Mercury ingresses Capricorn today at 5:12 am EST, joining the Sun, long-term resident Pluto, and retrograde Venus. The sky is shifting from the intense dose of centaur-influenced soul shake-up and clearing we experienced as the Sun and Mercury traversed Sagittarius, to something perhaps a little more tangible and practical. And all of it is building to the Capricorn New Moon in eight days.
If Sagittarius is suffused with cosmic mystery, you could say that Capricorn is the bricks and mortar of the zodiac. It’s the sign of established institutions and structures, thereby implying what was done in the past (the building and shaping phases). It’s also the sign of the practical, the sign of business, and leadership based on delegated authority (as opposed to Leo’s kingly divine right, according to Isabel Hickey).
This being Christmas Eve, and without actually preaching religion (but rather, treating Christian religion as another myth, like the ones astrology is based on), one might think of it this way: the Sun in Sagittarius is that mystical word of god being whispered into Mary’s womb; the holy spirit in its process of being made flesh. The Sun in Capricorn is Jesus out in the world, the leader with humility, who washed the feet of a whore and cleansed a leper.
No, we’re not going to go all ‘Pope Francis’ suddenly. But as Mercury in Capricorn approaches the Uranus-Pluto square (Mars is already there, by way of Libra), there’s the potential for a similar shift in our own expression. We’ve come through a couple weeks of what was, for many, intensive work with shadow, ancestral baggage, recurring healing themes, a sense of big cosmic mission/love, and the highly polarizing energy of the Gemini Full Moon — which kind of plugged it all into a light socket. With Capricorn comes the opportunity to put what we’ve learned to tangible use.