About Capricorn

Capricorn is a Cardinal Earth sign, ruled by Saturn and associated with the 10th house. The Sun is in Capricorn from late December to mid-January, which marks the beginning of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Capricorn feels a sense of collective responsibility to help everyone survive the winter. It has an awareness of the limits that nature imposes—death, time, scare resources—and this produces a sense of seriousness and responsibility in this sign to buckle down and make the most of what it has.

The polarity of Capricorn is Cancer, which is Cardinal Water. The Capricorn-Cancer axis is about physical and emotional security, duty of care, and public vs private life.

Capricorn Traits

• quiet, enduring ambition that drives them towards long-term success
• approaches life with practicality and a dry sense of humor
• values tradition, strong connection to ancestry or heritage
• patient in pursuing goals, focuses on the long term
• possesses a hidden sensuality beneath the stern exterior
• gravitates towards positions of authority
• struggles with being vulnerable or emotionally expressive
• talent for creating order and structure out of chaos
• strong inner critic and fear of failure
• possesses a subtle charm and wit
• tends to be frugal, may carry a sense of lack from childhood
• strong sense of duty, puts obligations before personal desires
• respects competence and mastery in any field
• builds relationships slowly but forms rock-solid bonds over time
• has an affinity for nature, particularly mountains and earthy environments
• can seem reserved and needs solitude
• has an instinctual awareness of death, violence and the fragility of civilization

The Deeper Meaning of Capricorn

Capricorns are one of those signs that gets pigeonholed as boring, cold, workaholics. But there is nothing more fundamental to wellbeing than safety and security rooted in realism.

Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, the planet of limits, structure, self-discipline, and responsibility. There is definitely a shadow to Capricorn, as there is to all signs: anything taken too far can become imbalanced. And in the world of astrology, a lot of us are free-spirited weirdos who don't appreciate conservatism very much. We resist social conformity, we want to do our own thing, to be our own person. And at its heart, Capricorn doesn't have a problem with that—as long as it is not at the expense of what protects life.

Capricorn feels a sense of duty which it can't ignore. And it has the kind of mountain-top perspective that sees life as it really is. You can’t protect life if you don't have a sense of what might destroy it. Capricorn knows that nature is a fight for survival. Capricorn knows that humans have a dark side. Capricorn can’t afford to have rose-colored glasses, because it is the one tasked with building the walls to keep out the darkness. (But it also knows that the darkness can never be fully kept out, because it lives inside us.)

Where Aquarius sees the possibilities of the new, Capricorn knows that revolutions destroy lives and crops. It knows that abundance is only built through an appreciation of scarcity and a dedication to doing what is necessary to not experience it. It doesn't expect to be saved, but it doesn't need to be, because it knows how to save itself.

Capricorn knows that sometimes you have to say no to yourself, and to other people. Sometimes you have to do the hard thing that you don't want to do, because it's better in the end. Capricorn sees the long view and plays the long game. It doesn't need results today, because it knows there will be better results next week. Capricorn knows that dreams are just fantasies unless you put in the hard work to make them happen.

Results don't come from wishes or fantasies or dreams. It's not that Capricorn doesn't want you to have your dreams, it just wants you to actually have them, in reality. It knows that with enough effort, determination, and sacrifice, you can make your dreams real. But if you aren't willing to put in the work, you will still just be dreaming in 10 years.

Capricorn, Scorpio, and Virgo tend to get along because they all have an appreciation of the reality of death, the need to retreat, the desire for autonomy, and the value of commitment. They all understand that life isn’t all rainbows and unicorns—it’s hard, it’s full of shadows, and it’s on you to survive & thrive on your own terms.

What Capricorn wants more than anything is for you to get real. Live in reality to really live.

Capricorn wisdom

• We don’t all start out in the same place in life, but who cares? Make the best of what you’ve got.
• Stop looking at yourself through the lens of your baggage or your pain or your problems, and look at what you can realistically accomplish today, and then get to work.
• Life isn't inherently anything, you make it what it is.
• You aren't entitled to anything. Do the work to make your life what you want.
• You aren't special; you're just another human having a life on Earth. Do something with it.
• If you’re not growing, you’re dying.
• Accept the burdens that your life comes with. Bear them as gracefully as you can, and recognize you are not alone, we all have them. Use them as grist for the mill.

Is Capricorn kind of a hard-ass? Absolutely. But we all need hard-ass wisdom sometimes.