Significations of the Signs: Aquarius
The Water Bearer or Water Pourer
Aquarius season begins when the Sun departs Capricorn and ends when it enters Pisces. This year, the ingress occurred on January 20, 2023, at 12:29 a.m. PST, and the egress on February 18, 2023, at 2:34 p.m. PST.
In the northern hemisphere, Aquarius season occurs during the stronghold of winter. The weather is fixed and constant, and the promise of spring feels distant. The darkness dictates time and keeps us under its lingering sheath, but daylight slowly takes over, and the days inch longer. Sunny winter days are welcome, but the sunlight is harsh due to awkward, penetrating angles from the Sun’s rays, and the intensity of light is imbalanced with its warmth.
The symbol for Aquarius is flowing water poured out from a jug by a youth. This sign is one of the four “human” zodiac signs. The others are Gemini, Virgo, and Libra.
In traditional astrology, the Water Bearer is the temple of Saturn. And it is the place where the Sun is in exile because it is opposite its home, Leo. No planets are in exaltation or fall in this sign. Aquarius is a fixed, yang (diurnal, masculine, solar), air sign.
Saturn, the greater malefic is a diurnal, masculine planet, that is cold and dry. It is the outer limit and slowest of the traditional planets. Its distance represents austerity, isolation, limitations, responsibility, and seriousness.
When a planet is in domicile, or at home, it is in its own power, has access to its resources, and can act more effectively and more true to its nature. Planets at home do not need to rely on another planetary host. When dignified, Saturn represents rigor, reserve, and patience. When debilitated, it’s miserly, petty, and stubborn.
A planet in exile is in a place opposite its domicile. In this position, the expression of the planet is debilitated, its performance is insecure and indirect, and the nature is weakened and distorted; its actions are contrary and conflicting. Like sunlight in the winter, the natural authority of the Sun becomes either insecure or arrogance, focusing on the self, rather than the collective.
The mode (quadruplicity) of Aquarius is fixed. Signs of this modality (Aquarius, Taurus, Leo, and Scorpio) occur in the middle of the seasons and are characterized by stability and durability, and cautious and persistent actions. When describing behavior, keywords are caretaking, controlled, growth, intensifying, maintaining, persevering, rigidity, stabilizing, stubbornness, and value-oriented.
A yang (diurnal, masculine, or solar) sign means it’s active, extroverted, objective, outgoing, and interested in what is going on in the external world.
Aquarius is in the air triplicity (Aquarius, Gemini, Libra). Air signs have a dynamic expression that are sociable and relational. At the core, this sign represents communication, curiosity, and intellect. Some other keywords include: cold, conceptual detached, insensitive, logical, social, superficial, talkative, and theoretical.
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Additional keywords for Aquarius include: altruistic, cosmopolitan, depressive, dogmatic, domineering, fixed, fundamentalist, humanitarian, idealistic, ideological, impersonal, independent, intellectual, logical, nagging, objective, obstinate, opinionated, perceptive, reclusive, scientific, self-righteous, stubborn, superficial, unemotional, urban, zealots.
Summing it up
Summing up my class notes from my teacher, he described Aquarius season as a time when the light is steadily rising out of the darkness, and there’s a contrast between the hard divisions of the light and dark that takes place. The darkness isn’t bad; it is something that is fixed and holding on. It is the light — or the thing trying to emerge against the status quo — or the darkness — that is marginalized or persecuted. In Aquarius:
- there is potentiality in the darkness and a belief in the future because the light will eventually take over.
- there is the status quo versus the ideal (or what one aspires to) — whether it is related to the past or what we yearn for. Similarly, there is the past versus the promise of the future: light is gaining or growing from within the darkness — an idea, hope, desire, or dream that lies in the future, that is being moved toward, and the resistance of the darkness (the status quo) must be faced.
- there is alienation, outsiders, and divine rebelliousness because those who suffer carry the torch of progress for all.
- there are the insiders versus the outsiders because Saturn reigns feigned appearances and who’s in and who’s out — darkness reigns but the light is emerging. Similarly, there is popularity and progress.
Three famous people with the Sun in Aquarius: Oprah Winfrey, Ronald Reagan, and Christian Dior
Leave a comment: Where’s Aquarius in your natal chart? How does it express in your life?
Astrology is a rhapsody. And this article tells just a very small part of the epic poems written by the stars in our heavens. Stay tuned for additional compositions that weave the wisdom of the stars.
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Sources Referenced
- Helena Avelar and Luis Ribeiro, On the Heavenly Spheres, 2010
- Chris Brennan, Hellenistic Astrology, 2017
- Adam Elenbaas, Nightlight Astrology course notes, 2020
Published Monday February 27, 2023, at 2:04 a.m. PST. The Archer was rising at 11°, with reception to Jupiter in the Ram, in the 5th house. The Moon was in the Twins at 9° and enclosed between sextiles from Venus at 8° and Jupiter at 11° in the Ram.
