The New Moon in Capricorn was on Sunday January 2nd. After the crunchiness of the Saturn-Uranus square going exact last month, and the intensity of the eclipses in late 2021, this new cycle offers more ease, at least internally (with Venus retrograde ‘till the 29th, and Mercury just about to retrograde from January 14th-February 3rd).
There may be some clarity, or a sense of things starting to coalesce. But given that The Toxic Hustle is one Dark Side of Capricorn, I would avoid the temptation to New-Years-Pushing-Forwards and Tackling-Those-Goals because that’s all Old World Ways we are learning to shake off. The question now is: how do we do our work in ways that sustain and nourish us. How do we do our work like the goat climbs the mountain, one careful step at a time.
This month, with the New Moon in Capricorn trine to Uranus, a relief after so much square Uranus energy; now this is a moment to make some headway, at least on an inner level; to begin clarifying the new structures, new commitments, new priorities, new visions, new ways; to see more clearly how to innovate; to find the flow. Or, even better, maybe the new structures are crystallizing organically, maybe it isn’t something you are doing or deciding, but rather witnessing, accepting, and collaborating with.
Venus retrograde (conjunct Pluto) until January 29th is helping us to clarify our values. Some of the simplest and most important but often most difficult questions: what is truly important to you? What do you really want? What do you value? What do you desire?
How can we possibly live a good life if we don’t even know what we want? Or if we don’t accept that we deserve it! Capricorn is building something–it’s sights are far off in the future. But if we don’t know what’s important to us, how are we to work towards it? If we are operating on inherited values, or the ideals of a toxic culture, then we are simply complicit; and when we finally arrive at the peak of the mountain, we might find it wasn’t worth it, we don’t like it up here, it was the wrong mountain to climb and now we are stuck on its peak with people we don’t even like….
Venus retrograde in Capricorn urges us toward transformation, through the transformation of physical structures and real-world commitments. The cosmos is helping us reorganize our finances, bank with more integrity, shop with more consciousness, restructure our business, get our affairs in order; align our commitments, responsibilities, and patterns with our values and ethics. We want, not just efficiency and organization, but we want those in the name of what we really believe in. We want integrity. We want not just responsibilities, but responsibility.
And a deeper thread of Venus retrograde: contemplating how we love and who, contemplating past relationships and current ones, and potentially themes around betrayal, abuse, sexual exploitation. (The Ghislaine Maxwell trial displays in full theatrics a too-literal manifestation of this transit in all its gory glory).
But for those of us not embroiled in sex scandals, the impetus is toward deepening, intensity, evolution: we glimpse our own shadows–tend to those little niggling voices–accept the return of the repressed: then we may evolve and deepen our love and relationships. It’s through facing the niggling that it will dissipate. It’s through going into the fear, into the tension, and tending it, that we heal.
Venus in Capricorn values such inner work; and also simplicity, efficiency, practicality. And this seems a good place to begin when creating the new: let’s get down to the bare bones of what is absolutely necessary; what is absolutely important. What can we strip away? What can we do without? And this means the pain that we are ready to release as well as that bag of old clothes taking up too much room in our closet. It means the relationships that drain us, and the social media habits that leaves us anxious. Expansion at this time is best served through simplicity (like the expansive feel of an uncluttered room).
What are all the many commitments in your life? From people to courses to work and hobbies and habits and expenses; you might take an inventory of where your energy, time, and money goes; of what and who you are invested in. And then, it sounds ruthless, but that’s Capricorn for you: cut out all that isn’t essential. You can add it back in later if you decide to, but Capricorn wants subtraction. So let’s begin with the necessary and build up from there.
When we get serious about cleaning up our life, about aligning with our integrity, about reorganizing our commitments, then it becomes easier to let go. We can settle into the flow of our life, trusting that we are in alignment. So, is there a way to loosen our grip? We have so much less control than we think, and the only way to experience the magnificent flow of life is to let go. From the fear-induced desire to control, predict, rule, and restrict; to the heart-opened exhilaration of life and love and creativity: what is ours to release? How might we avoid Capricorn’s invitation to contraction, and embody instead its discipline and inner authority in service of love?