The solar month of Capricorn (December 21 – January 19/20) calls us to determine our life’s purpose and accept the responsibility in creating it. Most people call this a career. In this search, however, many souls feel they do not have much control over their life let alone their work. The Evolutionary Astrology mantra is: I achieve my goals with emotional self-reliance.

The archetype of Capricorn asks us to mature our relationships with society and the world. Sagittarius helped us make sense of life. Now Capricorn wants us to do something with our life. If the understanding of our world is that power and security lie outside of us, then we can feel quite powerless. When we become battered around by the whims of others, we find a way to control things in order to feel secure.

Capricorn wants to formalize Sagittarian philosophies into laws and stabilize everything. The risk is crystallizing life into so much conformity there is no freedom left. All groups of people must create rules, customs, norms and taboos in order to get along and function as a community or society. Over time, every society balances the freedom to grow with the need to abide by its customs and laws.

This Capricorn tendency to structure and consolidate can be very necessary. It can further goals by becoming the solid foundation for more sustained growth in the future.

Souls who think that power lies outside of themselves do not feel free even if they live in a “free” society. A deeper lesson with Capricorn is taught by its polarity Cancer. The sign of Cancer teaches emotional self-reliance. We must learn to become totally responsible for our own emotional needs under any and all circumstances personally as well as within society. This will create an inner sense of security regardless of what is happening around us. We ultimately realize that true power comes from within.

This inner emotional security can then mature into an outer security with Capricorn. Our inner world creates our outer world. We accept responsibility for ourselves and everything we attract to us. We grow up and mature. We learn how to function in our community and contribute in healthy ways.

Some societies allow lots of freedom of choice in occupations. Other societies dictate what its citizens must do. In some societies these freedoms, or lack thereof, are based upon gender.

The Capricorn-Cancer axis of the zodiac relates to gender and gender assignment. Capricorn is known as the father or masculine energies while Cancer correlates to the mother and feminine qualities. We all have both signs in our birth charts regardless of our gender. We are all learning to balance the anima-animus within. We can observe the almost androgynous qualities of highly evolved souls.

Capricorn tends to define gender roles by traditional means. It wants the masculine outer control, usually over the feminine gender as well as in every other area of life. Yet that outlook can crumble when the feminine emotions are not part of the balance. Look at the gender distortions in every country of the world today.

When the need for Capricorn control crystallizes our life – relationships, career, beliefs, etc – evolving forces come along and break things up. We lose control. This is a deep desire with Capricorn, to be able to let go and lose control. This process usually means learning to access and acknowledge those deep emotions not in balance with our outer world.

We are effective in our careers when we bring our Sagittarian intuition along, which tends to operate through the emotions. How many times has the spark of genius just come out of nowhere? Healthy Capricorn energy gets in touch with that emotional realm and leads with it. We learn to reach into the depths of our own soul and develop healthy self-determination. We take charge of our lives with an inner sense of knowing that allows us to adapt and change with whatever happens in our outer world.

In natural laws and principles healthy Capricorn realizes the community or group survives and flourishes to the extent that inclusiveness and sharing take place. Its opposite is what we observe in America today: the ugly Sag lies creating larger and larger divides amongst the “have and have nots” as the middle class is disappearing.

Venus turns stationary retrograde on December 24 at 1-2 degrees Aquarius for the next six weeks. It turns direct again on February 3, 2006 at 16 degrees Capricorn. The highlight of its retrograde cycle is the inferior conjunction Venus makes to the Sun on January 13, 2006 at 23/24 degrees Capricorn. This is the rarest of planetary retrogrades, happening only 10% of the time for Venus.

Venus retrogrades also follow an eight-year cycle by returning back to almost the same spot, retreating a few degrees each time. During any eight-year time period Venus has five retrograde cycles and makes a five-pointed star in the zodiac or a chart. You can track this at the spot Venus turns retro, turns direct or makes its inferior conjunction to the Sun. This Capricorn retrograde cycle will relate back to your life eight years ago, and eight years before that, etc. What is your repeating theme?

Venus is the archetype of essential needs. These needs come from our value systems and determine our desires. We desire that which we perceive we need be it food in our tummies or a relationship or the next expensive possession. In today’s westernized world we have been conditioned to substitute outer needs for inner needs. Once we have the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter taken care of, we tend to desire “stuff” and/or relationships.

Venus retrograde is the time to reevaluate all those outer needs. Do we really need this or that thing? As Venus turns retro barely into Aquarius there is opportunity for detachment from this world of possessions during the most materialized holiday of the year.

This retrograde cycle is also a time for reevaluating those inner essential needs. What values are really important to you? The ultimate Venus retro realization is the need and desire to be consumed by and merging with God/Goddess. It is recognizing that the Ultimate Source is the ultimate source of everything!

Venus in Capricorn wants to control its outer environment in order to feel safe. This usually means our relationships with others and the work arena. This Venus retro will force us to let go of that outer control in those areas. How is this happening for you? Where are your relationship insecurities popping up? What work challenges are you facing? Sooner or later we get to realize that our outer relationships are no substitute for, and only as good as, our inner relationships.

Venus retrograde cycles are not always filled with crisis and surprises. They can be as gentle as Mars retrograde cycles are harsh. Make an effort to review your value system over the next two solar cycles. It can be easy to slide further into debt. The average American makes 24% of its purchases through debt versus only 7% for Japanese citizens.

The Capricorn solar month is natural timing for discerning if your career is working for you. If not, what needs to evolve? This is the solar month to discern our next step in self-determination and Venus retrograde magnifies this cycle. Are you “chained” to your paycheck? How can you change your inner vibrations and values in order to change the energizing of your world and your relationship to your work? This is the month to figure it out.

Mercury makes a waning sextile to Neptune on December 24 at 15/16 degrees Sagittarius-Aquarius. On the same day as Venus turns retro Mercury-Neptune can help further our objectification of values not in sync with natural laws. Mercury receives messages about Neptunian ideals.

Mercury is finishing up its shadow time from its last retro cycle. It is another time to quest for those deeper understandings of personal truths. Do they align with natural, timeless truths? Ask for your illusions to be revealed and make the effort to step into your next level of living in harmony with natural laws.

Mars makes the third and final waning square to Saturn retrograde on December 27 at 10/11 degrees Taurus-Leo. This solar month finds Mars making its third aspect each to Saturn, Jupiter and Neptune from its own retrograde cycle in Taurus, ruled by Venus. Mars can relate to Venus turning retro – what really is of value to us? What desires are we initiating from these evolving value systems? With Mars waning square Saturn (now retro) what old value systems will be released now at the end of this calendar year?

In the Northern Hemisphere the Winter Solstice (the Sun’s ingress into Capricorn) marks an annual, natural time to begin anew. We set New Year’s resolutions as we ponder what is important to us. Christian holidays and our modern calendar come from this ancient marker of death and rebirth and the return of the Sun.

It is time to let go of those old desires no longer serving you. It is time to let go of old social patterns no longer working for you. If something doesn’t make sense anymore, release it. When we cling to old Capricorn ways, refusing to release them due to perceived security, we become depressed. This is a natural phenomenon to help us let go and move on.

Saturn in Leo wants to explore new creative realities and Mars in Taurus must first release old outer securities for inner self-reliance.

The Sun makes a waning sextile to Uranus on December 28 at 7/8 degrees Capricorn-Pisces. This can bring more insights of the old to be released. We can become aware of the subtle ways we cling to emotional securities even when we can see the dysfunction. Waning sextiles bring messages of the Universal. How can you replace rigid, controlling love patterns with more unconditional love?

This can be a time to reflect on our personal societal patterns and see if our ideals match our behaviors. If not, how can you change? How do you tithe to society? Are you casting judgments yet doing nothing?

The New Moon of Capricorn is December 30 at 9/10 degrees. This is the annual New Moon of self-responsibility. It is the opposite of Cancer and our emotional body. This can be the most depressing New Moon of the year when we are not in touch with our emotional body. Again, any depression only signifies dis-harmony. What needs to change in your inner world first?

Our outer world comes from our inner world, consciously and unconsciously. This can be a time to initiate desire to take care of our self in every way, Venus retro. Watch out for tendencies to suppress your emotions. Call on Venus to help you figure out what is going on beneath the surface.

Mercury makes a conjunction to Pluto on December 31 at 24/25 degrees Sagittarius. The inner planets create more or less annual cycles with the slower, outer planets. With Mercury-Pluto we can become aware of how our desire nature affects our thoughts. We rationalize this way and that way to support whatever we desire.

This can be a time for sparks of truth to pop in. Venus is retro, questioning our values and desire nature. Let Mercury help intuit what is best for us. Let go of the need to be right and listen. What really is important?

Saturn retro makes the second of three waning sesquiquadrates to Pluto on January 1st at 9/10 degrees Leo – 24/25 degrees Sagittarius. The first one was September 9, 2005 and the last one will be June 29, 2006. There are power adjustments here and we are noticing this for at least a year – last half of 2005 and most of 2006. Both Saturn and Pluto like to be in charge, and in fire signs they both know they are right.

Look at this collectively first. The United States experiences an administration facing exposure of lie after lie, and yet it continues to claim the superior right to act as it pleases. The waning sesquiquadrate forces one to adjust behaviors to socially-acceptable demands. It is an outer power-struggle aspect requiring reflection.

We are watching U.S. citizens standing up for their individual rights to privacy with a federal government that attempts to tell people what to believe and think as it acts above the law. We are watching citizens question an unknown war timetable that they have to pay for, regardless of agreement or not.

The waning sesquiquadrate initiates the disseminating phase in the circle. It asks us to turn inward, questioning our unchecked growth upon society and learning what society requires in order to function within it. Ironically in the U.S. situation, citizens are finally forcing government to abide by its own laws.

Individually, we want to take our Saturn in Leo creativity and tell others to accept it however we wish to give it. Pluto in Sagittarius states that we must learn our society’s philosophies and desires first, evolving as those ideas do. Then we adjust our creative functions to meet societal needs. We tend to think we know what our community needs and wish to force-feed it. It doesn’t work here. There is a “preacher versus teacher” lesson going on. We must first learn that which we desire to teach.

No matter what “community” you find yourself in – intimate, familial, work, social – make the effort to quest for a larger understanding from many different points of view. Then discern which viewpoint makes sense for you and fulfill that function.

For example, in today’s modern world with both spouses working, it is one spouse wanting the other one to do all the household chores or children’s upbringing in addition to their work outside the home. We can be modern about sharing the need to bring in the money yet traditional about gender roles of household chores. Women who work outside the home have a right to expect help inside the home. Sun in Capricorn could facilitate this Saturn in Leo creative role play.

Later this solar month Saturn makes a waxing inconjunct to Uranus in Pisces, another big aspect felt for at least a year. Saturn in Leo can feel squeezed by Uranus and Pluto. Reality just keeps changing. For those on the selfish side of Leo, more giving will be necessary. For those on the selfless side of Leo, more “taking” and standing up for our needs will be necessary. Our identity and creative self-expression must be inwardly-based to be flexible through the societal reality checks ahead.

Venus retrogrades back into Capricorn on January 1st as well for the next nine weeks. As we move past the holidays and begin another year, Venus keeps asking us to redefine what really matters to us. 2006 is an eight year in numerology, a money year and a desire for power and control. Here is Venus retro in Cap asking us to let go of control.

At least the outer control, and trade it for deep inner self-reliance that allows us to know we can take care of our self in every way. This westernized world conditions us to give our power away and it is a major lesson to claim our power back. Not through controlling the world around us. It is through deepening our relationship with our self, and Source, that we empower self.

This 2006 eight year money year and the United States leaders’ inability to be fiscally responsible will bring a “day of reckoning” sooner or later. Make those New Year’s resolutions to be individually financially solvent. You have opportunity to value being debt-free more than you value your possessions.

You can energize financial prosperity regardless of what the rest of the world experiences. One of the best ways to do this is to energize and create inner self-reliance, then financial self-reliance. How do you visualize your world? Can you hold and energize this vision through the collective fears?

What we energize we create, positive or negative. Can you choose to energize emotions of feeling safe and having more than you need? Make the effort regardless of your current situation. Energize the direction you wish to go toward not the one you fear, or, you will draw the fear to you.

Venus retrograde in Capricorn says create community with those you care about.

The Sun makes a waning trine to Mars on January 1st as well at 11/12 degrees Capricorn-Taurus. We all have desire to be secure in this world. We want to do this through enough possessions (money and/or relationships) surrounding us. Yet if we are not inwardly secure, no outer security will be enough.

This aspect can bring us opportunities in our communities to fulfill our desires and serve a societal role. It can also make us feel like controlling our stuff at the expense of others. How are you aligning your desires in the world around you? Mars in Taurus continues to help Venus retrograde clarify values and the emerging desires surfacing.

Mercury enters Capricorn on January 3rd for a quick three-week passage. Both Mercury and Venus join the Sun in Capricorn. This can create some concentrated energy to define goals and start achieving them. Time to get down to business so to speak.

Set your priorities. Make your lists. Are you fulfilling your roles in society? How do you want to change things? Is your career evolving or is it time for a change? Every time you want outer control, reach for it within first.

Mercury can help us assess which goals we can achieve and which ones are not reality yet.

The Sun makes a waxing sextile to Jupiter on January 4th at 13/14 degrees Capricorn-Scorpio. New ideas can come through, and we can intuit the plans for turning them into reality. Be careful that you are striving for inner security. Otherwise you will create plans conditioned to what keeps you safe versus what is best for your personal growth.

Jupiter is almost half-way through Scorpio yet only two months into its annual passage through each sign. There will be a Jupiter in Scorpio review (retrograde) yet this spring. We tend to project our past forward in order to feel secure. As you make plans to achieve your financial goals, spend as much time and effort on feeeeling your goal. In other words, create a vibrational match to what you wish to create.

Mercury makes a waning sextile to Uranus on January 8th at 8/9 degrees Capricorn-Pisces. Mercury wants to be practical and business-like. Here it runs into deep emotional vibrations. What messages can Uranus bring to the surface? Where are we buying into illusions, checking out because reality is too much to face?

Mercury will be figuring out the details over the next week, go for it. Capricorn wants to put up walls and push away. Pisces dissolves walls and connects. Let Uranus in Pisces help Mercury with deep realizations to create reality based upon interconnectedness with others.

Mercury makes a waning trine to Mars on January 13 at 14/15 degrees Capricorn-Taurus. First the Sun and now Mercury brings our desires into focus. Mars is making its third passage through Taurus after its own retrograde cycle. Our emerging new value systems are becoming more and more clear.

With this waning trine, we may be receiving that which we thought we wanted and now it falls flat. That possession that was so important months ago is now just another debt to pay off. The deeper lesson from the dissatisfaction that follows the momentary high of achieving yet another desire is to replace outer desires with inner desires.

How many pairs of shoes, or cds, or fill-in-the-blank must we have before we release the desire? These are the types of values we ponder this solar month with Mars third time through Taurus and Venus retro in Capricorn.

Mercury makes a waxing sextile to Jupiter on January 13 at 15/16 degrees Capricorn-Scorpio. The opportunity continues to evolve our values, needs and desires. It is not the desire for the possession itself that hurts us. It is the attachment of security, or the projection of defacto god/goddess energy. The tools that separate us from Source can be utilized to return us to Source.

It is the relationship we attach to the desire and possession. Jupiter in Scorpio can ponder these things and recognize the co-dependencies we create. Mercury can move us forward, letting go of old possessions. We can recognize the desire for what it is, a separating desire masquerading as the illusion of Source that actually procrastinates our return.

Venus retrograde makes its inferior conjunction to the Sun on January 13 at 23/24 degrees Capricorn. This is the “ah ha” of its retrograde cycle. The light of day from the Sun shines on the Venus lessons.

We are realizing what we want to achieve in our life. We can find answers to those self-reliance issues. We can recognize where we are substituting outer relationship control for an inner relationship with our self, and God/Goddess. We are figuring out the possessions we really need and which ones we can release.

Can you recognize your relationship to money? Are there things you want to change? Make the effort. An inwardly secure Venus can manifest whatever is needed, and desired, with or without actual money.

The Full Moon of Cancer is January 14 at 24/25 degrees Capricorn-Cancer. This is one of the most emotional Full Moons of the year. Practical Cap really doesn’t want to acknowledge emotional Cancer, the ruler of the Moon. Yet it is the key to its outer success, especially in the long run.

We can manifest lifetimes of outer control, wealth and possessions. Sooner or later it will crumble and we will experience that famous fall from grace or blocking of success forcing us to connect with our emotional body. When your emotional health matters more than your outer success you can create your heart’s desires.

What does your emotional body feel during this Full Moon? How well can you love your self? Can you get underneath your cover-ups and acknowledge your deepest fears? Can you find an inner connection to God/Goddess that dissipates those fears? May you be most successful in loving your inner child during this Full Moon in Cancer.

Mars makes the third and final opposition to Jupiter on January 15 at 15/16 degrees Taurus-Scorpio. This is the self-reliance versus codependency test. Mars can stubbornly hold on and Jupiter can deny any dependency issues with whatever relationships – substances, humans, perceptions of power, etc. The opposition is for awareness of opposing forces and finding the balance through objectivity.

Mars can be good in Taurus, helping us let go of values no longer serving us. Jupiter can be sharp with dynamite intuition in Scorpio. Let Mars expose your vulnerabilities. Ask Jupiter to quest for deep, absolute truth. Reach for your next step of inner self-reliance. Face any relationship issues and metamorphose them.

Mars is the leading edge of our conscious desires, the recipient of our deepest unconscious desires (Pluto), whether of a separating or returning nature. We can face those outer separating desires and replace them with the desire to return to Universal Source. Or, recycle separating desires, buying into another round of illusions.

Mercury makes a conjunction to Venus retrograde on January 17 at 21/22 degrees Capricorn. The focus continues to sharpen and we can let go, let go, let go. New values, new needs and desires are emerging. Take some time to communicate what is important to you with those who are in your life. Take time to listen to what they have to say.

We are always balancing inner and outer. Both take place at the same time. Can you quiet your mind and focus on what is important? What inner goal is top priority? What outer goal is top priority? Are they compatible? Try not to sacrifice your inner world for outer world. Continue to review your values.

Work and career come into the picture all solar month. Do these Mars aspects bring you to career decisions or opportunities? How can you make your role in society work for you? Natural laws and principles ask us to take the path of the householder. We must function in both home (Cancer) and society (Capricorn). We evolve spiritually through our emotional body and connection with others, not in isolation.

Mars makes the third and final waxing square to Neptune on January 18 at 16/17 degrees Taurus-Aquarius. This can be more clarification of the Mars-Jupiter opposition as both of these Mars aspects are only days apart. They merge into a T-square configuration with Neptune as the release valve.

Neptune in Aquarius can bring spiritual objectivity when we are not caught up in defensiveness and narcissism. It can help Mars-Jupiter understand broader pictures. If we are too caught up in our co-dependencies, Neptune can bring the shocks of abandonment and betrayal. We can also receive the repeated messages of what is coming next – pay attention.

Mars-Neptune is asking for honesty regarding our intents and desires, especially in relationships. If you find the value (Venus retro) of your current relationship fading, be honest about it. Mars-Neptune works best with absolute honesty about our desires. It is hard to do as we do not want to hurt anyone. The dishonesty of lies and/or avoidance hurts worse. Be honest. Speak up.

Finally Saturn retrograde makes the second of three waxing inconjuncts to Uranus on January 19 at 8/9 degrees Leo-Pisces. This aspect lets us fine-tune our creativity into what works for the needs of the whole. It says we must adjust ego and bring it into balance with soul.

The archetype of ego relates to Leo and both extremes are found – selfishness and selflessness. Either extreme must be adjusted in the quest for equality. Some souls will find their inflated egos busted, and others will feel the explosion of standing up for themselves.

Uranus in Pisces must watch the tendency to avoid whatever is unpleasant or uncomfortable to face. Avoidance and escapism will only create cataclysms. Uranus in Pisces can keep giving us insights into the interconnectedness of everything. What happens to one of us actually happens to all of us.

Saturn in Leo (retro) can open up to this reality as well. It can be tough for ego. We just want to remain in our own safe little world. We just want everyone to adjust to our viewpoints and Uranus in Pisces keeps saying open up and look around.

As Saturn encounters its oppositions to Neptune in Aquarius during 2007 these types of messages will just keep coming. So will the cataclysms with nature, attempting to bring us back to harmony with all.

Do your best to keep on evolving, changing with the times. Capricorn is a cardinal archetype, which has to make effort to not retreat when change is initiated. Uranus in Pisces keeps demanding that we leave the illusions of separateness behind. Neptune in Aquarius joins Uranus to move us into the Aquarian Age.

When Saturn in Leo can consciously open up to all this deep stuff, we can each discern and evolve into societal roles that fulfill us and the needs of the global village. New leaders in tune with global needs will emerge from these Saturn in Leo adjustments to Uranus and Neptune. May you be successful in your societal roles through this solar month, the New Year and the coming Aquarian Age!

May God/Goddess bless you through Sun in Capricorn!