Signs: Cardinal Cross—Capricorn

Lost am I in light supernal, yet on that light I turn my back

The peak experience: material depth offering maximum spiritual opportunity

Capricorn: esoteric meaning

The symbol for Capricorn conceals the mystery of the Crocodiles, or Makara (EA 57). Although the Hindu name “Makara” (“magar” in Sanskrit: मकर) is associated with the constellation Capricorn in Vedic astrology, hybrid “crocodile gods” with similar qualities (semi-aquatic, with a body combining various kinds of animal) appear in many diverse cultures, from as early as bronze age Mesopotamia, when the constellation itself marked the Winter Solstice. The idea of creatures emerging from water and walking on land hints at the the role of hierarchical ruler Venus. There is a connection between the “Venus chain of the Earth scheme” (effectively an “incarnation” or aeon of Earth with a connection to Venus), and the Lords of Flame of the occult philosophy, who were involved in the evolution of humanity from its animal origins.

Whereas Cancer is seen as the gateway into human incarnation, Capricorn is the gateway out, being the sign of the third initiation, where we become “dead” to the purely personal self and transcend the need to learn through repeated incarnations, a role hinted at in mythology:

One legend links [Capricorn] to Babylonian Ea (Gr. Oannes), an ancient god with a human upper body and the tail of a fish who emerged from the sea to bring knowledge and culture to humans. […] In Greek mythology, the constellation was variously associated with the gate through which the souls of the dead passed, with a legendary goat said to have nursed the infant Zeus (and by metaphorical extension, the Sun), and with a myth in which the god Pan (lower half goat, human torso and head with goat horns) tried to escape the monster Typhon by turning into a fish; he managed to morph only his lower half. — Introduction to Constellations, Capricornus (The Sea Goat) Chandra X-Ray observatory (emphasis added)

The idea of a body that is half-fish and half-goat, hinting at emergence out of the waters of human life and scaling the mountain-top of initiation, is the archetypal symbolism here. However, Capricorn—like any other sign in the esoteric chart—doesn’t mean that every individual with Capricorn sun or rising rising is “an initiate”! Like all signs, it works at each level of development, and although the potential is there in all of us, we still undergo the same evolutionary process in all the signs.

Capricorn: rulers

• Orthodox: Saturn
• Esoteric: Saturn
• Hierarchical: Venus

Orthodox: Saturn ⇧

Details to follow for Saturn as orthodox ruler.

Esoteric: Saturn ⇧

Details to follow of Saturn as esoteric ruler.

Hierarchical: Venus ⇧

Details to follow of Venus as hierarchical ruler.

Decanates

See the notes about the inconsistency of decanates in Esoteric Astrology. For comparison, Stephen Pugh’s decanate rulers are listed, alongside current orthodox rulers and those given in the book.

Esoteric/developmental: conscious development (annual signs from Aries via Taurus to Pisces)

0-9°: Saturn G: Capricorn, “Saturn reveals the nature of the third aspect of divinity, the nature of intelligent substance”

10-19°: Venus D: Taurus, “Venus reveals the nature of the second aspect, which is consciousness or intelligent love” (also note that Venus is Hierarchical ruler of Capricorn)

20-29°: Vulcan Z: Virgo, “the Sun—the physical Sun and the heart of the Sun [in this case possibly Vulcan, also as the Will/life aspect] together—reveals the synthesis of [the above] two”

Exoteric/experiential: humanity in general (precession from Aries via Pisces to Taurus)

29-20°: Mercury C: Virgo, “the Sun stands exoterically for Mercury” which only enables “the vision [to] be intuitively perceived” once Saturn has done its work. Otherwise, the fluid mind in the service of individual ambition

19-10°: Venus D: Taurus, “material stability, pleasure and comfort”

9-0°: Saturn G: Capricorn, “breaks up existing conditions by the force of its energy impact”

• Orthodox: Saturn, Venus, Mercury (Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo)
• EAst e/o: Saturn, Venus, Sun (Vulcan?) / Mercury, Venus, Saturn
• Pugh e/o: Mercury, Venus, Saturn / Mercury, Venus, Saturn (no reversal?)

There is contradiction in Esoteric Astrology about Capricorn’s decanates. On p173 they are given as “Saturn, Venus and the Sun” but on p442 we read that “Saturn, through which energy flows from Leo, via Shamballa, to Humanity, governs two decanates in Capricorn”, which may be a transcription error or conflation, as Saturn is both the orthodox and esoteric ruler of Capricorn. (See Saturn: Details as this planet has multiple connected roles in esoteric astrology).

Further, the Sun is stated as standing “exoterically for Mercury and esoterically for a hidden planet” (a familiar role seen throughout esoteric astrology), but in this case the decanate in question is ruled by Virgo whose esoteric ruler is Vulcan—a likely candidate here for “the heart of the Sun” (EA 393) although generally Neptune represents the “heart of the Sun” (e.g. in Leo). However, it is Vulcan’s influence that supersedes all “lunar control” of the personality, which is then “lost to sight in the radiance of the Sun, the soul” at which point the “light of Vulcan and… the Sun are one” (EA 132).

Finally, of the three veiled planets, Vulcan represents the third aspect or “the nature of intelligent substance” for which Saturn opens the door in Capricorn. So Vulcan appears to be the most fitting candidate for the “hidden and deeply significant planet” veiled by the Sun in the third decanate.

Two sets of rulers for the three decanates are available. According to Alan Leo, we have Saturn, Venus and Mercury. According to Sepharial we have Jupiter, Mars and the Sun. Of these two, the first is the more correct and the more esoteric. The true rulers are Saturn, Venus and the Sun. I would remind you that Mercury and the Sun are interchangeable but that in this case the Sun stands exoterically for Mercury and esoterically for a hidden planet.

Saturn relates Capricorn to the previous sign Aquarius, upon the ordinary wheel, and Jupiter, exoterically understood, relates Capricorn to Sagittarius upon the reversing wheel. It will be obvious to all esotericists that the Sun is the obvious ruler of the third decanate, veiling as it does a hidden and deeply significant planet and being that which reveals divinity at the time of the third initiation. You will note how, in this great sign of initiation, Saturn reveals the nature of the third aspect of divinity, the nature of intelligent substance; Venus reveals the nature of the second aspect, which is consciousness or intelligent love, whilst the Sun—the physical Sun and the heart of the Sun together—reveals the synthesis of these two. (EA 172-3)

Vulcan— …reveals that which is deeply hidden and brings it up into the light. Esoterically—the heart of the Sun (EA 393, under Taurus)

Saturn, through which energy flows from Leo, via Shamballa, to Humanity, governs two decanates in Capricorn [see above about this inconsistency]. Hence its extreme potency today in the triangle of Humanity. Saturn breaks up existing conditions by the force of its energy impact, thus enabling the influence of Mercury to be more fully expressed. The vision can then be intuitively perceived when obstructions have been removed. (EA 442)

Esoteric Astrology: 172-3, 393, 442