Part I: Capricorn
Pluto was in Capricorn for about the last 15 years. In this first installment, I’d like to define the archetype of Capricorn very carefully. Capricorn draws resources toward itself so that it can satisfy its desire. It is purposeful. It is hungry for stuff. What kind of stuff? That depends on both the purpose, and the level of alignment with Goddess nature. The stuff is usually either physical, like a baby that who sits there waiting for its parent to place food into her open mouth; or its something that supports a physical outcome, like a financial grant that enables the artist to accomplish her vision. Either way, Capricorn manifests into the physical world. If the greed for food is too great and the karma is shady, then it can look like the “hungry ghost” from Buddhism: always seeking food to fill its belly, but its mouth is too small so it can never be satisfied; or a business that succeeds in bringing in endless amounts of cash and grows from the inside out, yet can’t maintain the integrity of its system, so falls apart and goes bankrupt.
Capricorn does not adapt. That is not its task. Other signs in the zodiac allow for that to happen, which of course is necessary for a healthy life. Capricorn’s job is to bring stuff towards itself so that it can manifest. If Aries is an explosion outward, a volcanic eruption and the unhindered flowing of lava across the land;
Capricorn is a more internal implosion. Mammoth Hot Springs, in Yellowstone, is a slowly bubbling spring, consistently pulling the rich brine from under the earth towards itself. Eventually, over centuries, this calcium carbonate builds hard undulating walls of beautiful multi-colors, caused by living things (algae). The walls surround it and expand into hills, but the real activity is happening at the center of this edifice.
So Capricorn may appear to have the tendency to build walls, but that part’s not necessarily on purpose. It’s purpose, in this example, is to attract a gushing, to bring forth, and the wall is just a consequence. (Or maybe I’m wrong and it just wants to make pretty mounds.) For a Cardinal sign, every moment is a birthing. Being concerned with beginnings, it is not necessarily concerned with endings. Therein lies the problem: if the effusion — and bringing this discussion into the human realm, we can perhaps think of a choreographer creating a dance, linking move after move — is not divine-aligned, then the dance may be trite. But once the edifice is built, it’s out of Capricorn’s hands (Virgo has the power to reshape the dance, but not Capricorn). Since experienced Capricorns know this, setting the corner stones just right becomes a priority. This is one way in which Saturn comes in as Capricorn’s steward. Building something that lasts. However, that wisdom is a consequence of experience, not the essence of Capricorn itself. This insight gives Capricorn the ability to modulate — the strength of the gushing spring, or the height of the dancers leap — which can then create in a manner that helps to fulfill the vision.
In part II, we’ll talk about the meaning of Pluto and the effects he had (and will continue to have) in Capricorn.