zodiac seasons
By Claire Comstock-Gay, astrologer and Cut columnist. She has written weekly horoscopes for more than ten years and is the author of 'Madame Clairevoyant’s Guide to the Stars.'
Illustration: Sunny Wu
By the end of January, you may well be sick of Capricorn season and its emphasis on hard work, discipline, andtradition. While harnessing the goat’s ambition and pragmatism can help you to build power and success, there’s more to life than racking up accomplishments. So when the sun finally moves into Aquarius, it serves as a reminder that you don’t have to try to climb the career ladder, get married and buy a house, or give up on your most fantastical dreams. Aquarius season encourages you to rebel against all that. If Capricorn season was about learning from the past, Aquarius season is about looking toward the future. Where Capricorn promised that you can succeed by following the rules, Aquarius wants you to imagine new rules, a whole new game.
Each year, the sun spends from January 20 until February 18 in the sign of the Water Bearer, and it invites us to get creative and idealistic. Despite its name, the element associated with Aquarius isn’t water but air. And as an air sign, Aquarius is one of the intellectuals of the zodiac, blessed with a sharp mind, imagination, and openness to new ideas. Like all air signs, Aquarius tends to be friendly and well-liked. Aquarius energy is also eccentric, though, which can rub some people (earth signs) the wrong way. In modern astrology, the sign’s planetary ruler is Uranus, the planet of change and revolution. On the more practical side, this means Aquarius is linked to progress and technological innovation; on the weirder side, it’s the sign of hippies (forever linked, for better or worse, with that song from Hair), rebels, and unsung geniuses.
During Aquarius season, you tire of convention, the usual ways of doing things. If you feel an urge to press beyond the edges of what’s easy or “normal” or routine, heed it. This is an opportunity to cast off the opinions of your neighbors, co-workers, or Instagram followers. They’re not living your life, you are, and you’ve got more interesting things to think about than their judgment. You can spend your time researching UFOs or getting deep into experimental cinema. You can rabble-rouse at City Council meetings on Zoom or show up to defend your unhoused neighbors against encampment evictions. The world is so big, and you don’t have to live the same way as everyone else.
That said, a certain amount of humdrum, everyday labor is unavoidable. That’s where Aquarius struggles. These kinds of tasks — doing the laundry or the grocery shopping — may seem unbearable. Even necessary activities like eating and sleeping can strike you as burdensome. But remember, while you’re imagining new futures or working out a theory of the universe, not to neglect your body. Eating well, getting rest, getting outside for a walk in the fresh air: These things won’t distract you from your big dreams; they keep you strong and healthy so that you can pursue them.
Similarly, in your social life, you may find you have less patience than usual for people you consider small-minded, boring, or simply wrong. Although Aquarius season encourages unconventionality, it can also, paradoxically, lead to rigidity — to the certainty that your style of thinking is the only true one, your unique vision of the future the only one worth pursuing. Do your best this month to stay generous and open hearted. You can follow your wild ideas and also continue to invest in your friendships and communities. Have faith in your singular spark while remembering that, ultimately, we all depend on one another.
At its worst, this Aquarian insistence on individualism can manifest in a disastrous brand of libertarianism (Sarah Palin), but it’s just as likely to blossom into a radical, generous concern for humanity more broadly and for our collective future together (Yoko Ono’s antiwar activism, Angela Davis’s staunch solidarity with Palestine).
With all its sharp, creative, revolutionary energy, this is a moment to remember that anything is possible. Other people might tell you your ambitions are silly, that injustice is inevitable, and breaking with tradition ill advised. But Aquarius insists that even utopian dreams are worth working toward. The rules can provide useful structure, but they can also hold you back. Aquarius season is as good a time as any to practice breaking some.
Tags:
- madame clairevoyant
- zodiac seasons
- horoscopes
- aquarius
- aquarius season
- self
- More
Show Leave a Comment
