Aquarius, Saturn and Uranus

Historically, Aquarius was ruled by Saturn. After the discovery of Uranus, some astrologers deemed that Aquarius should more correctly be ruled by that planet. Still the Saturnine side of Aquarius cannot blithely be discarded. If we were to reference the chapter on Uranus that Bil Tierney contributed to Planets, The Astrological Tools, we will note that Bil wants to make it clear that Uranian energy and Aquarian energy are not the same thing, even though they both fall under the same classification of “Letter 11” in Zipporah Dobyns' 12-letter alphabet of astrology.

My mentor, Press Roberts, LPN, felt that the first half of Aquarius was more Uranian, but the second half was more Saturnine. He felt the opposite for Scorpio and Pisces, in which the first half of those signs retained the historical rulership, but the second half responded to the modern rulership.

There are some areas where the influences of Saturn and Uranus may be confused, but creative thought processes may clarify matters. For instance, business, business administration and business acumen are rightfully ruled by Capricorn and Saturn. But really big business is ruled by Aquarius and Uranus. Remember that Noel Tyl says that in any confrontation between Saturn and Uranus, Uranus always wins.

Hair, at least in the structural and functional sense, is ruled by Saturn. Hair styling, hair design and the artistic component of hair is ruled by Venus. Barbering, i.e. hair cutting, is ruled by Mars. Yet a little-known fact is that body hair is ruled by Uranus. Believe it or not, I find that women who don't shave their underarms to be erotic. I can explain this attitude astrologically. I have Uranus in the seventh house. The seventh house shows the traits one finds attractive in a partner. Along with the breasts and brain, Cancer rules the lymphatic system and the armpits. So Uranus in the seventh house in Cancer explains my attraction.

Uranus rules the unexpected and the contradictory. An easily understood example is that Uranus also rules both the very new and the very old. Astrology offers techniques that are very old, very new and sometimes a combination of both. Uranus, as a ruler of astrology, makes sense here, but Uranus is not the only ruler of astrology. Other planets, such as Mercury, can contribute to the knowledge of astrology.

Conventional wisdom says that Uranus rules the unstable. But sometimes Uranus in a house can show situations that are unexpectedly stable. For example, both of my parents had Uranus in the fourth house. They were both born thousands of miles away from where we lived. They bought a home in 1949. That house stayed in the family, even after both of them were deceased. It wasn't until 2011, some 62 years later, that the house was sold the settle my parents' estates.

Similarly, I have Uranus in the seventh house. My wife and I were together for 26½ years. The marriage ended with her passing away in 2001. We did fight like cats and dogs, but we never got divorced.

Don Borkowski

Woodburn, Oregon

dgborkowski@msn.com