Sun enters Aquarius

To celebrate the Sun entering the zodiac sign of Aquarius for the ten billionth time, this recently acquired pair of statuettes poised upon eagle's wings. 

Alchemical iconography often includes avian imagery including the depiction of 'deities' standing upon the wings of birds. The conjunction of the opposites is often represented as a Royal Pair in alchemical imagery. Alluded to in the form of the Greek gods Apollo and Diana or the Chemical Marriage of Sol et Luna, the conjunctio of alchemy symbolized the completion of the alchemist's work and endeavour. 

Returning to our theme of Aquarius. The Hebrew equivalent of the Greek archetype of Aquarius the Water-Bearer in the Biblical tradition is the figure of John the Baptist, who uniquely in Christian theology is both the last of the Judaic prophets and the first Christian prophet.

It was the pioneering study of comparative religion by the Swiss psychologist C.G.Jung which first revealed and discussed Christianity's far from clear relationship to the western esoteric tradition in depth. Indeed, in later life C.G.Jung devoted several years study on the symbolism of Pisces the Fish and its relationship to Christianity [1]. In fact, not only can the zodiac sign of Aquarius with its symbolism of the spirit of self-sacrifice and service to others be allocated as morally exemplary  of Christianity, but also, through the all-pervasive nature of  the syncretic in the history of religious symbolism, no less than three other signs of Zodiac. Taurus, Leo and Scorpio were also adopted as symbolic of  Christianity in the form of the Four Evangelists of the New Testament and the Christian virtues they represent. The Christian tetramorph is a superb example of how religious symbols  can change drastically over long stretches of time. Originally the components of the Fixed Cross of astrology, the three kingly beasts  of Leo the Lion, Taurus the Bull, and the Eagle in substitution of  the Asia minor insect, Scorpio ( unknown to Europeans) along with the  human-form of Aquarius were adopted by Christianity, perhaps as early as 400 CE as emblems of the four evangelists. 

In an essay on the seminal Renaissance alchemist Paracelsus, C.G. Jung sketched the psychological element of the Zodiac thus-

He beholds the darksome psyche as a star-strewn night sky, whose planets and fixed constellations represent the archetypes in all their luminosity and numinosity. The starry vault of heaven is in truth the open book of cosmic projection, in which are reflected the mythologems i.e. the archetypes. In this vision alchemy and astrology the two classical functionaries of the psychology of the collective unconscious, join hands.[2]

Jung was a learned and erudite scholar of comparative religion who far from debunking astrology  observed- 

The sought-for Mercurius is the spiritus vegetavius , a living planet, whose nature it is to run through all the houses of the planets i.e., the Zodiac. We could just as well say through the entire horoscope, or, since the horoscope is the chronometric equivalent of individual character, through all the characterological components of the personality. [3]

A final illustration of how Jung interpreted the human psyche's relationship to nature-

All the mythologized processes of nature, such as summer and winter, the phases of the moon, the rainy season, and so forhh, are in no sense allegories of these objective occurrences; rather they are symbolic expressions of the inner, unconscious drama of the psyche which becomes accessible to man's consciousness by way of projection - that is, mirrored in the events of nature. [4]

The water-bearing cloud and the magical transformation of water into frost, snow and ice can be considered as representing Aquarius in nature. In the arts, numerous writers, often having a humanitarian and social reforming agenda, such as Charles Dickens are represented in the sign, as well as the downright eccentric such as Lewis Carroll, exhibit Aquarian traits. The music of the composers Mozart, Schubert and Delius along with Philip Glass and Frank Zappa has strong Aquarian traits, as do the curious triumvirate, all born on January 27th, and all of whom (in my humble judgement) possess both strong positive and negative Aquarian psychological traits - Lewis Carroll, Mozart and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. 

Due to its ethereal nature, Aquarius is said to be as much prone to mental illness as experiencing flashes of inspirational genius. Aquarian interests may be said to include anything unusual or odd, such as electronic music, for example. Humanitarian and secret societies are also said to be under the domain of Aquarius, as is the central nervous system along with the realm of  psychic phenomena and the esoteric in general.

One dictionary of symbols defines Aquarius thus-

All Eastern and Western traditions relate this archetype to the symbolic flood which stands not only for the end of a formal universe but also for the completion of any cycle by the destruction of the power which held the components together.....Consequently, Aquarius symbolizes the dissolution and decomposition of the forms existing within any process, cycle or period; the loosening of bonds; the immenence of liberation through the destruction of the world of phenomena. [5]

Another thus-

The inner substance of this zodiac type is fluid, light. ethereal,volatile, limpid, transparently spiritual and, so to say, angelic. It comprises the gift of indifference to self together with serenity and self-sacrifice, friendship and concern for others. [6]

Would that I could sustain such angelic and idealized behaviour !

In world-affairs in recent years, as will be this year, it is when the sun is in the zodiac-sign of Aquarius that the Presidential Inauguration of the American President as well as  the delivery of the President's  State of the Union Address.  In recent years World Holocaust Memorial Day has been named while the sun is in Aquarius, on January 27th .

The archetype of Aquarius is that of the herald who proclaims a new world order based upon the principle of a united humanity. The best and worst aspects of Soviet communism can be seen in introducing and implementing such an idealized society. In modern times the archetype of Aquarius continues to exert a living influence upon the human psyche in new forms of communication in mass society. Television and the computer-age are good examples of Aquarian developments of science and technology. Nuclear and Atomic energy may also however also be interpreted as resultant of the Aquarian archetype.

A neat connection to this post, the constellation of Aquarius is in close proximity to the constellation of the Sculptor in maps of the stars. Mannerist artists of the Late Renaissance, in particular, Northern Mannerist painters and sculptors, often used the myths of the ancient Greeks, as well as esoteric sources as subject-matter for their paintings and sculpture.

A fine example of Sir Thomas Browne's interest in Egyptology, religious symbolism and comparative religion,  a description of the glyph for Aquarius, along with an allusion to a new book in his library occurs within the pages of the highly-compressed procession of hermetic phantasmagoria with its sundry examples of the Quincunx in art and nature, The Garden of Cyrus.

he that considereth the plain cross upon the head of the Owl in the Lateran Obelisk, or the cross erected upon a pitcher diffusing streams of water into two basins, with sprinkling branches in them, and all described upon a two-footed Altar, as in the Hieroglyphics of the brazen Table of Bembus;will hardly decline all thought of Christian signality in them.[7]

It is of course impossible to definitively list all the psychological traits and characteristics associated with each of 12 quite distinct zodiac archetypes of the human personality. Perhaps in the future, the archetype will revert to a mundane, rather than an esoteric meaning.  If or when the world's resources are even less secure than at present, simply the humanitarian act of freely sharing the life-giving element of water, without discrimination towards unknown others, viewing all life-forms as complete equals, may come to characterize this archetype.  

Notes

[1]

Aion : Researches into the phenomenology of the self - C.G.Jung  Vol. 9 i pub. 1959 RKP

includes-

VI.    The Sign of the fishes p. 72 -95

VIII.  The Historical Significance of the Fish p.103

XI.   The Ambivalence of the Fish Symbol p.118

X.     The Fish in Alchemy p. 126

XI.    The Alchemical  Interpretation of the Fish  p.154

[2]   Essay on Paracelsus CW 15

[3]  CW 14: 298

[4]     CW 9  i  7 

[5]  A Dictionary of symbols   J.E. Cirlot

[6] Dictionary of symbols Penguin  Jean Cevalier, Alain Gheerbrandt 

[7]  Athanasius Kircher's Oedipus Egypticus 3 vols. 1652-56 which includes an engraving of the Bembine Tablet of Isis is alluded to twice in The Garden of Cyrus  pub. 1658 .