Strength and the Star

Images that may be associated with Leo-Aquarius include a bright Sun shining in a clear Arctic sky, a king facing his restive subjects, a dancer encircled by a ring of people, and a group of people banding together to save a child.

There are some references to elements associated with the Age of Aquarius in Ayn Rand’s life and works.  Perhaps it is all just a coincidence - a very uncanny one though. Perhaps she unconsciously picked up something of the spirit of the coming new age. Perhaps she was an unwitting avatar for some of the subtle forces and unseen influences that affect humankind. But there is also the influence of Aquarian opposite sign Leo at play. 

Ayn Rand was born under the sign of Aquarius; she was very logical and rational, which is a major feature of the sign. Her ideology was like a religion for her; we would expect a new religion for the new age to be idea-based rather than feeling-based as in the Age of Pisces.

In Ayn’s 1937 novella Anthem, two of the characters rename each other: Equality 7-2521 becomes The Unconquered while Liberty 5-3000 becomes The Golden One, thus two very Aquarian names are changed to names with connections to Leo.

The Golden One brings water for The Unconquered who is thirsty but unable to get to the water himself. Aquarius is the water carrier. Equality 7-2521/The Unconquered discovers the lost art of generating electricity and reinvents the electric light, thus enlightening or illuminating his surroundings. Electricity is an Aquarian discovery. 

The Aquarius/Leo polarity reflects the ‘We’ versus ‘I’, society or the collective versus the individual, conflict. Anthem is about this conflict. In Ayn Rand’s Anthem the inhabitants of a collectivist society are not permitted to say ‘I’ or ‘me’; they must always say ‘we’ and ‘us’. The cold collectivist Aquarian dystopia is overthrown by the spirit of Leo. It is through this recombination that the universal ideals of Aquarius can be expressed by courageous individuals intertwined within a complex network of relations. 

The Aquarius and Leo divide mirrors the Up Wing and Down Wing divide. The tarot card for Aquarius is the Star, which pictures several stars in the sky with a woman bearing water. The Star indicates hope for the future, inspiration and spiritual awakening. This Major Arcana card inspires feeling very positive, motivated and free. The Aquarius posture very much comports with the Up Wing philosophy. 

Focused on the intellect, the Aquarius air sign drives forward technological development. Progress becomes a universalized principle that comes to represent a hierarchical techno elite in the name of the good for all. However, it is paired with the liberatory impulse which is the many stars in the sky moving in their own direction. This Aquarius techgnosis is all about evolutionary consciousness that always innovates and adapts to the future. 

On the other hand, Leo represents the Down Wing ideology best. The tarot card Strength aligns here as it features a woman wearing a wreath crown caring for a lion. The Strength tarot card is the Major Arcana card of inner strength. It represents mastering passions in order to bring collective calm. 

The lion is at the apex of the old animal kingdom. But for Deep Ecologists the lion here is the ambassador of the nonhuman world of life presented as a courageous heroic figure. This is the chosen ambassador to the “Council of All Beings.” A ritual itself for considering humanity alongside all other beings. The lion represents the courage of embracing a radical egalitarianism amongst the human and nonhuman. There is also an appeal within this ecognosis to the importance of tradition, but not human tradition, rather an adherence to the natural way that goes far into a past beyond the Earth itself.