Aries and Aquarius have this outstanding element in common: they are both curiously drawn to anything new until they have sucked all the fun and truth out of it. Then they let it go and move on to the next new and exciting adventure. These two do not look back or whine about the past, if they are typical representatives of their Sun signs. For the Ram, today is always much more exciting than yesterday. For the Aquarius Water Bearer, tomorrow is a thousand times more fantastic than yesterday or today. From time to time, they step off the track of time separately, somewhere between past, present and future, and collide head-on with each other, in an encounter that is not part of either of their conscious itineraries. It is always an interesting, predestined meeting, planned by a higher authority long before either of them was born. Aries and Aquarius are influenced by the 3-11 Sun sign vibration, and the fusion of their auras leads them to shared experiences of travel, education, and spiritual discovery… and to karmic memories of past reincarnations, as well as to the hopes, desires, and daydreams of the current existence. You see why they find each other fascinating. Aries rush into things with total dedication (for the moment), enthusiastic and totally engaged with what is happening. Aquarius is equally enthusiastic, but these people don’t rush into anything. Water Bearers approach all experiences with deliberate detachment, sniffing around, scratching their heads… from a safe distance. So they can enjoy them without getting too complicated or tied down. Of course this subtle psychological difference won’t help you tell them apart when you pass them on the street. But there are other ways. The Ram may run around, throwing confetti and shooting off flares. The Aquarius may pedal a unicycle. Both stand out in the crowd. One of the meanings of the 3-11 vibration among friends, relatives, partners, lovers or spouses is: karmic obligation. The association or relationship involves either an exchange of great bliss and joy… or great distress brought upon one another, perhaps in the form of responsibility, with far-reaching effects on the lives of both.
The Aquarian who is fortunate enough to have an Aries friend who accompanies him (or her) during long months of tribulation or illness (personal or family), when no one cares or helps him… may ask himself: “Why did he do that?” The Ram is simply returning a favor from a life (buried in the unconscious) during which he received similar help. Perhaps in the course of this process, the Ram receives a dose of enlightenment that puts him (or her) on the right track toward a future career, toward an unexpected goal or dream that would not have been revealed to him in any other way, except in those circumstances when the Ram offers help to the Aquarian. By reversing the signs, the same situation can occur, with many variations on the theme. Another Aquarius manages an Aries’ business and keeps the Ram out of trouble with tax collectors and creditors, sorts out financial tangles for him, and secures miraculous loans on impossible terms… unconsciously motivated by the memory he carries in his soul of the monetary help he received from Aries at another time and place… and thus repays a karmic debt. An Aries man has a close friend of the same sex, whose Aquarius wife takes a dim view of the friendship. She is illogically suspicious of the Ram, and he, in turn, experiences inexplicable tension when she enters the room. In the end, the Ram may ruin his friend’s marriage with the Aquarius woman… or the Aquarius wife may prevent the Aries from continuing a valuable friendship with his partner. The outcome depends on how evolved the Ram and the Water Bearer are at the time of the conflict. Karma is complicated.
The good or evil that these two Sun signs (or any other signs influenced by the 3-11 vibration) bring to each other is almost never of small magnitude. The contact is not accidental, and they have little conscious control over its outcome. If, however, Aries and Aquarius meditate on the laws of Karma, or reincarnation, they will understand why one of them is willing to help the other, and will learn to accept the favor willingly. Or they will understand the reverse—why the two continue to senselessly mistreat each other—and through this understanding they will be able to end the karmic pattern by the simple act of Karma-cancellation, of forgiveness and forgetting. Otherwise they will only accumulate additional obligations for future lives in which the two souls will be chained together in an endless succession of close relationships by the inevitable law of magnetic attraction and repulsion, of action and reaction. Aquarius is one of the four “human signs” of the astrological circle. The other three are Gemini, Virgo and Libra (unless we count the Centaur, the half-horse, half-human Sagittarius).
Aquarius’ passions are therefore more controlled than those of the Rams, whose instinctive loves and hates often cause them to act out of pure animal impulse, or for the personal satisfaction of the ego. Uranus-ruled Aquarians often evade instinctive action, heading for the world of the higher mind – and the domain of pure intuition. This gives Aquarians an uncanny parapsychological or intuitive ability. Rams sometimes appear to be clairvoyant, but they are not, in the strict sense of the word. They simply rush headlong into the thick of the situation, and the penetrating action of their ruling planet, Mars, supplies them with the correct answer. Aries goes straight to the heart of the problem, using neither logic nor rational reasoning – they are simply obsessed by an overwhelming need to dive in and get to the bottom of the matter. Aquarians’ quickest and most intricate insights emanate from the electromagnetic wavelengths they are attuned to under the influence of their ruling planet, Uranus, which symbolizes electricity, among other things… and also lightning. Aquarians simply pick up an impression from the air, or absorb it through a kind of electrical osmosis, without expending a tenth of the energy Aries deploys to reach the same conclusions.
Aries and Aquarius are magically compatible. They are tied together by an almost visible cord of understanding so that even when they disagree vehemently they can always replace tension with harmony whenever they want, they cannot be separated. It is the natural sympathy that exists between Fire and Air, and something more, Air will always be fanning the fire. Except when there are unusual disagreements between their horoscopes, it is the possibilities of effortless communication that are open to all 3-11 Sun sign configurations, on all channels. The third astrological house symbolizes communication of all kinds: visual, through the printed word, and also through the spoken word, including minds speaking to minds, hearts speaking to hearts. These two can communicate in every possible way, without even uttering words. Rams are often accused of being naive, impractical dreamers. Aquarians are often accused of being just plain crazy. This is another reason why the two generally get along so well. They both feel misunderstood by the world and all its inhabitants. They both also think that they are on the right path, separately or together, and that it is the rest of the world that is misguided and astray. Naturally, this brings them together… to comfort each other and protect each other from the System.
Rams are reckless, Water Bearers are crazy – but they manage to weave these qualities into intricate webs of sprites, miracles, rainbows and various spells. They create dreamy airships that, to the surprise of more sensible souls, soar through the blue skies of some deliriously successful personal and business ventures. Aquarian tolerance, inspired by Uranus, is an insulator that protects most Water Bearers from the shock of Aries’ sudden whims and highly original and creative yearnings. There will be instances when Rams think Aquarius is not quite in his right mind, and Aquarius fears he cannot withstand Mars’s outbursts of aggression. Overall, though, these two will enjoy a wild, fabulous and unique partnership. Aquarius is a fixed sign, and so Water Bearers can occasionally be more than a little stubborn. But stubbornness will not affect Aries. Only love and kindness. In large doses.
Water Bearers may try to enlighten Rams with their theories about ego submersion, claiming that this brings peace and happiness. But Aries is afraid of ego submersion, as much as feeling swallowed up by a dark tunnel. “Where does that leave me? Where will I be, the Me-of-Me… in some kind of eternal void?” the Ram wonders. Arians are never experts in the yoga state of Nirvana. Losing awareness of yourself… is that ecstasy? In this sense, Aries is intuitively right. Most Aquarian concepts are light years ahead of their time, and yet they are no more infallible or immune to misjudgment than Aries’ ideas… though Uranian wisdom will be poured out of Aquarius’s little brown jug anyway, whether asked for or not. “All human problems stem from an overemphasis on emotion and an exaggeration of personal feeling,” Aquarius says. “People who deny their emotions and bury their personal feelings are cold and heartless, and deprived of all enlightenment and perception,” Aries retorts.
So where do they go from that dead end street? Back to their pixies, miracles, rainbows… and dream airships.