Saturday, December 22, 2007

Capricorn, My Capricorn


(image courtesy of www. globalsecurity.org)
On a single day this past September of 2007 I had the pleasure of spending time with 3 Capricorn friends – count ‘em 3 – and all in one day! Much as I hope that I was present for my friends, I could not help but also observe them in my double Libran detachment as I knew that my whole day was to be spent exclusively with Capricorn natives. Perhaps you are wondering if I observed any specific traits. Well, sure, and since the winter solstice of 2007 has now come and gone, I thought to share some of these observations with you now that we have entered the deepest winter territory and the time of the Sea Goat.

To begin with, during that fall day in September I observed first a young 20-something Capricorn who is quite tall and beautiful. She is a gifted juggler, balance artist and fire twirler and she also speaks with a strong British accent although she has lived in many exotic locations thanks to her globe trotting mother. Clearly this world- aware young Cappie is an interesting and erudite person. I will call her Alice. Alice is indeed a world citizen and it is enjoyable to converse with her.

Often she comes into our living room for a chat. She and her husband share the same wedding date as my wife and I, so we often talk about our past weddings. Alice, to me, exhibits a solid sense of herself in this weird world and reflects a kind of responsibility that this double Libran never possessed at her age. In true Capricornian spirit, she takes everything quite seriously and there is a kind of formality to her speaking, which is perhaps partly from her British affect, but to me – it just exaggerates her Capricornian sun even more. Alice will be very polite and talk seriously for a long time. Sometimes I feel a bit railroaded by her (perhaps I feel that I should be consulted before she goes on to deliver a lecture upon her intriguing personal history or her views on the world) but I realize that this is just the Libran thinking that in my quietness people should ask for my permission to continue further with their personal monologues. I realize that this is a distortion …

In any event, Alice exhibits the very best Capricornian characteristics. She is gracious and personable and somehow aware of the seriousness of life at an early age. It is remarkable really that she appears so much older than her years. Of course here is where we get to see the very touchstone of Capricorn: spiritually old when young and eventually young when old. This to me seems very much part of astrological lore that always seems to have some truth in it about Capricorns. I have recently taken stock of how many Cappies I know and it is many indeed. They do seem to find themselves later in life and many healthier vistas open up for them at that point. It is almost as if Capricorn is born in order to get old because then things will be better for them. This is almost a paradoxical life direction for many reasons – youth should be fulfilling and fun, right? On the other hand, I believe that Cappies are so powerful because youth combined with seriousness is inevitably going to create near miracles in human development! Now I am not talking about happiness here necessarily; instead, I am suggesting that Capricorn will accomplish lots in their life times.

Female Capricorns also tend to lose their fathers at young ages, or simply having missing fatherly influences resulting in even more of a need for external and forceful masculine energy. This force can easily be seen in Alice whose father seemed to have been involved only in her very early life.

The Capricorn native also seems to be quite a loner. Doing work at a furious pace is paramount to them. It is almost as though they were engaging in a consuming love affair with their steady professional “obligations” – the question is, of course, whether these are all obligations per se. Couldn’t the Cappie just blow off a few duties and chores? I think not.

Let’s move on to my friend Ted who is also a Cappie and a master tennis player. As a player he is cautious and continually focused on mastering the basics. He hits with a steady power that is quite devastating. He continues to refine and hone and master the forehand and the backhand. He asks questions about his swing and works on perfecting it and he does this through being dedicated to his footwork and through the precise observation of the pros at both local and international tournaments.

Just as I seem to take life quite seriously, so does Ted. He gives me solid advice and it is a unique opportunity when he speaks about his own family obligations to me. He speaks sternly, yet fondly about family roles and of their primacy in life. This is not unlike Alice, who although half Ted’s age, is still able to talk a blue streak about her family lineage back in England with both reverence and a critical eye. Capricorn is indeed concerned with bloodlines and the stories of ancestral significance. When I am talking with either Ted or Alice, it seems strange that so quickly both of us go into talking about the past and its interpretation. Where did we come from? And how?

My great friend Jeannie is an author, an astrology master, a psychologist, an educator, a massage therapist and a sailing expert. I am still trying to figure out the exact Cappie influence in all of this and I think it exemplifies the following theme: mastery.

The Capricorn native wants to master people, places, events, skills, social events, social empowerment movements, you name it! Whether they are off to the mountains or to the oceans – it is onward and upward. They work hard for it and are extremely diligent. They understand how to get the sea of humanity moving. Martin Luther King Jr. emphasizes this fact perfectly. So did Joan of Arc.

On the dark side, however, there is Mao Tse-Tung, another Capricorn native. I have been reading an excellent book by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday (publisher; Alfred A. Knopf) on the real Mao who essentially gained control of all of China and initiated the Cultural Revolution. He achieved this through lying, neglect, murder, infanticide; double crossing … the list goes on and on… The statement on the book jacket reads: “In chasing the dream he caused the deaths of 38 million people in the greatest famine in history. In all, well over 70 million Chinese perished under Mao’s rule – in peacetime.”

Here, then, is the very phenomenology of the Capricorn. “I use” is their statement of purpose. They can choose to accomplish amazing feats for good, or they can build evil empires just as easily. Think Dick Nixon – Never mind Watergate – he started the institution of HMOs.

My friend, Jeannie, then does good. She throws fantastic parties at which people find one another and make lifelong relationships. I found my wife at one of these events. Her parties also create small-scale economies in which people barter or exchange information about jobs and career changes. Through these parties new societies and alliances emerge that are quite unique in their complexity and magnitude. This should be the true mission of the Sea Goat. It is to master and refine and all that goes with that. My Captain, my Captain – this is what the Cappie wants to hear and for the most part, they deserve it!