Capricorn - Leader of My Own Life

by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. - Issue #100 January 1st, 2005

Happy New Year! It is interesting that Capricorn leads us into each new year, offering us lessons to carry us through our tests and trials. As we learn, we can claim the victory of courage, and the satisfaction of knowing the strength of our spirit.

The Sun is in the land of Capricorn between December 21 and January 18th. The Cancer Full Moon comes the day after Christmas, December 26 at 7:07am PST (3:07pm GMT). The Sun is at 5° Capricorn and the Moon is at 5° Cancer. The Capricorn New Moon is January 10th at 4:03am PST or 12:03pm GMT. Both the Sun and the Moon are at 20° Capricorn.

Sagittarius challenges us to find our personal path - and not just any path. We must define a path with a purpose. We must commit to this path with all our heart. Capricorn gives us the earth energy to ground the fire of desire of Sagittarius. We take our passion for our vision of our life, and we live it every moment of each day. We explore and embrace it with every step we take. We discipline ourselves to devote every breath to the realization of our life goals.

The Path up the Mountain of Life

The mountainous terrain of Capricorn can be experienced as either a laborious trial or a destiny path. Capricorn is the last to believe in or advocate a free lunch. The practical mountain goat knows that life doesn't work like the lottery. Capricorn is willing and able to do the work. With patience, the goat slowly and methodically climbs to up the mountain of life, one sure step at a time. The goat's life-long trek can be experienced in isolation, fraught with adversity, or it can be experienced as a quest for self-empowerment, where each challenge met brings a deep sense of satisfaction.

The practical goat teaches us that if we are realistic about, and respectful of, our inner and outer resources, we do not have to feel a sense of desperation or lack. Inner anguish is not created by life's challenges, but by abdicating our inner authority and misusing our power. We must learn to accept what is our responsibility, and not take on the burden of that which is not. Saturn, Capricorn's teacher, reminds us that our intention is to consolidate, not to control or to compete. Our strategy is to manage, not to manipulate. We lose energy and authority with a negative approach. With a willingness to grow, we gain power and authority, and are able to manifest our dreams.

Inner Leadership

Capricorn is the archetype of leadership. Capricorn is the tenth sign of the Zodiac and sits at the top of our birth chart. If we have integrated the lessons of the first nine signs, we are ready to step out into the world in a leadership role. But there is a personal prerequisite for our worldly destiny path. We must first take a leadership role in our personal life. We must learn to take responsibility for our thoughts, words and actions. We must be willing and able to be accountable for what we create.

Inner leadership means that we take responsibility for:

1. defining our own boundaries
2. setting our own standards
3. knowing our purpose and honoring it
4. defining our needs and making sure they are met
5. validating and supporting ourselves
6. giving approval to ourselves instead of looking for it outside ourselves.

We recognize our own limitations and figure out how to live gracefully within them. We also acknowledge our gifts, and develop them with discipline, patience and gratitude.

As we proceed in our process, it is essential to keep in mind that if we ignore or question our inner voice, we are listening to, influenced by, or controlled by some authority other than our Soul.

Capricorn/Cancer Integration

The dynamic of the Capricorn/Cancer polarity is active during the full period of the Sun in Capricorn. The outer/inner dance is highlighted at the Cancer Full Moon on December 26th when the Sun opposes the Moon. The dynamic Cancer/Capricorn interaction, which highlights both conflict and the possibility of resolution, continues through and even past the Capricorn New Moon January 10th. The Sun and Moon both at 20° Capricorn are opposed by Saturn retrograde at 24° Cancer. Saturn will complete its over two-year term in Cancer in July. We are being challenged to connect to our emotions and to use them to guide our actions.

Cancer is the tender underbelly of our emotions. Cancer facilitates our inner healing by connecting us to our feelings, family and the Divine Feminine. Cancer is our home inside our body. Cancer represents how we perceive our relationship to our home, the Earth. Our Cancer home base must feel solid and secure for us to feel safe and confident in the world.

Our leadership capabilities must first be directed to securing our home environment - our psyche, our physical body, our living situation and our connection with nature. When we feel comfortable in these domains, we can take a firm foundation of Self into the world. This is absolutely critical because of the nature of our challenge in the world. Every day we face the unknown. No matter how repetitious and seemingly predictable our daily routine, it is a fact of time-based reality, that no moment is ever exactly the same.

The Unknown and Leadership

The unknown factor is compounded dramatically if we define the purpose of our path to innovate, to create something new, and to leave a legacy. In this case, we are not just accepting the unknown as it presents itself to us. We are walking into the unknown with vision that we are intent upon bringing into manifestation. We are stepping up to the plate of destiny with a design to be implemented. We are accepting the cloak of a leader. We are volunteering for a leadership role in our community. We are engaging the commitment to making the world a different place because we came here for a visit.

To play a leadership role, we have to perceive beyond the limits of status quo reality. Envisioning a better world is not that hard to do. The real challenge is, that we have to transcend the boundaries of our own mental parameters and emotional projections to make it happen. To do so, personal transformation is required. Emotional maturity is the foundation that will allow us to deal with the challenges that confront us on our journey.

We qualify to take an authentic leadership role in the world when we can work through and offer our presence to situations needing healing, guidance and inspiration. Everyone knows how to be confrontational, even though some are more adapt at manipulating others through intimidation and conniving. But the ability to control others through fear and judgment are not the skills of a true leader. A true leader inspires others through kindness, compassion, courage, tolerance and living the truth. These skills are cultivated internally. The love of Mother Cancer supports an authentic Capricorn authority. As we say YES to our destiny path, inner and outer meet in the peaceful integrity of our own heart.

Self-Mastery

Capricorn is the sign of self-mastery. Under Capricorn's rule, we claim the chalice. We find the Holy Grail. Obviously not an easy path, our integrity is continually challenged on many levels. We meet our fears, doubts and insecurities. We encounter external resistance, which simply mirrors our inner resistance and lack of self-esteem or self-worth. These challenges could not access our psyche if there were no holes of doubt and fear inside ourselves which allow them to enter.

It is critical that we understand and accept the developmental context within which we are being challenged. If we are striving for self-mastery, we have to build our internal power and our connection with our own authority. We are not going to become self-empowered simply by thinking it is a good idea. We have to meet the collision with life head on.

We build our power by facing our doubts and fears about ourselves and our integrity. We grow into a position of power by reducing and eventually eliminating our negative self-talk.

Visible and Invisible Leaders

We are not all destined to be visible leaders, but if we change our consciousness and hold the space of peace and love in our psyche, we are playing a leadership role. Shifting our internal space is the first and most important criteria to play either a silent, or a vocal, leadership role in the Aquarian Age.

We are not born into a leadership position, or simply anointed. A part of us always questions the implications of moving into a bigger arena. Do we want to accept the responsibility involved? Do we feel worthy? Can we handle the commitment? Can we move beyond our personal concerns and be neutral and inclusive? Will we be able to use a position of power to serve and not to abuse? Can we stay true to the higher cause and mission and not get derailed by personal gain or loss? Is this what I really want to do with my life? All these questions knock at the door of our own fear and self doubt.

The Issue of Integrity

The seed of integrity is found inside ourselves. There are very fundamental prerequisites for inner integrity. We must know what we want out of life and take a stand for ourselves. We must be guided by our own inner authority. We must listen to our inner guidance and be able to define our needs, our desires, our path - our personal stand in life. The problem that many of us face is that we don't have our own identity and authority defined. In this, and many lifetimes, we have been placed in the role of creating harmony and consensus by abdicating our not only our point of view, but our values.

Yes, consensus is the only real way to create peace. We should maintain this goal. However, playing the energetic role of consensus maker, without listening to and honoring our own guidance, creates internal conflict, negativity and feelings of victimization.

Only superficial consensus is achieved by using the energy of those who relinquish their own identity and integrity, to support the bullies that demand to have their own way. The Aquarian age is demanding more of us than to be sacrificial lambs, to those who control power and resources by exploiting those who can be intimidated, or who don't have the guts to stand up for their own truth.

The role of conscious consensus building is not possible without first establishing our own inner authority. Once we are able to listen to ourselves, we are able to listen to others. If we aren't listening, we either fester or manipulate to try to get our way. Real peace is not the product. When we can listen to everyone, we can find common threads. We are able to negotiate and build real consensus.

Personal Integrity

Personal integrity requires us to identify the extent to which we define our position, by first finding out what others want and then fitting in. We also have to get in touch with why we do this? We are either afraid of conflict and confrontation, or we don't know what we want, and we think it is easier to find out the options acceptable to others before making our choices. If we are really honest, it is embarrassing to admit the extent to which we cater to others out of fear. This disease is called codependence.

We must examine the embarrassing factor, which is our self-doubt, shame and questioning of our own authority. This is an indicator of a lack of self-esteem and self-worth. Our discomfort registers our lack of personal integrity, defined as acknowledging, defining and legitimizing our needs, our identity, our worth and our path. We all have work to do here.

From Perfectionism to Realism

In order to establish our inner integrity, we have to have realistic criteria by which we can evaluate ourselves and grow. Herein lives one of the most fundamental blocks. We have set standards that we cannot possibly meet - perfect and perfection! The perfectionist touchstone condemns everyone, except the deluded, to failure.

To establish a sense of inner integrity, we have to start out by internalizing the following facts of human life:

1. Reality on planet Earth is anchored in the unknown. We live in the unknown. We simply can't know in advance what is going to happen. Every day we enter new territory.
2. What happens is influenced by our participation. The extent to which we participate (and that extent is unknown) depends on what we think and do. We consciously co-create to the extent that our intentions, expectations, words and actions are conscious.
3. The name of the game in physical reality is growth and evolution. We grow and learn by making choices and witnessing the results. The law of cause and effect is our teacher.
4. All humans have needs, desires, lessons to learn, and goals to work toward in each lifetime. The more conscious we are of the above, and the more we honor our unique identity as well as our human condition, the more we will live in integrity with ourselves.

Accepting the above as givens, the best we can do cannot be measured against perfection. The best we can do is to, moment by moment, do the best we can do. We can listen to ourselves, support ourselves, and make the best choices we can given the information available. The conditions and the information are never going to perfect. At the end of the day we can reaffirm our integrity, by knowing in our heart that we did the best we could.

The Dance is a Game we Play Together

An absence of personal inner authority creates self-doubt and stress. The result is that we often react defensively. We think we have enemies, when in fact we only have antagonists, who dance with us to help us define and claim our power. Someone will question us, until we are clear and stop questioning ourselves. The players of the game confront us until we can calmly say NO when we require NO, and YES when we choose YES. We have to train ourselves to listen to our own guidance and to feel how this process creates inner peace. We have to become aware of how adjusting to others wishes creates inner conflict. We are all learning. We are all teaching each other the same lesson.

As we learn to identify powerless patterns, we can acknowledge ourselves for this awareness. Instead of judging ourselves, we can be kind to ourselves. When we are kind to ourselves, we can relax and are better able to get in touch with what we want. We notice that we feel calmer when we listen to and identify our position. When we know what we need, we can figure out how to get it.

At the end of the day, we can be thankful that we took care of ourselves. We have honored our life, our soul and the Divine within. This is personal integrity. This is taking a leadership role in our own lives. By doing so we open ourselves to new expanded possibilities. When we turn off the light and tuck ourselves in, we are at peace, in integrity with ourselves

Kundalini Yoga - Exercise and Meditation

While the Sun is in Capricorn we need to activate our internal fire, so that our earth energy doesn't get stagnant, causing us to feel depressed. Active exercise is good. Running in place with punches 1-3 minutes in each direction - north, south, east and west - is a good work out to generate fire, release anger and get your energy moving. If you have a mini trampoline, use it.

When you are done, stand still, and then sit quietly and be with your awareness inside your skin. Feel both your life force, and the weight of gravity that keeps you solidly in your body and connected to the earth. This is a good time to connect with, and listen to, your inner authority. If you wish, use the above discussion to guide your self inquiry. Remember, the Divine within you is the only authority you can trust 100% of the time.

May you enjoy your journey in 2005.

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