Sun in Aquarius - Free Radicals

Feminist, Professor Germain Greer Sun in Aquarius
author of the key text for the feminist movement of the 1970's, The Female Eunuch
'The freedom I pleaded for twenty years ago was freedom to be a person, with dignity, integrity, nobility, passion, pride that constitute personhood. Freedom to run, shout, talk loudly and sit with your knees apart. Freedom to know and love the earth and all that swims, lies, and crawls upon it...most of the women in the world are still afraid, still hungry, still mute and loaded by religion with all kinds of fetters, masked, muzzled, mutilated and beaten.'

On the 19th January, 2013 the Sun traveller moves country, as it does every month, this time it will take an objective, almost scientific, at times bizarrely zig zagging step into the infinitely endless wide open topography of Aquarius. It feels good to feel free, to just be our true selves, moving around uninhibited and unrestrained by anything other than our own internal rules. We are very aware of our fellow citizens in this land but with a distinct need to be distinct. With the Sun moving into Aquarius from previous Capricorn we can see a chance to lay our burdens down and concentrate fully on the future. 

Professor Moses Gomberg Sun & Mercury in Aquarius the 'father' of radical chemistry.
'In chemistry the term 'free radical'  is used to describe molecules with unpaired electrons, those that may have a positive, negative, or zero charge. They are hard to pin down and as a result their possibilities are endless. They can prove wildly destructive or instrumental, depending on the context.' 

There is a shift to the intangible, to what we think and conceptualize, a move to the abstract or idealized realm where ideas are king, most welcome after the practical, earthbound, mundane world of the Sun traveller's environment last month. Here we encounter the odd, the uneven, the perverse, it is a path that is has twist and turns and it is in fact, the surprise that will beckons us now. Anything too traditional or weighty will not suit Aquarius once it takes on the responsibility of a task or challenge. It has its own way of doing things and that way is different, sometimes untried, untested, even 'off the wall' or downright quirky. It will be radical that’s for sure. Those of you with Sun sign Aquarius know exactly the truth of this statement because it is a deep part of your own personal mythology. 

Poet Richard Blanco Sun in Aquarius at President Barack Obama's second inauguration,
He is the first immigrant, first Latino, and first gay person and the youngest to be inaugural poet.
As we all journey with the Sun, we will all move into Aquarius and its free-flowing exchange of ideas and information. The symbol for Aquarius, an air sign, is confusing in itself as the symbol is the Water Carrier and consequently often mistaken for a water sign. However, what Aquarius carries in its urn to share with the whole tribe is not the direct nourishment of Earth, neither is it the motivating impetus of Fire or the reassurance of Water. It is the space, abstractions and concepts of Air itself. Aquarius pours out an urn full of thought. Aquarius encourages the free flow attitudes of 'think for yourself', 'question everything', 'don't just look at the blackboard but the molecules in the chalk', 'look up the stars on the other side of the window' and 'translate the fiction behind the facts'.
We find life with Aquarius takes a distinctly different turn from the one we just passed through with the Sun in Capricorn (Sun in Capricorn - The Winter Solstice & the Treadmill Resolution). Gone is last month’s respectful and responsible attitude, gone is the world weary but dutiful spirit, gone are the shouldering of burdens and the attention to organisation and structure. Now this time gives us the opportunities to spread our wings and fly solo or at least fly free by deciding on a freedom that is fair for everyone.

Director Alan Parker & Actor Gene Hackman both Sun in Aquarius in Mississippi Burning, based on the lynching of three Civil Rights Workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Mickey Schwerner by the white racists Ku Klux Klan, during the American Civil Rights Movement.

Now as rebellion and unrest stirs in the margins and fringes of this landscape, we may find the energy to imagine a fairer, more humanitarian expression and work towards a more collectively agreed upon code of conduct by which to live. We see a way through that is better for the majority and which benefits the whole. Whenever the word ‘majority’ is used, its counter, ‘minority’, is immediately invoked and Aquarius knows all about the odd one out, the outcast, the ‘lonesome own-some,’ 'the maverick' and 'the outsider'. Aquarius fights the good cause for the benefit of all just as long as it is obeying its own internal map. 

Rosa Parks Sun in Aquarius 'the first lady of civil rights'

This is one of the curious dilemmas for Aquarius, how to be accepted by your peers whilst also being different from them, how to extol the virtues of solidarity whilst beating the drum to an alternate tune. How to be special and unique as you unite and join arms with other people of like mind, wonders Aquarius.  Being an individualist within the collective. Over the last month we may have tried to establish or set down certain structures, to build something tangibly worthwhile, but now all we can see are the parts that need either pulling down or bypassing. We can now see that we may have to stick our neck out, go against the flow, try something new and listen to the whispers.

Here as a couple of Aquarian secrets: 1) they desire to be noticed 2) they desire to be equal and getting that balance right can sometimes tip them over the edge. Yes they can do extremes just as well as their fixed sign cousins, Scorpio.

Awkward, willful, unpredictable, wayward, detached and removed, rebellious and charismatic that is the welcome you get to Aquarius, which is where we find ourselves this month. These behaviours and issues will be around us, whether we like it or not, ponder, answer, deliberately evade or debate them, Aquarian style. At some level we will have to negotiate face to face.

Suffragette/Civil Rights Activist, Susan B Anthony Sun in Aquarius
co-published woman's rights journal The Revolution

Aquarius so desperately wants answers because it needs to solve the problems and it hungers for the questions in order to resolve them. It will do its darnest to solve the mystery and lift the veil, to pierce it, to unmask and question the prevailing view of what is known as reality.  It is all so simple sometimes for Aquarius, just let everyone get on and ‘just be themselves’. Just allow and tolerate rather than judge and punish.

As Aquarius energy pours down to us through the Sun’s rays this month we will all be effected. Indoors, outdoors, sleeping or waking, in a state of freedom or just in a state, we will be saturated by Aquarian radical and far reaching power cells. We can expect to appear more casual, hopefully, more open and accepting, a little bit more obstreperous and a lot more quirky. We will probably either gang together in a massive huddle or appear to be propelled out on limb, all on our own, or just feel that way.

The zone's presided over by Aquarius in our lives will start to undergo this annual zap and zing. If you have planets ‘tuned in’ to receive Aquarius energy then they will feel the jolt. If you are Venus in Aquarius the way you relate and how you receive love, money and what you value will be highlighted and for some, come under the glaring spotlighted.

Samoan Linebacker for Notre Dame Manti Te'o Sun in Aquarius a naive victim of a cynical hoax, already a contradiction being a devout Mormon on a Catholic team. Notre Dame actively supports him over the 'death' of a 'virtual woman' but apparently failed to act over the death of a real one, Lizzy Seberg who committed sucide after being sexually assaulted by another Notre Dame player. 
If you have Mars here, the way you marshal your troops to attack or defend will come to the ascendancy. (Mars in Aquarius -Idealistic Battles & Contradictions) You may well be called up to express your own uniqueness, differentness and specialness. Aquarius is the sign of the genius after all as well as the downright eccentric.

Sun in Aquarius time, the end of January, beginning of February, is about questioning old patterns and pictures. It is about evolving to make the space around us better and fairer for everyone so that all may partake of the good things in life and participate on a level playing field. The Sun in Aquarius is all about sharing, tolerance and the acceptance of our differences.
Perhaps we may find ourselves struggling to be our true authentic self. We may want to be a boho hippy, a conventional city banker, a hard line activist or homespun survivalist but in our heart of hearts we all want to get along with all our differences respected, allowed for and accommodated. We want all the jigsaw pieces to be individually different but put together to form a cognizant and recognizable whole and a complete picture. After all, just think of how boring a jigsaw puzzle it would be if every single piece were identical. Yes, to equality across the board, yes, to fairness, yes, to liberty and justice for all and yes, let freedom ring and vive la difference, vive la revolution, because conformity does not compute. See you on the edge.

Icon freedom-fighter, Singer/songwriter Bob Marley Sun in Aquarius

credits: wikipedia 
posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs