Welcome to Capricorn Season
The funny thing about astrology is how perfectly interlaced its language is with our everyday lives. It’s like punctuation or street signs; symbols we glance at and in microseconds comprehend big ol’ blocks of complimentary data. So much of Astrology’s most noble and interesting bits get lost in modernity but we still find many glittering marks of it’s purpose in our traditions. Take New Years Resolutions, for example, because really: is there anything more Capricorn than setting New Years Resolutions?
Is there anything more Capricorn than setting New Years Resolutions?
Setting goals, strategizing a strict plan to overcome some annoying barrier to our perceived happiness. The ambition and willpower to charge headlong up the mountain and look down, back at where you came from, forward to find the next mountain you’ll best. That’s our seagoat buddy Capricorn.
When we engage the world with Cap energy, our perceptions are filtered by a scrutinizing lens. This is in part due to fact that we’re painting with ruling Saturn’s no-nonsense color palette. Capricorn is about making the most out of what’s available – and doing so wisely. Clever investments, strict rationing, committed analysis of what is and isn’t working – every action indicative of a time in human history when surviving winter required us to keeps these kind of tabs so that we get the opportunity to see the coming Spring. Therein is the real magic of Astrology (from a purely practical standpoint, of course) – the fact that each sign represents a whole mentality which is rooted back to our species most basic concept of timing.
Capricorn is about making the most out of what’s available – and doing so wisely.
Ages ago, winter lulls were a time to step back and look at all you’ve accumulated throughout the year – food you’ve harvested, canned, smoked, frozen, or preserved or wood you’ve stockpiled for the fire – then go about managing how you’ll distribute those resources smartly. In my life, however, winter hits a bit different but the meaning remains. Start your day earlier since you need to scrape ice off the car and give a few extra minutes on the drive to work. The resource scarcity fears well up in regards to climbing heat costs and heavens forbid you have to lose time at work due to someone in the family catching an inevitable sickness during peak sick season.
In the business world there’s yearend cleanup. Home routines gets shaken up while the kids are on break. There’s holiday parties and gifts to buy and wrap and stash. Do you have kids from split homes like I do? New slew: when are they going to their other house, are they coming back, when? Are we hosting or travelling for the big holiday dinner? Both? Is that a sore throat from snoring or are you coming down with something? Are you going to the city to see a band on New Year Eve or staying home or deciding whose party to go to – what’s your plan? What do we have the time for? How do we choose? This is the pulp of the matter. This is what Capricorn Season is about – setting priorities and leveraging their weight to satisfy their demands.
Before I go on to gush about Saturn, note that when attempting to understand a zodiac sign, we must consider the thumbprint of it’s ruling planet. We can’t talk about Capricorn without honorably mentioning Saturn.
Time and Choice are Saturn’s domain. Saturn gets a bad wrap in the Astro circles but really, their influence is a seriously noble blessing. “The Lord of Karma” and “The Great Malefic” are likely the most popular titles our Astrological forebears have fixed upon our dear friend Saturn, but I want this one to stick: “The Cosmic Sensei.”
Saturn: The Cosmic Sensei
More than any other (known) planet in the language of Astrology, Saturn wants you to be the best. The G.O.A.T. so to speak. That said, Saturn doesn’t owe you anything. They will not show up to wake you gently with a “honey, it’s time to get up”. Coffee’s on. We have 20 minutes.” No, Saturn will let you sleep through your alarms, show up 15mins late without a lunch, looking disheveled and sorta feral. Ultimately, it’s that latter experience that’s gonna stick with us.
Saturn knows that our survival and success depend entirely on our time and choices. There’s other factors too, obviously, but in keeping with that Saturnine mindset – we’re going to cut them as they’re out of our control and therefore immaterial. No matter our circumstances – we have the ability to make choices and those choices determine what our time is going to be like. Decide to take a shortcut through the woods and wind up with your foot caught in a bear trap, you can call for help, try to disarm the trap, gnaw your foot off or you can just flatout die.
A little fatalistic? Why yes! Thanks for noticing!
Fortunately, it’s not all bear traps and bummers. Saturn teaches us self-mastery and discipline. It teaches us consequence, cause and effect, long-term planning, and the importance of tenacity. How Saturn shows up in your chart will indicate areas in your life where you need to learn to distinguish when it’s time to invest or time to pull your purse strings tight. More on Saturn later.
The S.E.A.G.O.A.T. “Something Etheric Also Greatest of all Time”
I think the biggest misunderstanding we see with Capricorn energy is that we often overlook their capacity for dreaming. We get so caught up in the caricatures of the joyless CEO or the Scrooge McDuck or the stiff-spined lab technician that we miss the most important detail – they’re half fish. The glyph is the most telling bit because it emphasizes the idea that this energy is meant to dream a dream and THEN make it a reality. The GO.A.T. evolves, upgrades into the S.E.A.G.O.A.T. “Something Etheric Also Greatest of all Time” maybe? I don’t know, I’m working on it.
What we’re blessed with during Capricorn season is the capacity to allow our desires to dream up a plan back to our conscious mind. Like writing a mystery: work backwards from the ending. What is your goal? What choices are preventing you from getting there?
Where is Capricorn in your chart?
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