Saturn and Neptune move together in a conjunction through the signs of Pisces and Aries 2025 to mid-2026 – with the event exact on February 20th, 2026. This is an incredibly potent event.
We live in interesting times… and this time frame brings us an astrological event that, honestly, is so rare my astrology software only found a fit in the years of 555 and 878 A.D.: Those were the last times that Saturn and Neptune were conjunct (a.k.a., sit close enough to cuddle) while moving between the first and last sign of the zodiac! Only that now, they’re getting enhanced by the North Node that’s also walking with them: and that’s a combination I didn’t find in my astrology software, even though it goes back to 500 B.C.
We live in interesting times. But it’s a good transit.
What to expect from this article: the Saturn-Neptune conjunction (I’ll explain the terms here) is a beautiful event with some truly amazing long-term benefits we’ll all get to see and live. However, there are parts of this that may be very painful (don’t worry, even if you get a scoop of the pain pile, you’ll get lots of scoops of the positive effects, too). Because of this, I have to talk about both the negative and the positives in depth. Please take your time reading this article and, if you get bogged down by the painful aspect, re-read the section on all the benefits twice. I would discourage you from skipping the “bad” though, as I included advice on how to deal with it so it won’t hurt as much.
Shortcuts: Dates and timeframes, Explanation of the terms, The overall context, The bad and how to deal with it, The benefits, further reading. In the Signs.
Dates:
Exact: February 20th, 2026
Time frame of impact: January 2025 – August 2026.
Past:
The last times Neptune and Saturn moved from Aries to Pisces and back in lockstep were:
March 19th, 555 (Julian calendar)
March 13th, 878 (Julian calendar)
The last Saturn and Neptune conjunctions in Aries were:
March 29th, 1380 (Julian calendar)
March 28th, 1703
And the last Saturn conjunction with Neptune in general was:
March 3rd, June 24th, and November 13th, 1989 (in Capricorn)
Future:
June 7th, 2061 (Gemini)
Explanation of the terms
Neptune is the planet of intuition, compassion, spirituality, dreams, faith, trust, illusions, delusions, longing, grief, and addiction.
Saturn is the planet of boundaries, time, “the real world,” limitations, grounding, maturity, mastery, building foundations, and obstacles.
Right now, Neptune and Saturn are both in the sign of Pisces, the last sign of the zodiac. Pisces has to do with beautiful things like intuition, love, compassion, and spirituality, as well as things like grief, illusions, longing, and pain.
They’re both moving back and forth between Pisces and the following sign (and first sign of the zodiac!), Aries. Aries is all about agency, new beginnings, power, optimism, and creation. Its shadow is anger, stubbornness, and attempting to go head-first through a wall.
When two planets are conjunct (or “in conjunction”) they’re essentially so close they could cuddle – or, if it’s exact, right on top of each other. If that happens, both planetary principles merge and become one. What this means for Saturn and Neptune is something you’ll read about in this article.
The Overall Context
I’ll keep this short and sweet: Saturn in Aries and Pisces are full-blown astrological events in their own right that last about 2 ½ years each. For full context, I recommend you read my articles on them (though you don’t have to do that before finishing this one). If you’d like to read about Saturn in Pisces (03/2023 – 02/2026) you can do so here. If you’d like to read about Saturn in Aries (05/2025 – 04/2028) I have an article for you, too. (The overlap between the dates comes from Saturn moving back and forth, crossing the sign boundary).
Neptune in Aries and Pisces are also astrological events in their own rights, and ones that last 14 years each: here’s Neptune in Pisces (2011-2026) and Neptune in Aries (I,II) (2025-2039) or my compilation article on all things Neptune.
Again, you don’t have to read all these articles right away, but I recommend you take a look at them eventually.
Now, let’s get into the meat and potatoes of this article!
Let’s start with the bad: Losses and Closing Doors
Unfortunately, this Neptune-Saturn conjunction will bring up grief, loss, and awareness of all the ways we don’t get what we want or even need. There are times when we, for one reason or another, deeply long for something that’s out of reach for us, something we’re incapable of ever achieving, or simply not ours to have. Similarly, there are times where we lose something or someone dear that we’d never have chosen to let go of. These times are hard and they’re especially tough to deal with when there appears to be no discernable reason for why we have to go through this pain. Grief is required and often, faith and trust in a higher power helps us.
Under this Neptune-Saturn conjunction in Aries and Pisces, we are going to be confronted with all of these experiences. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to mean that we all lose something or get a door slammed in our faces at this time: for some, this will be past pain resurfacing in an intense way that they just never fully dealt with.
There’s also something very, very important and beautiful to remember here: while this pain may feel cruel and not make much sense in the moment, it is a stepping stone to a much more solid, beautiful long-term future aligned with our soul’s path. Aries is the first sign of the zodiac, so whatever happens to us and for us around this time truly is a new beginning. In German, we say “All beginnings are hard” (Aller Anfang ist schwer) and that’s the spirit of this event… but there’s more than just a light at the end of the tunnel coming from us.
It’s a new birth.
It’s a new and better world.
It’s a beautiful dawn waiting just for you to see it.
If one door closes to your life, we grieve. But with time, we’ll find out that on the other side of the door were hardship and pain as well – and, in the spirit of architecture, structural damages and black mold. The path that gets opened up for you may feel like a fixer-upper at first, but the result is a beautiful home you’re glad to stay in.
On that note, for those of us who may actually see things or people falling away or hit a proverbial wall of not being able to do, achieve, or have what we desire: this is a final ending and an unmitigable full-stop “No.” Not a “not yet,” but a clear closed door – actually, there isn’t even a door anymore, the door was walled off and covered with barbed wire.
Whatever is falling away, it won’t come back and suddenly work out. Whatever you realize you can’t do, it won’t be happening in a future where you “did the thing,” “learned to be better,” or “finally are enough.” You already are enough! And you will be enough for the future and for the people you’re truly meant to have and keep in your life.
Acceptance of this may be hard-earned, but it’s better to know in advance because Neptune – especially in the times where the Neptune-Saturn conjunction meanders through Pisces – can get attached to unfulfillable longing and illusions. Saturn brings the wake-up call. But it’s easier to choose acceptance and surrender to what is and let the planets aid you, rather than cling to false hope that makes the process more painful.
Please remember: With Saturn conjunct Neptune, we’ll see the beauty and necessity of the event in hindsight, not while we’re in it (unless we’re really intuitive). So please, trust that what’s not for you at this time.
The Consequences of Addiction and Substance Abuse
Saturn brings consequences – Neptune is the planet of (among other themes) addictions and substances that could make people addicted. Together, they’ll bring a theme of consequences of addictions and substance abuse.
This can be as “harmless” as a phone or social media addiction that you heal from as soon as you kick the habit (not that that’s easy to do), or something as dire as an addiction to medication or illegal chemicals that cause massive damage to the physical body, the mind, the psyche, and someone’s life… even if you lose the actual addiction. Can I just say that I have the utmost respect for anyone who manages to get themselves out of a full-blown addiction, especially one to substances? This is amazing, and those people are so strong.
Many addicts around this time will forcibly hit rock bottom. Many loved ones or people connected to addicts are going to see and directly experience the consequences of that person’s addiction in their own life… to the point that taking action to protect themselves and additional 3rd parties becomes unavoidable. Please, set the boundaries. This will get uglier with time, not better. The times of Saturn and Neptune in Aries (April – October 2025 and January – late Summer 2026) especially highlight anger and anger issues due to addiction… so please, take care of yourself and the vulnerable around you first.
But consequences of substance abuse don’t just include addiction, or even the use of illegal substances (or substances that should be illegal but aren’t). Neptune rules specific types of medication that, if used correctly, greatly aid people and have their rightful place in medicine (like numbing agents, sleeping pills, anesthesia, pain medication). However, if administered wrongly, they can absolutely screw somebody up and have lasting and sometimes fatal effects. Saturn conjunct Neptune is going to highlight this… and it’ll show us where medication we thought was safe actually isn’t (I’m especially skeptical of certain weight-loss pills and specific shots that are supposed to keep you from getting sick… only certain shots, not all of them).
“Congratulations! You’ve Accidentally Poisoned Yourself!”
This actually is a great segway to a theme of Neptune conjunct Pisces: realizing we may have accidentally poisoned ourselves through living in environments with toxic agents or actual poisons, using cleaning agents, makeup and other chemicals with a bad effect on your body, or buying certain clothes or foods containing things you don’t want on or in your body.
Contaminations of all kinds, including contaminated water and earth, and other toxins like parasites, fungi, and mold, are going to come to the surface during this event. Another thing here is that some people will realize that they have an allergy they didn’t know about that has been slowly taking a toll on their bodies.
But this is all a good thing: once you know, you can do something about it! Not only that, but a lot around this subject will be revealed and openly talked about by the powers that be – so, it’s not just a personal event, but an effort done in groups to help create a better world. We’ll see further breakthroughs on root causes on chronic, mystery, and auto-immune diseases, too – especially, where they’re consequences of accidental poisoning.
Hyper-independence
Saturn conjunct Neptune also brings us a theme around our hyper-independence. Being independent and self-sustained is a wonderful thing that everyone needs – though admittedly, we as human beings will move through phases of life where this is less attainable (f.e. childhood, times of health issues, etc.), but it’s still something we should strive for.
However, there is something called hyper-independence that talks about that intention going wrong. Hyper-independence happens when your desire to become/be independent becomes so strong that you can’t let people in anymore, you feel like you HAVE to do it all alone (even if you break yourself/your health trying), and where you reject other people’s help or even love because it makes you feel threatened in your independence. You isolate yourself and build walls around your heart that you viciously defend… which damages your relationships, because it essentially leads you to constantly rejecting the love of the people around you (even if you don’t realize that). Independence is good, hyper-independence is not.
If you’re hyper-independent, you live under the illusion that you need other people less than you actually do (because let me tell you something: humans are social creatures. You might be fine for a while if there’s no one around, but it’s a rare person who can live their entire life without others and survive, never mind be happy. And that doesn’t even account for the physical skills, time, and energy you’d need to fulfill your every need in all stages of life… sometimes, we all need a helping hand, or someone to take up the slack when we can’t do it.) You also deeply believe that you already need others too much and need to cut that out, even if the process hurts. You’re either not willing or capable of trusting others with basic things or believe that accepting help or having needs destroys someone’s love for you, makes you a burden, and leads to you losing relationships (which isn’t true – continuously treating your loved ones with mistrust damages the relationship much more).
And lastly, hyper-independence often leads to or is accompanied by health issues as you’re prone to running your body to the ground to “get everything done.” We’re talking about anything from chronic exhaustion and burnout to injuries and health issues coming from not taking care of yourself enough. On a mental health level, it’s often accompanied by things like anxiety, depression, workaholism, and overall unhappiness... that won’t be cured, no matter how good you get at convincing yourself you don’t need other people. Because needing other people less isn’t the problem.
Again: independence is great. Hyper-independence is not. Like too much sunshine creates the desert, it deprives you of what you really need.
Saturn conjunct Neptune fires up hyper-independent tendencies and makes it a stronger theme for all of us – because it’s rooted in a lack of trust – but it also shows us what the consequences of this are. People who already know they tend to be hyper-independent need to take extra care of themselves here. On the positive side, Saturn conjunct Neptune can show us where we need and how we can create healthy independence.
Now, that’s all I have on the negative sides of this astrological event: let’s talk about the benefits.
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The Good: New Beginnings
Neptune conjunct Saturn in Aries and Pisces is a new beginning on steroids. For all of us, something new will be starting, even among the release of the old. We’re also literally creating a new – and better – world for all of us. This is a time where we get to take our dreams and make them real, and we might even get the aid of a miracle along the way. This is a time of birthing new dreams, which we’ll talk about, and walking a path that leads to great joy in the future.
Most importantly, this is a time where we get to create a sustainable, soul-led, deeply aligned future. We will likely not see a massively obvious, positive change right away (though some of us do), but if we look back 6-7 years from then, we’ll see that this was the seed that grew into the tree of our new life… and that it was a massive, massive change after all.
This will not be an event where we eradicate our past, but where we build on our already existing healthy foundations and get help for destroying the false foundations that held us back.
There’s not much more to say other than this: we’ll grow in wisdom, and we’ll create a better life from the seeds planted here, individually and collectively. This will be a great – but long-term, and sometimes subtle but profound – development.
Birthing Dreams and Intuition
Neptune rules dreams – both the sleeping dreams that reveal our unconscious to us and give our brains time to rest and process what’s been happening, and the “dreams” that are ideas we long to see in our world. This astrological event both shows us quite directly what our subconscious wants to know about life (so, if you f.e. dream continuously about a person in your life harming you, pay attention – your subconscious is picking up on something your conscious self hasn’t yet realized), and it shows us the life we long to create… and what road of life could make us happy.
In a nutshell, this transit marks the birth of many dreams, a lot of them will be practical in nature and help us create a better world. It also marks the start of a ca. 30-year-long process during which we get to build those dreams so that they become reality.
So, pay attention to the dreams you have and give them a shot: they might flower beyond your wildest imagination.
This is also a time of a stronger and more concentrated intuition and allowing you to see what’s important for you to know… for now, and for your long-term future. Pay extra attention to your gut and maybe book a reading with an astrologer of your choice to get the lay of the land for this time. This is a time to act on your intuition, as it’ll steer you right through experiences you may not logically understand.
Practical Compassion:
With so much bad happening, let’s talk about some of the great stuff: like practical compassion.
Neptune speaks of our capacity for compassion and empathy for others. Saturn is all about boundaries and practicality: so not only is this combination going to help the more empathic and compassionate among us to love and hold boundaries with others at the same time (so we aren’t used and abused by others, which is… you know… a thing we need to learn), but it also aids us as a larger society in the ways we can build systems that allow for practical care for others, and that reduce suffering.
This might look like humanitarian endeavors, changes in the medical system, things to do with protection (a past pass of Neptune in Aries brought us the invention of fire departments), and more. Pluto in Aquarius and Uranus entering Gemini will bring us inventions we probably can’t even fathom at the time of my writing this article (October 2024).
On an individual level, we’re further guided on how to practically help those who are hurting and to change our lives to help ourselves when we are hurting. And the best thing: this astrological event isn’t a one-and-done kind of thing, but a seed that’s planted and continues to grow for until 2061.
Knowing Whom to Trust
We build our lives on the foundation of trust: trust in our loved ones, trust in our governments and overall society (at least on a basic level), and trust in ourselves. What we can place trust on, we build on. If we completely mistrust something or someone, we usually move away to build on/with something or someone else.
However, we often make our choice and a) question it (due to new information arising or mistrust in our own abilities to choose well), or b) realize that, for one reason or another, we made the wrong choice.
Neptune conjunct Saturn in Aries and Pisces is going to help us figure out once and for all who and what is worthy of our trust – and guides us in creating a firm foundation for our lives that’s build on the physical place, social life, etc. that we can trust to carry us.
It also reveals where we can trust ourselves – and how.
Stepping Out Of Fantasy, Grounding in Reality
This past pass of Neptune in Pisces brought us to further enjoy socially appropriate fantasies, like social media: we “know” that most of what we see there just isn’t real, but we’re still deeply (and sometimes negatively) affected. People try to use plastic surgery more than ever to create a living fantasy out of their bodies, there are people knowingly and unknowingly falling in love with A.I. bots, and some people only live online (especially youths… who are a major focus under Saturn in Aries).
On the other hand, there are people who try to hide behind the claim that “social media isn’t real” and use the anonymity to bully others viciously, in ways they maybe wouldn’t do if they were face-to-face with them: because the fantasy of the screen makes them forget the real person behind the profile. Sometimes, the result of the hurt they cause is severe… but they live in an illusionary world where nothing they do or say matters.
This Saturn and Neptune conjunction ends much of this fantasy realm and puts us in touch with reality again. It’ll also lead to potent, necessary boundaries to protect the especially vulnerable and keep people accountable.
I do believe that we won’t fully lose the fantasy, especially around people’s bodies, until 2039 and following (a.k.a., Neptune in Taurus), as Neptune in Aries is still pushing the “personal brand” which can easily devolve and often is just a marketable illusion of self for another’s viewing pleasure/their own financial profit. But it’s a step in the right direction.
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Further Reading:
Thank you so much for reading this article on the truly rare and potent astrological event that’ll shape our present and the time to come. If you liked it, please don’t forget to subscribe and to donate here to support my work.
Wishing you a happy time of making magic real,
Alexandra