Aquarius

“ Aquarius, in spite of the importance attached to it by the ancients, is an inconspicuous constellation. It is characterised by a "Y"-shaped figure representing the water-jar, composed of the stars γ, ζ, η, π Aquarii. This figure was called Situla or Urna by the Latins. A rough map of South America and a rude dipper are also to be traced out in the stars of this constellation.
Alpha Aquarii is but one degree south of the celestial equator. It was called "Sadalmelik" by the Arabs, which means "the fortunate star of the king." ”

“ All these ‘watery constellations’—Aquarius, Capricorn, Cetus, the Dolphin, Hydra, Pisces—are set aside, in the mouths of poets and in the familiar lore of the many, for the Hyades, that lovely sestet of Taurus which in these winter-months are known to all of us, where they flash and dance south-east of the Silver Apples of childhood’s sky—the clustered Pleiades. ”

“ Considering the imagined aqueous nature of this region of the sky it is not difficult, as Plunket says, to understand how the Vedic Rishis, who appear to have combined the characteristics of poets, scientists, and observers of the heavens, should have in 3000 b.c., when the sun was in conjunction with Aquarius at the time of the winter solstice, have described the fire of the solstitial sun as "hiding in, being born in, and rising out of the celestial waters of the constellation Aquarius." ”

“ When I told you about the old man in the Zodiac, I didn’t tell you this: besides his watering-pot, he has a great reputation for giving wise advice. So when the Star People are in any difficulty they go and consult Aquarius. Or they would go; but when he once begins to talk he goes on forever; and they are so tired with it, and it is so impossible to stop him without being rude, that they are rather more likely to say to some one else, ‘Why don’t you go and ask Aquarius?’ than they are to go themselves. ”

“ Aquarius! to whom king Jove has given
Two liquid pulse streams ’stead of feather’d wings,
Two fan-like fountains,—-thine illuminings
For Dian play:
Dissolve the frozen purity of air;
Let thy white shoulders silvery and bare
Shew cold through watery pinions; make more bright
The Star-Queen’s crescent on her marriage night:
Haste, haste away!—-
Castor has tamed the planet Lion, see!
And of the Bear has Pollux mastery:
A third is in the race! who is the third,
Speeding away swift as the eagle bird? ”

“ It is the sign of the Man. The truths of the past are becoming etherealized. Our solar parent has scarcely crossed the threshold of the sign Aquarius, and already we observe in many directions the activities of the peculiar influx. True, it is but the first flush of the dawn of a new era, the harbinger of a glorious day to our race. In the light of this truth, ponder well on the nature of the influx radiating from the solar center, each orb of his shining family absorbing a different ray, or attribute, of solar energy, corresponding to its own peculiar nature. ”

“ Aquarius is marked by no conspicuous stars. An irregular line of minute stars marks the course of the stream of water which flows from the Water-Bearer's Urn into the mouth of the Southern Fish. This mouth is marked by the first-magnitude star Fomalhaut. These constellations are shown in Fig. ”

“ Therefore Saturn is in essential agreement with Capricorn and Aquarius, the signs occupied by the Sun during the cold months of mid-winter, December and January. When placed in these signs his cold, clammy hand makes itself felt as a powerful force that crushes life and joy, that covers the life with the gloom of death. ”

“ The stars in the mouth are like Saturn, and partly like Venus: those in the feet and in the belly act in the same manner as Mars and Mercury: those in the tail are like Saturn and Jupiter.
Aquarius. The stars in the shoulders of Aquarius operate like Saturn and Mercury; those in the left hand and in the face do the same: those in the thighs have an influence more consonant with that of Mercury, and in a less degree with that of Saturn: those in the stream of water have power similar to that of Saturn, and, moderately, to that of Jupiter. ”

“ And fierce Aquarius, stains th' inverted year;
Hung o'er the farthest verge of heaven, the sun
Scarce spreads o'er ether the dejected day.⁠45
Faint are his gleams, and ineffectual shoot
His struggling rays, in horizontal lines,
Thro' the thick air; ”

“ Pisces (the Fishes) lie between Aquarius and Aries. They are not distinguished by any large stars, but are connected by a series of small stars, that form a crooked line between them. Piscis Australia, the Southern Fish, lies directly below Aquarius, and is known by a single bright star far in the south, having a declination of thirty degrees. The name of this star is Fomalhaut, and it is much used in astronomical measurements.
The constellations of the zodiac, being first well learned, so as to be readily recognised, will facilitate the learning of others that lie north and south of them. ”

“ The recovery of the golden ring is the return of the sun after the sunless Arctic winter, and this return occurs towards the end of January or the beginning of February, under the constellation of the Pisces. The fish, then, is the constellation of the Pisces, and Broad can be no less. In George and his Goat the man with his finger in the mouth of the bottle is certainly Aquarius, and Sharp-Eyes is always Sagittarius. It follows, therefore, that in Long, Broad, and Sharp-Eyes, Long is Aquarius, and in George and his Goat, Pisces. ”

“ The love nature is very strong, but they are not as demonstrative as the Leo. It is noteworthy that the qualities of opposite signs are always reflected: Leo in Aquarians, reflects love; Taurus mirrors the passion of Scorpio, the Gemini body is a reflex of the bony Sagittarius frame, etc.
The Sun and Saturn bring out more prominently the good traits of Aquarius, for this sign where he rules and Libra where he is exalted, are therefore under his most benign influence. The Sun in Aquarius adds much hope and life to the nature. ”

“ The human figure of Aquarius, the Waterbearer, shows us the ideal towards which this class must strive. Instead of fighting, preying upon, or poisoning others in the struggle for existence they must learn to become humane, to be friends instead of foes to all. The influence of the fixed signs rouses the desive nature, giving stamina and persistence in action. ”

“ Now three of the characters clearly represent respectively Mercury, Aquarius, and Sagittarius. The sign for Jupiter, as we find it in old books, is so like a 4, that the first figure of 45 may very well have been meant for it. The monogram at the beginning of the line bears a near resemblance to the sign of Capricorn in its most characteristic feature. And the mark over the sign of Aquarius appears to be an abbreviation of that which usually represents the Sun. (The blot between 1603 and B is nothing; being only meant to represent a figure 6 blotted out with the finger before the ink was dry.) ”

“ With every period we enter a new current of forces. Each period, therefore, of about 2000 years has new Gods, new characteristics, new types of 'uman beings with new tendencies and powers and possibilities in them—a new point of view, if you like to call it so, or, as we Aquarians call it, a new consciousness. Well, the Aquarius Sign just beginning, is an Air Sign. ”

“ The planet we live on belongs to the sun, and the sun has just entered—in 1881, to be igsact,—the sign of Aquarius. Aquarius, according to the old Chaldean system, is wot's called an Air Sign, and the new powers waking in us all—coming down into our world now—will be ruled by the element of air. The Age of Pisces, a Water Sign, is just finished and done with. ”

“ The solstitial and equinoctial colures were situated, speaking in round numbers, for 2,000 years in the constellations Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius.
A reason for the substitution of the Eagle (Aquila) for the Zodiacal Water-man or Water-jar [67] (Aquarius or Amphora) may, however, be found in the fact of the very great brilliancy of the star Altair in the Eagle. It is a star of the first magnitude. In the Water-man there is no star above the third. The Persians, we are told, had a tradition that four brilliant stars marked the four cardinal points (i.e. the colures) . ”

“ In this latter connection it was said that a sapphire placed near the heart would fortify that organ—the sign of Heaven “ruling” the heart is Leo, and Aquarius is exactly opposite to Leo in the Zodiac. In homœopathic medicine aconite in proper proportion is administered to reduce fevers and inflamed conditions. Astrologically, aconite is a herb of Saturn. Saturn is, like the herb, cold and contracting whilst Mars is warm and expanding. ”

“ The charm is to be cut on a “cornflower” sapphire for purifying the mind and obtaining favours from rulers, scholars, priests and people of wisdom, when the well-aspected moon was passing through the 3611st, 2nd, 28th and 29th degrees of Aquarius. In the “Book of Wings,” a charm advised for gaining wealth and prophetic foresight is an astrolabe cut on a sapphire, especially when the moon, well aspected, passes through the 1st, 2nd, 28th and 29th degrees of Aquarius. ”

“ The children of Aquarius are of a rather shy, retiring nature. They like to keep their own company and counsel more than is good for them, for if this bent in their nature is allowed full swing it has a tendency to breed melancholy and make them recluses. They have a grief, unassuming manner which gains many friends for them and their home life is usually ideal. They are generally affectionate and of a very sweet and kind disposition, and are always ready to defer to the opinion of a loved one and ready to yield a point for the sake of harmony. ”

“ His orbit is called the Zodiac, which is divided into twelve signs, familiarly known as Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. It requires our Solar System a little more than 2,100 years to pass through one of these signs, and this time is the measurement of an Age or Dispensation. ”

“ In fact, according to the pictures in the old maps, the fish succeeds in swallowing the stream completely, and it vanishes from the sky in the act of entering his distended mouth! It is worthy of remark that in Greek, Latin, and Arabic this constellation bears names all of which signify "a man pouring water." The ancient Egyptians imagined that the setting of Aquarius caused the rising of the Nile, as he sank his huge urn in the river to fill it. ”

“ And, whilst the Sun is in Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini, the Earth’s Axis CP lies to the right hand of the Axis of the Ecliptic CH as seen from the Sun, and to the left hand while the Sun is in the other six Signs. ”

“ It follows, as a natural sequence, that the rules formulated and taught by astrologers in reference to the plane of planetary influence in one sub-cycle will not hold good in the next. To illustrate: In the year 1881 the Sun passed from the sign Pisces into Aquarius, thus beginning a new cycle of solar force. The human race has entered upon a cycle in every respect differing in nature and action from the past cycle of 2,160 years. The sign Aquarius is masculine, electric, positive. ”

“ The diagram (Fig. 68) shows how it is that when Aries is on the meridian at 5 o’clock in the evenings of February, Gemini will be rising in the east, and Aquarius, with Mercury in it, will be getting ready to set in the west.
You can find all the other planets in the same way, but it is much easier to find them in the sky than it is to try and imagine their positions after reading how it is done. You should, though, by all [Pg 64] means, read the chapter on The Stars of the Zodiac before you try to plot a planet, for there is much useful information in it which you ought to know. ”

“ Aquarius is an intellectual sign and its children usually have a good mentality, because the Saturnine rulership gives depth to the mind, and the Uranian ray gives them intuition and an inclination towards science, literature and philosophy, They are remarkably persistent in whatever they undertake, and therefore usually succeed in the long run. ”

“ Gemini, Libra and Aquarius are called Airy signs. Their influence is mostly mental and intellectual.
Angles:
The First, Fourth, Seventh and Tenth Houses.
The Eastern angle with Aries, where Mars is the ruler, suggests the Sun rising to the material activities of the day. As the Sun, denoting spirit, is under the cross denoting matter, but rising toward it, therefore it denotes the beginning of Life in the material world, and Mars, the ruler, stands for the desire nature, which draws the spirit towards material existence in order that it may conquer matter. ”

“ The present-day transit into the constellation Aquarius is held to inaugurate 62the dawn of the age of Baptism, the pouring out of the Spirit of Truth upon all flesh, and the age will therefore be one of spiritual regeneration. ”

“ The Sun enters Aquarius about the 21st of January each year.
ARIES (the Ram) .—The first sign of the zodiac. In making up the 360° in the zodiac, we count from 0° of Aries. The Sun enters Aries on the 21st of March each year.
ASCENDANT.—This is the first house, or that point which rises at birth.
ASCENDING.—When a planet is between the fourth and tenth house; it is always the east.
ASPECTS.—This means the relationship one planet, or sign, has to another in the zodiac. The Table of Aspects should be well studied; it is important. ”

“ Nearly all the ancient Greek and Asian analogues for the last named, Aquarius, relate to water. One of the few old-world exceptions was that Roman Zodiac on which the constellation figured as a peacock, symbol of Hêrê (Juno) , because that in her month Gamelion (part January, part February) the sun enters this sign. The Greek Islanders of Ceos called it Aristaeus, in memory of a native Rain Bringer. Another name was Cecrops, because the Cicada or Field-cricket is nourished by the dews and has its eggs hatched by the vernal rains. It would be wearisome to collate superfluous instances. ”