The True Nature of Aquarius

These are all profound concepts of the awakening that Aquarian energy brings. So many astrologers have been sharing recently about the Age of Aquarius as the current astrological climate is heavily influenced by its energy. As an Aquarian Sun myself, with 4 additional placements in Aquarius, as well as Uranus conjunct my Sun, I felt I needed to put my two cents into this conversation. As I am writing this on January 23, 2024, the day of my 26th solar return, the Sun shines in Aquarius just a few days after Pluto shifted from Capricorn into a 0-degree Aquarian cazimi. We are truly amidst the dawning of the age of Aquarius, but what does that mean in its shadow and in its glory?

As someone who has spent so much time trying to understand myself and all the placements within my chart, Aquarian energy has always confused me. I have my Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Pallas, and Uranus all in Aquarius, so very much of my study has been spent trying to decode the profundity of its rebellious live wire nature. I have come to the conclusion that this is meant to be the case-Aquarius is confused by nature. Its confusion is what allows the structures of Capricorn to be dismembered and helps us to move into the boundaryless compassion of Pisces. Aquarius brings big ideas-ideas that are too big so that we can be woken up to the idea of possibility. When we move into Pisces we are connected to Spirit, one with all, which without the confusing priming administered by the erratic Aquarian, the belief of this possibility would never exist. Capricorn, the sign before Aquarius is not concerned with matters of God, compassion, or anything mystical. It is a stretch even to rely on one sign to break up the zodiacal wheel enough to shake the Capricornian ideals and prepare us to accept the Piscean way. That is why I believe the archetype as confusing as Aquarius needs to come in.

We can start by mentioning the dual rulership of Aquarius. Besides Scorpio and Pisces, two almost equally confusing signs, Aquarius is the only other sign ruled by two different planets. I would argue that these signs rely on mystery and not being understood to fulfill their purpose in the world. Alas, Scorpio and Pisces are conversations for a different day and personally, I feel that their two ruling planets, Mars and Pluto/Neptune and Jupiter, have far more in common than those that rule Aquarius. In fact, I don't think that there could be two more dichotomous planets connected to a sign. Many astrologers argue that Saturn is the traditional ruler of Aquarius while others say it is Uranus-my feeling it is both and they share equal rulership. Now what is the main concern of Saturn? To create structure. What is the main concern of Uranus? Unlimited formless ideals and radical freedom.

Now that is a head-scratcher already. If we pivot to the mythology of Ouranos(Uranus) and Kronos(Saturn) it makes even less sense how these two could work together. Ouranos, ruler of the sky and god of destruction, was the father of Kronos and the other Titans. Ouranos imprisoned his children in Tartarus until Kronos created a plan(structure) to overthrow his father. Kronos with the help us his mother, Gaia, escaped and destroyed Ouranus by using a stone sickle(also ruled by Saturn) to castrate his father. This is said to be the birth of Aphrodite-Kronus threw his father's testicles into the Aegean Sea and out rose the goddess of beauty. Kronos went on to have six children, Demeter, Hades, Hestia, Posideon, Hera, and Zeus. Out of fear(the shadow of Saturn), Kronos eats his children to be sure they cannot overthrow his rule. Zeus kills his father, frees his brothers and sisters, and crowns himself king of the gods. Ultimately Ouranus got his way and Kronos was destroyed-at the expense of them both I may add. All of this happened for the birth of the beautiful Aphrodite and the empowerment of Zeus. Zeus, although typically associated with the sign of Sagittarius, is the ruling god of Jupiter one of the dual rulers of Pisces. In a convoluted way, the Aquarian dance of structure, rebellion, and destruction had to happen for the kingdom of Mount Olympus to be as we know it today.

Aquarius holding polarity to its counterpart Leo, shifts its focus from self to the other. Leo is all about the individual's celebration and creative path while Aquarius focuses on ideas and structures to help the collective community consciousness. Any astrology book will associated with Aquarius technology, innovation, humanitarianism, rebellion, science, aloofness, etc. While these are all attributes worth mentioning, I don't believe it sums up what the purpose of this sign is. This sign is the inner conflict between the need for individuality and the need for unity. Although Aquarius is mentioned as a sign of community, so much so that you can look to the eleventh house in the birth chart, the Aquarian-ruled house, for insights into a person's friendships, it is also the most individualistic of all signs. It wants to be a part of the community, but yet be different from everyone else and remain completely aloof. It is interesting to look again at Leo as a sign that wants to be the star but be understood by everyone, completely opposite to Aquarius.

What if we have been looking at Aquarius wrong the whole time? I feel I need to say that I am in no way saying that every astrologer other than myself is wrong, but perhaps, in this age of Aquarius we are branching beyond the limits of what we once thought it to rule. All of my work in Astrology is based on the evolution of the Soul's consciousness and using it as a tool to help the Soul remember its oneness with the divine. The Zodiac is a metaphor for the journey of the Soul. We begin in the Beyond Beyond state, one with God with no identity. Suddenly we get a whim to separate and individuate ourselves, Aries. We then begin creating a relationship with the physical body through food, pleasure, and rescources, Taurus. Then we enjoy the mind and begin connecting to others in our vicinity to share what our individual selves have discovered; Gemini. We get an urge for safety and a family unit that reminds us of the womb we came from, the Beyond Beyond. In this Cancerian state, emotions begin to connect us to our intuition and other Souls. Once we feel that safety and get a ping of intuitive consciousness we have the desire to manifest our purpose, be seen, and share our creative process as God moving through us; Leo. In our childlike pursuit of joy, it dawns on us that we should devote ourselves to work and service to others; Virgo. After we feel fulfilled in our service we have a desire to create partnerships with others. Our service and involvement with others trigger our deeper attraction to someone who can mirror us and help each other evolve; Libra. Our unity in partnership reminds us of the unity we felt with God, which makes us crave a deeper intimacy with our partner. In attempting this union with another we are confronted with our shadow and parts of us are reborn; Scorpio. After not being able to reach the level of oneness we crave in relationship with another we take off like an arrow through the journey of Saggitarius. We seek God in ideals, morals, and unknown parts of the globe. Once we see that our perceived oneness is just another facet of ego and give up on the arrogance of becoming a guru. Our Soul comes back to the physical plane creating structures and worldly success in subconscious hope for recognition along with a jaded judgementalness of anyone who pursues anything that isn't tangible, Capricorn. Then we hit Aquarius, the ultimate confusion. We attempt to find God in others by creating more humanitarian and community-based endeavors. It is the rebellion of the Soul saying if I can't have God I will try to facilitate it here on Earth, but then the ego fights back and doesn't allow us to fully lose ourselves. We get stuck in the struggle of beginning to be in touch with the metaphysical, but still wanting to put a structure to it. The mind is finally broken in the transition between Aquarius to Pisces. God has compassion for the Aquarian struggle of being in between two worlds and allows us once again to return to unity, but this time with consciousness.

Aquarius is the rainbow bridge. In the worldly sense, it bridges the metaphysical with the physical world. Aquarian energy helps wake up consciousness and shift the collective through the transmission of downloads. This is the outer expression of Aquarius-the inner journey of the Aquarian is very different. It is the painful dissolution of egoic consciousness and the last attempt to hold on to identity. It is the experience of confusion of not knowing who or what you are, whether you are a human or an alien, another Aquarian buzzword. It is the painfully lonely mind attempting to hold on and the soul beginning to dissolve it. The true nature of Aquarius is the experience of the final frontier of the separation between you and the Divine.