Spoiler: There’s another one en route

Saturn and Neptune come together every 36 years, and when they do, they make an uneasy pair. Saturn represents discipline, authority, tough lessons, and boundaries, while Neptune is all about imagination, empathy, confusion, and illusions. One is concerned with upholding order and the status quo; the other doesn’t believe limitations exist. What happens when you add them together? It’s hard to get a grip on what’s real and what isn’t. This friction can lead to visionary movements and radical uprisings, or it can burst the bubble of our ideals and leave us more confused about what we can achieve. Sometimes, it can do both. This transit emphasizes the importance of confronting lies with truth, mourning the dreams that didn’t pan out, and fighting for liberation more strategically.

Now, Saturn and Neptune have been orbiting near each other for the past year, so we’ve been experiencing an uptick in these themes of disillusionment and hopeful struggle. But on February 20th, 2026, Saturn and Neptune will make an exact conjunction. And this time, they’re coming together in Aries, a sign ruled by Mars (the hotheaded warrior planet). Major transits like this make an impact beyond the scope of a single day, though — the ripple effects will last for many months and years to come.

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What’s unfolding and what to expect

Saturn–Neptune conjunctions tend to mark periods of major technological leaps, when we surpass what we once thought was possible. So it’s no surprise that the barriers between “real” and “not real” are disintegrating. With the acceleration of AI and the spread of deepfakes, photos, films, and video games are becoming more disturbingly realistic. But these advances stir up many unsettling questions too. How can we tell what’s been AI-generated or digitally manipulated? What is authentic, and what’s just AI slop? What does this all mean for artists whose work is being stolen to train these programs?

With issues of consent rising to the surface in collective conversations about technology, clarifying our boundaries will be especially wise during this particular Saturn–Neptune transit. This conjunction is an opportunity to defend the right to our own images, voices, and creative works, in an era when AI developers and their bots have unregulated (and unethical) access to all of the above.

Saturn–Neptune conjunctions also have a tendency to coincide with the building up of defense systems and shrinking empires, as we’ve witnessed in the past (we’ll get into all that). This one is no exception.

Since May 2025 — when Saturn and Neptune first met up in Aries, less than one degree apart from each other — the budget for ICE (the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has dramatically increased, transforming a more moderately sized government agency into an army. ICE’s terror campaigns — which include threatening civilians with an array of weapons, dividing families, abducting children, disappearing people, and gunning down protesters in the streets — highlight the dangers of unchecked (Neptune) authoritarian power (Saturn). Recruitment for ICE has also been relying heavily on Neptunian propaganda images that display a sanitized vision of white American greatness and scapegoat immigrants to distract from the actual tyrants and crooks. And while this militaristic agency has ballooned, other essential programs — related to issues such as scientific research, social welfare, education, and global diplomacy — have simultaneously been cut or compromised, ultimately diminishing the United States’ power on a broader scale. (Saturn is associated with control and restriction, after all.)

Struggles for justice have also recently reignited in Iran. Between December 2025 and January 2026, demonstrators across Iran demanded improvements to worsening economic conditions, an end to the Islamic Republic’s human rights violations, and a transition to a more humane system of government. Iranian military forces responded to these cries for fairness, dignity, and change by shutting down the internet and committing a massacre of more than 30,000 protesters. Still, the Iranian people have not given up hope — the drive to imagine (Neptune) and build (Saturn) a better system endures.

The odds don’t always seem to be stacked in the favor of ordinary people during Saturn–Neptune conjunctions. But this isn’t the first time civilians have confronted ironfisted power structures and debated clashing ideals. To help you make sense of this charged period, we’ve outlined some of the historical events and uprisings that coincided with previous Saturn–Neptune conjunctions. Let’s get into it.

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New beginnings: The fall of the Berlin Wall and the liberation of Nelson Mandela (Capricorn, 1989)

Due to Saturn’s and Neptune’s retrograde cycles, there were three conjunctions in 1989. This was the year of another huge milestone in tech: the invention of the World Wide Web, which eroded communication barriers, radically restructured our social networks, and paved the way for the 24-hour news cycle that was beginning to take hold of mainstream media.

The historic events of 1989 kept many people glued to their TV sets and computer screens. One of them was the fall of the Berlin Wall, which came down on November 9th, 1989, during a triple conjunction between Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus (the planet of disruption) in Capricorn. Physical and political blockades that had once seemed permanent suddenly vanished — a classic Saturn–Neptune magic trick. Divided communities were able to come together again, and Russia could reimagine the foundations of its society. This moment also marked the end of the Cold War, which began around the same time as the previous Saturn–Neptune conjunction (more on that below), closing out several decades of discord between the United States and the USSR.

Just a few months later, on another continent, Nelson Mandela was freed from prison — another literal barrier — after a 27-year sentence. Following his release on February 11th, 1990, a series of negotiations led to the end of the apartheid system, the desegregation of South Africa, and the nation’s first general elections, in which Mandela became the first democratically elected president of South Africa — another example of Saturn and Neptune reshaping a whole society.

Not all Saturn–Neptune flashpoints end with resolution, though. Sometimes they generate enduring symbols of struggle and spark the creation of collective myths. An iconic image of a single protester (known as “Tank Man” or the “Unknown Rebel”) defiantly squaring off with a military tank in Beijing during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests perfectly captured how mystifying this transit can be. These student-led, pro-democracy protests took place from April to June 1989, around the time of a Saturn–Neptune conjunction. Although these demonstrations were ultimately squashed by the Chinese government, this photograph became visual shorthand for the power of one person’s bravery in the face of unlikely odds. Neptune is the planet of glamour and film, so when it links up with harsh Saturn, resistance to authoritarianism can go viral. But the photo also stoked many conspiracy theories, which are associated with Neptune. Some argued that it was staged to make the Chinese government appear more inhumane than it was, while others suggested that the heroic myth of “Tank Man” obscured the actual scale of the violence inflicted on protesters. The photograph’s impact was clear, though the content of the image itself was much harder to interpret.

This Saturn–Neptune theme of resistance was also emphasized during the First Intifada, an uprising of Palestinian civilians in Israeli-occupied Palestine, which lasted from 1987 to 1993 — bookending the Saturn–Neptune conjunctions of 1989. This event was a major turning point in the Palestinians’ ongoing struggle for liberation, and it highlighted Saturn’s and Neptune’s potential to dissolve oppressive systems and lay the groundwork for more humane conditions. But it did not result in freedom from occupation. Neptune rarely brings tidy solutions or clear outcomes, and Saturn–Neptune transits can carry an element of deception, disillusionment, or uncertainty, which can ripple many years down the line.

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A climate of fear: The McCarthy era, the nuclear arms race, Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, and the start of the Cold War (Libra, 1952/1953)

Saturn–Neptune conjunctions can create an atmosphere of weariness, hopelessness, and fear as Saturn tends to see the hard side of life, and Neptune adds a gloss of confusion to everything it touches. Cue: perfect conditions for exhaustion, low morale, and paranoia to fester.

For an example, we can look to the Saturn–Neptune conjunctions that occurred in Libra between November 1952 and July 1953. This period was when Senator Joseph McCarthy led a series of hearings and investigations to suss out “communist” and “subversive” activity in the United States — aka when rumors, accusations, and smear campaigns were rampant. Remember: When Saturn and Neptune come together, it can be harder to separate truth from fiction. These particular transits resulted in greater pressure to avoid public scrutiny and comply with authority figures. The nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union also stoked this climate of dread, as both nations built up their defense systems — a very Saturn move — and kept everyone on their toes with a Neptunian sense of uncertainty.

But these conjunctions didn’t just heighten anxiety. Soon after the last of these three Saturn–Neptune conjunctions in Libra, the Army–McCarthy hearings turned the tide of popular opinion against McCarthyism and burst the bubble of the Red Scare. This shift showed that, though Neptune can distort our institutions and make leaders seem more powerful than they are, Saturn can help clear away the smoke and mirrors.

These Saturn–Neptune transits also coincided with another technological leap. Television sets became more accessible — and more popular than radios — in the early 1950s, which allowed millions of people to witness major events like the 1952 presidential election in the United States and the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. For the first time, the general public could see world news with startling realism in their own homes — once again showing how Saturn and Neptune can break down barriers in visual media.

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War and peace (sort of): World War I and the Russian Revolution (Leo, 1917)

Saturn–Neptune transits have a pattern of lining up with wars and periods of revolutionary unrest. The Saturn–Neptune conjunction in Leo in August 1917 happened in the middle of World War I. This period was associated with “trench warfare,” a tactic that involved occupying ditches in the ground and firing new, high-impact weapons like machine guns at enemies. In Saturn–Neptune fashion, this battle style emphasized holding strict lines while also keeping people “stuck in the mud.”

As the war progressed, many troops also began using poisonous gases to infiltrate enemy trenches. With chemical warfare becoming more widespread, soldiers had to bring gas masks to the battlefield and adjust their plans to minimize gas exposure. Neptune is associated with invisible forces like gases, and the use of this Neptunian weapon against hard, Saturnian boundaries added a new dimension of fear and unpredictability. The combination of chemical weapons and brutally efficient machine guns created devastating effects. Ultimately, these developments in weapon technology are what made World War I one of the deadliest conflicts in history.

The 1917 conjunction also happened near the start of the Russian Revolution, when the Bolshevik party seized power in Russia with a slogan promoting the Neptunian ideals of “peace, land, and bread.” Saturn’s and Neptune’s ability to expose the weaknesses of powerful systems was on full display. The old guard of the monarchy (a long-standing, Saturnian structure) was revealed to be a myth (aka a Neptunian illusion) that could be dispelled, and the dream of a more equitable world picked up steam.

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Dreaming deliberately: Marx, Thoreau, and radical imagination (Aquarius, 1846)

Saturn–Neptune conjunctions can also coincide with world-shaking breakthroughs in literature and philosophy — especially ones that creatively reimagine (Neptune) the foundations of our governments (Saturn). Around the time of the Saturn–Neptune conjunctions in Aquarius in 1846, Karl Marx was beginning to draft The Communist Manifesto, and Henry David Thoreau was writing some of his most influential works on nonviolent resistance, such as “Civil Disobedience.” These thinkers’ ideas reverberated throughout the following decades, shaping events like the Russian Revolution and the work of activists like Emma Goldman and Martin Luther King, Jr. When Saturn’s emphasis on structure combines with Neptune’s limitless imagination, it can suddenly seem possible to redraw the blueprints of the world from scratch.

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No kings: The American Revolution and the end of the British Empire (Virgo, 1773)

Yes, we’re going even farther back. The Saturn–Neptune conjunction in Virgo in September 1773 happened just before the Boston Tea Party, which fueled the American fight for freedom from the British monarchy — and incited the American Revolutionary War.

This war was another moment when seemingly omnipotent systems of power (Saturn) were revealed to be vulnerable, and the dream (Neptune) of a new society was born. It challenged and diminished the immense power of the British Empire, a feat that had previously seemed impossible. But as these conjunctions teach us, resolutions that seem perfect are often flawed. The United States of America was built on a foundation of genocide and chattel slavery. Whenever Neptune is involved, the myths we’re taught about history always deserve a closer look.

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Connecting the dots to the 2026 Saturn–Neptune conjunction

When we look back at these past Saturn–Neptune conjunctions, it’s clear that there are common themes: sudden technological advancements in everything from weapons to computers, negotiations over boundaries and borders, periods of heightened fear or violence, idealistic leaps forward, and reality checks that pierce through propaganda. As we approach the next Saturn–Neptune conjunction on February 20th, 2026, we’re being asked to reflect on the storylines that re-emerge, on the old ways of life that are dying out, and on the future we want to co-create. We have to commit to the radical practice of dreaming the world anew — and do it together.

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If you’re not sure how to work with the intensity of this moment, here are some ways to use this transit to keep resisting unjust systems of power:

1. Imagine the world you want to live in. Refuse to limit yourself to “what is” or “what has been.” This is an opportunity to throw out the rule books and focus on best-case scenarios, even when the outcomes seem murky. Why not envision the fairest, most compassionate future you can think of? If you need inspiration, study the brave activists and artists who sparked positive change in the past. Learn from their courage and their struggles.
2. Take action. Dreaming isn’t enough. Saturn is the planet of practicality and effort. What’s one concrete step you can take to make your wishes come true? Get involved with political causes that matter to you, begin the meaningful projects you care about, and show up for your people in real, tangible ways.
3. Gather. This is an ideal time to reach out to your community, whether online or IRL. When everything feels scary, urgent, or overwhelming, it’s important to connect with people you trust — and make new connections too. Coming together with other people reminds us that we’re not alone and helps us build our collective power.
4. Think critically. If you find yourself worrying a lot, recognize the truth in your feelings, but don’t let fearmongering conspiracy theories cloud your judgment. Your gut hunches may be accurate, but they don’t always reflect the whole picture. If your spidey senses go into overdrive, try to interrupt unhelpful thought loops. Those who abuse power want you to feel helpless and discouraged, so don’t buy into their agenda. Instead, engage with books or artworks made by people who’ve lived through similarly intense times. Remind yourself that you can also find beauty and hope in the chaos and keep moving forward.
5. Create structure in your creative or spiritual practices. Setting times to make art, meditate, or journal can be helpful when the world feels fuzzy and uncertain.
6. Clarify your boundaries — with the people in your life, with your government, with technology. Honoring your limits is essential for staying connected to your power and integrity.
7. Understand how this transit will show up in your life — and what it means for the collective — by tuning in to the Astrology of the Week Ahead podcast and Your Reading for the week of February 16th in the “This Week” section of the CHANI app. There, you’ll also find journal prompts and other resources that will help you work with the lessons that this Saturn–Neptune conjunction is teaching you.
8. ‍Learn how Saturn and Neptune are interacting with your natal placements by checking the Transits tab in the CHANI app. You can also read your free planetary horoscopes in the “Today” section of the app to find out how Saturn in Aries and Neptune in Aries will impact you based on your rising sign.