The Zodiac Sign Aquarius

Aquarius is the fixed air sign of the zodiac. Air represents the mind and the ability to think. Aquarian ideas may be unusual, or even original, but once formed they tend to remain fixed. Fixed air, in brief, is a metaphor for fixed opinions.

You live wholly and solely on your own terms and your life and destiny are carved out by you and for you. Preferring to tread the beaten path is not on your agenda at all and you leave that to less adventurous individuals.

There can be someone tucked away inside you who is extremely uncertain of his or her true identity. The Aquarius ego is said to be the most precarious in the zodiac, probably because Aquarius is the sign of non-conformity. Intellectual genius, practical eccentricity and mental oddity are all linked with Aquarius.

You are determined and forceful in how you deal with others but at first, can come across as somewhat aloof or even snobbish. You like to assess people and the situation first before laying down your cards and in some ways, this is a technique for gaining the upper hand in your relationships.

In your childhood, you may have found yourself under the stern control of someone over whom you had no say. This leaves you quite sensitive if other try to take control and as you grow older you'll be mindful of this fact.

You have quite a different philosophy on life than most others and you'll realize this quite early on in your life. You will tend to keep your dreams and ambitions tucked away in a secret place until you feel it is time to bring them out into the light for fear of being ridiculed.

Even as you age you'll be quite comfortable in the company of young people and you may be drawn to community and social issues involving youth workers. You want to make a difference in this world as you have quite a social conscience and may even work with groups or organizations that have a hand in uplifting the less fortunate in society.

Your communication is very sharp and you relate extremely well to anyone with whom you come into contact. You have good organizational skills and you like to work with others, to express your ideas and come up with unique solutions to both personal and professional problems.

Aquarius being an air sign is notorious for thinking. You like to get to the bottom of things and this is due to your curious and mentally precise insights. Creating through ideas is second nature to you and you believe that we grow with the expression of thoughts.

You are not afraid of challenges and when arguing a point are most impressive due to your background knowledge. Unconventional again Aquarius in the way you study, live or present your ideas, but others will have to give you the due credit for your originality.

Communication is your forte and you relate extremely well to anyone with whom you come into contact with. Throughout your life, you will continue to evolve and grow as a human being. Your far-reaching attitude sometimes overwhelms your friends and family members and people see you as rather flamboyant, and even harmlessly mad.

Uranus is also abrupt and thrilling by nature so your life will never be dull. Unexpected and exciting events will occur at every step of your pathway throughout life. If someone were to describe your day to day existence they would probably say that it was full of thrills and spills.

Conventional is a word you really don't want in your vocabulary Aquarius and boredom are not a feeling you want in any shape or form. Your approach to love and relationships is pretty quirky, as long as you are mentally stimulated. Once tediousness appears on the horizon, you are running to book a ticket out of there, wherever you may be.

Having an Aquarius and Capricorn blend of energies as your star sign can present you with some difficult problems. You will desperately want to progress, move forward and be so different but will find the Aquarius element dragging you back into a mode of conservatism therefore, you probably experience a lot of inattention.

You want to be progressive in every aspect of your life and love change but find the Capricorn side of your nature dragging you back into a mode of conservatism. On the one hand, you want to forge forward with new ideas, but also hold fast to traditional ideals as well.

You'll be constantly mindful of the financial burden that this could place on you if you don't have the financial resources to do this. Finding a delicate balance will be part of your life's challenge.

Your mind and the way you relate to people will also be in a constant tug - of - war. At times you will want to give the other person the shirt off your back, generously helping them whenever and in any way you can as it is obviously a typically Aquarian trait. But the Capricorn in you will persistently be mindful of the consequences and brings with it a greater degree of reluctance to impulsively give away everything.

What I would say to you Aquarius is that you shouldn't fight with this set of diametrically opposed personality traits. In fact, I think by accepting both star signs' qualities you will be in a position to be successful, secure, which is the Aquarius ideal yet at the same time capable of progressing and achieving your humanitarian ideals at the same time. This is great as you have the best of both worlds.

Aquarius - Pisces Cusp

Pisces is the sign which follows Aquarius and if you happen to be born in that period of time between the 19th and 26th of February you exhibit the traits of both Aquarius and the sign of the fish, Pisces.

Pisces is the final sign of the zodiac and is often represented karmically as the last stage of human evolution. Pisceans exhibit a strong emotional and spiritual quality to their personalities and therefore you possess the intellectual and discriminative brilliance of your Aquarian sun sign with the added flavour of this intuitive and psychic connection that is brought to you by the cusp of Pisces.

One quality both star signs share is the desire to help others. Aquarius is somewhat rational in its planning and approach to the type of help that it can render whilst Pisces is more selfless and giving in the truest spiritual tradition of sacrifice as in the Christian schools of thought which of course are symbolised by the fish.

Please take care not to delude yourself into giving for the sake of giving. You must always exercise your Aquarian discrimination to qualify who is worthy of your help and who is simply a hanger - on. Giving to those that are worthy is the name of the game and I'm pleased to say that having the balance of Aquarius will help you make the right choices in providing assistance and new systems of thought to individuals and society at large. This is an excellent cusp to be born in.

The secret of understanding yourself if you are born in this period is to overcome your fear of the unknown. Aquarius will tear apart the attitudes and fixed opinions that you may have about the way things are and the way things should be.

The fear of letting go will be challenged by the planet Uranus and if you are able to overcome this inner tension and apprehension about what is likely to happen if you experience and live your life based upon your heart rather than your head, you will grow and develop in leaps and bounds. But again, I stress that this can only take place if you are prepared to break free of your own concepts and those conventional standards by which you have continued to live for so long.

Having the influence of Aquarius makes you original in thought, lateral in your decision making and a quirky individual to say the least. People enjoy your company because you are able to present that traditional side of life but often throw a spanner in the works when you exhibit this other unusual facet of your personality. You will always keep people guessing.

Many Aquarians I've encountered possess a jovial temperament, and their humour oscillates from quirky to dry cynicism. A lot of people may not be aware of this, but you have a way of colouring any situation with wit and your inimitable sense of humour. This is your strongest weapon for cutting through the delusions of your mind and an unfavourable past. It also helps others brave their challenging moments with an interesting point of view that only you can offer.

You're a fixed zodiac sign governed by the element of air, which signals a firm stance with regards to your opinions. You're not one to thaw emotionally, and you allow your mind to take control of your heart rather than the other way around. This is why engaging emotionally with others may pose a challenge. Instead, your acutely rational mind will questioning and analyse all aspects in great detail. Remember, the more you allow your heart to rule, the greater the prosperity and joy you can enjoy in your relationships.

You have an active, agile mind, and you are continually discovering new ways of keeping yourself creatively and intellectually stimulated and inspired. There is no room for boredom to trickle in, and you abhor feeling lost. Being full of energy by nature, you exhibit a strong inclination towards playing sports, travelling and exploring a diverse range of cultures, all of which add to the depth of your experiences and insights.

You're intuitive and highly perceptive, often reading between the lines when no one else can. The Aquarius man has an incredible knack for finding solutions for a handicapping problem. Not only are you able to grasp the issue lurking beneath the surface, but you express your perceptiveness in practical ways, and you are mentor-like to friends and strangers alike.

At the same time, you have idiosyncrasies that often take others by surprise. You may experience moments when you crush all that you've accomplished, only to be rebuild it from scratch. It's almost like Scorpio's bushfire-like tendency. You burn down everything to allow new seeds of life to sprout. This is unique to fixed signs such as yours and Scorpio's.

Your penchant for the innovative, exciting and not-so-ordinary drives you into careers that involve research, machines, and technologies. You're fascinated by the experience of conceiving or discovering something new.

You have erratic thought process and like to plunge into anything that takes your fancy. This is because you hate monotony or boredom of any kind. In short, anything that makes you yawn slows your tempo. This innate spontaneity is a direct influence of Uranus, your ruling planet. The flipside of Uranus is that it makes you retaliate rather intensely when your stance is questioned, which is not always a wise thing to do.

In terms of your persona, you're active, vigorous and armed with a high dose of self-confidence. You are just and even-handed in your views, and you're drawn to humanitarian pursuits. Clearly, you don't allow people to take others for a ride.

Astrologically, Aquarius symbolises self-actualisation, self-empowerment, and spiritual tranquility. This can be ascertained from the many enlightened souls born under this sign or ruled by planets deeply connected to Aquarius. Since this sign falls almost at the tail-end of the spectrum, you inch much closer to spiritual evolution than any other star sign 'except for Pisces, of course.

Physically, you may carry traces of the male Aquarius, such as broad shoulders, but what I find more fascinating is the way your shoulders symbolise your true nature of bearing the burdens and challenges of life.

You offer an interesting perspective on the tricky setbacks in life, and you are blessed with innate creativity and a highly individualistic mind. You can effortlessly look beyond traditional conventions and rely on your own liberating and innovative grey cells instead.

What makes you truly Aquarian is the comfort and grace with which you blend within a circle of friends and stand uniquely apart. While you're endearing on the one hand, you're also hugely challenging and unpredictable. I wouldn't be surprised if you attracted silent envy from your friends. After all, few are blessed with your spirited outlook towards life and the fearlessness with which you leap into the unknown.

Uranus bestows on you a rather unpredictable temperament. On the one hand, it greatly influences your energy levels. It makes you full of life, spontaneous and unusually forward-thinking. Yet it also makes you rather changeable. There is no way of knowing when you will turn around and be at your worst. This is when you leave many stumped or emotionally hamstrung.

Those who know you are aware of just how hypersensitive you are, but they are entirely oblivious as to why. A lot of time could be squandered brooding over innocuous statements. It's not so much the statement that pricks you, but your judgment of people. At the same time, your heart is in the right place and your motives are pure.

A Born Leader
You're a rational thinker and logically devise solutions to life's impediments. You're blessed with sharp intuitiveness,
self-confidence, and innate leadership skills, which are qualities that will help you go along way in life. You naturally exert a commanding influence on others, and you will always find people who look up to you, even in social circles.

You're exhaustive and methodical in your research. While this may be an asset, it can also be a detrimental. Aquarian women have a knack for finding fault. They're smooth talkers who can intelligently weave all their facts together to present an argument that no one can counter. Your reasoning is undisputed and you're always well prepared for unexpected debates or arguments.

You also have a highly sensitive and humanitarian side to your personality. You're benevolence personified, and you fearlessly stand up for what is right. Your heart is soft, provided you are convinced of the other person's motives. And good research will always win you over!

You may experience momentary bouts of lonesomeness, or the feeling that you are not being backed up. This is because you give a lot more than you receive, which creates a deep-seated void and the sense that you are being taken for granted. The only way to plug this is to tactfully voice your opinion rather than lounge around hoping the other person will understand.

Although you're a bundle of contradictions, your core is beautifully tender, compassionate and adoring, qualities that truly define who you are. Try and monitor your temper and thoughts, however, and allow room for others to be themselves. Few are as courageous and spirited as you, and you need to respect that, Aquarius. Though Uranus makes you lively and energetic, don't allow it to disrupt your balanced and happy way of life.

However, your compassionate self soon comes to the fore, preventing you from toying with relationships for too long. Your preliminary romantic engagements all pave the way towards a committed love that endures and blossoms beautifully.

My benchmark for a real love affair is my Aunt Mary, an Aquarian who is blissfully savouring the joys of her nearly sixty years of marriage. Regrettably, many make generalisations about their lack of commitment and hunger for adventure, and they deem them less credible or dependable as prospective romantic partners. However, this is definitely untrue. Aquarius's passion can't be reduced to generalisations, not even in astrology books.

Your fifth zone of love affairs is ruled by the child-like, lively and occasionally superficial Gemini and Mercury. This lends a playful disposition and casualness when it comes to exploring romantic possibilities. Love is a voyage for you, and to sustain a commitment, it is critical that your partner remains mentally buoyant and interested. Mercury bestows you with the ability to blend in, remain youthful at heart, and have a curious mind, even in your nineties. For you to appreciate a relationship and hold it close to your heart, you'll need to keep it alive through adventure, fun, and oodles of chatter.

Leo and the Sun preside over the marriage sector of your zodiac. To comprehend the true implication of this, get to know Leo. For the uninitiated, Leo is one of the most loyal and trusted star signs, armed with an unflinching ego. Quite naturally, you radiate an instant reverence towards people with strong identities who are ready to take on the world. Despite the fact that you, Aquarius, want the freedom to engage in a multitude of non-sexual friendships, your partner needs to be extremely loyal.

You want your spouse to be an equal. They must unchain you from the stress of having to be accountable for each and every move, giving you ample freedom to creatively explore your intellectual and social pursuits, which are so ingrained in your nature. If you find such a relationship, you are more than willing to stand by their side and support their goals as well.

Benevolent Aquarius have a unifying effect on your relationships and friendships, and you create a sense of togetherness among the people connected to you. This establishes a group consciousness, which is very typical of Aquarians. Your benevolence reveals itself majestically, both on a social and personal level. You have a spirit of oneness with your chosen one, and you pour all of your love towards ensuring the prosperity of that relationship.

Interestingly, your familial zone of activities is governed by the fixed sign of Taurus, which is earthy, traditional and balanced. At the end of the day, regardless of your idiosyncrasies and progressive thought process, you subconsciously desire stability and an element of conventionality when it comes to your family and loved ones. You want to raise a happy family and nurture each relationship personally.

You also befriend others because you feel responsible for their well-being, and so you reach out to as many people as possible to be of support to them. You like to believe that your reasoning and detailed research can offer much-needed insight in a situation. However, withhold your advice until it is genuinely solicited. Instead, be a listener as there could be people as aware and confident as you, and they may not appreciate the candour with which you dissect their lives.

You may be considered detached and impassive in your social circle, and although this may be true to a certain extent, it actually makes you a better friend. You have the ability to soak all negativity and stress from friends, and you don't stifle them with your judgment. However, you are strongly defensive and rarely thaw in the presence of others. Of course, you may want to keep your fears unseen and veiled, but sometimes you need to put your rationality aside and let your guard down. The more you share your insecurities and thoughts, the more your relationships and friendships will prosper.

Because you are an air sign, your mind is in a constant state of flux. This has a direct effect on your friendships as you like to shield yourself from boredom and monotony. To do so, you seek intellectual instead of emotional bonding. In your case, however, a mental connection signals better emotional understanding. Your conversations, too, focus on your interests, such as history, philosophy and scientific discoveries. The strongest friendships in your life are ones in which you share similar interests.

Overall, you seek devotedness, trust and a progressive mind that can intellectually stimulate and creatively engage. At the same time, you like to feel supported in your endeavours.

Aquarius: The light side

Your effervescent personality is a result of your ruling planet Uranus. You radiate a very high vibration that attracts others to you. People are deeply impressed when they meet you and want to be your friend because you tend to be impartial in the way you treat everyone—whether high or low.

As an Aquarian, you have a generous nature and like the idea of helping others. I mentioned earlier that it's likely at some point in your life you'll be attracted to charitable or social work. In your personal life, you have to be careful not to allow relationships to become your 'charitable work'. Even here you have a tendency to go the extra mile to do whatever you can to lift others out of their problems.

Although you have a progressive approach to philosophy and religion, you do patiently listen and take in what others say, even if it's different to your viewpoints. You're loyal and big hearted and your loved ones know they can rely on you because you live your philosophy, not just talk it. Sincerity and straightforwardness are some of your greater assets and is always evident in your advice, which, although not typical, is always practical.

You are a most spontaneous person and having you around will never bore others. You like to push beyond the status quo and this is your way of improving yourself and, if others are ready, to help them as well. You love the idea of breaking down the old to create the new.

Aquarius: The shadow side

There's a difference between sticking to your guns and wilfully and obstinately refusing to budge. At times your opinions are inflexible, and although you do have quick, wit and a brilliant ability to see beyond the 'norm', you must learn to accept that there are other viewpoints, other ways of looking at the situation. Try not to let your pride get in the way of your relationships.

You have an element of spontaneity that is not always in your or other's best interests. You can be rebellious in your impromptu action and your desire to innovate and shock may put others at odds with you. You need to think things through, particularly with respect to the impact that your actions will have on others emotionally. There's no problem exploring life and changing things, as long as you don't do it in a way that is abrupt and disrespectful.

Try to exercise more balance in your life and use your wonderful powers of transformation in a way that doesn't unsettle others.