Capricorn

THERE IS A region of the sky located near Pisces and Aquarius where there's a lot of water mythology stuffed into the constellations. You've got a really long river (the Eridanus), a sea monster, the water-bearer who measures the Nile, and a couple of horny fish. Pondering this, it dawned on me recently why Capricorn is the Sea-Goat: because you can't put a goat near that part of the sky and not give him something to swim around with.

Hence, the morph of the elements known as _____ (your name here). In theory, you're an Earth sign. In reality, you're half Earth and half Water, as in seashore. What a space: imagine the mists and the changes that churn and flow where ocean meets continent, and where the finest storms rage. And where you find the most pleasant days anywhere.

Such has it been for you, particularly with Chiron progressing through your sign, halfway through a four-year mission. Chiron, himself a critter with a divided nature -- as the first centaur, or half-human, half-horse -- is determined to confront you with the true nature of your being and the true nature of your human dilemma. The series of experiences of recent years, intense in their power and deeply penetrating in nature, have woken you up again and again to necessity, to your desire for wellness and a growing sense of ethics. What's really right and wrong for you are now no longer matters of speculation, theory or secondary importance. They are matters of immediate need; they are action items.

Because Chiron has been closely aligned with your ruling planet, Saturn, for a number of months, the personal quality of these experiences is redoubled. But with Saturn moving through your opposite house, experiences of maturity in relationship are among the best opportunities you're being offered.

Chiron has been opening your horizons and acting on you in compelling ways. Chiron has a fine way of saying, "Look, this is your personal material," but as it turns out, this personal material very likely involves what you're experiencing with another person. Transits of Chiron or of Saturn aren't typically easy; I don't doubt this has been challenging, and that the future looks like it holds more challenges. Yet these are lessons that, once lived, you will value for all your days.

Beaware of the fact that you have added impact on the people to whom you are relating, even more than the impact you feel they have on you. Be gentle, and get feedback.


OFTEN WHERE THE process of Chiron is going on, a greater calling in life emerges. What is learned personally seeks to be taught transpersonally. The process of becoming well, of becoming aware and of recognizing we're alive strives to make contact and assist others. As long as you keep an eye on your own progress and utilize your reality checks, it is safe and productive to consider venturing beyond your own immediate experience.

Roughly speaking, the effects of Chiron were most pronounced for those born the first week of Capricorn in 2002, the second week in 2003, the third in 2004 and the fourth in 2005. Astrology is not always so nice and neat, but (apropos of Capri) this happens to be, give or take a fudge factor. It's also highly active in the charts of anyone Cap rising and anyone Cap Moon. But because people with one element in Capricorn are likely to have several more, the time span of this transit may be considerably wider than just one year, and you may have been under its effects for a substantial period of time.

Many people have many opinions of Chiron, but I try to keep mine simple. I use the words raising awareness as my key concept for this key-shaped glyph's planet. Well, part planet, part comet, part asteroid and part living artifact of the dusky days of the pre-Earth system. Chiron is a morph, and Chiron represents a direct transmission of original material from the most ancient ideas and feelings that led to the creation of the world and its creatures. That information leads to experiences that awaken us to reality. Sometimes it's a pleasant awakening, somethings it's a rude awakening, and sometimes it's downright strange.

Strange as it is, you have evidence that what you are learning is both real and necessary. You are receiving, through these experiences, confirmation of your existence. Does that sound like a stretch? Try it on for size. Existence is not as sure as we would like to think. Most people suffer from a debilitating lack of confidence.

Our consciousness, divided as it is, often has a way of denying its own existence. The question of death, in one form or another, plagues humanity down to the last man and woman we check in with. Chiron's presence in your sign provides contact with the reality of who you are, and the reality that you are alive. Some Capricorns have, no doubt, been tested by brushes with death that have served to affirm the beauty of life and the living.

Deep stuff. Chiron is also calling on you to embody the Teacher or Mentor archetype. Given the events of the past two years, it's likely you've begun to move into this mode already in the most natural way. It does not matter what you're teaching, only how you teach. Chiron's teaching style is patient, and it embraces diversity of subject matter. It also links the subjects through its insistence on consciousness. Whether one is holding a lute or a hunting bow, it is a sacred object.

Chiron was indeed injured in the course of his life; he was a mortally wounded immortal. The metaphor is worth contemplating. We live (the sages say) immortal in the mortal coil. So Chiron is the god whose dilemma is closest to that of humanity.

Funny enough that Chiron was discovered at the heart of the Human Potential Movement. Experiences we meet under his influences always serve to push us and the people around us a lot closer to our potential. This is scary territory for cowering humanity, and your greatest gift to yourself and those around you is your willingness to face yourself, and to become yourself in the truest sense of those words.

Message from Eros

Relationships and sex are two different things. We're taught to fuse them into one, and our philosophies tend to be rather confused as a result. In plotting out some ideas about true love or marriage, we may for example expect the sexual dimension to take care of itself. It doesn't. Sex is a special area of study and understanding and, unfortumately, it's one that's pretty taboo and relegated to talk radio banter. I suggest you see the distinctions between sexual consciousness, sexual experience, and the ideas you hold about relating to others. Where do these processes overlap for you, and where do they diverge?

You may feel compelled to offer yourself, heart and soul, to the assistance of another person or an important cause. We live in a world where needs rarely match resources. While some may caution you against making a personal sacrifice, there are some forms of fulfillment that are possible only through joining with something much greater than yourself.

Capricorn Moon

You are bigger than your problems, and they can all be turned to constructive use. Attending to them will open the way to a much more fulfilling life. Step one is getting past any embarrassment or wounded pride you may feel in disclosing your innermost thoughts to those who offer consolation and support. The part of you who might be reluctant is the child who could never get the attention of the adults around you, or who was treated like a little adult. This is precisely the issue: you were forced to hide how you feel. The moment you don't hide your feelings, you can consider yourself healed.