As you might expect, the dark face of Aquarius, the secret side which he often can't face, springs from his complete dedication in ordinary life to his ethical codes.  Where Aquarius consciously strives for selflessness, his shadow side is completely self-centred; where his dedication to others is often faultless in ordinary life, his shadow is dedicated to the upholding of his position of control. 

You can see the shadow side peeping through especially in those situations where Aquarius is on his ideological hobby-horse.  Watch him corner the centre of the stage, and push anybody else off who happens to disagree with him.  Usually reasonable to a fault, all that repressed longing to be somebody special in his own right sometimes drives him to rather odd behaviour.  The result is that he frequently can't practise what he preaches, especially in personal relations.  Equality is fine for humanity, but not for you. 

There is also another side to the Aquarian shadow, connected with the first.  This is his secret longing to be liked and admired by everyone - to the degree where he can often be pushed uphill against his principles for fear of what others think of him.  It's sometimes termed weakness of character, or wishy-washiness.  And it's rather surprising when you see it next to the kind of courage of conviction which is more usually his behaviour. 

What all this boils down to can be put into one rather unpleasant word:  hypocrisy.  This is the greatest danger, the greatest foible in the Aquarain temperament.  He says one thing and often does another unwittingly.  And it's frequently those closest that suffer for it.  Take his ideals of equality, for example.  You'll hear many Aquarians wax eloquent on this theme.  Whether it's equality between races, or freedom to worship as one pleases, or equality of rights between the sexes, Aquarius can go on for hours on this theme, once he gets warmed up.  But you'll often see a pronounced inequality displayed in his personal life - especially toward those who display the emotionalism or irrationality which he so fears and despises.  His wife, often is given no real 'equality' - he simply can't be bothered to listen to anything which isn't presented in a logical form.  His children are often given no real 'equality' - their demands are too selfish, too emotional, for his taste.  His real equality is reserved for verbal debate, when he will always offer his opponent the right to speak.  But equality of heart is often difficult for him, because his concept of equality is limited to the realm of ideas and intellect. 

Another adjunct to this particular shadow side of Aquarius is his propensity to reform everybody.  This, too, is contradictory to his belief that all people should be granted freedom of choice, so long as they agree with him.  Watch a zealous Aquarian pursuing his pet subject - whether it is women's liberation, socialism, distribution of wealth, ecology, or whatever.  Usually his hobby-horses always concern the benefit of some group or other.  But if you don't happen to agree with him, you're given short shrift.  No equality for you.  You've disagreed; and of course there's only one truth, isn't there?  Often Aquarius can't see the paradox in his behaviour.  The epitome of it is in what Marx called Dialectic Materialism.  Or perhaps in Democracy:  government by the people, of the people, for the people.  And if you don't agree with it, then, by God, you'll be made to.  The