Aquarius: A Gallery
With commentary on the nature of the sign.
Dear Reader,
When I was beginning to learn about astrology, the image of Aquarius always was hard for me to get meaning out of. “Ok so it’s a guy holding a pot of water — what’s that supposed to mean?” Many of the other signs are more immediately understood by their images: Scorpio is a scorpion, it hides and fights, Leo is a lion, king of the jungle, and Taurus is the bull, stubborn and big. Aquarius seems kind of mundane, even antiquated. Its not really a scene common to modern life, at least at first glance.
I learned to look to esoteric principles and theories to gain an understanding of its nature. “Aquarius is an air sign,” ok then it must have something to do with intelligence and communication. “Its a fixed sign,” so it must be stable or conservative. This still hasn’t told me what a “waterbearer” means.
Aquarius is also given this added layer of utopian grandeur by esoteric and New Age thought. It represents the evolution of humanity, the possibility of world peace, and telepathy. It is technological advancement and space travel. And all of this is involved in a single aspect of the Zodiac?
All of this may mean something about the significance of Aquarius but we have not seen the image in this. Is the water vessel the space ship? Is it the human brain extending its contents into the external world through telepathy? Is the pot technology? All of this seems plausible but somehow secondary. What is the core of it?
The symbol itself can never be totally explained. And any attempt to will only cause more need for explanation. My hope with this letter is to show you Aquarius as it appears in many different contexts. My hope is that without words we can see Aquarius, or what Aquarius is pointing to. Some of these images may not agree on a specific meaning, please allow for the contradiction as this will hopefully show us a more archetypal theme.
In Myth and Religion
In Literature
In Art
![Roman statue of the Egyptian goddess Isis, 1st half of the 2nd century Ce[1139 x 1715] : r/ArtefactPorn](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OuXl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe6f163f0-4080-44a0-81f0-37650a767278_1139x1715.jpeg "Roman statue of the Egyptian goddess Isis, 1st half of the 2nd century Ce[1139 x 1715] : r/ArtefactPorn")
In Film
In Life
What do you see? What I see is an act of service by emptying or filling the container. This act transforms, whether by love, magic, madness, desire or duty. But it is an act of diligence and intelligence. To me this is what Aquarius creates a reflection of. Please I would like to know what you see.
Best,
Connor Kroll
I think ministering might be the best single word to describe the waterbearer.
I too have always wondered about Aquarius...
Its symbol, ♒︎ , suggest something about water, may be the above and below waters of old.
If Enki/Ea really is the origin of the water bearer symbol, things get complicated...
He was a very ambiguos god. A water god. And until the advent of Marduk, it was the protagonist of most myths.
Almost alway as the one that gives a way, resolves troubles, saves the day.
He promoted Inanna as a goddess. Saved mankind by extinction, when Enlil unleashed the deluge, angry at the noise made by humanity.
Initially it was he who held the "Me" *. Of which he gave a part to Inanna, letting her thinking she has tricked him. Then he passed the Me to Enlil under order by Anu.
But it seems that he kept them anyway.
Overall, a nice guy, only a bit sly, indirect in his ways. And overall well in character with water.
But Aquarius is a air sign...
It seems to me that the air signs are the more concerned with their public image. They have thousand of friends. They know all fashions. And they are who manage to get people together to do some thing.
To get along with a lot of people you must be quite detached.
I think that the lofty image painted by the New Age dreamers is bullshit.
They are quite individualist, if not outright egoistic. But have a good PR skill.
They are cold, calculating, straight to the target. They don't care about the means, only about their goals. But almost always they make their goals appear for the good of all.
If to know and frequent you can stain their cherished public image, they'll not esitate in throwing you under the bus.
* Me, or Ma, is a very difficult concept. They may be skills, tricks, ways of getting something or to get rid of something, proper social manners, moods and a miriad of things more.