July 10: Capricorn Full Moon

The Full Moon at 18°50 Capricorn at 4:37PM ET, invites you to explore your own inner authority and illuminates the restructuring Saturn in Aries is bringing to this foundational area of life.

Capricorn asks you to invest in a part of yourself that is worth cultivating. Whether that be professional, personally, artistically, or spiritually. Cap gets a reputation for being a boss, but the earthy humility of the seagoat can get lost in the drive for success.

Saturn is the planet associated with tests, challenges, and maturity. Its gift is the development mastery over time through dedication. Skill comes from repetition of a rote task that is done so many times you could do it in the dark and still get adequate results. Life can get very dark and Saturn helps us cultivate practices that get us through. This too shall pass means that sometimes all we can do is persevere, but there is great honor in surviving the worst of what the world throws at us.

The GOAT is associated with the Greatest Of All Time and while Capricorn is known for its ambition, there is a spiritual dimension to this mission. The higher nature of Cap believes there we develop character and self-worth, and learn vital lessons otherwise missed, in taking the most difficult mountain paths. The Capricorn Full Moon reveals a high road in the Aries area of life that might be worth your while in exploring. Notice where you are called to initiate something new, even if it feels difficult or a scary amount of bravery is required.

Through a journey of ten thousand steps we develop endurance and patience, and get many opportunities to put our theories to the test. The struggles of Saturn grow us up and help us realize the ambitions of our youth. Without even meaning to we become more prudent, grateful, and skillful. Saturn transiting through the sign of the Sun's exaltation is blocking the easy way for the next three years but that doesn't mean we have to struggle and suffer.

When we do finally arrive at our destination, the metaphorical misty mountaintop, we are privileged to the most dazzling vistas. The wisdom of time comes from the vantage point of the long view. Whatever is worth doing today is worth doing well. When we do things with care and attention, they become gateways to mastery without our even realizing it.

The darkness of Saturn, the planet opposite the Sun and Moon, provides a helpful counterbalance to the unchecked impulses of the ego. The hallmark of youth is feeling one has things all figured out. A sign of maturity is realizing that we know but a little. Our Saturn return is a time when ambitions may be realized or fail, and our identity is challenged. Through ego annihilation we become different people. A new cycle has begun for those with Saturn in cardinal signs in their charts (book a reading to understand where its moving through for you). 

Grandfather time, Saturn, knows that how things are at the beginning is not how they feel at the end. Our behavior, cognition, and level of activity changes over time. We are trained to think of life as a narrative arc with a clear beginning, middle, and end but the intuitive nature of the watery seagoat knows that life, like change, is more like waves on an ocean. We go up and down and the ripples never end, even after we're gone.

All earth signs have a desire for security and stability because these are the best conditions for long term growth. We can not assume that our present success assures us of a prosperous future. Planning, prudence, and austerity are Saturnian practices to ensure we have what we need should circumstances become difficult. Saturn puts the squeeze on us and transits to our Sun, Moon, and Ascendent can feel oppressive, but old Kronos also helps us to commit to the discipline and stay the course even when the going gets tough. 

The nature of our tests and challenges is determined by the place Saturn is moving through and how it behaves in that sign. Unfortunately, Saturn in Aries often brings experiences of violence, oppression and unlawful authority. During the next three years we are called to claim our power in the face of immoral authority. The solar impulse towards self discovery can be dangerous and damaging without proper constraints. The bonds of Saturn prevent us from running amok and maintain a sense of being one among many billions of souls on Earth. Billionaires believe they are exceptional but we all must die and what will be remembered is how we treated other people and the good we created or the damage we caused. 

Uranus entered Gemini on July 7, which is historically a harbinger of military conflicts for the USA, and is in a sextile with Saturn and Neptune in Aries. This disruptive interplay of air, ideas and technology, and fire, passion and drive, adds a revolutionary note to this somber Moon. What do we have to lose but our chains if we fight against those who seek to destroy us and the environment of our precious home planet? 

Our current leadership is seeking to free itself from any regulations to dangerous and disastrous ends. Saturn in Aries describes a degradation in system and abuse of power. The antidote offered by the Capricorn Full Moon is to invest in our own sense of authority. How do you relate to this concept? What does the word bring up for you?

Authority grants the power to make decisions, enforce orders, and demand obedience. In Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote that "One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." We are in a time of great moral crisis and the trine between Uranus in Gemini and Pluto in Aquarius at this lunation asks us to think outside of the box about how to respond to oligarchy.

This is the first lunation ruled by Saturn since it entered Aries and we should expect that the Capricorn and Aquarius areas of life might feel more like a struggle over the next three years. But if we adjust our expectations accordingly, we can use this opportunity to engage in resistance training that will not just make us stronger, but more compassionate and wiser. Fear need not rob us of the opportunity to respond skillfully and continue to do good work in the world. Indeed, it is an imperative that we continue to do all we can, one steady step at a time.