Aquarius
The water bearer: a fixed air sign ruled by Saturn and, in modern astrology, by Uranus. The Sun is in Aquarius from about 20 January to 18 February, midwinter north of the equator.
Fixed air, ruled by Saturn and Uranus
Fixed air is thought that holds its position: a principle, a cause, a conviction about how things ought to be for everyone. The tradition reads Aquarius as independent, inventive and humane, a sign that cares about people in general and keeps a certain distance from people in particular. Gemini, mutable air, is read as curious, and Libra, cardinal air, as relating; Aquarius stands by an idea. The reading gives it originality, fairness and loyalty to friends and causes, and also detachment, contrariness, and stubbornness that presents itself as being reasonable.
The traditional ruler of Aquarius is Saturn, which also rules Capricorn; in air Saturn is read as principle, system and the rules a group agrees to keep. Modern astrology adds Uranus, read as independence and sudden change, and both are used. The Sun, the ruler of the opposite sign, is in detriment in Aquarius. There is no traditional exaltation or fall here. The decans go to Venus, Mercury and the Moon as faces, or to Saturn, Mercury and Venus through the air signs.
Aquarius as Sun, Moon and rising sign
The Sun in Aquarius
A Sun in Aquarius is read as a self that stands a little apart in order to see clearly: someone with their own views, drawn to friends, groups and causes, and unimpressed by doing a thing because it has always been done. The tradition describes a friendly, fair-minded, unconventional person, comfortable being thought odd. The other side is aloofness, contrariness for its own sake, and treating feelings as problems to be reasoned away.
The Moon in Aquarius
A Moon in Aquarius is read as needing freedom and some emotional breathing space to feel secure. It steadies itself by thinking a feeling through, often talking about it in general terms, and it is read as a loyal friend who shows care through reliability more than closeness. Crowding and emotional demands unsettle it. The Moon passes through Aquarius in about two and a half days.
Aquarius rising
Aquarius rising is read as a friendly but slightly detached manner, with something unusual in style or opinion, and it makes Saturn, or Uranus for modern astrologers, the ruler of the chart. Aquarius is the natural sign of the eleventh house, friends and groups. North of the equator it rises quickly, in little more than an hour at London’s latitude, while at Sydney’s it takes nearly two and a half hours, among the slowest.
When the Sun is in Aquarius
The conventional dates are 20 January – 18 February. The Sun arrives at a different hour each year, so the exact moments for this turn of the year are worked out here.
Aquarius is deep winter in the north and high summer in the south. Halfway through, about 3 or 4 February, the Sun passes the cross-quarter point close to Imbolc and Candlemas, old festivals of the first stirrings of spring. The Sun moves quickly in these weeks and spends about twenty-nine and a half days in Aquarius.
The water bearer
The water bearer is usually identified with Ganymede, the young man carried off by Zeus to pour for the gods. The glyph is two wavy lines, usually read as water poured out. The tradition takes from the figure someone who hands out what everyone needs, which suits a sign read as caring about the many.
Aquarius and Leo across the wheel
Opposite Aquarius is Leo, fixed fire to Aquarius’s fixed air. The axis is read as the many and the one: Aquarius thinks for the group, Leo speaks for the single heart. It runs through the eleventh and fifth houses, shared hopes and personal joy. Planets across it are read as the tension between belonging and standing out, with both signs equally hard to move.
The sign and the constellation
The constellation Aquarius is large but faint, in a stretch of sky full of watery figures: Cetus the sea monster, the fishes, and the southern fish, whose bright star Fomalhaut is drawn drinking the stream from the jar. The Sun is in front of Aquarius from about 16 February to 11 March, which is mostly the sign Pisces; during the sign Aquarius it stands before Capricornus. Sidereal Aquarius starts about 13 February. The page on signs and constellations sets the systems out together.
Common mix-ups
Aquarius is an air sign, not a water sign, despite its name: the water is poured, not swum in. The Age of Aquarius is a separate idea, about the March equinox point drifting out of the constellation Pisces, and astrologers disagree about when that happens; by the official constellation borders it is centuries away. Births on 19 or 20 January and 18 or 19 February need the time to settle the sign, which a birth chart works out.
What this page claims
This page sets out how Western astrology reads Aquarius and where each part of that reading comes from. It describes a vocabulary rather than a person, and it predicts nothing about anybody born with the Sun, the Moon or the ascendant in Aquarius.
Questions people ask
What are the dates for Aquarius?
The Sun is in Aquarius from about 20 January to 18 February. In recent years it has entered Aquarius on 19 or 20 January and moved into Pisces on 18 or 19 February, by Greenwich time. Anyone born on one of those days needs the time and place of birth, because the change happens at a different hour each year.
Why is Aquarius an air sign if it is the water bearer?
Because a sign’s element comes from its place in the pattern, not from its picture. The twelve signs cycle through fire, earth, air and water in order, and Aquarius, the eleventh, falls on air. The tradition reads the water bearer as a figure pouring out something everyone needs, which suits an air sign concerned with people in general. The water signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces.
Does Uranus or Saturn rule Aquarius?
Both are in use. Traditional astrology gives Aquarius to Saturn, which also rules Capricorn. After Uranus was discovered in 1781, modern astrology gradually assigned it to Aquarius, reading it as independence and innovation. Many astrologers name Uranus first and keep Saturn as the traditional ruler; others use Saturn alone. The Sun is in detriment in Aquarius under both schemes.
What is an Aquarius Moon?
An Aquarius Moon is the Moon in Aquarius at the time of birth. Astrology reads it as an emotional nature that values independence, friendship and fairness, steadies itself by thinking things through, and dislikes being pressed for emotional displays. The Moon spends only two to three days in each sign, so the date and often the time of birth are needed to find it.