Saturn Retrograde 2026: Why You Feel Stuck + What To Do
Feeling stuck? Me too, and I'm putting the blame on Saturn
What: Saturn Retrograde in Aries
When: July 26 - Dec. 10, 2026
Where it Hits: the Aries part of your chart (esp. if you’re feeling stuck) 🪐
TL;DR: the taskmaster planet’s five-month backtrack through the cardinal fire sign is your quarterly review of the bold goals that feel like they’re going nowhere.
This past week was hard for me. Not only because my stand-up comedy instructor said my jokes didn’t sound original (the gall of him!) and I subsequently doubted my aptitude for everything (the gall of me!), but also because everything that I usually work on, all the business tasks, creative pursuits, and personal goals that usually light a fire under me felt like a heavy weighted blanket. And not the good kind, where I was cocooned in a comforting certainty in myself and my work, soothingly swathed in Loki-level confidence that had me so “burdened by glorious purpose” that nothing would keep me from striving after the goals.
No, I just felt burdened, period. Burdened and stuck.
My goals and to-dos were cumbersome millstones around my neck. I wanted to do the tasks (sorta), but I couldn’t summon the willpower to charge towards ‘em and get ‘er done. They felt pointless and impossible (and the work I did do didn’t seem to move the needle). Of course, Self-Doubt and Akrasia weren’t the only dour feelings encumbering my industriousness. Avolition, Listlessness, and Gloom also formed a picket line, blocking Discipline and stalling what was left of Ambition so that every single thing I had to do felt like work. Tough, taxing, unrewarding work. Which led me to wonder if, in the grand scheme of my life, any of the goals, aims, or work even mattered at all.
Welcome to the existential crisis of Saturn Retrograde. From July 26th through December 10th, the planet of limits, restrictions, and doubting the feasibility of everything backpedals through initiatory Aries, dousing our fiery drive in pessimistic pragmatism and restrictive realism. But—and this is important—despite the despondent tone of my anecdote, Saturn Retrograde in Aries isn’t all doom and gloom crises of meaning and running headfirst into walls. Sure, my recent experiences could lead you to believe that we’re all just going to feel like apathetic sad sacks from now until December, but that isn’t wholly true.
Because Saturn Retrograde isn’t just an audit for your goals and life; you won’t just question the meaning of your work and infuriatingly wonder if anything will come of your efforts, and want to punch a wall because IT IS ALSO IN YOUR WAY, Saturn Retrograde in Aries is also a review period, a time for you to evaluate whether what you’re building is actually working for your ambitions (and you, them). So if, like me, you have felt burdened and stuck, if your goals have felt impossibly unattainable because all the work that you do for them seems to amount to nothing whatsoever (and the mentors in your life think you’re banal), you’re not only feeling this astrology, but you’re actually going to benefit from it.
🪐 Not sure where Saturn Retrograde is hitting YOUR birth chart? Book a one-on-one chart reading and we’ll unpack the lessons of this quarterly review—together.
Why You Feel Stuck Right Now
Saturn moved into 14th degree of Aries on June 27th, and has done nothing but sit there for a whole month. (It will continue to stymie at that degree until August 25th.) Ergo: we haven’t been able to move forward on much of anything since June—and even before that, when Saturn officially entered its pre-retrograde shadow on April 20th. (UGH, I know.) Add to the that, the moment that Saturn actually stations retrograde—July 26th—and WOW, you have the Saturn Formula for Feeling Stuck in Your Life. Lucky us, right? But the slow-moving pre-retro period isn’t the only thing causing the stuckness right now, it’s Saturn itself.
