"If you're not a socialist by the age of twenty,
you have no heart,
but if you're not a conservative by the age of forty,
you have no brain. "
From the book "Astrology for Lovers," written by Liz Green.
songsdomain.tripod.com/capric...ex.html
The Capricorn goat is no ordinary billy-goat munching grass in the pasture. Look closely at the symbol for this most mysterious of the earthly signs, and you will see that he has a tail, a kind of cross between a fish and a serpent. The goat who climbs the awesome mountain of worldly success and material achievement also has another entirely different and usually hidden side to his nature. People who think that Capricorn can be summed up by mundane ambition are sadly mistaken. If we look at ancient symbolism, we find that the serpent is one of the oldest representations for instinctual wisdom and the secrets of the earth itself. And the fish is also a creature that swims in the depths of the unknown waters of the psyche. Our mountain goat - hard-working, plodding, cautious, materialistic, shrewd, ambitious - is also, in his secret heart, a kind of magician, a seeker after mysteries. To manipulate and organize the stuff of the world is no mean feat, and takes more than just patience. Whichever realm Capricorn achieves in - the inner or the outer - he applies the same principles to it, and those principles can be summed up in one word: mastery.
It isn't easy to get to know a Capricorn. For one thing, he's usually learned by the tender age of about three that you let the other guy show his cards first, and that sometimes it's necessary to keep an ace or two up your sleeve. There is a curious thing about Capricorn children; sometimes you can look into their eyes and be startled by the little old man peeping out from the childish face. Many Capricorns follow the classical goat's pattern of having to carry responsibility or hardship very early in life. The goat doesn't take kindly to having his secrets probed too quickly. He must first know exactly where he stands, and exactly who you are, and exactly what you want, before he is willing to show his hand. Suspicious? Yes, you might say that.
Suspicion is a natural propensity with Capricorn; sometimes it goes the wrong way and becomes profound mistrust of life and people, but the better face of it is caution and realism. Capricorns learn from childhood on - and childhood for them is often no childhood at all, but a too-early initiation into the hard facts of life - that one should always check one's capital and assess one's possible losses before entering any deal. And anything to Capricorn is a kind of a deal, even when his motives are the noblest and most altruistic ones. Remember that the keynote of all the earth signs is realism.
posted by:
|
SF Bay Area
|
-
Re: The Capricorn Lover
Mon, July 14, 2008 - 2:21 PM
This is, in a way, the sign of the ulterior motive. It's also a sign of immense subtlety: never imagine you've worked out all his motives, because there's always one you haven't thought of. Nothing is ever done by a Capricorn without a purpose. All that canny waiting and assessing, hard work and labour, are always directed toward an end. And you don't always see the goat showing his goal on his sleeve like any Sagittarian, or talking about it like Gemini. Often he'll play the humble servant, the one who has no ambitions, who only seeks to help, while he waits and assesses and plans.
Let's consider Saturn for a moment, Capricorn's planetary ruler. He's got a peculiar reputation in astrology, since he's always been considered the symbol of limitation and discipline. Also of isolation and loneliness. In mythology Saturn is one of the Titans, the earth gods, children of the great Earth Goddess Gaia. Earthy indeed: there isn't any greater pragmatist than Capricorn.
Power, too, is attractive to many Capricorns, both in the world and in their personal lives. This in fact is one of the goat's biggest problems in human relationships: he finds it immensely difficult to relinquish control. Male or female, Capricorn must always hold the reins. He's downright terrified of what might happen if he loses control - not only of the situation outside him, but of himself as well. You might guess from this that Capricorn isn't likely to be the great gambler in the sphere of the passions. You'd be quite right. He's more known for having the wit to choose the conductor over the second violin.
Yet in Roman mythology, Saturn's rulership over the world coincides with the Golden Age of man.
Gurdjieff and Krishnamurti are famous Capricorns as well -
-
Re: The Capricorn Lover
Mon, July 14, 2008 - 2:24 PM
The Capricorn Lover
Relationships aren't easy for Capricorn. You might expect this, since control is always important to him, and letting down the solid protection of that suit of armour takes a lot of effort. He's been wearing the armour for so long that very likely it's rusted at the hinges, and you hear some pretty loud groans and protests as it comes off. You usually find that no matter how much the goat loves, there's always a last special place inside which he isn't prepared to share, a last area of self-control which he isn't about to relinquish.
Capricorn is often a loner, a self-isolated figure climbing his own private mountain. And sometimes he won't allow himself to accept either help or sympathy when the going is rough. Thanks very much, he'll manage himself. It's difficult to do Capricorn a favour. He can often be seen doing favours for his friends and loved ones; he knows how to give, especially when it comes to the things of the world. But sometimes he can't receive very well. He has a ferocious pride, and a real terror of being dependent and weak. No goat can bear a situation over which he has no control.
If you ever have a chance to scratch the surface of a Capricorn, you'll find that he's a secret romantic. He shares this in common with the earth signs. But his romanticism is almost never allowed to dictate his decisions. He'd much rather sacrifice the great romantic love for the safe, suitable partner who is a social asset as well. When they marry early, many Capricorns run the risk of choosing for security and suitability, and living to bitterly regret the choice. You'll rarely find Capricorn throwing all away for love. He might throw all away for the sake of conviction, or for the preservation of his family. But love? Well, marriage isn't always motivated by love for Capricorn, and certainly not solely. -
-
Re: The Capricorn Lover
Mon, July 14, 2008 - 2:26 PM
Back in the days when marriages were arranged and you learned over many years of sticking together (divorce just wasn't done) to develop a deep fondness and respect for your partner, Capricorn would have found that arrangement just right. You can imagine what the Pisceans and the Leos and the Sagittarians would have done. But Capricorn takes his vows seriously, and he wants to be very sure before he makes them that the investment is likely to turn out successfully. Most Capricorns either marry very early - in which case they're either looking for fathers, or trying to play fathers - or they marry late, having scanned the market carefully. But on impulse? Rarely.
Not that it's a bad way to be. Capricorn places more value on deep respect, duty, loyalty, and the power of the family bond than he does on a few months of wild passion. Not that he's not capable of passion. This is an earthy sign, remember, and the sexual drive is often strong and the physical nature very basic. But many Capricorns keep this side of themselves out of their serious relationships, because they don't often trust their passions.
If you are involved with a Capricorn, you must accept the fact that he or she will try to take charge. Capricorn doesn't take kindly to either positions of submission or humiliation or one-upmanship - unless he's the winner and you the one who submits. If you hurt his pride, or take away his self-respect, he'll take a long time forgiving, and an even longer time forgetting.
Because of his earthy, controlled nature, Capricorn sometimes finds it difficult to express his love and affection in a relaxed way. He may feel it deeply, but you may never know it. And he's usually attracted to those who can loosen him up a little bit - the extroverted, emotional type, the irresponsible and playful temperament, the child. The same thing that makes many Capricorns secret religious seekers also makes them seekers after people who are able to open up the romantic side of life for them.
Underneath the realistic and pragmatic surface of Capricorn, you'll find all sorts of fantasies. But it's not likely he'll tell you about them. Capricorn is very frightened of chaos. This is why so many Capricorns shy away from the supernatural or mystical side of life - or, put another way, from the unconscious, the unknown depths in themselves. An emotional reaction or nonrational experience can leave Capricorn feeling embarrassed and vulnerable. Yet he longs for these qualities in a partner, someone through whom he can learn to trust all those things he doesn't dare trust in himself or in life. -
-
Re: The Capricorn Lover
Mon, July 14, 2008 - 2:28 PM
So this old-young man or woman will seek someone who can help him free the child in himself. And this kind of relationship can often heal him and release his real creativity. The trouble is that, having found someone who personifies the fiery side of life, Capricorn will often take the role of a stern parent with a child, repressing rather than encouraging spontaneity. If it's you who has been cast in the role of the child, that well-meaning parental tone can get a little suffocating, not to say restrictive. It's really the child in himself that Capricorn keeps trying to keep in line, the restless, volatile wanderer who might upset all his plans and suddenly call the world's attention to his own difficulty in commitment.
Capricorn's parent-child marriages (and he'll usually taste both sides of this arrangement, since he'll very likely play the parent in youth and the child later in life) can be either creative or destructive. Gone sour, they can develop into a never-ending prison for the more spontaneous partner, and a growing sense of suspicion and mistrust for the Capricorn. Or the stern, stiff streak in Capricorn can let himself be thawed by the gift of love, and learn through it that life can be trusted. And if the suspicious goat can learn that, well, then, he has the world truly at his feet, since he can begin to enjoy the rewards of all his labour. It's true for Capricorn than for any other sign that life begins at forty - and often love as well.
-
-
-
