Aquarius Sun's relationship to time

[Jim Eshelman]

In another thread, I wrote the following as part of conversation about the Aquarius Sun relationship to time. This post is to preserve what turned out to be an essay more than an answer. Under the Sun in Aquarius interpretation, I wrote the following:

• Gravitation toward future. Frustrated if "future" doesn't occur the way they anticipate.
  • Perceives time differently from most people. May not actually understand time, thus hesitant to commit on deadlines, no sense of how much time they have left, fear of dying before accomplishing what they feel they should, etc.
  • Imposes deadlines on self (then procrastinates beyond them).

I am also inclined to believe that Aquarian actually do understand their relationship to time, but that it is others who think (or did think back then when the delineations where discerned) that they are wrong, weird or just counter the status quo.

This time detail was my observation and I can tell you exactly how the thoughts evolved over the years. It started with noting (back in the '70s) that Aquarius had a particular relationship with deadlines - constantly setting them for themselves (it doesn't always seem necessary) and then procrastinating past them. Not just deadlines others set for them (which we would easily understand they might resist or rebel against), but also deadlines they set for themselves.

Eventually, it seemed to me that these "deadlines" - which others would see as more or less binding structures - were Aquarius Sun's way of framing their lives inside of time, of setting landmarks so they could navigate time at all. It was always clear that Aquarius was most interested in the future and, on the other hand, when their normal practices and approaches failed them, they were usually capable of snapping into the immediate "what's in front of them" pragmatic reality to handle it (but that wasn't where they wanted to live).

Then the key detail snapped into place for me: Each of the triplicities has a distinctive relationship to time. It is probably the single most characteristic detail of each of the four triplicities IMHO. For the three "Air" signs - Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius - the primary relationship is to the future. According to a team of psychologists who studied behavior in relation to time prioritization, people primarily oriented to the future have some remarkable characteristics that, to me, seem to boil down to one baseline characteristic: By prioritizing their orientation to the future (rather than the past or present), such people are trying to live in the only framework of time that nobody has ever experienced. (People have experienced the past and, in their best moments, are experiencing the present.) One consequence of this is that there is no clear, natural relationship to time as such - perhaps closer to "living outside of time," whether they frame it that way to themselves or not.

Of the three "Air" signs, Aquarius is the Hub - meaning, at best they are childlike and at worst childish (like all Hubs, I think), which frames the particular Steven Spielberg lost-in-child-wonder sense of their way of witnessing time - like it's constantly something new and strange to observe. - Or something like that.

Once that was all settled in place, it was easy to start observing Aquarius Suns and their relationship to time, schedules, deadlines, etc. with more understanding.

[Veronica]

I am going to get some things done right now, but I wanted to thank you for moving this topic to it's own thread.

the idea of the future that no one has experienced yet....

In my life I have had what is termed precognition dreams and impulses, in which in I dream or see something that I have not experienced yet come to pass.

I once dreamt of going shopping and coming across a strange display of "fruit roll ups"....
something I dont eat and have never bought for my kids.

yet later that day I took Sabrina shopping and we came across the same display I had seen. Sabrina, not knowing of my dream, begged me to buy them ( which she never does) telling me that she knows I dont like them but that Karen buys them and she does like them.

so, it makes me feel that Time is like a stream or river in a way.

it's not so much that I am trying to live in the future, it is like parts of me understand that everything everywhere is happening all at once simultaneously and that I have parts of me that operate on different scales or ratios.

[Jim Eshelman]

so, it makes me feel that Time is like a stream or river in a way.

It hadn't occurred to me that this was the exact Aquarius metaphor for time (thank you) - Aquarius being the stream.

This is one example of how the traditional (modern) ascription of the signs to the elements screws us up: Aquarius (like Pisces, too) is clearly a water sign with all appropriate metaphors. However, while Pisces is a more standing body of water - a lake, pool, ocean - Aquarius is the river, the stream.

it's not so much that I am trying to live in the future, it is like parts of me understand that everything everywhere is happening all at once simultaneously and that I have parts of me that operate on different scales or ratios.

Yes, all time is simultaneous/

[Parto]

However, while Pisces is a more standing body of water - a lake, pool, ocean - Aquarius is the river, the stream.

Very Neptunian vs. Uranian.

[Jim Eshelman]

However, while Pisces is a more standing body of water - a lake, pool, ocean - Aquarius is the river, the stream.

Very Neptunian vs. Uranian.

Yes. In the context of the "Kid Gloves" model, it's the contrast of the time in the womb (Neptune = Pisces) with the event of birth (Uranus = Aquarius).

But the historic roots of my metaphor are that, during the Aries Age period of stabilizing sign images, in Egypt the Full Moon in Aquarius (or Aquarius rising first in the east at sunset) marked the annual flood of the Nile, when the river surged and expanded - creating and renewing the conditions which let the Egyptian civilization grow, thrive, and evolve in the first place. The next month, when Moon is full in Pisces (or Pisces rose first in the east at sunset), the Nile Valley and primary areas of Egyptian civilization were well-flooded and resembled a great lake or small sea.

[Veronica]

so, it makes me feel that Time is like a stream or river in a way.

It hadn't occurred to me that this was the exact Aquarius metaphor for time (thank you) - Aquarius being the stream.

This is one example of how the traditional (modern) ascription of the signs to the elements screws us up: Aquarius (like Pisces, too) is clearly a water sign with all appropriate metaphors. However, while Pisces is a more standing body of water - a lake, pool, ocean - Aquarius is the river, the stream.

it's not so much that I am trying to live in the future, it is like parts of me understand that everything everywhere is happening all at once simultaneously and that I have parts of me that operate on different scales or ratios.

Yes, all time is simultaneous/

I have to admit that I squirmed thinking you were trying to pin me down for a definition. I have been painting trying to come up with a distinction, because I'm not settled at saying Time is like a River.

It is, for sure, but I'm not settled on what the modern mind Thinks a river IS. Moving water. its water (h2o) that moves. Yet a River is so much more, it is full of life and death and particles and minerals and chemical reactions and temperature and pressures and all of nature in a very real way, moving and flowing and going to some mysterious far away and coming from some mysterious far away carrying it continously.. We tend to think of a river as a body of water, but it doesnt have to be. A river of mud, or molasses or lava, or ants or crabs or ideas or feelings.

[Venus_Daily]

Steve, I was wondering. I am a Leo Sun with a Sagittarius Moon. Are the fire signs concerned with living in the past? This is something I beat myself up a lot about, but I feel as though I live in the past.

[SteveS]

Venus wrote:

Steve, I was wondering. I am a Leo Sun with a Sagittarius Moon. Are the fire signs concerned with living in the past? This is something I beat myself up a lot about, but I feel as though I live in the past.

Venus, I believe you meant to ask this question to Jim. Jim is the Signs expert.

[Jim Eshelman]

Steve, I was wondering. I am a Leo Sun with a Sagittarius Moon. Are the fire signs concerned with living in the past? This is something I beat myself up a lot about, but I feel as though I live in the past.

Venus, the Fire or Imperial signs (which seem to be strongest in what Jung called the Sensation function) seem most anchored in the present. The sense of power and command of these signs is consistent with here-and-now, hands-on capacity to deal with what's most in front of them.

I know Sagittarius has a strong expression of heritage and often a love of history. I don't think that's living in the past, though - since heritage and tradition are bringing elements of the past forward to define the present.