It is important to be reminded, every hundred oracles or so, that these symbols were divined randomly—that is to say that Elsie Wheeler, the clairvoyant, had no idea which degree of the zodiac she was assigning her imagery to. She was shown a blank card, on the back was pencilled the degree number. So when we have an image, like the previous one, that speaks to the group preparing a canoe; only to then happen on today’s image, at 5° Capricorn, Indians On The Warpath, While Some Men Row A Well-Filled Canoe, Others In It Perform a War Dance, we sense there is more afoot than coincidence. Today we are mobilizing our physical and emotional energies in a spirt of conquest, which is an undertaking I can get my brain around. Capricorn energy is that of resolution, just as the New Year’s brand falls into its time-frame. We asre seeking new resolve here. Resolution if not revolution. Fittingly Aquarius rules this oracle in a twelve-fold sequence, the combination of Capricorn and Aquarius energy being at once a seamless marriage and a melding of opposites. Capricorn wishes to resolve conflicts, whilst Aquarius seeks to overthrow the previous order that is one-half said conflict and set up a new order.

In this symbol we have the rowers and we have the ritualizing warriors, both of whom are working in tandem in expression of their intent toward war. Life is war. Survival is war. The fight is the first impetus to life, which is why the first sign of Aries is ruled by Mars, named for the god of War. We must fight to stay alive, individually, survival being reserved for the fittest. And as we combine together into societies, a single society takes on the characteristics of an individual, the group becomes the body seeking survival if not thrivation. And like the individual body, which stays in motion via unconscious mechanism, whilst the conscious mind reinforces its goals, we see here the body of the crew in the canoe divided into one group which must rhythmically keep the body (of the canoe) in motion, like the heart would our actual physical being, whilst the other half of the contents of said canoe are conjuring divine intervention via the dance to aid them in their conscious battle-aims.

We have been dealing a lot with Indian imagery already in these first handful of Capricorn images and there is an archetypal reason why. Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, the god of the golden age. During his rule, before being overthrown by the Olympian Zeus, the golden age was a sort of Eden where in there was no crime or murder or lies or any element of duality or dualism. People lived in bliss, and the gods and demigods and men co-mingled peacefully, and in tune with nature, one with heaven, without dichotomy. In real human terms we can equate that kind of earthly bliss with certain cultures, namely that of the native American who, for the most part, lived in harmony with nature and other living creatures. Only a Capricorn like Kevin Costner would have undertaken a project like Dances With Wolves so successfully. And we see other Capricorn men eschewing civilization to live, if somewhat reclusively, far from the madding crowd, in nature. John Denver, J.D. Salinger (I would look up others online but I’m on a flight with no internet but I’m confident I could further support this claim) come to mind.

For sure this image is about a group of people on the offensive. They seem as much intent on conquer as they do on self-preservation via momentum, changing it up, having a “momentous” event glavanaze, inspire and motivate them. Aggression is something that may need to be ritualized into experience even at times when the collective isn’t threatened; for without regular shows of ritualized aggression the collective might get week and fall into weakness. The planet Mars is exalted in the sign of Capricorn—Mars and Saturn making a mythical connection as the disgruntled son and deposed father of the chief god Zeus. There is something brash and obvious and entitled about the Zeus/Jupiter/Sagittarius experience—remember that fat boy on his hobby horse, for whom all is going his way. Jupiter is synonymous with fortune and the chief god does have luck on his side, though he exhibits a certain nouvelle-riche sense of style and accomplishment. Saturn, via the sign of Capricorn, might not be at the height of power, his having passed into the past, but he does have the fullfillment of knowing that his time of governship was/is considered golden, just as Zeus’ disgruntled sond might imagine more golden times ahead.

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