The 12 zodiac signs all have a planetary ruler that was assigned to them based on the observations of astrologers over the years. These rulers are not coincidental. The more you delve into the characteristics of the planets, and assess their physical nature, the more insight you gain into the zodiac sign and it becomes clear that the planets and signs are parallel. Because I am now attempting to blow your mind with intuitive insight and symbolism, I felt it was both necessary and unconventional to start with the planet Uranus, and its darling sign, Aquarius. We are going to dissect the planet’s components as if we are performing an autopsy on the Aquarian personality to exhume the clues nestled in the Ice Giant.
First we have to get some scientific factoids out of the way, but bear with me, as they are crucial to understanding both Uranus and Aquarius. We’ll start with the basics; Uranus is an ice giant; and contrary to what you may have heard, the coldest planet in our solar system. It rotates opposite to the way Earth and other planets turn, completing 1 trip around the Sun every 84 years, but during parts of its orbit, one side of Uranus points directly at the Sun. Hydrogen and helium makeup its upper layer, below that lurks an icy mantle that surrounds a rocky core inundated with more ice, with an upper atmosphere of water, ammonia, and methane. That was painless and precise (well, kind of).
This science mug shot of Uranus is illuminating if we look at the characteristics abstractly, and with a dash of poetic license.
First let’s consider the title of Uranus: Ice Giant; meaning the planet is big and cold. In astrology, “big” refers to the magnitude of one’s personality or pursuits, as opposed to their physical size. And in personal relationships, when we describe someone as being cold, we mean to describe their lack of feeling or sensitivity. If we translate this into astrology speak and apply it to Aquarius, an air sign that lives for the intellect, we get a person involved in large-scale pursuits, completely isolated from the emotions . The “Giant” in Aquarius is actually this vastness of vision, an ability to see into the future and dream up grand ideas and bring them down to earth. But it also refers to the humanitarian hobbies of the sign. They want to use their talents to do things for the larger group to help society evolve and grow progress.
Uranus has an orbital rotation completely different from the other planets, and this is an accurate example of the way Aquarians’ giant ideas can be misunderstood. But it’s also a description of how the air sign natives live; they must be different, and they abide by their own system of rules, even if that means going in the opposite direction as the rest of the world. Aquarians think so differently from the rest of the signs, and are so far ahead into the beyond, that it is difficult for other signs to figure them out.
Now for the “Ice” half. Uranus is considered to be the coldest planet in our solar system, with a core of rock and ice, surrounded by more ice. Like I said, “cold and ice” are words we use to describe the dispassionate half of a person, so in terms of the personality, this high amount of frostiness mirrors the sensitive response of Water Bearers.
Aquarians are infamously lacking in the emotions department, and Uranus’ heavy amount of ice is a representation of Aquarian’s inability to emotionally connect and respond to a situation with passionate bias. The abundance of ice on the planet is indicative of the paralyzed feelings and sub-zero emotions usually associated with the air sign. It’s not to imply that they don’t feel, but rather that feelings, sentiments, and emotions aren’t easily accessed. There has to be a lot of heat for Aquarians to melt.
But Uranus’ core is both rockand ice, a composition that symbolizes the level-headedness usually associated with earth signs (rock) surrounded by systematic, unfeeling logic, which has been cooled by the intellect (ice); this explains and highlights the contradictive Aquarian trait of being obstinately open-minded. This is a fixed sign, and in astrology fixed signs are known for their inflexibility; they do not relinquish control, nor do they relent once they have gained momentum. So with a sign like Aquarius, inflexibility can spiral into radicalism – making them fanatical about an idea or manically fixed on the future.
Uranus exposes Aquarians to the high altitude of the air element, where abstract ideas thrive, and emotions freeze. They live on a planet where feelings are obsolete, and are an intriguing mix of earth stubbornness, emotional unconsciousness, and forced eccentricity that oscillates in detached airiness making them out of reach. I hope this has helped many of you gain deeper insight into Aquarius, and made you look at both the sign and the planet Uranus a little differently. But keep in mind that Uranus characteristics aren’t just limited to Water Bearers, they can apply to anyone who is Uranus-dominant.
I am continuously fascinated by the correlation between the signs and the planets, and will cover all 10 of the planets, so stay tuned! And let me know what you think of this series in the comments below!
If you are interested in discovering whether or not you are Uranus dominant, or other planet-dominant, mosey on over to my Birth Chart Interpretations for information on how to get your hands on a chart analysis of your very own.
