”
Walls are Saturnian, but facing problems is also Saturnian.
Abbeys and convents are Saturnian, but so is the courage to leave them.
Mother Abbess then belts out the following lyrics:
Climb every mountain, Search high and low, Follow every byway, Every path you know. Climb every mountain, Ford every stream, Follow every rainbow, 'Till you find your dream. A dream that will need All the love you can give, Every day of your life For as long as you live.
Climbing mountains immediately invokes the imagery of Saturn’s home domain of Capricorn with its determined mountain goats. Saturn calls on us to persevere, to search high and low, every day of our life, until we reach our destination.
Piscean keywords and resonant themes are also sprinkled throughout: ford every stream; follow every rainbow; a dream that will need all the love you can give…
As I mentioned earlier, I was born with Sun (asc. ruler), Mercury, and Jupiter (final dispositor) in Pisces, and I admit I feel some trepidation (and excitement!) as Saturn edges closer and closer to taking the plunge.
Whenever I’m feeling pulled down by this transit, I will try listening to Mother Abbess sing this song on full blast until I’m climbing mountains and fording streams again. It will be my astrological remediation for Saturn in Pisces!
Thank you! 🙏🏻 I appreciate your zodiac mood boards. They are so helpful for capturing the essence of a sign. And the deep dive into Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music was fascinating. I love these films and actually did a “Sound of Music” tour when I was in Europe in the summer of 1997!