Twelve Nations of the Zodiac Each of us cycles through the Signs of the ancient Zodiac, though the order of this cycle is not known. While here on Earth we meet members of The Twelve, each forming a mystical ‘nation’ with language and customs all its own.
Even if you are not an Aquarian by Sun Sign, it can be well worth some investigation! You may have someone very important in your life who is an Aquarian and a little extra insight can only help. And, everyone has the Sign of Aquarius governing one of the 12 houses in their birth chart. If this is the 1st house, Aquarius is your Rising Sign or Ascendant and really, is the “other half” of your Self, partnered with your Sun Sign. If you have several planets (or the goddesses or Lilith, Chiron, Saturn, or Uranus, for example) in Aquarius, then you are more of an Aquarian than you know!
If you discover you have Venus in Aquarius – or Mars in Aquarius – this can change your entire self-understanding, for Venus rules not only our partnerships – including marriage – but to a large extent our friendships and the quality and tone of all our relationships. This is true of the material world we attract into our life, including of course our financial resources.
Each of us, at some point in our Earth History, is born into the Aquarian Sign, probably many times in the course of great Cycles of Time here on Earth. As we head into the Age of Aquarius, we are, in a way, all Aquarians now, for we will collectively experience the Aquarian archetype in a way not seen on Earth, for a long, long time…
We are not sure when The Age of Aqarius begins. Some think it began in the Sixties, with the explosion of the Baby Boomers into the world. Some feel it will start when Pluto, the karmic and evolutionary planet par excellence, moves into Aquarius in 2023 and remains there through 2043. The Age itself will last around 2,000 years, and if Uranus and Saturn have anything at all to do with it, we may have to hold onto our hats! Nothing about the Sixties was simple. The transformations begun were deep, mysterious and in some ways, even disturbing…much Uranus earthquake debris has had to be revisited, and sorted through, by Saturn. In any case, here’s to the Age of Aquarius – it looks like we’ll be finding the Maps as we go along…
Sun Sign as Archetype Each Sun Sign represents a major Archetype or cosmic pattern – a flowing, dynamic field of energy which enfolds, shapes and interacts with a given person, two people, or group of persons – even nations – in a given time. An Archetype is an emanation of God – one of the Energy Patterns/Stories in the Creator’s Mind. Hence we refer to the archetypes as gods and goddesses. They are mysteries which we honor, and whose force we acknowledge and respect.
Archetypes encompass Past, Present and Future. They also contain their own opposites, which in a way, helps us to work through their main “lesson” – the moral of the story. Each has a strength, and each its weakness or Achilles heel. Like the great tales from mythology, we connect, as the Hero of the story, with qualities within us – the Dark and the light – of which we had been completely unaware. As we come to know these mysteries of the Self, our story unfolds outward, to join with, and to become part of, the World we create with others.
The Sun Sign is one of the Hero’s many Roads – the one we have chosen for this life…we cannot put it in a bottle or under a microscope – any more than an actor or actress can become too self-conscious when acting their role. We have to throw ourselves into being ourselves – and not look back in over-analysis or too many “if only’s…” We are on a journey of exploration and self-expression in the cosmos. We are not entirely in charge of this journey! So ride the wave and don’t be too concerned about the negatives of your Sun Sign – because those negatives are actually part of the positives, but this we only understand in the fullness of time.
Aquarius * Bearer of Mysterious Waters The Water Bearer – symbol of Aquarius – hints at a heavenly or esoteric essence, which Aquarius alone brings to humanity. The Waters are associated with life-giving water for the planet Earth – and this may lie in the original “gods” who taught irrigation to early human beings on the planet (see Enki, below). The Waters are also said to be symbolic of the waters of spiritual life – Aquarius symbolized baptism in some faiths, including Christian.
Ancient teachings hint that the “waters” are actually a kind of force field or energy field, better understood through physics than through the earth sciences and the waters of our oceans and the rains. The Waters of Aquarius certainly appear to be connected with Neptune, but this may be less to do with the seas on earth, and more to do with a kind of Cosmic Sea. There are a great many Sumerian tablets whose writings contain a rich mythology, which, as Zecharia Sitchin has suggested, may actually be history, and not legend. Beginning with The Twelfth Planet, Sitchin lays out what the tablets say about the gods/astronauts who came to the Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. Astrology – in terms of the 12 signs of the Zodiac, and the celestial and earth timing used by the astronauts, played a vital role in the visits of these “gods” and their role in creating humanity along with establishing rich gardens of civilization across the face of the earth.
In a fascinating description of how our solar system was created, the “gods” describe in detail the original act of conception between a solitary pair of planets floating in a rich sea of Waters which became the Petrie dish for the creation, one by one, of each of the major planets in our solar system. As a final touch in the somewhat turbulent emergence and stabilization of the solar system, it was said that it was Neptune’s odd, magnetic, hypnotic energy field which ultimately held the other planets in their orbits. Interestingly, Sumerian records show that these early “gods” – and the Sumerian civilization they nurtured – knew about all the planets in our solar system, including Uranus, “discovered” in 1781 which is the outer planet that co-rules Aquarius with Saturn. They also associated Aquarius with perhaps the most remarkable of all the astronauts, a “god” called Enki.
Enki * Ancient Origins of the Aquarius Archetype Enki is very similar to Prometheus, who stole Fire from the Gods to give to Mankind. The theme is oddly the same, for Enki gave to early humanity the practical plans and blueprints for civilization, such as the science of irrigation. Enki is said to have defended Humanity from his brother gods, when they were disappointed with our moral weaknesses (specifically, obsession with sex, it seems), and to have given the plans for the Ark before the Flood to the original Noah, whose story was later, along with others, lifted from Sumerian records to form the early books of the Bible.
Enki was always associated in Sumerian records with Aquarius, but was also in some contexts associated with the sign of Capricorn (planet Saturn) and sign of Pisces (planet Neptune). It appears that this triple designation comes from both the “ages” in which he visited and worked on Earth, and to the kind of work, as a science officer, he performed. If Enki is the ultimate archetype for Aquarius, this may be why Aquarius is more complex – and also more mysterious – than is so often portrayed in Astrology.
Earth-Centered Aquarius Enki was the science officer and genetics specialist. The ancient tablets from Sumer state that it was Enki, with the help of a Mother Goddess who was also a specialist in this area, who physically created humanity. They did this by blending the DNA of one of the young gods with that of early Man – a “primitive” found already evolving on earth. Enki loved humanity as a father, in that sense, and continued to nurture and develop all civilization, as he was the keeper of the great technological keys for agriculture, irrigation, and much more.
Aquarius represents, through this amazing historical record, a unique bridge between the “gods and men” – including the genetic bridge. This creates an aura of mystery around Aquarius as a sign, and suggests hidden reasons why Aquarians always feel as if they are “strangers in a strange land”. As participants in the Enki archetype, Aquarians do feel an immense sense of connectedness and indeed, responsibility for, the fate of humanity. Humanitarian issues like refugees, feeding the hungry, freedom of movement, speech, thought and association are all concerns to which the Aquarian, and the Aquarius part of each person’s birth chart, will resonate. The formation of international bodies such as the War Crimes Tribunal and the United Nations is a direction for humanity which Aquarians will tend not to see as some fearful New World Order but rather welcome its coming as freedom from the tyranny of secretive houses, closed off villages, nations behind barbed wire, and so on. As we shall see, Aquarians promote freedom and revolution (Uranus), but justice, order and world courts (Saturn) too.
Aquarius “remembers” that while we carry the genes of the early humans within us, we take out “image” from those who came from the Stars – out there. These memories convey a keen sense of destiny beckoning us toward the starry heavens. We feel them awaken in astrology, astronomy, NASA, science fiction, Star Trek, Star Wars, and in our longing hearts as we look upwards on a clear night. The Aquarian essence of humanity reminds us, collectively, of our destiny…that we are not forever earthbound, but will become a song of Life on the solar winds. Just as ancient space travellers like Enki helped to carry out the Creator’s plan, so we too will carry ourselves, as the Seed Children, to other planets, other systems, other worlds.
Saturn and Uranus – Chakra Wheels of Aquarius We come to understand the sign and archetypal energy of Aquarius through the story of Enki – science-oriented, rebellious, freedom-defending archetype of Enki – Bringer of Gifts to Humanity. But there are other forces at work in Aquarius and other ways to meet and understand this sign. There are the two huge planets that rule Aquarius – Uranus, The Great Awakener and Saturn, Father of Time and Lord of Karma. The Aquarian can best be understood as a person and as a force for change when we understand these two planets and how they work together.
Whether you are an Aquarian or have one in your life, you may find you have signed on for deep, often violent, shocking awakenings – these resonate to Uranus, the modern ruling planet of Aquarius. However – the awakening of Uranus seems then to be followed by a period of equally intense shaping, disciplining, teaching, and chastening energies – these will be Saturn, ancient ruler of Aquarius, and known as the Lord of Karma!
So Uranus brings revolution, but Saturn goes back, retraces the steps as to why the revolution was needed, examines the science and philosophy involved, and works out new Laws to contain and direct the new architecture rising on the ruins that Uranus has left behind.
The Aquarian Archetype and its ruling planets are about violent change, upheaval, accounting, facing truth, and reaping of karma. Aquarians – and the Age of Aquarius – will bring dramatic, sweeping and often disturbing changes into our lives and into planetary history. It is hard to imagine where we got the idea that The Aquarian Age was going to be so suddenly harmonious. We already see and feel around us the immense political, climatic and spiritual upheavals across this planet which may reach a level of instability which will threaten the survival of this world…whether it survives, or does not, and is “reborn” as worlds often are, is beyond our knowledge now. However, when the Uranus forces – bombs, revolutions, earthquakes, electrical storms, and the empowerment of the masses via the internet – are finished, it will require the other shoe to drop – the Saturnian elements of order, rebuilding and various forms of truth and reconciliation – to complete the Age of Aquarius.
The Aquarian Personality * Uranus and Saturn Aquarians are freedom-lovers, social challengers, stereotype-breakers, and innovators. They can change direction at a moment’s notice. That is Uranus breathing through them! At the same time, Aquarians can be conservative, traditional, deeply loyal, stubborn, and fixated on justice not served. That is Saturn talking – usually lecturing! The Aquarian is thus strangely gifted at not only tearing down, but also building – if given the right opportunity. Aquarians can write laws and constitutions, and are found creating systems everywhere, whether in office procedures manuals, Mozart’s great compositions, Einstein’s new laws of the universe, Lincoln’s proclamation of freedom for the slaves, and so on.
It is a mistake to overlook the role of Saturn in the life, gifts, and burdens of Aquarians. To live their Sun Sign, Aquarians need to accept without guilt or regret that they bring challenge to the lives of others, but Saturn makes them brood and worry, and doubt their own wunderkind Uranus-style energies. The Aquarius is always aware, at some level, that ‘here” is only part-way there. There is always the feeling that the road of Humanity is still a long one, and that it somehow falls to the Aquarian, more than to other signs, to lead the way, to find the cure, to make the peace, or to raise the flag of freedom and revolution. Aquarians feel a deep need to love and be loved, yet also feel, as in a tragic play on stage, that in the end, they will have to ride off into the sunset, to find another people in need of a leader, or another town in need of a sheriff. The peculiar sense of history living through the Aquarian, of having to share his or her life with “something larger”, is one of the most powerful aspects of this archetypal Sign.
Relationships with Aquarians It is often observed that it is hard to get close to an Aquarian, that Aquarius is an Air Sign and thus intellectually gifted but emotionally cold. Yet this is not thought to be the case with Air Signs Libra and Gemini. There is something innately abstract about the Aquarian Soul, as if the price of certain gifts is the loss of others. One of the lost gifts is the ability to merge with others – as if this would be so destructive to the purpose of Aquarius that it has been made almost genetically impossible for Aquarians to really seek, accept or achieve intimacy. For this reason, of course, the rest of the “typical profile” holds – Aquarians have a very low tolerance for the more clinging, dependent personality type, as such people will almost drown their souls. They will value most highly someone who has goals and aspirations beyond them the relationship itself, so that the Aquarian is assured that they are not themselves going to be the focus of intense personal drives.
For many people the ultimate idea of happiness is to be completely indispensable to someone, and in turn, they offer such status to their partner or friend. This makes a relationship akin to staking a claim, really, of a kind of ownership. This is extremely uncomfortable for the Aquarian, but there are reasons why. For the Aquarian, staking a claim to someone, as one might a gold mine, runs counter to the spiritual requirement to recognize the complete freedom of another human being. “Ownership” of another being, even an animal, seems foreign – a form of slavery. An Aquarian asks: “Aren’t we fighting all over the world to free our brothers and sisters from the chains of being owned? Why would I want to own you, or have you somehow acquire “rights” to me?”
Often people complain that the interests and enquiring minds of Aquarians can be overwhelming. They feel they are in the presence of a force of nature, a gust of mental energy sweeping them up like a whirlwind, rather than a “normal” everyday person. They feel that the Aquarian’s futuristic, restless urge to explore new frontiers suggests lack of contentment with the status quo, and this can undermine a relationship. But the reverse is often true – Aquarians find many non-Aquarians underwhelming, and feel depressed and alienated when their dreams and visions are misinterpreted, resented, and in numerous subtle or open ways, rejected. Aquarians will panic when incarcerated within needy emotional webs, and feel existential pain in an exchange where their ideas meet with a blank stare or a change of subject.
The Soul, for the Aquarian, is what the person’s “essence” really is – that is why an Aquarian may seem to find your everyday doings and personality uninteresting! But if an Aquarian can connect with your soul, and you are interested in his, then the bond will be instant and forever, regardless of the worldly obstacles or setbacks which may come. Because the soul connection comes most naturally to an Aquarian, friendship is in many ways the most natural relationship for an Aquarian. Freedom, easygoing companionship, shared interests and ideals, all these succeed where emotional demands and social measurements simply drive the Aquarian into first depression, then desperation, and finally flight.
Aquarius In Love In the end, perhaps only an Aquarian can know and love another Aquarian, though Leo, Libra, Sagittarius and Gemini can make good partners. Aquarius appreciates the deep, silent, unquestioning loyalty of Leo, Sagittarius’ quest for knowledge, the piercing, searching intensity of Scorpio, the mental gifts of Virgo, Libra’s quest for justice, Gemini’s variety of interests and verbal skills, Capricorn’s serious approach to life (they are both ruled by Saturn), and the innovative, fearless leadership of Aries. Aquarius can be overwhelmed by, and distrustful of, the secrecy and emotional needs of the Water Signs – Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. The Aquarian does love mystery and drama along with freedom, however, and this combination often leads them into odd relationships – with someone who is married, in jail, of another race or culture, possibly (with Saturn in the background denoting karma) handicapped or dealing with a serious karmic problem. This of course can draw the Scorpio personality – and the shadow of Pluto’s secrets – directly to an Aquarian. The fact is, all relationships form, and un-form, as karma rises and fades in our lives – until we break free of old patterns, so one’s astrological sign is not the final word. It is often, however, the first word!
Aquarian males and females are curiously alike since Aquarius is somewhat androgynous. Aquarians are capable of painfully obsessive love, which seems to possess them with the wind and fury of their ruling planet Uranus…and often in conflict with their higher ideals, as Saturn will remind them. Inevitably, it seems, the Aquarian will return to a solitary path, unless he or she can find that comfortable, roomy relationship that starts and ends with friendship between equals.
Aquarius Woman She will touch the life of a man with an unforgettable yearning for something he may never grasp, but is awakened to. The Animus in the Aquarian Woman is cosmic, spiritual, and magical. Thus home, fireside and babies can be foreign to her. She can however transform a home and family with her playful, ever-young presence, and she can be deeply, fiercely loyal to a man who seeks redemption and transformation. Pick an Aquarian woman if you have a strong heart and powerful ideals; if you need intuitive understanding and acceptance of what makes you different from the crowd. An Aquarian woman will forgive you much, but don’t – even once – lie to her. This is true of an Aquarian man, perhaps even more so, because a woman’s lies will damage his Anima – though he may rally, if he feels you really need rescuing! Children will love an Aquarian woman, and she will defend and nurture their uniqueness. She will touch their souls, and stress knowledge, friendship and equality as values.
Aquarius Man If you love an Aquarian man, don’t look for social status, money or security. He may become famous, yet lose it all, often through no fault of his own, as part of the Aquarian Archetype. Be prepared to share him with his work, and understand it is always, for him, a kind of priesthood no matter how humble his setting. Aquarian males can also be attracted to the underworld of crime, simply because of its wild Uranus lawlessness, only to discover that Saturn rules the mob with an iron hand!
Aquarian men have been not only revolutionaries in history, but a large percentage of those called geniuses have been Aquarian males. There is a one-pointedness, an intensity of focus combined with other-worldly attunement, that makes such a man hard to engage in a sustained, day-to-day manner.
However, he can be a surprisingly good family man, provided he is not a closet priest or flirting with underworld connections! Ronald Reagan was an Aquarian man who did – and had – it all! He had the fame, the first divorce, and somewhat unorthodox children and family life, but he also was one-half of an amazing love story that lasted through to his death, and beyond. The Aquarian male is surprised by the warmth of love and family, but often grows into it quite nicely! He can be a delightful father, but not always in the conventional sense, for he may be more interested in a child’s original ideas and values than in shaping them in a parental style. Aquarian men often seem to have had truly dominant father figures (Saturn) and in turn, they can spend their lives remaining rebellious teenage males. The child in him does not accept authority, any more than the adult in him does, and he is uncomfortable when forced to discipline anyone, including his children – so may do it badly.
An Aquarian man can, when pushed too hard to be head of the family, become harsh and emotionally or even physically violent with their families (Saturn, Uranus). This is because they are uncomfortable in a fully adult role – and under pressure will revert to the dominant archetypal Saturn male against which they have spent their lives rebelling. He will learn quite happily however to share home chores and is an ideal house-husband for he needs the protection of a home and appreciates it more than most. Aquarian men and woman are both androgynous and will work together as comrades, be it making dinner or fixing the car, so they can, if they recognize it, be most compatible partnered with another Aquarian. If it is your dharma – or perhaps your karma! – to love an Aquarian, awaken your inner vision of humanity – its common dreams – and you will walk hand and hand in freedom out into the Stars.
Aquarians and Group Karma The Aquarian can suffer from the darker aspects of the collective consciousness so much a part of his sign. Aquarians are often tentative, marginal members of a group to start with, seeming to hold themselves ready to leave at any moment. The Aquarian often suffers deeply as a result of, and as the focus of, group dynamics. It is as if the Aquarian, that the World (Saturn in the Tarot) – and all its “noble causes” – is still Maya to be passed through and left behind. Aquarians frequently absorb group karma such that they suddenly, without warning, become the “scapegoat” onto which the unowned, and disowned self- transformative urges of the group become projected… The group will be changed, and often for the better, in the end…but in the process the group, as an entity, will literally drive the Aquarius away. He or she must set out, once again, alone on the Road – like the Fool of the Tarot.
Aquarius * Darkness At Noon The task of the Aquarius Archetype is the evolution of civilization through dramatic, revolutionary break-throughs that affect grass-roots humanity. Technological scientific knowledge is one branch of Aquarius’ contribution. The political framework of peace, justice and equality for all is the other branch. Without the political vision, there will be no Earth. Aquarius must rise above personal desires and ambitions in order to make a contribution to the good of the whole. The karmic trap, weakness, Achilles heel of Aquarius is in making these large altruistic goals into obsessions that are in fact extensions of the Aquarian’s Ego.
Throughout history, this theme has manifested in Aquarian revolutions in which humanity has been sacrificed to the personal ambitions of visionary leaders who tolerate no obstacles to their own plans. The secret societies which believe themselves to be the carriers of the Great Blueprint for humanity have often been behind such dramatic events as the French Revolution, and the founding of America. These secret societies, many linked to Christianity, Judaism and mystic Paganism, have given birth to vast experiments (truly Uranus!) in human political life which have been disastrous for humanity as a whole. The roots of these transformative efforts (communism, fascism and the occult blueprint of the French Revolution) lie in the legends and archetypes of those who first came from Space to help seed and develop this planet. There are glimpses of the experimental genius gone bad in Atlantis – as channeled through Edgar Cayce.
Mother Russia Russia is said to be ruled by Aquarius, and its Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, was led by Lenin, whose Moon was in Aquarius. The revolution was a truly Aquarian enterprise in the scope of its vision (Moon), violence (Uranus) and obsession with authority, control and reshaping (Saturn). It was only fitting that it would be an Aquarian, Boris Yeltsin, who in 1989 broke apart the last rotten walls of the Soviet Union. Yet, the post-Soviet era in Russia has not progressed beyond the revolutionary chaos of Uranus to the orderly development of Saturn. Uranus still haunts Russia in the internal lawlessness that prevails. Saturn’s presence is seen only in the new secret police, the oligarchs and their bag-men – enforcers of codes and “laws” best suited to the underworld.
American Dreams Closer to home, Dick Cheney is an Aquarius and he certainly led the “Neo-Conservative” and Christian-Zionist attempt to remake the Middle East in a grand vision beginning with the ill-starred invasion of Iraq. The violence of Uranus has hardly abated in Iraq, and such elements of Saturn as are present have been mostly its worst features – justice turned into vengeance, order turned into tyranny and control turned into organized cruelty – Guantanamo Bay and the Patriot Act cast the dark shadow of Saturn’s totalitarian streak across the United States and other nations who followed so willingly along.
The United States has an Aquarian Moon, and many strongly Aquarian presidents, but her dreams for mankind have yet to be shown to be worth the price that has been paid for American Aquarian visions. The genocides – of the Native American peoples, of the buffalo – and the oppressions – in Vietnam, Iraq, West Bank and Gaza, (open-air concentration camps run by a US-backed Israel) – all these were born under these “grand visions” and schemes so deeply linked to the controlling, Big-Picture drives of Aquarius.
The current US president, Barak Obama, has Aquarius Rising, and Jupiter in Aquarius as well – Grand Dreams indeed! While some fear he will fail in his great visions, others fear he may succeed. It is too soon to tell what America – and this latest of many Presidents with strong Aquarian features – will do for itself and for the world. But the time of reckoning grows closer…
Aquarius * light At Dawn Cautionary tales indeed…Aquarius can create a perfect Karmic Storm, tossing us back and forth between the worst features of both Uranus and Saturn. It is as if Saturn can so quickly become the driving, narrow, cruel Ego, and Uranus can become the eruption of the contents of the Unconscious in the life of an individual or in that of a nation. Only a powerful philosophical and spiritual framework can hold these twin forces in check. The Ego yields to the Spirit so that Saturn becomes the indwelling teacher and shaman, while Uranus yields to the direction of the Higher Self – blending the wild, creative, free elements of Soul with love and higher purpose.
In each Aquarian’s life, these vast themes will play out in much smaller, but often very dramatic forms. Of all the signs, Aquarius is the most likely to mystify those who live within it and through it as an archetype, and those drawn into its waves of energy. Yet it is through the Aquarian Archtype, wherever it lies in our charts, that we see further and farther than the horizons, and hear distant drummers in other realms.
We are all Aquarians in the Aquarian Age, in ways we may not see on the surface of our lives. But as the Dawn light breaks, the Big Jet carrying Humanity taxies down the runway, is turning now, getting set for its final run. Building speed not seen for thousands of years, it will lift off at last, and take us home to the Stars.
©Carol Leigh Rice 2010
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