Everyone of us has got a bit of Capricorn in his or her birthchart, so it's good to learn about this misunderstood sign. It's especially important if it's your Sun sign, your Ascendant or the sign of your lover. There's a lot to learn about these sexy, mysterious people!
First, Saturn rules the cardinal sign Capricorn. Saturn was originally called Chronos (Time) and is the god who devoured his children out of fear of their possibilities. He presides over time, limits, laws, rules, boundaries, structure, matter, responsibility and even taxes. Since he is the bearer of harsher tidings, many consider him their least favorite god.
Nonetheless, his magic with matter, with form and with structure makes him the god of physical manifestation. The noted astrologer, Edmond Wollmann explains, "Saturn represents the illusion of the material world (in a spiritual reality)… Time and space are illusions… real while you experience them, but illusions nonetheless." It could be said that if you can manage physical reality while accepting the larger spiritual reality of all things, physical manifestation is possible.
Saturn, with all his pessimistic limits and his material power, is the ruler of Capricorn. It is often said that Capricorn natives are old in youth and then age well, very gracefully and more slowly than the other signs. Saturn's connection to material reality makes Capricorn the most ambitious and most mysterious of the astrological signs.
This mystery is revealed in his glyph, the image that represents him, the sea-goat. The head and chest of a bearded mountain goat sit upon the coiled tail of a sea creature usually described as a fish, (although it would be a fish with an unusually long and flexible tail). This symbol links the barren heights of the highest peaks to the very depths of the oceans, bringing together the kingdoms of the air and of the sea. This creature is as nimble and capable in the most challenging mountaintops as it is in the briny deeps. The heights are spiritual places, still today the choice for yogis for lengthy solitary meditations, this aspect of the glyph represents mental discipline. Then the oceans represent the unconscious and conscious depths, the emotional and spiritual. The mastery of these realms is the touchstone of Capricorn.
This sign excels in the heights and the depths, their rational qualities (the goat) in command of their lower qualities (the fish) emotional reactions. This makes them not only more complex and more unknowable than any other sign; it gives them great strengths in maturity. Their facility with rational thought, structures, and power gives them an advantage in manifesting their desires.
More important than the symbolism of the glyph is the presence of the god Saturn, Capricorn's ruler. The traits usually ascribed to the Capricorn native are steadiness, dependability and ambition. Yet this ambition and their moral and passionate depths are often invisible to others. At this time of year the sun is at its weakest, the days are short. Nonetheless, the sun isn't absent, nor is its creative power; it's just not visible. Those who underestimate Capricorns will be surprised as they watch them grow slowly from strength to strength.
Underneath that seemingly staid surface beats a passionate, earthy heart with many of the earthy, sexual qualities goats symbolize. Like the lusty Pan who is half goat, so too does Capricorn have notable sexual prowess.
So, if you want to honor the ambitious the deeply and quietly sexual, the slow and steady achiever either in yourself or in your favorite Capricorn native, you're now forearmed with the necessary insight to make this sign your valuable ally -- and more!
