On the 21st of December 2021, at 15:59 UTC, the Sun enters the house of Capricorn, the nighttime temple of Saturn.
The Sun crossing in Capricorn signals the advent of the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. Solstice coming from the Latin sōlstitium, literally: the (apparent) standing still of the Sun, from sōl Sun + sistere to stand still.
We have the shortest day and the longest night due to the Sun's declination at its lowest point. For three days, the Sun seems to make no movement in the sky. Then it starts moving up again with the consequent increase in daylight minutes and hours.
Let's go through the basics, one step at a time.
Capricorn is Element Earth
Earth is the densest of the elements. Wherever Earth happens, it will tend to sediment in the lowest part. This means that on Earth, we can count on. It is stable. We literally put our feet on it. It is grounded, pragmatic. It gives us the possibility to build structures; it brings prosperity. Earth, we can touch, play with, feel on our body, smell. Earth is sensual.
Earth is slow, being the densest of the elements. Mountains take millennia to grow, but they constantly get bigger, albeit slowly. Earth is consistent yet conservative and cautious. There is no natural aptitude to change if it takes time to create something.
Earth tends to be dry. What happens where there is a drought? The earth starts cracking, splitting in smaller and smaller patches until it becomes dust. Earth Element can look at reality with no frills attached. Can separate the whole in its constituents. Objectiveness.
Earth can be cold, especially that ruled by Saturn, a naturally cold and dry planet. A cold Earth is contracted and hard, and you can't easily penetrate its surface. Coldness brings a lack of reactivity (low energy) to external stimuli. The ability to stand still. To think before reacting.
Cold and dry together bring common sense, down to earth actions. But also harshness.
Capricorn is Nocturnal Energy
By nocturnal energy, we mean a force similar to the night. It is inward going. Receptive. Lives the world as a reflection of itself. Subjective in its interpretation. The inner world is more important than the outer.
Capricorn is a Cardinal Energy
Cardinal or Moveable energy is a force that can move things in a direction. It is an energy that hastens events, brings on crises, and thus bring change.
Imagine moveable energy like when in an engine you engage the first gear. From standstill to movement. From inertia to full-blown activity.
Capricorn is the temple of Saturn
Saturn is the furthest planet in our Solar System we can see with our naked eyes. He has always represented the limits and confines of our part of the world.
Being furthest from the Sun, Saturn is cold. His action is cold primarily but also drying. Saturn's natural action is through the crystallisation of things. There is an intentional slowing down, ponderate way of doing things. Creating boundaries, walls to protect and repel. However, Saturn gives roots, stability, and foundations to what comes in this Earthly plane.
What survives the stern test of Saturn is what can endure in time, which is Saturn's currency.
Sun in the house of Capricorn
When the Sun passes in the house of Capricorn, it passes through its lowest point in the horizon, in the Northern Hemisphere. The climate outside is cold and getting darker by the minutes. The trees have lost all their leaves, and the earth prepares itself to go inwards to nurture its roots.
So it happens to us. With the Sun in Capricorn, our focus shifts inwards, to the very core of our being, to what sustains us and gives us a sure footing in this world.
What resists the test of time is what we are invited to look at. The pragmatic and methodical Earth Element invites us to focus on the present moment, to build one brick at a time whilst keeping alive the vision of the whole. We learn patience because Rome was never built in a day, nor did the pyramids. We discover discipline and concentration because Saturn sets limits and boundaries.
Through density and gravity, through hardship and constriction, through loss and delay, we build muscles, we callous our hands. We temper our impetus and learn to run a marathon, hike for very long, and learn a skill or an art. By delayed gratification, we become masters of ourselves to give our best.
Capricorn in Medical Astrology
What enables us to stand on our two feet, withstand gravity and not be a mere splash of flesh spattered on the soil? Our skeleton, including the ligaments and tendons.
What enables us to give nourishment to ourselves? Our teeth.
What provides protection from the outer world, making our body a castle equipped with formidable defence? Our skin.
What provides our fingers and toes with a hard tip so we may hold and withstand daily cores? Our nails, cuticles and callouses.
The specific area that Capricorn rules in our body are the knee and the bone that protects the knee articulation called the patella. Without the knee, we wouldn't be able to climb any change in level, lift weights, touch the earth and reach for the sky.
Diseases caused by coldness and drying cause a lack of lubricating fluids in the body that help movement, like rheumatism. Dullness of the senses, depression and dementia when the myelin sheets are affected. Lack of joy in life. Brittle nails, teeth and bones. Excess of Earth element can bring toxicity, problems to the liver and gall ducts.
Summary
Sun in Capricorn offers us the possibility of digging deep down in ourselves and building ourselves from the inside out. The combination of Saturn, Earth, and the cold impetus to shift things, allows the opportunity to pull down structures that we do not need anymore. Then create new scaffoldings that we will tend with patience, discipline, and skill.
From the up there fire energy of Sagittarius setting the arrow on fire with Faith, with Earth we come down here, in the present moment, in the nitty-gritty of existence. The hope that Sagittarius has ignited now finds an earthen vase to keep it safe and illuminate our way whilst work is in progress.
Perhaps Capricorn's essence could be paraphrased as dig down to reach up or, better still, be your own Lantern.
May the Winter Solstice, Sun in Capricorn, bring you fortitude, a sturdy pair of boots and an everlasting lamp to climb all the way up.
And because we are in such stern times, I have decided to introduce this kind of payment for my services.
In service,
Hilary
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Image by Reijo Telaranta from Pixabay