January 20 to February 18
We begin our story of Aquarius with Ganymede, the extremely handsome young prince of Troy. From Mt. Olympus, Zeus (the god of the gods) spotted him and he instantly decided to make him his cupbearer to bring him all of his drinks.
From here the story diverges down two paths, one is that Zeus sends his pet eagle Aquila to swoop down to Troy and bring the boy up to Mt. Olympus. When he arrived, he became Zeus' cupbearer. Throughout the years, he would ride alongside Zeus on Aquila with Zeus' golden cup.
Once he was flying and he realized how in need the world was of water, he begged Zeus to let rain fall on the mortals of earth. Zeus was impressed by his kindness and allowed him to send rains down. In this version of the myth, he was admired and glorified as a constellation in the night sky for bringing water to the people of earth.
The other possible version is that Zeus himself, disguised as an eagle, brought Ganymede to Mt. Olympus. Back in ancient Greece, it was common for older men to take young men as "lovers," but also to be a mentor to them. However, here he was treated as a servant who only existed to carry around the cup of Zeus.
In rebellion, Ganymede poured Zeus' cup of water out in front of him. It is said that the waters fell to the earth and provided water to the people, but the water kept coming and it created huge floods that left lasting water for the mortals.
At first, Zeus wanted to punish Ganymede, but then he realized that he was right and that the people needed water, so he commemorated him by making immortal in the night sky.
Either way, Aquarius has to deal with water!
Check out the stories behind the other astrological signs:
