MOUNTAIN CLIMBING GOAT

The calendar year begins with the sun sailing through Capricorn. That’s a bit strange an earth sign being related to sailing over the sea. Maybe the clue lies in its ancient symbol of a goat with a fish tail. Capricorn is one of the cardinal signs of the zodiac, an important gateway to the rest of the Cosmos, spiritually speaking, although you may not think so when you first meet our Goat. Perhaps that is because some of them have not yet found their path and insist on going around in circles trying to find the way out. Once the exit sign has been found, they also find their legs and their hidden reserves and go bounding up the rocky mountain of discovery ahead of the rest of us.

If our Capricorn goat is feeling a little dour and down it is probably an indication that they haven’t made contact with their higher self, their real self, have not accepted their need to climb whilst contemplating the seriousness of the world without allowing it to overshadow the beauty of life. After all it is reported in mythology that Saturn the planet of Capricorn ruled in a ‘Golden Age’, a time before Jupiter-Zeus got the Olympiad organised.

Capricorn needs to lead and show others the way, but first they need to have trodden the path themselves. This they can do with conscientious hard work, asking for little compensation, although some become over ambitious and won’t do anything for nothing. Other Capricorns tend to be loners and hide themselves away in isolation so that they can contemplate either their own woes or alternatively the troubles of the world; maybe this is the clue to the sailor.

It may be significant that the great star Vega is located in this sign, Vega of the constellation Lyra, the harp of Orpheus. The sun passes by Vega on the 5^th January.

Time is important to the Capricorn for it sets limits and boundaries to their intentions and actions thus giving these intentions power of achievement. Thus the goat is very good at keeping a schedule and meeting deadlines. The down side is that in becoming so careful to avoid waste, they can become mean time-managers and too caught up in economy measures.

   An astrological clock, as kept in many European Renaissance churches.

For the curious or the fanatic see, David Christianson, ‘Timepieces’. Timepieces: Masterpieces of Chronometry

MOON DRAGON # 3

HOT SOLSTICE

We now reach another of the four major points in the yearly sun cycle of birth, growth, decay and rebirth. It is the Solstice point of December 21 to 23^rd  2010. Although officially declared to be an event of the 21^st, the solstice actually covers 3 days as the sun-earth make a readjustment in their relationship.

Half the world has reached its peak in the natural cycle of yearly full bloom, the other half of the world has reached its hidden beginning once again. This is the high and low point of the cycle of Nature.

At the Solstice points, the two points in the 12 month cycle where the sun appears to stand still before reversing its direction, all of nature is poised to start on the second half of its cycle. Thus nature responds to the sun, which is either taking a direction up into the sky towards the zenith or taking the other direction down in the sky towards the nadir depending on which side of the globe you find yourself on.

The sun now stands on the cusp of the sign of Capricorn, one of two cosmic gateways, the other being Cancer.

In the Northern Hemisphere this is to go from the death of winter to the quickening of new seed waiting to burst up through the ground in the coming spring.

In the Southern Hemisphere it marks the time of going from full bloom to bloated growth before commencing the decline towards autumn.

In human affairs it could well mark a time of social-political crisis in response to the pain that has been building through the year. But ‘Crisis’ doesn’t need to be disaster, it just means reaching a peak or point where serious decision making has to be initiated, and that can go either way depending on the motives of those making and taking the lead. There is quite a stressful build up of world tensions in the week before the Solstice when circumstances can be quite explosive as Mars meets Pluto, and then again in the following week as the Sun meets Pluto. Just to complicate things there is a Full Moon eclipse across the Solstice points adding to the darkness and confusion. Watch the acts of governments, big corporations and financial institutions and try to duck out of the way of any backwash as things gear up again following the Christmas break. Maybe it is time to think about the true meaning of this festival.

In ancient Egypt the sun was appreciated for its recognised source of life for the creatures of earth, and it was given reverence at the four points of the year as well as all year round. A pharaoh of about 1358 BCE called Akhenaten wrote a hymn to the sun, which he called ‘The Aten’ another name for the ancient sun god Re.

SUN HYMN OF THE ATEN

Splendid you rise in heaven’s lightland,

O living Aten, creator of life!

When you have dawned in eastern lightland,

You fill every land with your beauty.

You are beauteous, great, radiant,

High over every land;

Your rays embrace the lands

To the limit of all that you made.

Being Re, you reach their limits,

You bend them for the son whom you love;

Though you are far, your rays are on earth,

Though ones sees you, your strides are unseen. [Lichtheim translation]

Sun disk icon from Cyril Aldred ‘Akhenaten, King of Egypt’ Akhenaten: King of Egypt

GIANT JUPITER

The planet Jupiter is closely associated with the sign of Sagittarius and also with the sign of Pisces. Jupiter is the planet that indicates growth and abundance when looked at in the personal horoscope chart. Jupiter can for some bring all that luck and fortune that so many crave. But as the wise man said, there can be too much of a good thing. When possessions and ‘good fortune’ get too big, the weight can weigh you down most terribly. On the other hand one can run hither and thither scattering energy wastefully trying to achieve what is not possible under the urgings of Jupiter to make it big.

 Egyptian god Horus, Lord of the Ladder to Heaven [Budge]

The beneficial side of Jupiter is seen in his ability to give optimism and protection in the harsher times of life, to balance out his polarity seen in Saturn. These two planets act in unison, or should do for a good working of the horoscope, Jupiter bringing wealth and growth whilst Saturn brings control and discipline to give the growth some direction. Saturn keeps Jupiter within sensible limits and Jupiter prevents Saturn from making everything too austere and limited.

  Greco-Roman god Zeus or Jupiter

Jupiter enjoys a bit of pomp and ceremony when he is not having a good belly laugh at the absurdities of life, for he sees the bigger picture that puts all the smaller events of everyday living into perspective. There is Zeus/Jupiter riding high on throne or horse and there is Zeus/Jupiter mingling amicably with the people and with full understanding of their needs and foibles. That’s wise Jupiter. A little history of astrology for the curious can be found in Campion's History of Western Astrology Volume I: The Ancient and Classical Worlds

The horseman leading us to victory.

TRAVELLING SAGGI

The sun is now travelling through the zodiac sign of Sagittarius, the sign of the centaur, that strange creature who always wants to be somewhere where they are not. Just like the arrow flying from its bow and shot by the centaur, into the air to far distant horizons to land in some far off place we know not where. So the Saggi person always seems to be running and aiming into some unseen and unknown distant or future point; sometimes on the back of a horse, sometimes on the back of a motorbike, sometimes out on the playing field.

 Sagittarian people are generous and full of fiery energy; that sort of energy that needs constant circulation through plenty of physical activity. Thus driven, their main aim in life is to explore the hills and valleys of life, the oceans and the spaces, either physically or in the mental world. Some are deep thinkers and philosophers; others are rather more concerned about how other people are thinking, or about how to spin them a good yarn for amusement.

Rodin’s ‘Thinker’ 

The planet associated with the sign of Sagittarius is Jupiter, that gas giant of the solar system. This should be a hint to the Saggi that they too can expand to too great a size if they are without a little self-discipline and reflection. After all this is the sign of the philosopher and it is wisdom the world needs not over expansive verbalism. It is too easy for Jupiter’s children to spread their energies over too great a distance or to chatter incessantly. Contrast this with the other extreme of expression found in Capricorn who tends to get overly self-disciplined under the influence of Saturn.

Saggi’s gift for words means that they need to transform their wide and deep knowledge into silent wisdom that can contribute to the expansion or growth of other people. Mansions of the Soul might be of interest to you wise ones.

 Orveille Duomo, Italy, showing icons of the four fixed zodiac signs on its facade