Aquarius and Uranus

Saturn's traditional rulership of Aquarius further colors this sign with the qualities of detachment, objectivity and restraint. In astrological philosophy, the Sun and Saturn are conceived as enemies, neither able to express itself fully within the other's sign of dignity. The Sun craves attention and when the planetary energies are drawn though the Sun it centers them firmly upon the self. Hence the Sun is said to be 'in detriment' in Aquarius, where the personal ego is subjugated in favor of egalitarian concepts and far-ranging humanitarian concerns. The Aquarian perspective is drawn from a broad angle, and places the vision of the wider perspective above that which it sees from a position of self interest. The spirit of Aquarius is to look beyond the immediate and self-centred, to nurture the interests of progress for collective society and humanity as a whole.
-Deborah Houlding

The qualities assigned to Uranus and then recently brought to Aquarius seem too self-consciously 'individualistic'. From the late 1960s Uranus and Aquarius have been adapted to cater to a society that prizes and aims at forming 'individuals' that stand apart from a collective norm (while at the same time still maintaining norms for everyone to follow — economically based, it seems). That's the commonly vaunted 'individuality' of the recently created Uranus/Aquarius model. But these are the concerns and desires of youth and its impatience. The resultant image is of self-focused chatter and busyness. However, Aquarius is a much slower and more thoughtful sign than is now (erroneously) believed.

??Many students of astrology, and even many professional astrologers, describe Uranus as the "planet of individuality". This phrase, according to Liz Greene, gives the wrong impression of Uranian impulses, which have nothing to do with personal unfoldment according to an internal blueprint. Uranus is an outer planet, and as such offers a worldview which may be transformative and revolutionary to the collective. Those dominated by Uranus often have little awareness of personal values and personal identity. Greene warns: "Please try to rid yourselves of the association of Uranus with individuality, because if you use this term when you read a chart, you may go badly wrong with it".??