Yin and Yang. Dark and Light. Feminine and Masculine. Nuit and Hadit. Expansion and Constriction.

Aside from being the season of Love and Valentines, February is the season of Aquarius. And actually, those two things are not as disconnected as they might seem. Last year in February I was struck with a bit of inspiration- perhaps there is something deeper happening underneath the chocolates and flowers and cheesiness of an overly commercialized Valentines Day. Yes, we should be focusing on love every day of the year. Yes we should be treating ourselves and our significant relationships regularly. But perhaps Hallmark actually picked up on something deeply human and played it to their advantage. Perhaps in the dark and cold of February winter- when we are still too far from Spring to have much hope of new warmth, but are well enough into winter’s slush and sludge to be well and truly over it already- maybe this is the time when we naturally draw together with our loved ones; as a reminder that in the dark and drudgery of winter, it is actually US who are each other’s light and hope in the darkness. 

Here’s some more deeper meaning that I just learned today. The season of Aquarius is very much one of higher purpose. As an air sign, Aquarius is a dreamer, a visionary. Someone who zooms out so far as to realize that what is good for the collective is good for everyone within the collective, including oneself, and dares to dream that big and bigger. Aquarius is the dichotomy of self-less/self-ish pure logic. We are entering (entered? It’s up for debate) the Age of Aquarius, leaving the Age of Pisces, and if 2020 wasn’t a preview of massive Aquarian shifts still to come, then I don’t know what is. 

In my house, Aquarius is particularly present because my partner is a triple Aquarius. (And as I have been reminded already 10 times this year, “It’s the age of Aquarius. I can only be right!” 😂 That triple Aquarius energy works really well in our household though- because like the Yin/Yang, we balance each other very well. He is Aquarius and Aries, largely. (So air and fire.) And I am a Virgo Sun with a Scorpio Moon, Rising, and Pluto, and a hefty dose of Capricorn for good measure. (So Earth and Water.) And in practice it’s a pretty beautiful dance. He has his visionary crazy optimistic moments, which I can appreciate but also ground with my Virgo and Cap when necessary.

On the flip side, he encourages my dreams (even the ones I think are practically unrealistic) in ways I will forever be grateful for.  He also can balance my Earth and Water muddiness with a healthy dose of logic. (Pure, helpful logic that is, not drive-yourself-crazy-Capricorn/Virgo logic.) Aquarius is also the water bearer though- which is exactly what this triple Scorpio needs: someone to hold the space for my sometimes overwhelming watery emotions. So I can cool his fire and ground his head-in-the-clouds optimism. And he can fuel my dreams and hold the space for my watery dreams to flow. Like I said, it’s a beautiful dance. (But lord help us when the little one arrives in July- A Cancer sun and we shall see what else. We might be in for a ride! Lol) 

Above all, Aquarius is the sign of Inspiration. Often divine inspiration- for indeed in the Greek myth of Ganymede associated with this constellation, what was poured from the great water-bearer’s cup was the nectar of the gods. It can be confusing because you’d think that as a “water bearer,” it would be a watery sign. But actually (and it is mostly through my own personal relationship that I can see this most clearly), the water bearer could only be a sign of Air.

Water is beautiful, life giving, flowing, cosmic creative energy. It is the feminine, the yin, the expansion, and the goddess. And yet, without the banks, a river is just a puddle. Without the direction of the logos, the waters are pure chaos. 

In every atom there is the expansive fiery energy of the universe- literally expanding. And yet, because of gravity -an equal and opposite force of restriction, a pull against the outward push- things exist. Literally. Without the beautiful dance of opposite gravitational forces and  expansive forces of the universe, matter wouldn’t....well... matter. Nothing would. Because there would be nothing. It is only through the dance of the opposites that anything is actually created. 

I think Aquarius is the same. The creative life giving force of water is lifeless and stagnant without the banks of the river- the container which allows the waters to flow. And where there is that dichotomy, the life around the river flourishes and prospers. In ancient Egypt, the Nile flooded at the time of year when Aquarius was in the sky, and that flood of Aquarian waters was celebrated because of the life it enabled to flourish. In the same way, I think that the chaotic force of creativity and art are nothing without the vision- the inspiration- both a direction and container in which to flow and flourish. 

Which brings us to the Star. In tarot, the Star card is one of rest, rejuvenation, and inspiration. It is the rainbow after a heavy destructive storm. The first light of dawn after the darkest night- the visionary bright hope for the future. In a word: Aquarius. And yet, like any Star, we cannot appreciate it without the darkness that surrounds it. In the Thoth tarot deck especially, the Star is represented by the goddess Nuit. Nuit was associated with the Egyptian Nut, goddess of the night/heaven (and thus she is also perhaps Tiamat, the Crone, and even the Virgin Mary), but she is a goddess of the Thelemic tradition. 

As the goddess of the night and heaven, Nuit is the goddess of the expansive cosmos- the heavens at night, in all their expansive, wonderful, awe-inspiring glory. She is the goddess of that cosmic continual expansion- the same expansive force of the universe found in each atom pushing out against gravity. Gravity is represented in this tradition by Nuit’s counterpart and consort, the God Hadit. Hadit is the focused attention. If Nuit is infinite expansion, then Hadit is infinite contraction. He is the infinite point of awareness, for indeed, our human perception cannot truly perceive more than one thing at once.

As much as we love to congratulate ourselves for our multitasking prowess, we all secretly know that focus can only truly be given to one thing at a time. In the entire infinite and ever expanding cosmos of things that are and are possible, the human body can only perceive and focus on a finite amount at once. That point of awareness, which is happening infinity times all over the globe every day and constantly changing- is Hadit. It is the opposite force (but working in conjunction with the force) of infinite expansion that is Nuit. And thus, through their sacred union, Nuit and Hadit create their son, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, who is associated with different versions of the Egyptian Horus, particularly “Horus of the Sun.”

Metaphorically we can say that the dance of Nuit and Hadit create...everything. All matter, all of us, the sun which brings life to all the Earth. In several senses, this is another version of the Holy Trinity, perhaps a more original one. 

This infinite tension between expansion and contraction is the same as the tension between the river and the banks, the chaos and the order, the light and the dark, the yin and the yang, and the inspirational direction of Aquarius and the creative force of the waters of divine inspiration which he bears. This beautiful dance is present all throughout the cosmos, in both the microcosm and the microcosm (As above, so below, after all.), and thus, so too are the cosmos, the waters, and the light of inspiration represented in this sacred yin/yang painting.

Incidentally, I was randomly inspired to sketch quite some time ago, but only upon learning all of this about Aquarius and the dance of infinite cosmic tension and inspiration that Aquarius represents, was I inspired again to actually paint it. Magical, right?