AQUARIUS SEASON 2025

This Aquarius season is starting off with a bang! The Sun entered the sign of the water-bearer at noon Pacific Time on Sunday, January 19th 2025. It’ll be there until February 18th this year.

The Basics

Aquarius is the fixed air sign, despite its obvious associations with water. The water in this symbol represents collective hope and emotion, and Aquarius does us all the service of holding and carrying these feelings (much like the Star card in tarot). But this is ultimately an intellectually-oriented air sign, focused on thoughts and ideas (and sometimes overly cerebral). And Aquarius needs to be fixed, even stubborn at times, because it represents the very concept of going against the grain.

Aquarius is co-ruled by Saturn (in traditional astrology) and Uranus (in modern astrology). Uranus is the lord of earthquakes and lightning bolts. Its function is to shake things up, creating more space for that authentic alignment in the sign of uniqueness, individuality, originality, freedom, and an obsession with truth. But it’s not all chaos, because Saturn provides structure and boundaries, the seriousness needed to build a new world, and the self-discipline to stick to unpopular opinions. Remembering these two planets’ co-rulership of Aquarius also gives us insight into this sign’s shadows: coldness, aloofness, distance, alienation, isolation and even exile.

As the 11th sign, Aquarius is associated with the 11th house, which (like all astrological houses) represents a medley of concepts. This is the house of hopes and dreams, long-term goals and plans, as the cycle of houses draws toward a close (and the release represented by the 12th house). The 11th house is also classically known as the “House of Friends” - not as in the friendly neighbors of the 3rd house or the one-on-one relationships of the 7th house, but as in larger networks, communities, organizations, and societies at large.

This may seem an odd combination, but as Steven Forrest explains, we need to know our authentic goals before we can find the allies to help us achieve them. Aquarian energy is all about authentic alignment. This is the area of life where we battle with our herd instinct (as seen by its opposition to attention-loving Leo). Humans are social creatures who need each other, but the herd instinct can often get us into trouble, and end up marginalizing those of us who stand out from the crowd in some way.

This is the high price we sometimes must pay to think for ourselves. Aquarius is associated with genius, which can be quite a lonely experience. But this is the sign of innovation, especially around technology (symbolized by the discovery of Uranus coinciding with the harnessing of electricity). Aquarius is also often linked to revolution of the more political kind. It’s about humanitarian progress, moving society forward, questioning authority and commonly held perspectives. Here again we see the Uranian-Saturnian one-two punch: shaking things up with sudden flashes of insight or rebellion, then committing to the grueling work of refining inventions, implementing revolutions and shifting assumptions. True change doesn’t happen overnight, hence the long-term aspect of Aquarian energy. Steven Forrest describes this as the sign of the “really cool old person” who is authentically themselves and doesn’t care what others think - and that wisdom is itself a rebellious act in our youth-obsessed mainstream culture.

Enter Pluto

As I wrote about in a previous post, Pluto entered Aquarius on November 19th 2024 and will be there for the next two decades, defining an astrological era. The Sun is now quickly approaching Pluto, and they will make an exact conjunction on January 21st. This slow-moving planet is astrology’s representation of death, rebirth & transformation; of pain, potential & power; of secrets, manipulation & control. And in the last two months, we’ve already received clear messages about the defining issues of this moment we’re living in. Multiple capitalism-fueled genocides are slaughtering innocent lives and ravaging the natural world. Climate disasters such as the LA fires are causing mass destruction and death. Artificial intelligence is becoming ever more ubiquitous, raising serious questions of intellectual property and privacy, as well as consuming hellish amounts of water and power for every ChatGPT search. We’re clearly coming to a head with the dangerous implications of technology we’ve invented, developed, and thoughtlessly wielded, without the crucial Aquarian concern for future generations.

This Aquarius season starts off with the hot-and-cold drama of a potential TikTok ban, with despotic leaders censoring free speech for their own financial gain and power consolidation. This move is a classic Plutonian attempt at controlling the Aquarian technology that connects us together and propels society forward. But we all know what happens when you play with fire, or with the nuclear-level power of Pluto, and the backlash to this policy may be far more than its originators asked for. Over a million Americans have already joined the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu or RedNote, undermining the US government’s “security” excuse for banning TikTok in the first place. Change is unstoppable, and the people are realizing their collective power as the corrupt edifice of late-stage capitalism crumbles around our ears. The question is not whether people will rebel against this unjust, extractive system, but simply how much collateral damage will take place along the course of this power struggle.

Aquarius season gets off to an ominous start this year, with Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration occurring the very next day. His usual Plutonian theme of lies, manipulation and control is still in full effect, as he is now poised to take credit for “saving” TikTok despite being the original proponent of the ban in the first place. More and more, thanks to global communication, the corrupt core of our systems of authority are being revealed in the cold, harsh light of Aquarius. I often think of this as the sign of the alien: quirky, different, otherworldly, hovering above the crowd to see it with the truth and clarity of an outsider’s perspective. (And who knows - maybe more information about actual aliens and UAPs will be revealed during this Pluto in Aquarius era, too!)

Conclusion

Aquarius season is a time to shake up your self-image and the constraints that you’ve internalized from society and those around you. It’s a time to care less about what others think of you and your deviations from the old norms. It’s a time to question authority and speak truth to power. It’s a time to find your actual people, build your authentic community, and learn to cooperate. It’s a time to imagine and create a new and better future - together.