The Sun enters Aquarius at 4:52 pm EST Saturday, symbolically challenging the one-sided assumptions behind traditional relationships. Just hours before solar Aquarius begins, Mercury will set the stage by advancing into the realm of fixed air first, initiating a supportive atmosphere for fresh ideas. It will be the Sun, however, that sets the tone of confronting custom by initiating an opposition to Leo, the sign it rules.
At the same time, the Sun aspects two asteroids: Panacea and Karma. Panacea and Karma will be aligned exactly on the Aries Point in an opposition Saturday, with Panacea in the first degree of Aries, and Karma in the first degree of Libra. (The Aries Point refers to the first degree of Aries, where ‘personal’ and ‘political’ intersect in a dynamic relationship. This effect and the term ‘Aries Point’ extends to the early degrees of all four cardinal signs: Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.)
Back to the Sun. Since the Sun rules Leo, and Aquarius is its opposite sign, classical astrology assumes that the Sun is in detriment, or exile, while in Aquarius. Behind that tradition is a one-sided assumption.
Classical western astrology originated largely in the Northern Hemisphere, where this time of year actually looks and feels detrimental to the Sun. The symbolism derived from the Northern Hemisphere’s perspective doesn’t work for the other side of the equator, where solar energy is very strongly felt right now. Yet there is a wisdom in the conventional relationship between the Sun and Aquarius. The trick is to make that wisdom equally applicable to all earthly beings, regardless of location. That can be done.