After all the Sun is in Aquarius – and Aquarius, as we all know is cool, calm, friendly, intelligent, rational. But passionate? Romantic? Heart-broken? Love-struck? Frenzied? Well, not exactly. And what about Aquarius' reputation for staying happily single?
So why have we chosen to celebrate love and marriage when the Sun is visiting the coolest sign in the Zodiac.
Well, it turns out that it's a very ancient custom indeed. For the Greeks, Gamelion, the month which ran from mid-January to mid-February, was the month of marriage. In particular the nuptials of Zeus and Hera, the king and queen of the gods of Olympus, were celebrated.
The Roman name for Hera is Juno, and according to Roman astrologer Manilius, she is the tutelary deity of Aquarius. Hera/Juno is the goddess of marriage. So why does that cool, fixed, air sign need lessons from her?
Aquarius, expressed at its best, shares a particular quality with the other fixed signs – fidelity. And surely that is one essential ingredient of a sound marriage.
In the stories of the gods, fidelity often plays a central role. The gods fall in love, marry, betray each other and are reconciled. They wage wars because of sexual jealousy and hurt. In particular, Juno/Hera is constantly tested. Her husband, Jupiter, had an eye and an appetite for beauty – mortal, immortal or demi-god.
In the Zodiac, Aquarius is opposite to Leo, which has, according to Manilius again, as its tutelary deity, Jupiter. (Tutelary deities are not the same as ruling planets. For more see this earlier post or look at this page.) So the Olympian husband and wife team are matched across the Zodiac: she counseling the fixed winter sign and he the fixed summer sign. And despite being constantly challenged, their marriage is as solid as a rock and central the whole Olympian schema.
And I have noticed that Aquarian types – that is people with Sun, Venus, Moon or Mars in the sign – are inclined to stable marriages or to not bothering at all. It has to be right or they don't bother. However, the marriage may not be entirely orthodox.
For example, I used to work with a woman whose idea of a good night out necessarily ended in the sack with a big, black guy. She was a (smallish) middle-aged white woman, who'd been married to the same man since she was a teenager. Her chart was heavily Aquarian – and psychologically, she needed the stable marriage to rebel against. What her (white and much older) husband did for entertainment, I don't know, but he must have been quite aware of her proclivities.
On a perkier note, several of the happiest and most stable marriages I've come across have been between Aquarians and Librans. It's a Sun sign combination that seems to work especially well.
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| Joanne Woodward (Juno conj Saturn) and Paul Newman. |
Right now, of course, Saturn is taking a its once-every-30-years tour through Libra, the sign of partnership. That does make this an ideal year to get married.
So, go forth, and set the date.
Juno, the asteroid of marriage, will join Saturn in Libra this year from July 28 to October 21st. On Saturday and Sunday September 9-10, the two planets will conjoin. Maybe, not such a bad date for a wedding. In case you were wondering, here's someone who had Juno conjunct Saturn in her birth chart: Joanne Woodward. She married a pretty decent Aquarian.
