The Capricorn personality is the portrait of an old world figure come to life. Frequently, in deep disdain of modernity and the new-fangled technologies of the last century they adopt the pose of a classicist, someone who prefers quality to quantity and understands that less is more. Capricorn has enough baggage as it is. They will trump you in the slights and scars department.
Symbolized by the sea-goat, a mountain goat with a fish tail they ascend to the summits but know the depths of the waters and can swim if need be.
Capricorn is old and wise from a young age. Typically, they received the biggest heap of baggage in their family and have become wary of relying on others to help them through this life. The Goat is self-sufficient and instinctively understands how the game of life works, particularly grasping the evanescence of cycles of time and how ephemeral glory and success often prove to be.
The father archetype is the core of the sign as the mother archetype is for Cancer. Desire to become an authority in their chosen field is a persistent theme. The Capricorn personality is an unexpected juxtaposition of leisurely pursuits and a hardcore work ethic. The goat feels like a lord to the manor born but this is a ruler in a state of decline, a leader on his way out of power.
Capricorn is born, figuratively speaking, at the peak of the summit and it can only be downhill from there. They understand power and who to stroke and who is who in the pecking order but they don’t much care. They just get on with it.
As if by automation they pick up the spade and start digging. Knowing that work and ambition are part of life’s balance they dig in, and by so doing, ascend upward, not rushing or skipping steps. They suspect that the natural order doesn’t sustain meteoric rises to fame and power.
The Capricorn personality wants to enjoy the pleasure and epicurean delights that life has to offer. It’s an earth sign after all and earth is about the experience and delight of the senses. The Goat will deny itself gratification for a period of time and then go on a binge after it has achieved a goal. While it is at work it abstains from sensual distractions and grinds slowly away at whatever pursuit is vying for its time.
The Capricorn personality is naturally organized, knowing what to delegate to inferiors and what to apportion to its own execution. Being a cardinal sign, it initiates activities.
The Goat serves society in the long run. Their success is not exclusively for their own ego gratification. It is a sign that represents the head of an organization, the crowning achievement of an business entity and Cap takes this position seriously.
Unforced and organic in the way they ascend to the pinnacle, like an old man in slippers who has the experience of worldly success under his belt, they slip in to make sure all is running tip-top then run off for a round of golf at the country club.
In dress and manner we have quite a dandyish manner of presentation. Cardigans and penny loafers are a favorite garb of the goat- casual, elegant, and unaffected. They like to let you know they are utterly unmoved by anything you may do. They take it all in stride and let Time run its course.
The Capricorn personality does not want to look closely at their psychological make-up. If they are in therapy they tend to prefer a functionalist or behaviorist approach versus delving into a deep analysis of who they are and what their *gasp* feelings might be. Capricorn seeks to fix their behavior or the way they function but they prefer to do this without dredging up the past. They don’t want to dwell in a situation that is already over and that they are powerless to change.
Understanding their inner motivations and what makes them tick is not a favorite past time of the goat.
The Capricorn personality believes in what it can see or what can be measured objectively, making them empiricists in outlook. They have little patience for entertaining what lies behind the veil of earthly existence. If these mystical phenomena can make their way into Capricorns solid world then they’ll study them assiduously but until such a revelation occurs they prefer prudently trudging the road to the great beyond. Thus, they make fine scientists.
There is something mystical in Capricorn, a mystery that can only be attained in the way the goat goes about his business, a treasure that can only be plucked by virtue of having Experience. The Capricorn personality is primed to have great highs and lows of fortune and to forge from these peaks and valleys a superior knowledge of just how far one can fall and from that fall how far one can ascend again after they pick up the broken pieces of themselves and begin marching forward.
The goat will not give up. Once they are locked into an objective, they’ll never say die, and that is the secret of success in life, to fail many times and yet to try, try again. Capricorn can be down for years, suffering the most black-dog, unimaginable depressions that would finish lighter types. It only makes this tough cookie deeper and more resolved. Once again it is their instinctive understanding of the continually fluctuating cycles of time; they know one day the tides will turn in their favor and they will be ready. The Capricorn personality does not make big leaps but they are always striving, making baby steps towards their goals. They know the tortoise wins the race in the end.
The Capricorn is the zodiacal type most likely to have its identity tied up with their vocation. Without their calling they are nothing. If they have no mountain to climb they are lost. The saddest sight is the Capricorn personality without a purpose or living in fear of making steps towards their ambition. Part of the reason that they don’t relish exploring their feelings is because their destiny impels them to act in spite of how they feel. In a sense, the sea-goat doesn’t have the luxury of wallowing in chimerical moods and emotions (That’s Cancer’s job). They end up having to be very tough with themselves in order to preserve forward momentum. Capricorn becomes so busy building up its empire that it can forget who it is apart from its title and office.
Often, it’s later in life that the Capricorn personality becomes a child. They live in reverse, starting out life with burdens heaped upon them and through having little choice but to hack away at them, they find themselves freer and clearer at a time in life when many people are getting a taste of what responsibility is all about for the first time.
Meanwhile, The Goat has lightened their load and has wisdom to boot. This put them in a prime position to dispense advice to those unbearably light souls that they envied in their youth. The Capricorn personality also tends to look younger and younger with each passing year. Their grace comes late.
Through failure and misery the Capricorn personality forges a diamond soul that can withstand “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” They don’t expect to be babied and are often the ones that are in a position to save other lost souls. Because they weren’t allowed to express their feelings as children they seek to provide sanctuary towards children that haven’t yet lost their innocence. The Goat likes to be a guardian and protector to the child’s untainted sovereignty.
Capricorn Eddie Vedder, singer, lyricist and self-avowed spiritual leader of the band Pearl Jam says in one of his songs, “All that is sacred lies in youth.” Indeed, Capricorn comes to cherish that part of life that they missed out on and dedicate themselves to preserving its sanctity for the uncorrupted innocents of the world.
JD Salinger, author of Catcher in The Rye is another that comes to mind in this light.
This is interesting. Especially about Capricorn becoming a child later in life.
I can’t think of any Capricorns I know off the top of my head (don’t know astrology well enough to identify people’s signs by their birthdays), but you make them sound like pretty cool cats.
Very accurate description.
Capricorn rising, Cancer Moon, Aries sun: Father, mother and child, all antagonists. 🤨 Tempting to let Capricorn Ascendant father rule, but that doesn’t work well. He rides roughshod over Cancer’s feelings and Aries’s enthusiasms. Let’s let Cancer Moon mother rule? She’s impractical and not externally driven enough, and needs support just to get through the day that frankly she isn’t getting. How about Aries Sun child? Hush now: he’s a child and impetuous and not thinking of consequences enough or about the feelings of others enough. Shall we call it a draw? No. Too much cardinal energy and too many contradictory unmet needs surging around, causing emotional havoc and preventing sleep. Who gets priority? Who gets to set the ship’s course?