Aquarius Traits

Aquarius, the Water Bearer, is the eleventh sign of the Zo­di­ac. The sun enters it on or around January 20, in mid-winter. Aquarius belongs to the ele­ment air, its quality is fixed and its charge is positive. Its Ruler is Uranus, and Saturn exalts in it. Its motto is: "I know."

     In the horo­scope chart, Aquarius brings contemplation and originality to planets or Houses therein.

Your Aquarius Star Sign Traits

Those who have Aqua­rius as their star sign are born when the sun was in Aquarius, normally Janu­ary 20 - February 19 (it differs slightly from year to year, be­cause of the leap years). There­fore, it is also - more accurately - called the sun sign.

     The sun in your horoscope is your natural self - what you are when you relax, when other planets in your horoscope are not active. It's your basic drive, a character you have as an ingredient - more or less evident in all you do and all you are.

     The sun is the most important point in your horoscope chart, but of course it's not the only thing that describes your personality. You need to look at all the components of your birth chart, to get a correct astrological description of your­self.

Live by Reason

If your star sign is Aquarius, you are a thoughtful and contemplative person, striving to understand things around you, no matter how difficult that might be. You take nothing for granted, and you don't just adapt to what seems to be expected of you. You want to find your own way, do things the way you yourself think is the best. That leads to many quite original conclusions and habits.

     Since you don't follow any trends, you have a behavior that is rather unconventional, sometimes even odd in the eyes of others. But it makes sense to you, and that's what matters. You would not dream of living in a certain way, just because everyone else is.

     Aquarius belongs to the element air, which is that of thought. So, you regard conscious thinking and reasoning as the way to explore and understand the world as well as how to live in it. You cherish wisdom more than anything else, striving to reach it yourself. Others usually conclude that you do. You don't disagree.

     To you, compassion is not an emotion, but a conclusion. You have ideals and you cherish them, because you know they lead to a better world for all. Therefore, you tend to be altruistic even at great personal costs. Others admire that, but to you it's self-explanatory: We must be benevolent to our fellow human beings for the benefit of all of us. That makes sense.

Three Different Aquarius

A Zodiac sign doesn't give exactly the same influ­ence all through its 30°. Its first third has something of a cardinal quality, whatever the quality of the sign as a whole is, its second third is slightly more fixed in quality, and the last third is more mutable.

     If you were born at the end of January, the sun is in the beginning of Aquarius. Then you treasure reason and regard it as the instrument by which to penetrate all of existence and its enigmas. You come to your own conclusions and go your own way accordingly, whatever others tell you.

     If you were born in the beginning of February, the sun is in the middle of Aquarius. That means you spend most of your time contemplating, meditating. There's no aspect of life you don't think through before making your mind up about it. You want to reach the profundity of all. This is the fixed part of the sign and Aquarius belongs to the fixed quality, so people with their sun here are the most typical Aquarius, showing the traits of the sign deeply and clearly.

     If you were born in the middle of February, the sun is at the end of Aquarius. That makes you wonder so much about the complexity of life, it sometimes gets you dizzy. You want to understand everything, but the more you learn the more there is yet to learn. Fascinating, but frustrating, too.

Traits of Your Father

The sun in the horoscope also represents your father (the mother is represented by the moon). That means your Zodiac sign traits reveal something about the characteristics of your relationship with your father.

     If you have the sun in Aquarius, your relation to your father is one of discussion and endless exchange of thought. You have great respect for each other's wisdom and gladly spend hours exploring the thoughts and ideas of one another. Your relation is not the conventional one of father and child, it's more like you're equals and friends with similar views on the world. When you were a child, your father was impatient for you to grow up into an adult with whom to have intelligent conversations. That might have been straining on you, but you adapted soon enough.

Traits of the Planets in Aquarius

When another planet or other point of the horo­scope is in Aquarius, it's also affected by the Zodiac sign, get­ting some of its traits. Here are those astrological points, what they stand for in the horoscope, and how they are affected by Aquarius:


Sun   basic drive - Aquarius brings thoughtfulness and sincerity in all.

Moon   longing - Aquarius brings a thirst for knowledge and a tendency to get lost in day­dreaming.

Mercury   curiosity - Aquarius brings sophisticated communicative skills and the capacity to learn a lot.

Venus   affection - Aquarius brings inspired thoughts and great ideas.

Mars   aggression - Aquarius brings sharp mental focus and perseverence in intellectual matters.

Jupiter   luck - Aquarius brings success in intellectual matters and plenty of ideas popping up all the time.

Saturn   duty - Aquarius brings serenity and a tendency to take everything very seriously.

Uranus   contemplation - Aquarius brings a mind capable of great feats and insights that few are able to reach.

Neptune   fantasy - Aquarius brings contem­plations to get lost in, and transcending meditation, not to mention fascinating dreams.

Pluto   catharsis - Aquarius brings revelations of the mind and the way to look at the world.

Ascendant, AC   attitude - Aquarius brings an atti­tude of sincerity and thoughtfulness.

Medium Coeli, MC   self-image - Aquarius brings a sense of being utterly wise and the need to let everybody know it.

Traits of the Houses in Aquarius

In the astrological Houses, the Zodiac signs also bring their character traits, influencing the environments de­scribed by the Houses. Here are the twelve Houses of the horoscope, what they stand for, and how Aquarius affects them:

1. Identity - Aquarius makes you seem wise and quite an original.
2. Resources - Aquarius makes your knowledge your greatest asset.
3. Communication - Aquarius makes you a serious learner and a sincere friend.
4. Home - Aquarius makes your home peaceful and your family ties deep.
5. Pastime - Aquarius makes you driven by your curiosity.
6. Work - Aquarius makes your work advanced and analytical.
7. Partners - Aquarius makes your relations profound and lasting.
8. Unknown - Aquarius makes you understand mysterious things.
9. Travel - Aquarius makes you travel to distant and exotic places.
10. Career - Aquarius makes you reach and keep respected positions.
11. Ideals - Aquarius makes you an idealist, pondering utopian ideas.
12. Shortcomings - Aquarius makes it difficult for you to go to the bottom of things.

Generalizations

Of course, all of the above is very general, mainly to give you an idea of how the Zodiac sign traits affect the horoscope. You need to study your horoscope chart carefully, to make a deeper and more nuanced inter­pretation.

Aquarius, illustration from a 1482 edition of a book by Hyginus.
© Stefan Stenudd