We have reached the Capricorn (December 21st). The darkest time in the whole year. It might feel like we are reaching the bottom (winter solstice), but this mythical goat is climbing the mountain so maybe we are reaching the top? Maybe both? Or maybe what we thought is a bottom, in reality, is a top? Enjoy the diversity of perspectives on this special time and choose the one that works for you.
Capricorn is not quite just a goat. It is “sea goat”, half-goat half-fish. That very important detail very often seems to get lost. Fishtail is still there in a Capricorn glyph, but I have a feeling that is a common perception Capricorn is a Goat. If so, what got lost in the story is the water element. Almost every time I see a modern depiction of a Capricorn it is a mountain goat, climbing steep, almost vertical, slopes and walls (effortlessly doing what seems to be impossible) or standing proudly on the mountain top (victorious goat – climber). Both situations are typical Capricorn themes, but there is a part of Capricorn’s story that is not being told so much for some reason.
Of course, climbing is a great Capricorn metaphor. If you have ever been hiking in the mountains or climbing, you know that on some level it is all about sticking to the necessity of going forward no matter how tired you are. It’s a constant battle with the internal voice that says “I can’t do it”. You have to find a voice inside you that says “Yes, you can do it” and sometimes you need to make a contact with the internal figure of authority that will make the crying baby quiet, that will say “stop crying, pull yourself together and keep going”. It is about steady, constant effort and being steadfast in your pursuits.
Climbing a serious mountain (Capricorns don’t choose easy mountains) requires months, sometimes years of preparations and planning. It takes a lot of work on your physical body, tuning your mind in, analyzing all the options, and gathering budget. The climbing itself it’s a tremendous effort that takes a lot of discipline, knowledge, and strength. Experience is also a key factor. Reaching the mountain top is defined as success and the path that leads to it requires very often transcending your humane limitations. It pushes you beyond what seems to be impossible, but at the same time, it requires rational thinking and being very realistic. There is not much space for weakness and wrong decisions – these often result in death or heavy injury.
Very often the world of Capricorns is a rough environment. Can you feel the cold and darkness of December/January? This is Capricorn’s time. 10th house (house of Capricorn) starts with MC (Medium Coeli) – the highest point of the sky. It’s a peak of your chart and also being at the peak of your powers. 10th house is being out there in the external world, finding your way up, using everything you got, everything you’ve learned to reach the success. It is the top of your capability. It is not a place and time to make a show or play a hero. Capricorns take things seriously. Again, think about conquering mountains like Nanga Parbat, K-2, or Mount Everest. If you do not take them seriously, you might die up there.
When you will reach the top, it’s gonna be very cold and the oxygen level will be slowly killing you. Tops of the highest mountains are inhumane places. It’s almost like we shouldn’t be there. And one more thing: an archetypal mountaineer is always alone. He/She is reaching her/his own peak be themselves. It is always a one-man journey.
If you look at human life as climbing the mountain, just before you start attacking the very top of the mountain you reach a place called the plateau (often somewhere around 60 years old). After all the adventures, lessons, small successes and failures, won and lost battles, you become an experienced climber. On your way up you find yourself on a less steep (or flat) piece of land/ground from where you can see the peak. Now it’s within your reach. This is the time and place of the last regroup before making the final push. If it’s the alpine-style expedition, this is where you’ll set your last camp and wait for the right weather to get to the top. If you’re by yourself or with a partner, this is the moment when you realize that in order to get to the top, you might need to leave your backpack and all your gear behind. Free your self from everything necessary to carry on and go there, metaphorically, naked cause on this altitude even the slightest extra weight will disable you from reaching your destination.
Mountains are the highest point’s on Earth. The lowest points are always taken by the waters – the lakes, the seas, the oceans are domains of the Cancer, Capricorn’s opposition and polarity point.
Cancer waters are the beginning of life. From these waters, life emerges. Just imagine a crab in its small little cave on the bottom of the sea. The distance from his cave to the mountain top is a symbolic difference between these 2 worlds. There is a reason why no sea animal climbs the mountains. That is impossible.
Unless you’re a “sea goat”.
Another possible Capricorn myth is the story of Sumerian God Enki, who was a creator of humans and keeper of the order. The Gods were tired of digging irrigation canals, but the dry land needed to be watered so the Gods can grow crops, so Gods asked Enki for help and Enki has created the men to do the dirty job. As brilliant Jason Holley pointed out- the men were created to do the work so Gods can live on Earth. Enki was the creator and protector of men. He was very well rooted in the human life and affairs on Earth, he knew men very well, he knew their problems and he always found a place and role for everyone, even for disabled people. He was able to make everybody useful and give purpose to everything. He was a God himself so he was in contact with the world of the Gods, but he lived in Abzu- fresh, internal waters the Earth, that gives life. The waters that surround everything and all life is suspended in it. That reminds me so much about the amnion fluid, which is a very “Cancerian” thing. So Enki’s work was happening on Earth, but he lived in these waters. And Capricorn is the one who came out from the internal waters (Cancer) and started to climb the mountain. Is the one who discerned himself from the primordial Onnes. The one who woke up from the underwater sleep.
I don’t hear many people mentioning water when they talk about Capricorn today. Modern Capricorn is a lonely goat reaching the highest mountain peaks. But if Capricorn will stay too long in “conquering mountains” mode, spend too much time on the unfriendly mountain top, without contact with waters, constantly fighting to survive in a harsh environment, he or she will lose a feeling or will have to cut her or himself off from feelings. There is a danger that you might start embodying all the negative side of the Saturn- the Kronos who was swallowing its own babies. Being so much without a feeling that it’s no longer able to distinguish a rock from a living flesh (I described Kronos’s story in an article Jupiter entering Capricorn).
Capricorn- Cancer is a cardinal axis. It’s a line from the bottom of our chart- the place of origin (Cancer), shooting up to the highest point in the chart (Capricorn), but as always it is about the balance. Somebody said that if you will be able to hold the pressure of the opposition and stand in the middle, you will create a container for the magic, or divinity living on Earth. Wasn’t that a part of the Sumerian myth of the creation of Men?
The power of Enki was coming from the waters. He was very present on Earth, but he was coming back to the waters, he didn’t lose a connection with the source, place of origin (Cancer, 4th house).
And this knowledge is still kept in the glyph of the sign of Capricorn, which is half goat half fish, or a “sea goat” if you prefer. The unity of duality.
With that in mind, we look again at all the Capricorn’s themes and qualities like hard work. People from that sign measure the value of everything at work. Harder the work, the bigger the value. For them, often, things that come easy doesn’t present much value. They love to sweat. Sometimes these people can feel not much respect for the ones who don’t like to sweat so much. In life and work, they act like professional mountaineers on a climbing expedition. Very often they are in the back row or in backstage because it takes time for them to gather information and learn. They will not act if they are not sure what is gonna be the outcome. But when finally Capricorn will feel that he gathered enough information and knowledge, then he will take the frontal position of the manager, boss, or leader. And that is gonna be powerful leadership, cause it will come from deep study and understanding of the matter they work with.
Saturn gives them structure, discipline and makes them keep head low. When born under such energy like Saturn, humbleness is a must. That is why they work very well in structures cause they naturally understand and respect hierarchy.
Because Saturn is an archetypal old man, childhood is difficult. The older they become, the life gets easier, but that is a general rule when dealing with Saturn. A typical Capricorn situation is when as children they weren’t quite able to identify themselves with a group of “children”. Other children and their behavior seemed strange and infantile for them. Sometimes they say that they were consciously playing the role of a child because it wasn’t natural for them. Serious people. They have a reputation of a cold and distanced cause of the Saturn energy, but as astrology teaches – the ultimate remedy for all Capricorn’s shadows: cold, distance, avarice, materialism, lack of compassion is its opposition: the Cancer. As long as Capricorns remembers their fishtail and they are making effort to keep the connection with the waters, all will be well.
Capricornus as a sea-goat from Urania’s Mirror (1825)
