Aquarius II: The Seer
Fixed air: shapeshifting, divination, underworld
Atmosphere: The Seer
Sign: Aquarius
Plant: Apple
Planet: Mercury
Dates: 30 January - 10 February
Tarot: 6 of Swords
The queen went into a remote, hidden chamber in which no one ever set foot and made an apple full of poison. On the outside it looked beautiful—white with red cheeks—and if you saw it, you craved it. But if you took the tiniest bite, you would die.
– ‘Snow White’, Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Aquarius II is a place of Mercurial divination.
The seer lives in ‘the space that exists in-between worlds. It signifies someone who has left one sphere, but has yet to enter another and therefore they find themselves navigating a potent in-between.’
Kira Ryberg emphasises the purity of the Mercurial aspect of this decan: curiosity, fluidity, open-mindedness. The archetypes for this highly Aquarian version of Mercury are the scribe, the traveler, the thief, the scientist, and the diviner.
Aquarius II is ruled by Mercury in both decanic traditions, signalling that this is a particularly mercurial part of the zodiac. It has the essence of Gemini embedded within it, and therefore a spirit of curiosity, fluidity and open-mindedness grace those who walk this face. While we normally have two planets to take into consideration as co-rulers, here we have only one: the scribe, the traveler, the thief, the scientist and the diviner.
I am particularly interested in the thief, the scientist, and the diviner. Each of these aspects of Aquarius II is present in the seer – the one who bridges realms through divination and science, but also the one who cuts through social contracts to take what they want – whether that means windfall apples or divine knowledge.
The apple is connected to Mercury and to the ferryman in the Six of Swords – bridging the gap between the living and the dead, the past and the present, the known and unknown. In the ‘Snow White’ story, the protagonist spends some time in an interstitial state between life and death after taking a bite of a poison apple.
Like the black sheep, this figure can be misunderstood and exiled for knowing too much, even when people are magnetised by them. They can act as a mirror for the forbidden impulses in all of us; a dangerous and holy place to exist.