Falstaff in a Three-Piece Suit
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Taking our dreams seriously
After a full year in its own sign, Sagittarius, Jupiter enters Capricorn this week (Dec. 2, 10:20 am, through Dec. 19, 2020). In the past year, as Jupiter moved through Sagittarius, I hope you took some chances. Traveled, maybe. Undertook an advanced degree or a new direction in your career. Got married. They’re all grand adventures, and that’s what both Jupiter and Sagittarius love best.
But when Jupiter enters Capricorn, the sign of its “fall,” the buoyancy of our dreams and adventures is tempered by the hard work of bringing them to fruition – in short, the honeymoon is over. If we’ve been less than serious in the past year, this is our signal to sober up and roll up our sleeves.
Shakespeare’s Falstaff, the comic, hard-partying playmate to Prince Hal before he became Henry V, is a terrific example of Jupiter’s natural exuberance. At the end of Henry IV, young Hal ascends the throne of England and renounces his old friend along with his own wild ways. It’s cruel, but pragmatic. When Jupiter leaves Sagittarius for the heavy responsibilities of Capricorn, even Falstaff is expected to put on a three-piece suit and get to work.
If our Jupiter in Sagittarius dreams were built on a shaky foundation – if the objective behind them isn’t pure – then Jupiter entering Capricorn will topple them. Jupiter previously entered Capricorn on Dec. 18, 2007. Two months later, my first book was published. It was not well-received; to this day, it hasn’t sold out its first, small printing. Coming on the heels of the excitement and optimism I felt with Jupiter in Sagittarius in the year leading up to publication, the fall to earth was painful. But while I had tried hard to write a good book, I wrote it for the wrong reasons, and I was naive about the publishing world. The result disappointed readers familiar with my earlier work, left some colleagues cold because of the simple, sun-sign format, and resulted in a sadder but wiser author. But I learned from Capricorn. My next book was a lot truer to my own voice and goals, and it was a lot more successful.
When Jupiter moves from Sagittarius to Capricorn, dreams meet reality. If your dreams were born of what’s true about you, this year should bring success. But if you haven’t taken your real dreams seriously enough, if you doubt your authentic self to carry you to victory, this year will correct your course – by denying success to your false self, and to the wrong dreams.
Let your heart decide
At the New Moon, we sowed seeds of intention in the dark; a week later, at the First Quarter Moon, we might just see a few tiny buds breaking through the surface. We’ll sort through them, evaluate the most viable candidates, maybe pull a few out to make more room for them to grow.
At the Pisces First Quarter Moon (Dec. 3, 10:58 pm), this process is colored by irrational considerations. What’s “viable,” anyway? How about just saving a few tiny shoots just because they’re growing in a delightful, whimsical shape?
Years ago, on our tenth wedding anniversary, we checked out of the luxury hotel where we spent the night and drove straight to the county animal shelter. We’d adopted a year-old girl tabby a month earlier, and we felt she needed a little brother. We looked at quite a few, and then we spotted a baby tabby, a bit blurred around the edges, his hair bedraggled and pointing straight up. “Let’s look at that spiky one,” Jonny said. He was a mess, that kitten, recovering from parasites and mange, rescued from a box on the street. So of course, we chose him. And naturally, we called him Spike.
What’s the right choice? Which seed is viable? At the Pisces First Quarter Moon, let your heart decide.
Blurred around the edges
The combination of the Sun with Neptune in a chart is sometimes interpreted as a sign of weakness, insecurity, and even physical frailty. But under the surface is a deep need to figure out who we are and what we’re trying to become.
I suppose, at the end of the day, we’re all trying to figure that out. I mean, if you’re the reflective sort, you’ve certainly wondered from time to time exactly what you’re about. You might look at a strong, unequivocal kind of person, one who isn’t plagued with such doubts, and wish with all your might that you were more like that yourself.
Those of us born with this combination have to make a lot of mistakes, do all the things that aren’t really us, in order to figure out what is us. And it makes us a little more understanding, maybe, a little more compassionate toward the drifting souls in our orbit who don’t have it all together.
As the Sun squares Neptune (Dec. 8, 1 am PST), welcome to the world of doubt, where the only thing for certain is that we’re not completely sure of anything. For a few days this week, even that unequivocal kind of person who isn’t normally plagued with self-doubt will probably end up a little bit blurred around the edges.
© 2019 by April Elliott Kent
