Do You Know What You Don’t Know?

   Tonight’s Capricorn New Moon @26-degrees 54-minutes in the sign of the goat calls us to get serious about both what we KNOW and what we have still to learn.

   Capricorn, ruled by authoritative serious taskmaster Saturn, is never in it for the kicks. Rather, this is an archetypal energy that’s old and rigid when it’s born and slowly relaxes to become more flexible as it ages.

  What does that mean?

   It means that right now we find the ruler of this perigee (closer to Earth than most full moons), blue (two full moons in the same month) Capricorn Full Moon large, in charge, & relentless in its goal to make us wiser…

   This is particularly true now not only because the Moon & Sun, but also Saturn, Mercury, Venus, & Pluto are in the same sign—hoo boy, that’s a lotta Cappyenergy! In addition, and at least until March 8 when Jupiter stations retrograde— all planets are in forward motion now.

   Most astrologers liken Capricorn energy to serious, success-oriented, and goal-driven behaviors, and all of this is true. Capricorn energy possesses a propensity for hard work, organization, upward mobility, and maintaining a positive reputation in a particular field, specific industry, or the wider world in general.

   Astrologer & Jungian analyst Liz Greene tells us in her book “Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil” that Saturn’s placement in our birth chart informs us where we came into this lifetime feeling inadequate. Likewise, any house (or houses) ruled by Saturn’s Capricorn are likely to be areas where our personal inadequacies rear their ugly heads.

   Where Saturn resides in our chart (by house & sign), and the house or houses ruled by this mentor figure, tells us where we’re likely to feel frustrated, thwarted in our self-expression, and/or to meet with difficulties.

   However, here’s the good news: We come in with a road map—where Saturn lives in our chart (and the house or houses ruled by him) is where we’re CONSCIOUS of our self-perceived inadequacies. For this reason, many of us spend a large part of our early lives feeling flawed, but aware of our feelings, which eventually allows us to change them.

   And how do we do that?

   Simple: we learn!

   “The frustrating experiences connected with Saturn are obviously necessary, as they are educational in a practical, as well as psychological, sense,” Greene states.

   At this Capricorn New Moon, we’re all being asked to discover what we DON’T know, and how to best learn it. Likewise, we’re called to own what we DO know—what we’ve studied or worked hard to learn, whether it’s on an intellectual, emotional, physical, or spiritual basis. 

Live & Learn From Fools & From Sages  

 In this day and age, I doubt there’s much dispute that different people learn best in a variety of different ways. So, some of us may have been handed our lessons from the harsher more subjective school of hard knocks as opposed to an objective, factual, logical, empirical, classroom & book-learned setting.

   Capricorn is, after all, a practical earth sign, and it’s possible our lessons were learned through physical or mental repetition, whether in a classroom or out on the streets.

   You know, repeating the same thing over and over until you finally “get” it…

   Any way you slice it, Saturn-ruled Capricorn is about coming into this lifetime with a perceived deficit, and turning it—through hard work, dedication, and a desire to be the BEST you possible—into your metaphorical treasure chest.

   Saturn represents lead. In the middle ages, alchemists attempted to change lead into gold. Little did they know this is impossible, and that what they were really attempting was to find external physical “proof” of the internal intangible metaphysical notion of transformation.

   Whether we start out life thinking we possess a physical, emotional, mental or intellectual deficit doesn’t really matter. What’s important is that when we look back we recognize the slow, steady, determined, progress we’ve made to overcome being saddled with, or hampered by, this “deficit.”

   This Capricorn New Moon’s exact message depends on the stage of your individual Saturnian journey, or where you’re at in the transformation of lead—or your perceived short-comings–into metaphorical gold.

   However, whether we’re still young and working on it, middle-aged and more accomplished, or post-second Saturn return, it’s time for self-validation and to admit to ourselves that we have learned a thing or two from our painful past experiences.

   If these experiences hurt us deeply enough, they likely propelled us into some level of self-awareness. If so, then Saturn’s done his job. However, what you dowith this newfound self-awareness ultimately makes the difference between “real” success and its mere outer trappings.

   Sometimes it’s discerning between these two that presents the most serious Saturnian challenge.

   Our lessons can come from anywhere—a parent, family member, teacher, friend, cleric, cop, lawyer/judge, colleague, boss, etc. Hell, we might even occasionally hear words of wisdom from our car mechanic or that dude on the checkout line in the grocery store…

   It’s not where you hear it, it’s whether or not it applies…