Aquarius Considered

 Aquarius by Erté

In his book, Astrology published 1964, Louis MacNeice, not an astrologer, but a poet and scholar, gathered together much of interest from a variety of sources, ancient and modern. On zodiac sign Aquarius, through which the Sun now travels, he wrote the paragraphs below, quoting from some professional astrologers whose works may now be less known by the average astrology fan. Some related links identifying those astrologers are added at the end of this post. The excerpt has been copy-typed by my own fair fingers, rather than copy-pasted from elsewhere on the internet. Illustrations here were added by me.

Aquarius the Water-Carrier
January 21 to February 19

A fixed, airy sign. Aquarius's ruler is traditionally Saturn, though some astrologers (such as Varley) prefer to promote Uranus or at least make him co-ruler. This sign provides some of the most graceful illustrations to medieval textbooks and has long been thought of as a particularly human sign; Gleadow calls it "the only completely human sign in the Zodiac." But there seems to be a divergence of opinions to whether he represents the ordinary man or an especially gifted man. On the former premise he is linked with democracy, on the latter with science and the capacity for abstract thought. This was the Sun-sign of Galileo, Francis Bacon, and Darwin.

Some years ago the French amateur astrologer Paul Choisnard investigated the horoscopes of 119 outstanding intellectuals and claimed to have found that under only three signs was the incidence more than average - Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. these, of course, are the three airy signs and the symbolism of air here is obvious. Traditionally Aquarius rules the circulation of the blood, and this has been correlated with the circulation of ideas. If Uranus is brought in, one would expect to find Aquarians showing the characteristics of that planet (like mechanical inventiveness) and also what Ingrid Lind calls the "Uranian urge to disrupt." Miss Lind, on the assumption of co-rulership, would like to distinguish Saturnian Aquarians from Uranian Aquarians. Rupert Gleadow, writing of the so-called "Aquarian Age" (see below), foresees the spread in the immediate future not only of such Uranian effects as machinery and inventions, but of "world-wide organizations...international collaboration, and the Brotherhood of Man."

 Aquarius by David Palladini

The Aquarian, unlike his predecessor the Capricornian, is no respecter of tradition (otherwise he would not be so well equipped for scientific research). But he is, in the best sense of the phrase, a respecter of personas because, once again, he is human. He pours out the water freely: "Your need is greater than mine." He can be tactless, though, and other faults ascribed to him are obstinacy (after all this is a fixed sign), fanaticism, and (more surprisingly) inefficiency. Countess Wydenbruck describes him as "popular yet solitary, often abnormal."
It has been observed that Aquarius men often have beautiful profiles but tend to look unduly feminine. But this is not mentioned by that old traditionalist Pearce, who merely says that the Aquarian is "of prepossessing appearance and good disposition," and has a "long and fleshy face." Here we have a minor inconsistency, in another passage describing the influence of Aquarius as a Sun-sign, Pearce speaks of a "round full face," and again goes on to mention "good disposition, though tinctured with pride and ambition; artistic or scientific."

Apart from the scientific thinkers already mentioned, other people who had Aquarius for their Sun-sign were Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and James Dean. Edward VIII (Duke of Windsor) was born with Aquarius as his ascendant sign.

To return to the "Aquarian Age": Many astrologers block out history in periods of roughly 2000 years, each such period falling under the tutelage of a particular sign. This is dictated by the movement of the vernal equinoctial point (i.e. 0 degrees Aries), which goes very slowly backward through the signs (because of the "precession of the equinoxes", mentioned earlier). So in the last 2000 years B.C., 0 degrees Aries was in Aries the constellation. Then it moved into Pisces - very suitably, since the Piscean Age coincided with the Christian era, and the fish was an early symbol of Christ. As to whether the Aquarius Age has yet begun, astrologers disagree. Ingrid Lind thinks that it has, and ascribes to it much the same characteristics as Gleadow: "All the modern trend of thought and invention." For Morrish also, but in a different way (since what he is concerned with is subjective development)

Aquarius is "the awakener." For him it is the sign not of the scientist but of the yogi - "the development of spiritual consciousness through contemplation." This development will be completed in the next sign, which he takes as representing the "cosmic ocean".

ASTROLOGERS MENTIONED
A.J. Pearce
John Varley
Morrish (L. Furze-Morrish?)
Ingrid Lind
Rupert Gleadow
Paul Choisnard


For more posts on this sign - there are lots of 'em - please click on Aquarius in the Label Cloud in the sidebar.