A
few days after the Sun entered Aquarius, we organized
a breakfast cookout in the park with our friends.
Sound nuts? I thought so too, when my husband suggested
it. "But it's January!" I complained. "It's
been raining for, like, a month. It'll be freezing!"
But Jonny, with Aquarius ruling his 9th house,
had a stubbornly optimistic vision of midwinter:
A barbecue in the park. Friends. Hibachis. Fun.
And
you know what? It was fun. There were some
harrowing moments leading up to the big event - the
day before, when a light rain fell; at 6:30 am the
morning of the party, when we woke to find the thermometer
outside read 44 degrees. But the day was clear and
the sun was warm, and by the time we got to the park
the temperature was a balmy 58. About a dozen of our
favorite friends trickled in, armed with hibachis,
bacon and eggs, and terrific conversation. We fired
up our grills, threw ourselves into a chaotic dance
of cooking and eating and laughing, then collapsed
on the grass and soaked up the sun. And damned if
we didn't all have such a marvelous time that after
we had packed everything up a few hours later, we
stood around chatting in the parking lot for another
half an hour.
When
we had reluctantly parted ways with our friends, Jonny
and I came home and spent the rest of the afternoon
putting away camping equipment and congratulating
ourselves on having the coolest friends in the world.
I suppose everyone feels that way, since friends are,
by definition, people you like, or at least have something
in common with. And born with Jupiter in Aquarius,
it is no surprise I feel exceptionally lucky in the
friends department. Jupiter is a treasure map with
the location of our greatest treasure clearly marked;
Aquarius is astrological shorthand for friendships
and group connections with like-minded folks. Is
there anything in the world more delightful than rounding
up a group of your friends, putting out a tray of
food and a bottle of wine, and watching the conversational
sparks fly?
Like
the other air signs, Gemini and Libra, Aquarius
is a communication expert, adept at making connections
with others. But where Gemini is content to have
fleeting and pleasant encounters with the grocery
clerk, and Libra focuses on the magic of one-to-one
relationships, Aquarius is a fixed sign that pulls
all these connections into his field of gravity and
hangs on until they coalesce into a distinctive group
- "Friends of Jonny and April," say. And
before you know it, a random collection of people
who started out with only us in common find they share
many of our interests in common, too - politics, coffee,
music, astrology.
And
yet, whenever I think of the astrological Aquarius,
it is cold, off-putting images that come to mind,
science fiction landscapes of metal and electrical
wires, ice and electric shock. Certainly I don't picture
warm times with friends, or the hearts and flowers
of Valentine's Day, which never seems quite at home
in the platonic Aquarian season. Remember how disappointing
it was, as a kid, to get Valentine cards from friends?
It's not that you weren't grateful for their affection,
it's just that, as you impatiently rifled through
your stack of Valentines, you were secretly searching
for one from the cute boy who sat across the aisle
and two seats back. That one would somehow "count,"
unlike a Valentine from a friend, or from your sister
or mother. It was an unattractive attitude that followed
some of us into adolescence and even adulthood, this
notion that friends were lesser attachments to be
discarded at the merest whiff of romance.
Now
that I'm older and happily married, and no longer
looking over my friends' shoulders for my next romantic
prospect, I appreciate my friends so much more than
I did when I was young. Oh, I wish I'd kept those
goofy, affectionate childhood Valentine cards from
my friends! Well, at least I kept some of the friends;
and along with the other connections I've formed throughout
the decades, I'm grateful beyond measure for their
companionship and wise words in troubled times. I
admire, respect, and rely upon my friends- but mostly,
I enjoy them. They make me laugh, they make me
think, they inspire me. Friendships are completely
optional relationships, an opportunity to examine
an alien other up close without the expectations and
codependency of marriage or the obligations and resentments
of family. The love of friends is Aquarian love,
a pair of arms wide open - the better to take you
in, and to leave you free to go.
Jonny's
quirky, midwinter picnic gave us a perfect opportunity
to celebrate friendship, the web of connections that
keeps us warm even in the coldest moments of our lives.
You may be a social butterfly by nature, or you may
(like me) be an introvert who finds social interactions
a bit draining. But this Aquarian New Moon season,
with the Sun and Moon in joyous aspect to Jupiter
and touched by compassionate, fun-loving Neptune,
is an ideal time to explore the comfort and power
of groups. Whatever your disposition, celebrate
some part of your Aquarian season with friends
- unite your power with theirs in ritual and activism,
playing team sports and games, or just throwing a
party. There is powerful sweetness in finding your
people - and, like Aquarius, holding on tight to them,
with your arms wide open.
