SATURN, CAPRICORN & THE ART OF DISCIPLINE

Deb trying to not get bitten by feeding the goat. Photo by John Cook.

Saturn has changed signs as it does every 2 1/2 – 3 years. It entered Capricorn, an earth sign, on December 20th where it will stay until December 2020. Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, so this is a profound experience of Saturn ruling the heavens for the next 3 years. Saturn and Capricorn are practical energies and rule the patriarchy, the governments, the banking and finance systems, commerce, authorities, bureaucracies, and reputation. Saturn always brings lessons, karma, endings – and sometimes new beginnings. Depending upon where Saturn has taken up residency in your chart you may be starting a new job, a new project or a new healing or exercise protocol where you could be committing a lot of your time and energy.

Whatever the case, Saturn in Capricorn is a climber. We will all want to accomplish a lot by taking one step at a time and setting goals to reach the top. Life may take on a more serious tone, as matters may require more hard work than originally thought. But we will all be concerned with getting the job done, so we won’t mind rolling up our sleeves and keeping the nose to the grindstone. In the end, if we do keep our eye on the tasks at hand and achieve our goals, Saturn usually rewards us with more than we expected.

You may find the need to restructure your life as Saturn will have moved into a new arena of your chart. This may be an area where you feel need some cleaning up, some paring down, or some eliminating of the unnecessary. The last time Saturn entered Capricorn was during February of 1988, but then stepped back into Sagittarius for a few months that year before re-entering Capricorn in November of 1988 until February of 1991. If you were around back then, what were you doing in your life? What were you learning? Where did you feel the need to structure or restructure your life? Where did you feel limited? Where did you use your energy in a disciplined way?

This is no ordinary Saturn transit because of Pluto’s presence in Capricorn since 2008. As we have experienced, Pluto is the great transformer as it tears down old structures so they can be rebuilt. All structures mentioned above have been experiencing a complete death and rebirth since 2008. The most important astrological events that will happen when Saturn is in Capricorn is when it conjoins Pluto in 2019/2020 which will bring in some profound issues to be reckoned with. They are both very controlling energies and power struggles are often the norm during their conjunctions. The last time Saturn and Pluto were together in the same sign at the same time was the early 1980’s when they traveled together in Libra and Scorpio. We can hope that Saturn will begin to rebuild the structures that Pluto has transformed since 2008. But we can expect this will not happen easily. If you experienced these transits back then, you may have had some challenges to overcome that you can reflect upon to prepare you for the coming experience. Pluto and Saturn will also be traveling closely with Jupiter in Capricorn during that time. The three planets together is a very rare aspect and will make this whole matter even grander.

As far as government and politics, I will be honest and say I am not optimistic that policies will be kinder and more agreeable for the working classes or for most people in general. Capricorn is about conservatism, wealth and the upper classes and I believe the tides will continue to turn in their favor in an out of balance manner. Considering the themes we have been seeing in the last year, I expect more austerity, control and limitations. We may expect policies to become more harsh as Saturn in Capricorn is a taskmaster. If economic situations continue to be out of balance, not so distant future themes in the sign of Aquarius can indicate revolutionary tendencies. But more on these aspects as they arrive over the next 3 years.

What are we to do with these Saturn in Capricorn energies? The best actions are to take responsibility for ourselves, use moderation and attentiveness and move forward in life with great intention. Most important is to practice discipline. Scorpio is not the only intense sign in town. Capricorns can be intense, too. Intensely focused. Intensely committed. Intensely disciplined, because without discipline, nothing creative gets accomplished. And nothing valuable gets created. We’re used to discipline being defined as rules that others place upon us or some sort of punishment we’ve received. Believe it or not, discipline is a fiery energy in our soul that we need to create all we desire, our life’s work. The seed of discipline is the seed of creation, of nature within us to become what we are supposed to become in our life. The very essence of our being, our presence and our intensity to do what we are here to do on this earth. Saturn is the lord of time, nature does everything in its own time, perfectly, not rushing. You don’t see flowers rushing to bloom. And you don’t plant rose seeds and an apple tree grows. This is the discipline of nature, its own time and its own purpose. So it is with we humans as well and the best thing we can do is remain true to ourselves.