A new year is about to begin, and it looks like I’ll greet it as I normally do—feeling like a failure. Almost invariably when I review the hopeful resolutions I set at the previous year’s Capricorn New Moon, and the goals that peppered my appointment book, I find that on all counts I have fallen woefully short of the mark.
And yet, wandering through a bookstore last week, I felt weirdly optimistic as my fingers lingered over a tempting display of calendars. They represent such hope and promise that I want to collect a hundred of them. What marvelous things I might summon to fill those pages in the coming year!
But of course, the problem is not that my date book isn’t filled with the right engagements or goals. The problem, almost certainly, is that I’m clinging stubbornly to an image of success that’s far too limited—one that is far too dependent on approval from everyone except myself.
Winter Solstice: How low can you go?
In the Northern Hemisphere the Sun enters Capricorn at the winter solstice, the moment of the year when the Sun, having reached its lowest point in the midday sky, prepares to make its slow ascent toward its summer zenith. Capricorn is the sign of the zodiac we associate with ambition, achievements, and reputation, so it’s a bit odd to think that the Sun begins its journey here in the same situation I face at the end of each year—about as low as possible.
If Capricorn, its ruling planet Saturn, or the 10th house (their natural home) are emphasized in your birth chart, you probably spend a certain amount of time castigating yourself for not measuring up. Why should that be, if Capricorn symbolizes success? Because the Sun is at its lowest point as it enters Capricorn, not its highest; we yearn to reach the heights of success, but we’re not there yet.
This New Year’s day coincides with the New Moon in Capricorn. It seems like the perfect day for resolutions and affirmations, for cracking open a new day planner and filling it with goals and deadlines and plans. But this New Moon falls in dark territory, with the Sun and Moon square Mars and conjoined Pluto. These are extremely harsh planetary taskmasters who allow no false moves, making this a particularly dicey time for resolutions. Begin the new year with your old stale blueprint of worldly success―the one that prescribes diets and tripling your income and finding the perfect partner―and you may succeed; but if you fail, or if your motivation is anything less than honorable, you’ll receive a cosmic black eye from Mars and a kick in the shins from Pluto for your trouble.
So while Capricorn generally prefers a kick-in-the pants approach, I’m trying a gentler approach to the new year. Mars and Pluto may glower, but the secret weapon at the dawn of 2014 is silent, shimmering Venus moving retrograde through Capricorn. Accordingly, my plan of action is this: Instead of hollering at myself for my failures, I’m going to experiment with a more flirtatious approach.
Venus in Capricorn: Flirt with Yourself
Venus is a flirt. And the most successful flirts are not those who flatter you with lies, but those who applaud the delicious truths about you that no one else ever seems to notice. Rather than cataloging my failures or imagining the pinnacle of awesomeness that I hope to scale in the new year, I’ll focus on the delicious truths of my present flawed but not entirely failed self. “What a clever joke!” I might commend myself on a well-executed bon mot; “You really paid attention to what your friend was saying,” or, “How beautifully you frosted that cake!” These everyday triumphs are as true as my various “failures”; why not make them the benchmark of my success in the coming year?
In 2014, I may or may not earn a lot more money, drop some weight, or become more respected in my profession. I’ll make my usual efforts toward these goals, but ever mindful of Mars and Pluto’s tingling palms, eager to smack if I should make a false move, I will not resolve to make them happen. My only resolution is the one I’m certain to keep: to do more of what is deliciously, truthfully me. To make an amusing observation here and there, to bake some lovely cakes, and to show some kindness to friends.
Let worldly success take care of itself, to flow from all that if it likes. And if it doesn’t, I’ll consider it no great loss. Because achievements that come only when we command them, and “resolve” them, and drag them by the hair using brute force of will, are rather like a boyfriend you had to trick into marrying you. They don’t really look all that much like happiness, do they?
I wish you every delight and deliciousness in 2014!
© 2013 by April Elliott Kent
As each year begins, I always run my own Sky Log transits and progressions report for the next 12 months. With inspiring text by the ever-wonderful Steven Forrest, it helps me put the year ahead in perspective. Order yours here and I’ll throw in a Steven Forrest Sky Within natal report, either for yourself or a friend – all for only $14.95!
