The water bearers

We were born on a rainy Friday morning, the twenty-fourth of January, two minutes apart. We’re Aquarius, with a Moon in Leo. Ironically, despite being born in the same day, *almost* at the same time, and being educated by the same parents, my twin sister and I are vastly different. Personality-wise, at least.

Since my sister's personality is worlds apart from mine, I had always thought that star signs could never be right. I am an extrovert, she's an introvert. I like arts and creative things, she likes science and psychology. I left the country when I was 18 years old, she still lives in my parents’ house. Even though our aspirations are so different, we get along really well.

At the same time I doubted the zodiac, I was also very much intrigued by it. Whenever my friends would consult their horoscope and take quizzes on their star signs, I'd dismiss it, while wondering (to myself) if there was any truth in it.

One day, I decided to actually check out the personality traits for the 11th sign of the zodiac, Aquarius. After some research, I was surprised by what I discovered. In fact, I found out that Aquarius traits are equally polarized:

We are the movers and shakers, the visionaries who are also aware of their surroundings; we enjoy teamwork but also need our own space. We can quickly get bored. We are ever longing for innovation and positive change in the world. Determined, but possibly neurotic. Versatile, but stubborn.

Huh, that sounded familiar. Oddly enough, I started to see that Aquarius couldn't be more aligned with both our personalities. It was so intense and dynamic, just like my sister and I. Some of the top traits and commonalities were:

Freedom and individual: These were probably the most used words when it came to defining Aquarius personalities. We enjoy being different and are totally cool being alone. In our relationships, we need to have our own space and be free to be ourselves before committing. We don’t like clinginess.

Analytical and idealistic: We can easily daydream about a concept and just plain live inside our own head. Observing people, dreaming up scenarios, thinking outside of the box, that’s our thing. We’d be called out in school because teachers could tell we were daydreaming during class.

Loyal but independent: Despite being detached to certain ideas or people that we don’t feel a connection to, we are extremely loyal to our family and friends. Need someone to come pick you up at 2 am because you lost your car keys? We’ve got you.

Humane and intuitive: We have a deep sense of justice and truly care about what we can do to make the world a better place. We’re kind of the ‘moms’ of our friends’ groups, always watching out for one another and bringing extra food to share.

Water bearer: We learned how to swim by being thrown into the water at age 5, and it was natural (just like for any other kid). We took swimming lessons for years and, even after growing up, this continues to be one of our common interests. We just adore being in the water.

So I don’t quite have a conclusion for you, as I haven’t found one myself yet. I think there are surprising resemblances when reading about the zodiac. Perhaps, though, this is just our human nature longing to belong to something greater than ourselves. You can probably see patterns in anything, if you really want to.

At the end of the day, I was intrigued by seeing so much truth in the Aquarius profiles. Even when comparing it against such contrasting personalities, like my sister's and mine, it lined up. The star signs may not tell the future, but there’s definitely something interesting there.