CAPRICORN: When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going

How much more Capricorn energy can you handle; are you willing to handle? I don’t say this lightly or facetiously. I’ve spent most of my adult years trying to get a grip on this sign and all of us in some form or another are now impacted, and will be especially in 2020 now that Saturn, Pluto, and the South Node are joined by Jupiter for the next year. There is a feeling of heavy, intense, and almost overwhelming pressure building on the planet impacting all of us in varying degrees.

My title implies our need to get tougher in the face of major climate emergency and unprecedented loss of species, political polarizations and upheavals, economic uncertainly in much of the world, and general social unrest.  We all need to have contingency plans depending on our circumstances and use this Capricorn energy to link up with good supportive people and systems that we can believe in.

Capricorn is the last of the earth signs where the activity of organization, structure, and authority becomes prominent.  It is a collective sign representing both ancient traditions as well as  the state rather than home and family seen through its opposite sign, Cancer.  Both signs are Yin, and thus meant to conserve and preserve.  We can look at this from the point of view of those already wielding authority and power through state organized systems where they wish to preserve their status at all costs as oligarchs, as the ruling elite.  We can also look at this from the position of ancient cultures of indigenous peoples still attempting to preserve and conserve the planet itself without a desire to exploit its resources by continuing traditional ways of life such as the Guarani of the Amazon.  These are obviously two extremes of the polarity.  

I was born into the so-called ‘civilized’ state of the developed world,  yet now I find myself feeling more and more an affinity for the values of those tribal peoples who never really left their ancient ways.  But could I survive living the way they do?  Probably not.  So my dream-life reflects this inner conundrum and dilemma.  I often dream I”m in a large metropolitan city, but there are wild forests stretching along the borders.  I try to leave and find myself walking in a vast wilderness alone wondering if I can make it.  Or I find myself surrounded by plants that are wilted and need watering, like the one I had the night following my little grandson’s 4th Birthday party in a gymnasium setting which was so regimented that he plunked himself down by my side on the mat, and said he wasn’t going to participate because he ‘didn’t want that lady telling him what to do at his party’.  

It was quite the Capricorn party all right;  completely structured with no room for little kid spontaneity, especially a Sagittarius boy who just lost Jupiter in his own sign to Saturn’s sign!!

His Mama reflected afterwards that she had imagined all the children putting on their party favor hero capes and masks, and jumping wildly together on the trampoline.  Nope.  That was not allowed.  

I hope this illustrates a bit of what we can all expect as we head into 2020 feeling the weightiness of this time we are living through.  I remember well when transit Pluto went over my Ascendant quite awhile back since I am a Capricorn Rising soul.  Everything was intense and I swerved between feeling rage and utter helplessness.  I was finally able to get in touch with a deeper level of power but I had to let go of a sweeter lightness of being that I was attached to.  I have watched friends and clients deal with Pluto on their Sun and the intensity of everything in their lives going under until a major transformation finally transpired.  I’ve also observed the effects of Pluto on the Moon in Capricorn with some surprising results.  Moon in Capricorn people have a certain reserve in their emotional expressiveness yet feel things so very deeply.  I have seen Pluto, in a positive sense, bring a complete transformation of their emotional life into something more fulfilling even when they experienced death, both literally and symbolically, in their emotional world.  

Saturn, of course, has hammered home added seriousness and a need to take on more responsibility and organizational skills.  Saturn certainly likes to be in Capricorn and I’ve been seeing clients going through their Saturn returns in their late 80s,  their late 50s, and late 20s.  These are totally different generations yet all are facing realities that demand pragmatic thought and action.  A There’s an even younger group born with Chiron in Capricorn now in their teens which I”m watching closely.

I’d like to feature Greta Thunberg as a great example of how both transiting Pluto and Saturn have worked to fulfill my title, ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going.’.

 She has quite a chart with Chiron, Sun, Moon, and Mercury all in Capricorn.  Pluto has done its transformative work on the first three.  Saturn has followed with the forming of her core grit.  Now comes Jupiter for a year as Saturn crosses back and forth over her messenger planet, Mercury.  The Jupiter effect will expand her influence as well as her struggles for change in the face of deniers and shameless greedy bastards. With Mars/Venus in Scorpio at the apex of a fixed T-square including Uranus in Aquarius (listen to the science!!!) she is truly a force to be contended with as she stands her ground as a Capricorn.  She represents the developed world’s need for a conscience as the effects of exploitation and dominance of the natural world catch up with all of us.  She also represents a resolve to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.   She is so young, but older than the old!!!!  A true Capricorn in my book.  She adds nobility to a sign which once adorned the likes of Richard Nixon.  It’s all about consciousness.  Some have it and some don’t.

Wherever you find these planets transiting in your chart it’s a sure bet that you need to get organized, have a solid plan, and do some serious structuring and re-structuring; maybe eliminating excess as part of  the process. You’ll also need to act with wisdom and some level of virtue that connects you with the highest good of all, not just your own personal selfish desires.

 Capricorn’s true role is that of a public servant rather than a Capricorn tyrant or dictator, like Kim Jong-un.  The Cancer polarity ideally leads to taking care of everyone and their needs.  Capricorn’s major theme is responsibility:  if the Ascendant you will tend to begin everything by acting responsibly; if the Sun, you are learning to be responsible which, in turn, will energize you; if the Moon, you need to act responsibly and consistently to feel good about your self.  

The qualities I love about the people in my life who have strong Capricorn energies are that I can rely on them to get the job done, I can count on them because they are never flaky, and they work hard to keep things solid and lasting.  Their toughness is a remarkable trait when combined with their deep ability to care and love.  Such a combination makes them trustworthy and reliable.  They also usually have a wry and subtle sense of humor.  Yes!  Capricorn does know how to laugh and even get ribald.  It is earthy after all.

Here are two charts to try and make sense of these momentous times: The first is the Solstice for December 21st at 11;20 pm in Washington DC; the second is New Years, January 1st, 2020, Washington DC.

Note how the Solstice chart emphasizes roots and foundations (4th house).  The Sun joins Jupiter and South Node expanding the trine to Uranus for perhaps major and swift change.  Saturn and Pluto are almost conjoined mid-way between Mars in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces.  There are opportunities for worldly gains, but also spiritual ones.  Everything depends on the level of consciousness as shown by that Moon in Scorpio opposite Uranus in Taurus; the love of power or the power of love.  Moon leading the group gives a nod to the feminine during this highly Yin time.

In the transit wheel for the United States we can see how very close transit Pluto is to making its return.  The activation right now is towards Mercury in Cancer and thus all forms of the media and communication.  We know that independent journalism is being threatened world-wide, and there is an increasing push to control (Saturn/Pluto) the message and messenger in this country as well.  Propaganda is rampant.  When a Presidential candidate can spend 3.7 MILLION a day on ads one wonders how far will this go??

The New Year’s chart for 2020 puts intense and provocative Mars in  Scorpio in the lead with an even tighter configuration of 155 degrees.  By then Mercury joins Jupiter in Capricorn for quite an amassing of energies still deep in the midnight position impacting home, family, and roots.  Complex issues will arise that ultimately involve justice and it will take a host of people to be tough enough to demand racial justice, economic justice, educational justice, gender justice, political justice, and—-yes—-climate and environmental justice.  We’ll have to keep looking at Jupiter’s role as it enter’s Saturn’s sign, Capricorn.  

Until next time, have a truly blessed Solstice and New Year’s cherishing life on this still beautiful planet!