The Sun ingressed Aquarius at 10:51 pm EST last night. What exactly does the Sun in Aquarius mean? We can start with its ruling planets for clues.
Saturn is the traditional ruler, which Aquarius shares with Capricorn. Along with Aquarius’ status as a “fixed” sign (as opposed to cardinal or mutable), Saturn is part of what gives people born under this sign their tendency to crystallize their beliefs and ideas, and it gives innovations made under a strong Aquarius signature their staying power.
A prime example is the Internet, which grew from academic novelty to household necessity during the time that Uranus was in Aquarius — and Uranus is the modern ruler of Aquarius.
Uranus is the spark, the experiment, the “Hey, what if…?” Uranus is also part of what gives Aquarius its stamp of individuality even though it’s the sign of groups. After all, a group is really made up of individuals — although modern society often makes that hard to discern, favoring herd mentality and conformity over true interchange between fully individuated people.
To quote Eric, “Aquarius people are the discriminating embracers of innovation that works.” That’s great as far as getting things moving in the right direction; but after a certain point, what was once an innovation can become fixed, static, institutionalized — and resistant to change. Such is the case of such fixed systems as political structures and religion; once entrenched, they can be hard to get rid of. The same goes for marketing which, like politics and religion, seeks to co-opt individual identity for the sake of group conformity.
Even so, Eric has also written that, “In its highest state, Aquarius is about a meeting of individuals who recognize themselves as such. It is driven by social responsibility and a devotion to service. Aquarius has a natural sense of humanity and as such is deeply humanitarian.”
That is the ideal you can hold as your template for the next month, beginning today. You can also begin orienting yourself around a couple other astrological markers this week.
For one, Mercury enters its ‘echo’ or ‘shadow’ phase Wednesday. This is the span of time during which Mercury ‘previews’ the territory through which it will be retrograde in coming weeks. As it does so, it can relays ‘echoes from the future’; that is, messages that will come through again in some form when it retrogrades and then travels direct again through the same stretch of zodiac. Mercury will station retrograde Feb. 6 through Feb. 28.
In addition, Chiron is building to a conjunction with Juno in Pisces, and Mercury is moving into a square with Saturn; both aspects will be exact Saturday but are in effect now. We’ll be exploring both aspects more thoroughly as the week progresses. For now, consider the possibility that Chiron is lending its focusing power to any questions about relationship expectations or jealousy that got a little fogged over by Neptune; Mercury-Saturn lends great mental discipline, but beware of narrow-mindedness or a lack of vision.
Stay oriented on the humanitarian, innovative consciousness offered by the Sun in Aquarius, and don’t be afraid to admit when it’s time for a pattern to change.
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Hi Amanda,
Thanks for the heads up on Aquarius. “For now, consider the possibility that Chiron is lending its focusing power to any questions about relationship expectations or jealousy that got a little fogged over by Neptune; Mercury-Saturn lends great mental discipline, but beware of narrow-mindedness or a lack of vision.
Stay oriented on the humanitarian, innovative consciousness offered by the Sun in Aquarius, and don’t be afraid to admit when it’s time for a pattern to change.”
On Christmas Day, I met a good friend I met 21 years earlier to the day! We hadn’t seen each other for 16 years, but were just so happy to meet up again, and in a different country, doing different things with our lives. And because we were already friends, we already knew each other well, and were both so comforted by meeting an old friend. By New Years Day, we were falling in love with each other, and now I’m having to try and divorce my husband who left me in August after spending 5 of the last 8 years apart. I don’t want to rush into another marriage, as I have already been in one for 22 years, but I do want to be free to accept the gift of love if it comes my way. Fear did grip me a few days ago, and I almost rejected this gift of love to go back to the way things were – hubby overseas, while I raise our kids, look after our assets by working and paying the mortgage and wait and wait and wait for hubby to pick me! But “something” made me take the risk and give love a chance.
I don’t know where this relationship with my long lost friend is going to take me as I’m still trying to understand how and what happened as it was so unexpected – very Aquarian! I feel so alive as he fills me with so much love and passion. Yet it is so delicate, I don’t want to smother it, or overwhelm it, as I have done in the past, so really practising having no expectations. I’d been alone and hurt, coping for so long habitually turning away any potential suitors out of fear, that I’m still learning to open my heart again. That is where not having a narrow vision, not comparing with what has gone before, has really helped me, thanks Amanda.
This new relationship is a gift and requires me to use the best communication skills, straight from the heart, requires me to still remain an individual, and do all the things I love and not drop anything that I’m passionate about, as I did when I was with my husband. The astrology of the last few weeks has been amazing and has reflected in my life with wonderful experiences of love, friendship and family bonds.
Thanks for always giving us the best way to make use of the available energies, Planet Waves.
Love and light to all of you, and all who visit this fabulous site,
Sina
yes, i know what you mean — Aquarius might be the sign i’ve had the hardest time getting a handle on. glad this helped! and good luck with the car repairs.
Thank you for your interpretation of Aquarius, Amanda. I’ve always found Aquarius to be hard to understand, so this clarifies things. So Aquarius favors innovation (with a touch of seriousness), technology, group projects, individual freedom, rationality, and service.
You know, I’ve felt like the beginning of Mercury in Aquarius (which has been going on for a week or two) was like the shadow phase of Mercury Rx, except that there was always a push to expand my mind with every challenge in the realm of paperwork, travel or learning. I’ve solved all of my paperwork issues by the Cancer full moon, I’m working on my learning processes in order to ace my courses, and my internship, and I had a car accident (on Saturday, Mars in Libra conjuncted my natal Mercury, and Mercury in Aquarius squared my Scorpio Pluto) where I got rear-ended after I stopped for someone getting out of their car (I’m ok health-wise, and the car is drivable, but on Wednesday, I’m renting out a car while my old car will be repaired. The insurance company determined it wasn’t my fault, and many people I know have been rear-ended at least once, but I make an effort to move my eyes and see what is in front of me, behind me, to the left and right of me as much as possible). But thanks for warning that the shadow phase would begin on Wednesday.
I thought Mercury square Saturn could be used to sharpen communication skills, and driving skills, in addition to providing mental discipline and possibly a narrow vision like you’ve mentioned.