Aquarius
Aquarius is a fixed air sign, traditionally ruled by Saturn and, for modern astrologers, by Uranus. It is associated with independence, ideals and community, and with thinking ahead of its time.
- Dates
- About January 20 to February 18
- Element
- Air
- Mode
- Fixed
- Ruler
- Saturn (traditional), Uranus (modern)
- In detriment here
- Sun
- Opposite sign
- Leo
In the tradition
Aquarius falls in the depth of winter. Its image, the water-bearer, is often identified with Ganymede, the youth Zeus carried off to pour for the gods. Babylonian astronomers already pictured a figure pouring water in this part of the sky.
Ptolemy gives Aquarius to Saturn. After Uranus was found in 1781, astrologers gradually adopted it as the sign's modern ruler. The Sun is in detriment here. Traditional authors assigned Aquarius the lower legs and ankles.
Strengths and shadows
Astrologers credit Aquarius with originality and a sense of fairness that extends to strangers. It is loyal to friends and causes, open to new ideas, and willing to stand apart from the crowd.
Its shadow is detachment. Aquarius can care more about humanity than about the person in front of it, hold to an idea after the facts have moved on, or keep a cool distance that others read as indifference.
In a birth chart
Planets in Aquarius are read through ideas, principles and the groups a person belongs to. Saturn is at home here in the traditional scheme. The Sun is in detriment, which older authors read as personal will given up for the sake of the collective.
Aquarius corresponds to the eleventh house in the modern scheme: friends, groups, hopes and wishes.
With an ancient and a modern ruler, Aquarius is often read as a pull between Saturn's need for structure and Uranus's appetite for change, and astrologers see that tension as part of the sign's character.
In a Caelumia profile
Caelumia reads Aquarius toward these themes, then weighs them with the rest of a chart and numbers before anything is shown: Idealism, Independence, Curiosity, Sociability.
Sources
- Claudius Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos (2nd century CE). The classical source for the tropical zodiac, sign qualities, rulerships and exaltations.
- William Lilly, Christian Astrology (1647). The standard English reference for traditional sign descriptions and essential dignities.
- Alan Leo, Astrology for All (1899). The start of modern character-based astrology and of Sun-sign description.
Updated September 27, 2026.
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