Capricorn (December 22-January 20)
Your mission is to be who you are independently of the momentum or intentions of your family of origin. I recognize that, among modern writers and certainly among astrologers, I am suspicious of the “hidden” (but blatantly obvious) negative influences of family on individuals; such is not currently in vogue. On the surface, the taboo involves how people who are themselves parents are less likely to openly question the neglect and abuse at the hands of their own parents, recognizing how difficult it is to raise children. We need to go deeper than denial, if we have any plans of healing the world or healing our lives. I’m suggesting that it’s time for you to wage a revolt against your early socialization, regardless of anyone’s opinion.
Family affects us several ways, all of which deserve a careful, extended review. First, family grants us life, though it often assumes that we owe our life back to it. Then family imprints us with its values, in its own chaotic, narcissistic image. Last, the Trojan horse of guilt is installed, so that we go into paralysis any time we try to digress a single millimeter from the agenda. Fear kicks in, because we are terrified of being without the structure that allegedly supports us, though we’ve done no actual study of whether this is true. More often the “support” manifests as a battle waged when we try to make up our own minds about anything at all; or an internal conflict ensues, as if we were being challenged by some absolute authority.
The combined action of Saturn and Pluto says that you are the only actual authority in your life. This is a matter of both growth and opportunity, which at this point depend on each other. You’re being called upon to stand up to the challenges of your own evolution; indeed, to define your whole existence as one who evolves. You’re evolving past the “every man for himself” attitude that’s been pounded into humanity for so long. You are replacing it with a more elegant vision of tribal awareness, where cooperation is honored and where the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. In such a world, freedom is not a privilege but a precious responsibility. And in a word, this is leadership.
Aquarius (January 20-February 19)
You depend on your intelligence; there are few more valid astrological truisms than descriptions of that unique Aquarian gift of reason, rationality and the kind of cleverness that lends itself impeccably to engineering. Yet your astrology is now calling you in a different psychic direction. You have by now felt the strong pull toward organizing your life around hearth and home. You have observed your intuition go from something that you doubted to something that you depend upon like a trusted friend.
This journey is related to something else you’re going through, which is evaluating, questioning, and rejecting so many of the things you believed in the past. What you are seeing is that often, you perceived they were true because you believed in them. You’ve learned to take nothing for granted. Now a new clarity is taking over your life, based on a deep devotion to accurate perception that you’re embracing eagerly. For years along the way to this moment, it has seemed as if something was being taken away from you—as if your ideals were losing validity, which was a personal loss. Yet having discarded so much as false, you now have room for what is true and authentic. Having seen yourself for who you are, you can afford to allow others to witness your life. You have no need for “idealization.”
One theme you’ve become concerned with is justice, which is a worthy mission on Earth. There seems to be so little of it in the world, and you know you have something to offer here. I suggest you start on the controversial subject of love, where supposedly all is fair and which, for many, is akin to war. This is the first place to seek justice; love bestows incredible power, particularly over those whose lives have been defined by isolation. You’re the one in the position of holding a standard of fairness, which begins with authenticity. You are the one who sets the conditions on unconditional love, and the truth is, you can afford to be generous. This will connect you with a deep part of yourself that doesn’t always get a voice: a passionate maternal quality, which nourishes existence from the inside out.
