Dark Side of Aquarius

Dark side Aquas are cold and beady-eyed when in the presence of humanoid emotion. 

A friend recently told me about being scolded by an Aquarius teen, for emoting on the day of her Dad's funeral. "Are we going to talk about that again?" she said rolling her eyes. 

A teenage Aquarian is a natural rebel, of course. But shadow teen Aqua is missing that empathy thing, that prevails in situations like that. 

What's unique about Aquarians - emotional distance - sets them apart, and also opens them to dark side behaviors galore. Some of these devolve to zero compassion, narcissism or a superiority complex. 

Taken to its outer limits, Aquarian standoffishness turns them into a stubbornly solo unit. They act with no regard for the way it affects others. And don't admit to needing anything from outside the bubble.

This is destructive, and also, impossible, since "No man (or woman) is an island)." But they persist in that illusion, and can wreak havoc as a result. 

The Alien 

Aquarius is known for its loner and eccentric ways. David Bowie had Aquarius Rising, and played the role of alien, as if born to it.  

Nothing wrong with that, in fact, it's really interesting. But that word alien stretches out to alienate - and that's what shadow Aquarians do, sometimes reveling in it. 

Aquarians live to stand out, and sometimes in shocking ways. They flirt with risk and have a kinky bent, and that leads to scenarios that scandalize the friend group or community.  

I've got this idea, perhaps not fair, that Aquarians are the most likely to get surgically implanted horns on their heads or mix pain with pleasure, to test their own limits. You could say that the alien aspect takes them away from natural laws, and their own bodies. 

The dark path then, for some, is toward the synthetic, the virtual and total rejection of their natural selves. This affects others when they become experts in mind control, or go into the field of synthetic biology.  

This is especially alluring when there are no earth sign planets in the birth chart. In our age, you can live in a technological reality of your own creation, to a point. Some go to extremes and become cyborgs, or preach about the coming age of transhumanism. 

Under Surveillance 

Stella Hyde of Darkside Astrology fame has republished that popular book with a different title - Blame Your Planet. It's a rare astro book that's funny, and hers will make you LOL. 

She rolls her eyes at Brightside astrologers that are apologists for vanishing acts like Aquarians. Brightsiders say they're private and leave them be. She proposes they go missing, yes, but are actually often watching at a distance, as perverse voyeurs.   

In a bit on When Waterboys Go Wrong, she writes about two possible jobs for rogue Aquas - computer hacker or stalker. 

On the latter, she writes "Restraining orders mean nothing to you; as long as you've got a satellite link, bugs, and access to a computer network, you can make life hell for anyone: every breath they take, you'll be watching them."

Aquarius' Secret Shadow

Aquarius prides itself on being high-minded and egalitarian. And yet, as Liz Greene writes in Astrology for Lovers, the Waterbearer has a paradoxical nature that he or she doesn't always admit to or understand. And it comes from a competing impulse for control. 

 Greene writes, "Where Aquarius consciously strives for selflessness, his shadow side is completely self-centered; where his dedication to others is often faultless in ordinary life, his shadow is dedicated to the upholding of his position of control."

This leads to hypocrisy, at times -- and not being able to walk the talk. 

Aquarians have control freak tendencies when it comes to ideas, since that's their medium, being air signs. Aqua's two rulers hint at the paradox of chaos (Uranus) and order (Saturn).

I've got an Aquarian uncle that loves to shock with dumb blond jokes and over-the-top politically incorrect humor, mostly sent through forwarded emails. And he's always on a mission to convert whoever is near, to his political point of view. Even his own wife gets exasperated with it.

That's run of the mill dark side behavior, nothing too harmful. But darker shadows exist out there when someone justifies what he does, for a political aim or based on a warped view of reality. 

Stella Hyde's Bad Company Aquarians are visionary geniuses like Thomas Paine and David Lynch, and Eva Braun who was mated with the powers-that-be's perennial evil-doer, you all know who he is. It's worth noting that she showed extraordinary loyalty to her beloved, and stayed with him at the dire end. 

Few couples have that kind of ordeal - being cornered by the enemy together in a bunker. She defies that stereotype that Aquarians break free if life gets too real, too intimate or too anything. Interesting case, and one that makes me update my notions about Aquarians and loyalty.

A sweep of the 'net shows that many think of Dick Cheney when the phrase evil Aquarian comes to mind How does he sleep at night, much less smirk in those official photos, seriously. 

​Aquarian actors like Christian Bale and Jennifer Jason Leigh play psychopaths and the criminally insane, better than any others.