Aquarius: The Water Bearer

by Jennifer Lavinia – Astrologer
Contributing Author, Conscious Reminder

Aquarius is the 11th sign of the zodiac, ruling the 11th house of friendships, groups and associations. 

The sign of Aquarius is characterized with the common base characteristics of someone who has naturally been born with the gift or ability to influence public (personal) relationships, meaning friendships, business partnerships, membership in groups and associations, community involvement and how these , in turn, affect their material worlds, in terms of their career, or in the case of Aquarians, their humanitarian, global and/or deeply personally driven pursuits, which, more often than not, usually become their careers.

The house the sun sign of Aquarius is located in (and the major natal aspects to it), will ‘colour’ the type of Aquarian that each one will express themselves as, in their lifetime. And depending on hundreds of other factors that can be revealed to us in our natal and transit charts, Aquarians, will generally be doing things in a similar way, meaning their own way, according to their own, actually fixed ideology.  Here lies the duality that exists within the Aquarian nature/character due to its influence of both the planets, Saturn (traditionally) and Uranus (modern).

This planetary duality, seems lately, to confuse the Aquarian nature with the trademarks of Uranus (unstable, hostile, cold, detached, eccentric to the point of freakish etc.), almost exclusively.  This is not a correct description of Aquarians, in my opinion. As I am one, born right on the cusp on January 20th, I was confused most of my life about whether I was a Capricorn or an Aquarius.

With that said, once I had my time of birth and discovered that I was born at 00°Aquarius, I knew that the sign of Aquarius had a duality that makes it different from Capricorn (both signs traditionally ruled by Saturn). Aquarians absolutely do have the ability to act in shocking and seemingly erratic ways and this may not even seem shocking (in the mind of an Aquarius), but is received in such a way, publicly.

This is the Aquarius ‘flare’ I would call it. Others have called it ‘sparks of genius’ or ‘originality’, ‘eccentricity’; others may call it ‘madness’! Whatever it is, Aquarians do walk slightly ‘off center’, but in our minds, I can assure you that we are very well thought out about our actions, as we are avid learners with an insatiable curiosity of whatever our hearts desire to know about. Our key phrase is “I know” and if we don’t know something, you can be assured that if our curiosity is peaked, we will know absolutely everything there is to know on that topic.

Aquarians are also naturally good friends and good team members (11th house), and as long as others can understand that Aquarians are driven by the truth and speak the truth, in sometimes shocking ways (Uranus), we are actually, at heart, fairly conservative (influence of Saturn), loyal, hard-working and dependable. As long as we believe in what we are doing.

And believing in what we are doing is a big deal for Aquarians, because Aquarians are idealists (for better or for worse). We have to remind ourselves to be tolerant of others in our lives, who do not see the things that we see, or, as we may view it; do not know the things we know. This quality is attributed both to the ‘bolts’ or ‘moments of clarity’ (that every Aquarius I know has experienced – the Uranus effect) and the fact that we do not stop with that ‘bolt’ of an idea or notion. We begin to immerse ourselves in it intellectually as our element of air quality makes us naturally able to learn and process information quickly. So when an Aquarius says “I know,” about something, one can be assured that they do in fact, know.

This also applies to whatever manner that an Aquarius acquires information. It does not necessarily have to be through formal schooling (although a lot of Aquarians thrive in this environment), a lot do not. The instability of Uranus with stressful aspects in the natal chart can manifest as an aversion to authority and structure, a sense of injustice against themselves or others, a distrust in formal institutions and government etc. and these are all situations that can either motivate an Aquarian to act or can depress an Aquarian to pull away. In the later case, many Aquarians can project to others as aloof or disconnected, but this is really only as a result of their own disillusionment with the world they realistically see around them and the one they idealize and visualize in their heart and minds.

But Aquarians are nothing less than resilient with the fixity of their sign, allowing them to hold true and steadfast (and hopeful) in their belief system. And if they are being successful Aquarians, utilizing their intellectual strengths with their altruistic, possibly self-sacrificing, shocking or unconventional pursuits and applying the discipline of Saturn, they usually accomplish great things.

Think of Oprah. A true Aquarius, utilizing her friendships (11th house), hard work (Saturn) and her visionary ideas (Uranus) that have kept her relevant and adored by her fans after over 30 years in the public eye.

There is Abraham Lincoln. Many call him a true American, I call him a true Aquarius.

There are others. Charles Darwin was an Aquarius, whose intellectual study and passion led to one of the greatest upsets in modern creationist theory.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan were also both Aquarius American presidents.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Aquarius as well as Thomas Edison and Galileo Galilei all making huge contributions to the world in their fields of study.

And we all have pieces of Aquarius in us. All 12 signs of the zodiac usually show up somewhere in our natal charts and carry certain energies that impact our lives whether we realize it or not.  The Aquarian energy is masculine, fixed and cerebral, yet it is also highly intuitive to what lurks in the vastness of that unknown place we call ‘the future’.

So in the spirit of Aquarius, let your minds wonder and run free. Many of us stay fixated  on the past, some of us have mastered the ‘now’, but Aquarians live perpetually in the ‘what’s next’.  Because that is essentially the Aquarius spirit.  Free, hopeful and forward moving.

And as any Aquarian will tell you, “Don’t look back, you’re not going that way.”

About the Author: Jennifer Lavinia – I came to astrology like Nabokov came to literature; that is, ecstatically. Like nothing that I had ever experienced before, astrology, in its glaring mystery and shocking accuracy, fully and wholly engrossed every fiber of my being. I was taken. I was completely gobsmacked and in awe. But mostly I was humbled. For the first time in my life, I became a believer in something greater than myself. And in the shocking and strange irony of it all, I found myself, anyway. And that was the realization. That was the journey.