Capricorn: 10th sign of the Zodiac

Month: December - January
Cardinal Earth
Ruling Planet: Saturn
Body Part: Knees

Seed Thought: “Lost am I in light supernal, yet on that light I turn my back”

 The Chambers Dictionary gives the meaning of supernal to be the topmost, on high, celestial, of a higher world or exalted.Like the Bodhisattva who, having climbed the mountain of the spirit gaining enlightenment then chooses to return and in so doing, serves human kind until all have become enlightened and freed from the cycle of birth and death. Only then does the Bodhisattva enter the ocean of infinity, finally merging with the “light supernal”. The Capricorn also has this as a life style choice.

Capricorns can often find themselves caught in the goat's horn of a dilemma, which mountain to climb. On one hand there is the mountain of the Bodhisattva and on the other there is the mountain of the world or the ego.
Like the goat, which is the symbol of the sign, which ever mountain Capricorns set out to climb they can sure footedly find the way to the top. Capricorn has a great liking for bling and all things which sparkle. The choice facing the goat is whether to light up the self with the reflected light of a mountain of bling or glow from within with what Kabir called the “light of a thousand suns”.

Capricorn naturally occupies the highest point of the zodiac, it is the height of the development of the individual and its opposite is the sign of Cancer which is the sign of the collective. Lying as it does on the axis of individuality (houses 4 and 10) Capricorn has to balance the needs, wishes and aspirations of the individual with that of the Cancerian family or the group from which it has come.

The choice a Capricorn faces is either what can I give to the world or, what can the world give to me? Hopefully the answer has to be the middle path, embrace the path up the mountain of worldly success while recognising the transitory nature of the joys of being top dog.

A story to illustrate this is of the funeral of Alexander the Great who decreed that his hands were to be on show as his funeral cortege wound its way from his palace to the site of his burial. In this way all of his subjects would see that the richest man the ancient world knew left as he arrived……. empty handed.

Capricorns are generally true to their ruling planet Saturn, they take their responsibilities seriously and and are rock solid when they make a commitment. They like to know where they stand and once they give their word, come hell or high water they will try to honour it.