By Amanda Painter
Tomorrow night (early Saturday in some time zones) the Sun leaves Capricorn and ingresses Aquarius. That this sign change happens each year within a few days of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday feels fascinatingly appropriate, even though King was a Capricorn.
Photo by Amanda Painter
I say this because of the two planets that rule Aquarius: Saturn (which also rules Capricorn) and Uranus. Saturn represents (in part) responsibility and containment; Uranus represents (in part) liberation and unbridled life force.
We need both concepts, both forms of energy, to live in balance. What I find most striking about King’s life and work in this context was the way he integrated and championed these concepts: calling, from a place of deeply held social and personal responsibility, for liberation; finding the most effective outlet for his considerable life force by focusing it into a clear and singular purpose — one that took as its container the principle of non-violent protest.
By embodying one clear structure of action and philosophy, he sought to dismantle and revolutionize another social and political structure, in pursuit of freedom for a repressed group. And he did so by inspiring individuals to use their freedom to take personal responsibility — whether they were among the repressed group, or among the elite group doing the oppressing.