Capricorn, the Builder

JANUARY 2008

by Maya del Mar

[Five heavenly bodies enter or pass through Capricorn this January. Maya del Mar, master astrologer and Daykeeper founder, penned these words on Capricorn for her privately published newsletter, THE MAYA REPORT, in 1990-1992. Many thanks to Sue Taylor for making this archive available. —ed.]

“Build today, then, strong and sure. With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure
Shall tomorrow find its place.

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It is mid-November and I find it difficult to write over the screams of agony of the wounded and dying rising up around me from wars past, present, and future. Many of us are hearing those screams. It feels almost more than the race, or the earth, can endure.

But Capricorn, the tough old mountain goat, endures. Not only does he endure—she can do her thing on mountain slopes too steep for others, and be at home in the rarified air of the heights.

In Sagittarius we pierced the heavens and found our star. Now, in Capricorn, we must harness it and polish it and bring it to earth and develop its worth for all to see.

To make it part of the world we must turn it into something useful. And as we do that, we find out how many limits the world puts on us. Those limits create the forms in which we work on our star to make its light visible in the midst of darkness. Whatever trials and tribulations are necessary to make others see and respect our special light we surmount willingly, for we know how precious that light is.

Sagittarius, the seeker, found the star. And Capricorn, with utter tenacity, takes responsibility for nurturing it through the cold dark night of winter.

Capricorn knows what to do: you learn well the laws of matter and bit by bit you bring the light of perfection into each cell until a sparkling crystal is formed which, in its perfection, transmits the light of divinity.

Capricorn centers on the family. From the family drives Capricorn's connection with all social structures, all hierarchies—government, the church, business, the patriarchy, the money system, authorities, institutions of all kinds. Capricorn endures, it is a survivor, and so it also rules old age. (And does well with it.) It is rock-bottom reality, and it rules rocks, foundations, the earth iteself—the source of our security. Survival depends on using things properly, and Capricorn deals with efficiency, organization, and the wise use of resources. It does not waste. Capricorn builds well and thoroughly. It has the patience to deal with limitations and the drive to go on until the goal is completed.

The sign of Capricorn is known as the Gate of Initiation because it is here that we finally accomplish the slow building which fuses matter and spirit. Capricorn is the builder, and it is when the builder realizes that all true foundations are spiritual that he/she has built truly soundly. Capricorn can open our vision, can allow that movement from the material to the spiritual, which is what our planet—and our lives—so desperately need at this time. The goat, with nimble feet negotiating rocky crags, always has the mountain top in view, and it is at the top of the mountain that we find the Divine.

It is WORK—and work that only we ourselves can do—to painstakingly rebuild our character from the ground up and literally infuse it with that polar star which we began to glimpse in Scorpio.

Martin Luther King, Jr. says it for Capricorn: “You don’t need to go out this morning saying that Martin Luther King is a saint. I want you to know this morning that I am a sinner like all of God’s children, but I want to be a good man and I want to hear a voice saying to me one day, ‘I take you in and I bless you because you tried.’” And, as Ellen Goodman adds: When the time came and much was demanded of him, he found the greatness within himself.

Capricorn is the winter solstice sign. It relates to that time of year when life and growth have run their course and the sun is at its lowest ebb of the year. The warmer seasons' decorations have come and gone, and only the bare bones of life are left, the basic structure of nature. We learn then what is survivable, and how to survive. And just at that moment, when nature appears most adverse, the sun swings around and begins it upward course again. Life is renewed and reborn and we celebrate Christmas. Christmas and other solstice celebrations are Capricornian, when the life that remains, that has passed through the terrible survival tests, gathers together in the spirit of love.

To quote Leightman and Japiske:

“It is a time to ground out values, ideals and plans. The concept of grounding is a subject of universal importance, for we all need to learn to extract from the seemingly vague and nebulous realms of the inner dimensions whatever is useful and practical and give it focus as a dynamic force in our life. We need to translate our good ideas into achievements and concretize our philosophy and values into definite paths of action.

“In a very real sense, the universe has done its job; the forces of the zodiac have created precisely the conditions we need in order to ground our inner values and ideals and expand the sphere of our effective responsibility. Now WE must act. No one or no thing can thwart us, if we are determined to involve ourselves more intelligently in the work at hand. Only our failure to act can obstruct the forward progress which can be ours at this time.

“Let use therefore nurture the opportunities and responsibilities which constitute the work at hand, and help them flourish. This is not a time for sitting idly by, waiting for someone else to take the initiative. It is a time for taking action.”

Woodrow Wilson, with sun in Capricorn, expressed this impulse in a speech in 1909 when he said, “We must now stop preaching sermons and come down to those applications which will actually correct the abuses of our national life, without any more fuss, and without any more rhetoric.”

Examples of the certain value of one’s own inner light and the perseverance to make it shine are Joan of Arc, Simone de Beauvoir, Patricia Neal, and Martin Luther King, Jr., all with sun in Capricorn.

“I was born under the sign of Capricorn.
I accept fully the potentials, power and gifts of my sign.
Like a growing crystal I initiate cosmic order.
I am enterprising, The Builder, The Organizer,
Who looks toward higher orders, greater justice,
Constantly building relationships, families,
Communities, and countries.
I climb the mountain of matter towards spirit.

The key for tapping into my deeper resources
Is the ever-increasing acceptance of myself,
Of who I am now, and what I wish to become….”

—Mary Orser and Richard Zarro in Changing Your Destiny

Read more of Maya's writings
on Capricorn here.

Maya del Mar, master astrologer and writer, founded Daykeeper Journal Online in September of 2000. She wrote monthly astrological features and her Daily Success Guide until her sudden passing in November 2006. We will from time to time be publishing more of her work. Learn more about Maya here; read Maya's Daykeeper features here. For reprint permission, please contact Daykeeper.