Schitt’s Creek astrology has Saturn & Pluto written all over it

A family with everything, reduced to virtually nothing, Schitt’s Creek is a show that empowers from the ground up. The Rose family had fame, money and socialite contacts wrapped up in a facade that it would last forever. A shady deal left them financially bankrupt and living in a road-side motel in a town they had bought as a joke. From the ashes of destruction and the pain of transformation, they are rewarded in ways they couldn’t have imagined in their previous lives. They are each transformed for the better as they lean into the care and connections of family and community without forsaking any eccentricity.

To read about Saturn-Pluto Levy family patterns follow this link.

Power lost is power gained

Saturn–Pluto upheavals happen, just like it did to all of us in 2020, and just as it did with the Rose family. A metaphorical bomb goes off that causes irrevocable change. The facade buffering the frailty of security is exposed, raw. We can build walls to protect ourselves from life’s harsh reality, but Saturn–Pluto contacts will push us beyond our known boundaries into new territory.

While the Rose’s desperately cling to their lost class status, the citizens of Schitt’s Creek have a delightful way of exposing what their bubble of wealth had shielded them from. Having too much money often means you’re no longer managing it yourself and in losing it you’ve likely lost sight of more than just your bank balance. The power and opportunities embedded in class confront the Rose’s in every interaction, forcing them to see themselves as an integral part of life and community, not as something above or removed.

Schitt’s Creek first aired in 2015

Mercury: There was a time when Crows were our friends

Schitt’s Creek had been an idea that Dan and Eugene were working on for years. Just like human birth it was gestating before making its grand entrance. The initial airing was the first time Schitt’s Creek was birthed into public consciousness.

Schitt’s Creek first aired on Canadian TV on January 13, 2015 at 9pm ET. The Ascendant at this moment was 9* Virgo, with Mercury conjunct Venus at 12 & 13 degrees respectively, of Aquarius. Mundane magic wove throughout this show with grace and charm in its wild eccentricity.

Mercury & Venus: I like the wine, not the label.

Mercury the messenger rules both points of public contact, the Ascendant and MC, in the Schitt’s Creek chart. The all-important chart ruler snuggled up to Venus in Aquarius, about to turn retrograde, suggests there is a message in the mix about love and equality whilst in the throws of struggle and misfortune (Venus conjunct Mercury in Aquarius, 6th house).

Virgo as the Mercury-ruled ascending sign speaks to the minutiae of the writing, not to mention the many thesaurus references were used to formulate Moira’s lines. In some ways, it’s the details that aren’t in the show that add to its brilliance; Alexis dating Prince Harry, being held hostage, Moira partying with Maggie Trudeau and the Rolling Stones in Monaco – the list is worth researching. These are the kind of details that show up periodically and give the show a hidden depth and a boost (Mercury bonified by Venus).

The Sun: Talk to the hand, Son, because the ears are no longer working.

The Schitt’s Creek chart also carries the energy of the Sun at 23 degrees Capricorn, just like a person would if born on this day. It’s a sensitive point in the zodiac that remains susceptible to activation by planetary periods, people, and future events.

The Sun in a birth chart represents one’s personal flavour of illumination. It can be a lens we look through to understand ourselves. We all have multiple lenses we look through; one of them may be astrological, another may be gender, our profession or status, or even where we rank in the family unit from oldest to youngest. There are infinite ways we identify and understand ourselves.

The Schitt’s Creek Sun at 23 degrees Capricorn is hauntingly close to the exact degree of the Saturn–Pluto conjunction on January 12, 2020 at 22 degrees Capricorn. I wasn’t joking when I said there’s a daisy chain of stellar connections! This sensitive area in the zodiac, from 20-24 degrees Capricorn, is what some astrologers have been watching for years prior. It now has the mark of a Saturn-Pluto conjunction. Because the Sun in the Schitt’s Creek chart is in this sensitive terrain, and it had an outstanding year in 2020, it was picked up by this transiting energy and is now tied into this story in history.

Schitt’s Creek embodied Saturn – Pluto down the Levy family line, through the fictional characters and story lines, and and also via its inception, capturing the developing zietgiest. Even though Schitt’s Creek was released in 2015, 2020 was waiting for it to arrive all along. Here Schitt’s Creek found its Saturn-Pluto sweet spot, reflecting back to us our own lived experience.

My car is worth less than your pants

The premise of Schitt’s Creek has Saturn-Pluto written all over it. Saturn limits and restricts. It can express as poverty, scarcity or severe lacking, being cut off from nourishment and support, as the Roses were. Pluto, with its associations with toxins and the power in the unseen, can show up in plumbing issues in the body, the psyche, and in buildings.

In the foundations of Schitt’s Creek, Episode Two, “The Drip” begins with Johnny (played by Eugene Levy) waking up with the plumbing leaking on him in bed. In utter despair he says, “The plumbing is shot to hell in this place and we’re getting out!” But their new harsh reality quickly sets in when he remembers there’s nowhere to go.

Like people across the planet early in 2020 hoarding toilet paper as an expression of the Saturn–Pluto fear of letting go, we all had to painfully look at the reality that there is nowhere else to go. We faced the unimaginable Saturn–Pluto plank walk of dealing with our own shit.

The Sun in Capricorn is known for its tenacious, slow build game plan. Capricorn is often described like wine; it gets better with age. Schitt’s Creek clearly illustrates this as it ripened on the vine in 2020. The Sun placed in the 5th house suggests it will express with themes around sexuality, pleasure, joy, and creative expression that come through the children, over time and through hardship (Saturn on the IC, ruling the 5th house).

Johnny (played by Eugene Levy), the patriarch of the Rose family, expresses this Capricorn energy in his dedication and tenacity. He never gives up. His dedication to rectify the fall of his family is driven by the sting of failure, Capricorn’s kryptonite. Wearing a blue suit in almost every scene, he embodies this Capricorn Sun.

Jupiter ruling the 4th, and debilitated in the 12th house, in Leo, Johnny Rose does what he can with his hands tied, setting up an office in a mechanic’s shed and urging his family to support one another as best they can. Saturn anchoring the IC, he is the backbone of the Rose family.

Pluto: Lick rust

Pluto is within a 10 degree orb the Schitt’s Creek Sun, at 13 degrees Capricorn, stimulating it with waning power and potency. Pluto is the furthest, slowest and therefore the most powerful planet astrologically, while the Sun is central to us, both physically and in terms of survival. Since January 2015, transiting Pluto has been moving toward the Schitt’s Creek Sun at 23 degrees Capricorn, intensifying the show’s presence and energy in the world, year by year.

Pluto crossing one’s Sun is often a time of great power and regeneration. It will not happen to everyone in their lifetime. It’s interesting to note that Pluto crossed the Schitt’s Creek Sun in 2020 – the year it reached its peak and simultaneously ended.

I don’t skate through life. I walk through life… in really nice shoes

When an oversized portrait of the family in their former days arrives at the Motel in Schitt’s Creek, David (played by Dan Levy), who is not so much a Star Sign but a constellation unto himself, blatantly misses the expected masculinity cues. I laughed so incredibly hard the first time I watched this scene unfold. When the portrait doesn’t fit in their tiny motel room, they are all confronted with their former life and the reality of where they are now. There’s the usual romance about days gone by, but the sincerity of the successes they are achieving now (Capricorn) are made memorable not by a portrait that reflects four solitary people, but by the value of the love and acceptance in the connections they’re forging. Saturn and Pluto have stripped them back to a place of vulnerability where compassion is the only antidote.

Episode 12 and 13 in Season 3 was a turning point, which is an important aspect of any Saturn – Pluto connection. While the devastation may be life altering, there is a point where the destruction stops and the rebuilding can occur. David opened a business and established the foundations with his future husband, Alexis graduated, Johnny fully booked the Motel, and Moira shared in the limelight at her daughter’s graduation ceremony. None of these are marks of failure – they all reflect growth in new directions.

The Moon: I was perfectly fine not trusting people. Not trusting people is my comfort zone.

The Moon being the other great Light in the sky guides the nocturnal sect. A reflector, it represents people, places and things that offers us safety, nurturance and nourishment, as well as connections with the past. In mundane astrology the Moon tells us a lot about public opinion.

With all of this in mind it’s interesting to think about the Moon in Scorpio on the cusp of the 3rd house carrying the infliction of emotional pain and loss (Moon in Scorpio in Fall). The Rose’s were at the heart of the local community yet living in temporary roadside Motel accomodation (cadent 3rd house Moon). It was the people of Schitt’s Creek who nurtured this family back from emotional and spiritual bankruptcy (Moon in Scorpio ruling 11th house).

Dan’s character David fully embodies this Moon. The depth of emotional pain and vulnerability that is expressed through his character is palpable. Through him, it is so apparent how rare it is to see male characters at these emotional depths.

Love takes time to heal when you’re hurting so much

Season 4 took us by the heart strings and let us in. It’s the terrain a Scorpio Moon wants to meet in, but fears so terribly. David tells his new love Patrick that he’s damaged goods, “I’ve been burned so many times I’m like the human equivalent of the inside of a roasted marshmallow.” This was a moment that reverberated out through so many queer people.

While emotional pain is not something reserved solely for queers, this was a moment in Dan’s writing that was obviously informed by queer experience – his own and those he cares about. The intricacies of this kind of trauma is something rarely explored in prime time media, and queer narratives express the terrain with a twist of nuance. The Scorpio Moon shone a light on the taboo. Two men embracing on a massive public billboard healed Dan’s teenage self retroactively, as well as those who watched on. Schitt’s Creek healed us using humour to move through suffering, and offered representation in ways we had not experienced before.

Queers got to see themselves within something great, something with wit and intelligence, while also acknowledging the reality that life is heart wrenching at times. The brilliance in the writing meant that the emotional connections and journeys of each character took the focus off queerness itself, yet didn’t deny its presence. We literally got to witness a world without homophobia. It was poignantly informed by queer experience in both tender and overt ways.

The Moon in Scorpio in a tight trine to its ruler, Mars, suggests that the show touches people deeply, evoking strong emotion and the desire to connect below the surface, in uncomfortable terrain (Moon in Scorpio ruled by Mars in Pisces, 6th house). There is a thread that runs through the fabric of the show illuminating the depth and frailty of emotional vulnerability, the pain of loss and the benefit that comes from clear boundaries and personal integrity (Mars in Pisces applying conjunction with Neptune).

This show also stirred the waters of Canadians seeking to hold this Schitt’s Creek plaque up to the world and say, “We did this, and we are not American!” It was another win for Canada over their big, loud neighbour (Moon in the 3rd house), as this comment on a CBC article articulates:

For the astro nerds: It will be interesting to watch what comes about when Jupiter and Saturn crosses 6, 10 and 11 degrees of Aquarius in the coming years (Schitt’s Creek Mercury conjunct Venus – partile conjunction at 6, 10, 11 degrees. Mercury Rx cazimi Sun 10 degrees Aquarius) as well as when Mercury turns retrograde by progression in 2022 and crosses the Sun in 2031. We could anticipate a Schitt’s Creek revival in 2043 when Mercury turns direct again by progression.

Uranus: Stop acting like a disgruntled pelican.

In a larger context, Schitt’s Creek was birthed amidst the revolutionary Uranus–Pluto cycle in 2015 that has strong ties to what unfolded in 2020. Uranus, the great awakener, shows up as unexpected change, something unusual occurring, or even a personal or social revolution. Chaos that births through creativity.

In the Schitt’s Creek chart Uranus is in close proximity to the South Node highlighting themes of breaking with the past to open up new and unexpected horizons. The North Node in the 2nd house in Venus-ruled Libra suggests that the end reward of these changes is finding one’s worth, not through possessions, but the resources that prop one up from the inside out; a sharing of common kindness (Venus in Aquarius).

Uranus is expressed in a multitude of ways in the series, from the shock of change to awkward interactions, and blatantly defying patriarchy. The very apparent inter-generational dynamics are both hilarious and excruciating to watch. When hipster Millennials and Boomers are forced to live in close proximity with each other’s idiosyncrasies, they realise they have more in common than they’d care to acknowledge. One is a product of the other; Millennials are raised by Boomers, and it also takes a village to raise a Boomer.

The show also has a poignant way of annihilating toxic masculinity. Alexis (played by Annie Murphy) is possibly one of the most unsuspecting characters. Initially appearing to lack the depth and substance so often written into female storylines, she displays character traits often only reserved for male characters. She is confident and self-contained, requiring no external source to prop up her self-esteem. She also saved both, the motel business and the Blouse Barn, and shaped relationships with her savvy skills that have gotten her safely through unimaginable life situations.

Moira (played by Catherine O’Hara) blows the lid off misogyny’s pigeon-holing of women as emotional, erratic and therefore unreliable. She embodies Uranus completely; she is unapologetically eccentric and subsequently highly exciting, leaving the field of unpredictability open for adventure.

All of the female characters in this show hold their own in their respective character limits, none playing second fiddle to a male counterpart, nor apologising for what might otherwise be framed as a weakness.

*FUN FACT

Dan’s mother Deb Devine has Uranus at 16 degree Leo, the same degree as Dan’s Leo Sun, suggesting that Dad was the stern hand of authority while Mum was the inspiration to break the mould. It’s interesting that Moira, the mother in Schitt’s Creek, embodies Uranus.

Mars, Neptune & Chiron: You wouldn’t be the first hostage to fall in love with their captor.

Mars in Pisces, tightly aspecting Saturn and Neptune, illustrates undercurrents of anger and frustration that don’t always have a direct outlet. The frustration of loss and disempowerment the Rose family encounters stems from larger issues than themselves (Jupiter in 12th house), such as our collective desire for fame, glamour and wealth over nourishing family dynamics and the riches of vulnerability.

Neptune, tied to the MC/IC axis by partile square from the 6th house side of the descendant, is the tightest aspect in the chart. It speaks to the deception in a business contract that resulted in their entire lives eroding under their feet. The glamour they lost is now questionable to how real it was in the first place, just like the drug dazed days they reminisce about.

Chiron in Pisces on the visible side of the horizon, suggests both pain and healing may come through relationships, partnership and in the end redeeming a lost sense of self empowerment (descendant ruled by Jupiter in Leo, 12th house).

Jupiter and Saturn: We’re all pitching in these days, dear. Like communists or non-union actors.

David and Alexis, the hipster millennial adult children, remind their parents that they were more absent than not growing up, and that as infants their nursery was in another wing of the house. Saturn on the IC confirms that something wasn’t right in the home to begin with, and that this will take time to ripen (Saturn, ruler of the 4th in the 12th house). Traditionally, this house speaks of the parents, inheritance and hidden sources of wealth (1), while Saturn in this position in a night chart “dissipates the paternal inheritance” (2) (Saturn in Sagittarius) which is a literal story line.

Jupiter is the last planet to rise in the Schitt’s Creek chart, which suggests greatness will come later, finding learning and growth through the home, family and relationships (Jupiter ruling 4th&7th house). It took six seasons for all of the characters to ripen, mature, share their depths and become staples in our lives as we moved through our own experiences of tragedy and loss.

The final season shows not only Jupiter coming home to roost, but a reflection of the 2020 transition from the early misgivings of Saturn and Pluto through to a later and greater transition hosted by Jupiter and Saturn. Moira (played by Catherine O’Hara) embodied Jupiter in her Papal attire at David and Patrick’s wedding, surrounded by the whole town coming together for a wedding that represented far more than love between two people. A true crescendo.

Simply the best

2020 gave birth to itself through a Saturn-Pluto conjunction in January and bowed out with a conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn in December. Jupiter and Saturn meeting every 20 years is part of a larger 200 year cycle, that itself is part of an even greater 800 year cycle. Jupiter being the largest planet in our Solar System bestows growth and optimism, expansion and learning, youth and abundance, good fortune and alliances. It is the antithesis of Saturn.

Together, Jupiter and Saturn dance with their respective antagonism, acting as unifying principles rather than separating, just like the final Season of Schitt’s Creek. Expansion and contraction when working together allows for a bigger vision and concrete ideas to materialise through commitments and time constraints. David finally accepted the hard truth that his previous life was one of social and emotional poverty, and leaned into accepting the steady abundance he had been seeking while abandoning himself. The grandness that Jupiter can envision is benefited by the realistic hand of Saturn, and vice versa. The final season of Schitt’s Creek showed us what we’re working toward after Saturn-Pluto annihilation. It’s a generous guide for creating a new world through the next 200 years. What we do now is foundational for our future ancestors.

Schitt’s Creek worked through Saturn–Pluto themes for us. It showed what it means to be comfortable in our known world, only to lose it for the unseen promise of something better. Like the Roses and citizens of Schitt’s Creek, the growth and change we have all gone through in the past few years has landed us in a very different world. We can’t go back and divert the cosmic traffic. We’re being initiated into a new world, a new era, that requires us to not forget where we have come from, but to keep moving forward with an open heart and an open mind so that the changes have a safe place to land and grow.

The Levy family has given us a gift that has potentially healed something in them, as well as us. If we can take anything from the journey of the Rose family, it’s a brown crocodile leather bag, full of love and compassion, straight into the heart of vulnerability.

To recap this Saturn-Pluto unfolding:

• Eugene Levy is born with Saturn conjunct Pluto in Leo, 1946
• The exact conjunction between Saturn and Pluto occurred on Dan’s birthday, 1947
• Dan is born during the next Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Libra, 1983
• The Saturn-Pluto conjunction in 2020 occurs within a degree of the Schitt’s Creek Sun at 23 degrees Capricorn (the conjunction occurred at 22* Capricorn)
• Dan and Eugene create Schitt’s Creek (a Saturn-Pluto storyline) and it reaches its peak and completes its run in the next Saturn-Pluto year, 2020

This three part series was posted on January 13, 2021 – Schitt’s Creek’s 6th birthday. It also happens to be the day there is a New Moon at 23 degrees Capricorn.

If you have enjoyed Part Three of this Schitt’s Creek series, follow on to read more:

Part 1 – Takes a deep dive into the astrology of 2020; the treacherous terrain of the Saturn – Pluto cycle that cast a long shadow over the year.

Part 2 – Unpacks layer by layer the inherited family patterns of both Dan and Eugene Levy, showing the daisy chain of astrological connections that produced Schitt’s Creek.

Part 3 Unpacks the chart of Schitt’s Creek, looking at the characters, story lines and public reception astrologically.

Part 3 source notes:
1 – Holden, James. Julius Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis. (2011). American Federation of Astrologers. Book II. Ch 21.p66
2 – Holden, James. Julius Firmicus Maternus, Mathesis. (2011). American Federation of Astrologers. Book III. Ch 3a. p96