The Aquarius comfort zone is outside the box. The Water Bearer lives on the edge, directing its attention, not toward the comfortable, convenient, or conventional, but continually pushing the envelope toward:
- the undiscovered
- the yet to be explored, and
- the vastness of the unknown.
Aquarius and its ruling planet Uranus are the most original archetypes in the zodiac. They rebel against social conventions. Their revolutionary purpose is to instigate radical departures from social and political traditions. Their purpose is to upgrade our institutions and our existence. They thrive in the dynamic territory of experimentation.
Aquarian optimism has its own detached unemotional flavor. What is cold to the fire, water, and earth signs is necessary for Aquarius, whose unattached attitude (and altitude) allows it to operate in yet to be explored realms. Like all the air signs, Aquarius likes to develop its mind and enjoys challenging intellectual pursuits.
Everything about Aquarius, including faith, trust, and motivation, is unorthodox. What appears to others as eccentric is creative, freeing, and liberating for Aquarius, whose individualistic stance allows it to discover what is unique to itself and how it can make its innovative contribution. Aquarius seeks to improve itself and grow by engaging in projects that put humanitarian ideals into practice.
Aquarius partners with Uranus, which orbits beyond Saturn. Saturn defines our human experience within physical limitations and the laws of nature. Saturn is the ruling planet of Capricorn and in traditional astrology (before the discovery of Uranus) also the ruler of Aquarius. In Aquarian territory Saturn demands that we make our contribution to humanity before we leave the Planet. Beyond its apparent aloofness, Aquarius operates from the perspective of unity of all humankind.
Jupiter and Aquarius
Those with Jupiter, Sun, Moon, Mars, Venus, and Ascendant in Aquarius, in general (depending on the other factors in one’s birth chart) enjoy and are comfortable taking risks and in fact need the stimulation of taking chances to feel alive.
Aquarius combined with Jupiter opens the gate to new levels of consciousness. This combination encourages us to trust our intuition, inspirations, and visions. We grow through originality, independence, and the exploration of unconventional alternatives. Possibilities motivate us. Detachment clears our space. The new and unusual drive us forward into uncharted territory.
Emotions and Aquarius
Air sign Aquarius is the most aloof, detached, and cold zodiac sign. It is disinclined and even uninterested in expressing, feeling, and dealing with emotions. In fact, the emotional component of life can escape it completely. The Water Bearer finds contentment in emotional detachment. Aquarian types like hanging out in their minds, thinking about grand plans, and receiving inspiration from the great beyond. Distancing themselves from the emotional component of life is part of their strategy for operating in the cosmic zone, where they access their unique brand of creativity, confidence, and courage.
Future-oriented, Aquarius is more concerned with vision, higher levels of perception, and illuminated revelations that make all types of breakthroughs possible. Aquarius lives in the zone that opens the mind to penetrate into the mysteries of life, which in turn makes it possible to be the channel for scientific innovation and technological advances. To play this role, the Aquarian life path must find build its foundation upon inner freedom and independence.
Einstein – Jupiter in Aquarius
Each one of us is wired in our own unique way. To discover, validate, and make use of the special formula that engages our soul and propels us on our life journey is of critical importance. To explore, honor, and live from our own unique blueprint, it is revelatory to see how the archetypical forces play out in the psyche and social role of great thinkers, reformers, and leaders of the world. Below we discuss the motivating forces of two agents of change.
Einstein’s Jupiter in Aquarius shaped his personal quest in life and over rode his Pisces Sun and Cancer rising, which could have (but did not) engaged him in emotional sensitivity and caring in his two marriages and with his two sons. In his Autobiographical Notes he expresses
his urge ‘to free myself from the chains of the ‘merely personal,’ from an existence dominated by wishes, hopes, and primitive feelings. Out yonder there was this huge world, which exists independently of us human beings and which stands before us like a great, eternal riddle, at least partially accessible to our inspection and thinking. The contemplation of this world beckoned as a liberation, and I soon noticed that many a man whom I had learned to esteem and to admire had found inner freedom and security in its pursuit. The mental grasp of this extra-personal world within the frame of our capabilities presented itself to my mind, half consciously, have unconsciously, as a supreme goal.’ *(1)
The Courage to Do What Needs to Be Done
January 11, 2014 Franklin McCain (1941-2014) died. Who was Franklin McCain? He was one of four black college students whose 1960 sit-in to make a stand against segregation at the Woolworth (the Target of the times) lunch counter in Greensboro North Carolina precipitated a successful non-violent movement to integrate eating places in the Southern United States. (Lunch counters in Woolworth stores in the North were integrated, but in the South, they served only whites.)
The courage to take this type of action was no small thing. McCain would later share his thoughts at the time, ‘If I were lucky, I would go to jail for a long, long time. If I were not quite so lucky, I would come back to my campus.. in a pine box.’ *(2) i.e. dead. This event took place February 1, 1960 (now a historic date in the civil rights movement.) With the Sun shining in Aquarius, the spirit of Aquarius must have sent an army of angels to protect the four, who were miraculously neither arrested nor violently attacked.
McCain was a Capricorn and had no planets in Aquarius. He did not view himself as a radical revolutionary. His motivation came from being deeply touched by the tormenting realities in the lives of African Americans. He grew up in a comfortable home in D.C. with businessman father and homemaker mother. At the time he was studying chemistry and biology at North Carolina S&T State University, where he later graduated.
He and three study buddies were disillusioned with their parents who fed them what they called ‘The Big Lie’ — work hard, be polite, and earn good grades and the American dream is yours. They didn’t like the feeling of simply criticizing the system (or their parents) and being arm chair activists. They decided to challenge the system, even though they were aware that sit-ins had been tried before with little results. They had no reason to believe that they could make a difference. The ‘Greensboro Four’ acted from their own conviction. They were not prompted by any civil rights organizations or black leaders.
In the afternoon of Feb 1, 1960, the four college freshmen entered the store, made a few purchases, sat down at the lunch counter, and ordered coffee. The white waitress asked them to leave. They were accused by the black woman working behind the counter of being trouble makers and told them to go to the stand up counter for blacks. They didn’t move.
Two chilling moments marked the icy mood. A white policeman entered the store, slapped his night stick in his hand, mulled around, and left. An elderly white woman came over, placed her hands on the shoulders of two of the young men. Instead of the expected racial incriminations, she said she was proud of them and that she regretted that it had taken so long to take a stand.
They left when the store closed without being served.
The following day they returned with over 20 students. By the fifth day over a thousand students were marching in downtown Greensboro. The movement spread. The action of these four teenagers was soon copied by thousands of young men and women across the South. In Nashville Tennessee a group of disciplined students expanded the model of non-violent protest used in the sixties and beyond. Nashville students achieved integration of their city’s lunch counters in May. Success in Greensboro came July 25, 1960.
McCain graduated and worked as a chemist for 40 years. He lectured around the country featuring the theme ‘the power in one and the few’ can change the course of history. Only a few years ago he gave this advice to college students, ‘Never ask for permission to start a revolution. If there is something you want or need to do, just do it.’ *(3)
The Heart of Aquarius
Aquarius asks you to give yourself permission to be unique, weird, and unconventional. Your quirkiness may be the seed of your own genius.
Want freedom? Live at the edge of your own consciousness for a month. The revolutionary Aquarius impulse invites you to travel outside your comfort zone. In partnership with Leo, it offers you a defining moment to open your heart to yourself.
References and Footnotes
Arroyo, Stephen, Exploring Jupiter, CRCS Publications, Sebastopol CA, 1996.
Falvey, Tom, The Principles of Astrology, San Diego, CA, 2013
Woo, Elaine, ‘One in four in key Southern sit-in,’ Los Angeles Times, January 11, 2014. p. AA1&4
(1) Arroyo, p. 137
(2) Woo article
(3) Woo article
