Why Does Aquarius Have Two Ruling Planets?

Who are they personified?

With a quick google search you learn that Aquarius has two ruling planets,Saturn and Uranus. But do you know the stories behind each planet? Learning about the gods and goddesses that personified the planets is vital if you want to gain deeper insight into the history of your sign, learning how a planet was discovered can unlock deeper knowledge and thought on timing and behavior. I am here to further the discussion, to provide deeper thought and insight into the sign the universe assigned to you.

Saturn

Saturn is the most beautiful planet in the solar system, that’s not just my opinion, many researchers would agree; or you could just Google it for yourself. We mostly associate Saturn with its role as a planet but Saturn was also a god in Roman mythology, to the Greeks he was called Kronos. His parents are Gaia and Ouranus, also known as Mother Earth and Father Sky, together they birthed some of the first Earth dwellers like the cyclopes, the titans, and many other types of mythical offspring. Ouranus hated his children and wanted to destroy them. Gaia of course, did not want this to happen so she asked Kronos for help. Eventually, Kronos was able to castrate his father and become the new ruler of the universe. Proud of his greatest victory, he married his sister, Rhea.During the time period Kronos ruled the universe, with the help of Gaia, people of Earth were introduced to things like agriculture and farming. The people under his rule were full and well taken care of, there was no need for laws. The people and land were in order. The period of Kronos’s ruling became known as the Golden Age. Early in his ruling, a prophecy told Kronos that one of his children would overthrow him. In an attempt to prevent his overthrow he ate all of his children at their birth. When Rhea became pregnant with Zeus, she sought help from Gaia to save the baby from Kronos. Gaia and Rhea hide Zeus until he grew strong enough to defeat Kronos the same way Kronos defeated Ouranus. Zeus then made Kronos vomit up his siblings (good thing they’re immortal), and banished him to Tartarus. Some myths stated eventually Zeus forgave Kronos and made him king of The Islands of the blessed.

The Romans worshipped Saturn, to them he wasn’t eating babies and fighting in a ten year war against his inbred son. He was in Italy showing humans how to harvest the seeds of the land and plant them to be plentiful. He also introduced the concept of civilization and after Janus, God of new beginnings, shared his throne with him he became known as the founder of the Latin lands. They even had an annual holiday held in December to honor him, Christians later adapted some of those traditions to form the holiday we know as Christmas. Saturn was very special to the Romans. They already knew about the sun and the moon , Mars, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. It only made sense to name the sixth planet Saturn.

Uranus

Uranus is said to be the “first discovered” planet on record. It was even discovered after the invention of the telescope. Unlike its status as a planet, its name is not new. Ouranus is Kronos’s father, Zeus’s grandfather, and Gaia’s son/husband. His father is unknown but is rumored to be Aether, god of the upper sky. There’s not too much to talk about Ouranus without repeating Kronos’s story. Since Uranus is the god of the sky he is also the first ruler of the universe. After his castration, his semen and blood fell on the earth creating centaurs, giants, nymphs, furies and other creatures. After his castration, he flew to the sky because he was unable to multiply with Gaia.

Fast forward to 1781, William Hershel gazed through his telescope and spotted Uranus. At first he thought he discovered a comet, but two years later it was confirmed he found a new planet! The original name for Uranus was Georgium Sidus, Herschel wanted to honor King George III. Luckily the astronomy community decided to stick with tradition and named the planet after an ancient. Uranus is the only planet to be named after a Greek god.

Co-Rulership

So back when the Romans only knew of the first six planets, each planet ruled two signs. They also based these assignments on the location of the sun, when it was the hottest and days were the longest, during their time period. After Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were discovered, astrologers were charged with the tedious task of locating these new planets on the zodiac wheel. They concluded that planets co-rule signs, later introducing the concept of ancient and modern rulers. Ancient ruler Saturn team Aquarius since day one. Saturn being the planet of boundaries, knows his limits and now the father/son duo rule Aquarius together. The God of the sky, Uranus, can now add the modern ruler of Aquarius to his resume. There is no way to know if dual rulership is a permanent position many planets fill, maybe two more planets will be discovered in the future and sole rulership is restored. But for now Saturn and Uranus have influence over Aquarius, rightfully so.