The arrival of the Sun at 0 degrees of Capricorn opens one of the primordial energetic hinges of the year–the Winter Solstice. For millennia, humans have waited for the point of deepest darkness. The arrival of the longest night means it’s time to celebrate. The indestructible Light is returning.
Before the Pyramids were built in the sands of Egypt and before Stonehenge was constructed on the green plains of Salisbury, a small stone structure was built at Newgrange, in eastern Ireland. It was constructed to frame the rising sun of the Winter Solstice. As the Solstice dawns, a small room is flooded with light.
The Maya, who were gifted astrologers, described with great poetry this moment for which the ancient Newgrange temple exists. The Sun God, they said, was rising in the arms of the Cosmic Mother.
The small, humble structure in the Irish countryside communicates a profound reality. It embodies an understanding that is ancient. It’s embedded in our cells and the stars they came from: Within the deepest darkness there is light–and it grows. The Sun, the Moon, the Earth, and the Sky are profoundly interconnected. Our lives are a part of their life.
The Guardian at the Gates
Saturn was the last planet that the astrologers of the ancient world could see as they looked into the far reaches of the skies. These great astronomer-seers knew there were other planets that lay beyond the orbit of the planet who rules the Solstice and its astrological sign, Capricorn– but they couldn’t see them.
With our mighty telescopes and powerful space probes, we can now see so much of what lies beyond Saturn’s orbit that the ancient astrologers would be astounded. Yet Saturn and Capricorn still represent the energy of the guardian whose tests we must meet before we pass through to expanded levels of authority and power in our lives. Their tests are those of experience, effort, responsibility, and time, which Capricorn and its ruler both preside over. Their reward is the achievement that is earned, not given.
Because Saturn and Capricorn value the tangible and the real over the ideal, the solid structure over the ephemeral mood, they can be stern and sometimes melancholy. Their truth is the truth of the Northern Hemisphere’s winter, when all is stripped to the bones.
All the the bones and structures around which we and our lives takes shape belong in this domain. Hierarchy and institutions do not trouble Saturn; indeed, he supports them.
From Young Turk to Pluto’s Host
Capricorn’s ruling planet, Saturn, has a long, long history. Only Uranus the Awakener is more ancient. The primordial sky god was the father of Saturn, or Kronos, as he was known in the Deep Time.
We still remember this. We remember everything. It’s not available to our conscious mind, but buried in or depths, like treasure, in our Deep Memory. We share it with everyone alive and everyone who has ever lived. There is great wisdom there, and secrets that we forgot millenia ago.
This is why the ancient stories of who we are, what the Universe is, and how we came to be are so important. They aren’t entertainment. They are vehicles for the transmission of truths that can’t be told any other way.
Just so, there’s more to the story of Saturn, or Kronos, and his father than first hearing it might lead you to think. Kronos was the first Young Turk in history. He overthrew his father’s rule and took over as ruler of the cosmos. He did it by castrating the primordial being who fathered him.
What happened next is a bit surprising. Turns out it was Kronos who presided over the legendary Golden Age when humans “lived like gods without sorrow of heart.” It all gives a whole new twist to the other names the ancients gave him: “Lord of Karma” and “Angel of the Present.
In the light of this cosmic coup, Saturn’s domain of boundaries, structure, age, and the wisdom that comes from experience begins to look a little different. So do the challenge he brings us, wherever he’s located in our birth charts. This is where we’re forced to put forth serious effort and overcome obstacles and limitations. In the midst of his tests, it’s often difficult to realize the value of the gift he is giving us. Saturn asks us to claim our own authority. In Saturn’s world, nothing is given. You have to take it. Sweat equity rules the day.
The Making of A New World, 2012-2015: Enter Saturn, Uranus, Mars, and Pluto
Saturn’s sign of Capricorn is center stage in the world-changing dust-ups between Pluto and Uranus occurring between June 2012 and March 2015. With Uranus is in Aries, and Pluto in Capricorn, lots of moribund structures are preparing to bite the dust. A whole new era is being born—within you, and around you.
As Pluto moves through Saturn’s sign, two things will be happening. Old, outworn structures that represent what is outworn and outlived in our world will continue to undergo a death process. We saw it begin to happen as soon as Pluto entered Capricorn in January 2008.
Anyone who knows astrology–or life, its great subject matter–knows, however, that death is never the end of the story. Death signals a beginning, as the life force is released from outworn structures to seek a more spacious home for a new life. As the old begins to die around us, space will be made for a new paradigm to grow and expand. Much of this will happen in Saturn’s realm: our structures and hierarchies, the nature of our challenges, the measures of or significant achievements, and what we recognize as wisdom–it’s all being reborn. It’s happening around you. It’s happening within.
Get ready to meet the Capricorn you never knew.
Want to catalyze the authoritative energy of Capricorn in your life?
- Ground yourelf in the colors of the Earth in winter. Wear dark green, black, or brown.
- Burn musk or patchouli.
- Plant evergreens, especially ivy.
- Seek out older people.
- Find a mentor, or be one.
- Work at mastery. Take on challenge.
When seeking the power to scale your life’s highest peaksj, there are in four places in your chart you want to go:
- The 10th House of Career & Vocation. This is the most visible part of your life. Your career, your vocation and your reputation are all in its domain.
- The house with Capricorn on the cusp will be an area of great discipline, effort, and achievement.
- Any planets in Capricorn will be ambitious, hard-working, and practical. These are the energies within you that are disciplinedand have strong work ethic, along with a shy, reserved personality.
- The house containing Saturn, the ruling planet of Capricorn. Here’s where you will meet your greatest tests, feel most insecure and challenged, try your hardest, and achieve your most prized accomplishments.