Capricorn
The sea goat: a cardinal earth sign ruled by Saturn. The Sun enters Capricorn at the December solstice and stays from about 22 December to 19 January, the first month of winter in the north.
Cardinal earth, ruled by Saturn
Cardinal earth starts practical things: businesses, institutions, long plans with a foundation under them. The tradition reads Capricorn as ambitious, disciplined and responsible, a sign that sets a goal and climbs towards it one sure foothold at a time. Taurus, fixed earth, is read as enjoying what it has, and Virgo, mutable earth, as refining it; Capricorn organises it towards an end. The reading gives it patience, reliability and a dry wit, and also coldness, pessimism and a tendency to measure worth by achievement.
Saturn rules Capricorn, and Aquarius as well in the traditional scheme; here it is read as structure, authority, time and work that lasts. Mars is exalted in Capricorn, traditionally at 28°, which the tradition reads as force put under discipline. Jupiter is in its fall, easy expansion checked by limits, and the Moon, the ruler of the opposite sign, is in detriment. The decans are Jupiter, Mars and the Sun as faces, or Saturn, Venus and Mercury through the earth signs.
Capricorn as Sun, Moon and rising sign
The Sun in Capricorn
A Sun in Capricorn is read as a self built over time: someone who takes on responsibility early, respects competence and plays a long game. The tradition describes a reserved, capable person, often more relaxed and funnier with age, loyal to structures that work and impatient with those that do not. On the other side it lists rigidity, overwork, and difficulty admitting to needing anything.
The Moon in Capricorn
The Moon is in detriment in Capricorn, and a Moon in Capricorn is read as feeling that is managed rather than displayed. Security comes from competence, a plan and self-reliance, and care is shown by providing and protecting. The tradition reads it as dependable in a crisis and slow to ask for comfort, sometimes treating its own needs as an inconvenience. The Moon spends about two and a half days in Capricorn.
Capricorn rising
Capricorn rising is read as a serious, composed, capable first impression, the person who looks as if they are in charge, with Saturn ruling the chart. Capricorn is the natural sign of the tenth house, vocation and public standing. At London’s latitude it rises in about an hour and three-quarters; at Sydney’s it takes about two and a quarter hours.
When the Sun is in Capricorn
The conventional dates are 22 December – 19 January. The Sun arrives at a different hour each year, so the exact moments for this turn of the year are worked out here.
The Sun reaches 0° Capricorn at the December solstice, on 21 or 22 December by Greenwich time, the shortest day in the north and the longest in the south. From there the northern days lengthen through the coldest weeks of the year. The Sun is at its fastest in Capricorn, taking about twenty-nine and a half days to cross it, the shortest stay of the twelve, because the Earth passes closest to the Sun in early January.
The sea goat
The sea goat has a goat’s front and a fish’s tail, an image far older than Greek myth: the Babylonians already drew the goat-fish and linked it with the god Ea. Greek stories connected it with Pan, who turned half into a fish to escape the monster Typhon. The tradition reads the double creature as a sign that climbs the mountain and still knows the depths it came from.
Capricorn and Cancer across the wheel
Opposite Capricorn is Cancer, cardinal water facing cardinal earth. The axis is read as public life and private life: Capricorn builds a position in the world, Cancer keeps the home that makes it bearable. It runs through the tenth and fourth houses, the top and bottom of the chart. Planets across it are read as the balance of career and family, of authority and care, each needing the other to stand.
The sign and the constellation
The constellation Capricornus is a faint triangle of stars. The Sun is in front of it from about 20 January to 16 February, which is the sign Aquarius, and during the sign Capricorn it stands before the stars of Sagittarius instead. Sidereal Capricorn begins about 14 January, the date of the Indian festival of Makar Sankranti, which marks the Sun’s entry into it. The difference between the systems is set out on signs and constellations.
Common mix-ups
The Tropic of Capricorn is named after the constellation the December solstice Sun stood in about two thousand years ago; the Sun now stands in front of Sagittarius at that solstice, and the tropic kept its name. Capricorn is a sea goat rather than an ordinary goat, which is why older images give it a tail. Births on 21 or 22 December, or on 19 or 20 January when the Sun moves into Aquarius, need the exact time and place, which a birth chart provides.
What this page claims
This page sets out how Western astrology reads Capricorn and where each part of that reading comes from. It describes a vocabulary rather than a person, and it predicts nothing about anybody born with the Sun, the Moon or the ascendant in Capricorn.
Questions people ask
What are the dates for Capricorn?
Capricorn runs from the December solstice, about 22 December, to about 19 January. In recent years the Sun has entered it on 21 or 22 December and left for Aquarius on 19 or 20 January, by Greenwich time. It is the shortest sign of the year, about twenty-nine and a half days, because the Earth is closest to the Sun in early January.
What is Capricorn’s ruling planet?
Saturn rules Capricorn in both traditional and modern astrology. It rules Aquarius too, though modern astrology gives Aquarius Uranus as well. In Capricorn Saturn is read as discipline, structure and long effort. Mars is exalted in Capricorn, Jupiter is in its fall there, and the Moon, which rules the opposite sign, Cancer, is in detriment.
What does it mean to be a Capricorn rising?
It means Capricorn was on the eastern horizon at the minute and place of birth. Astrology reads it as a reserved, self-possessed first impression, a person who can seem older or more serious than their years, with Saturn ruling the whole chart. The Sun sign may be any of the twelve; the rising sign depends on the birth time, and changes on average every two hours.
Is Capricorn a goat?
Capricorn is traditionally a sea goat, with the front of a goat and the tail of a fish. The image goes back to Babylonian astronomy, and Greek writers linked it with Pan escaping the monster Typhon by leaping into a river. Modern horoscopes often draw a mountain goat instead, which keeps the climbing part of the reading and drops the water.