Capricornus Constellation Meaning

Capricornus Constellation

Capricornus Constellation [Stellarium]

Capricornus Constellation Astrology

Capricornus Constellation the Sea Goat, is an ecliptic constellation laying between constellation Sagittarius and constellation Aquarius. It spans 25 degrees longitude in the zodiac sign Aquarius. The Capricorn constellation contains 17 named fixed stars.

20002050StarNameSp. ClassMagOrb
03♒4604♒34α1 CapGiedi PrimaG3Ib4.301°10′
03♒5204♒34α2 CapGiedi SecundaG6/G8III3.581°40′
04♒0304♒45β1 CapDabihA5:n3.051°50′
04♒2605♒08ν CapAlshatB9IV4.771°00′
04♒4305♒25π CapOculusB4V5.081°00′
05♒1002♒52ρ CapBosF3V4.771°00′
07♒0907♒52ψ CapPazhan, YueF5V4.131°20′
07♒5808♒40ω CapBaten AlgiediK4III4.121°20′
11♒5112♒3324 CapK5/M0III4.491°10′
12♒4409♒49η CapArmusA4V + F2V4.841°00′
13♒5114♒33θ CapDorsumA1V4.071°20′
16♒5617♒38ζ CapMarakk, Yan, YenG4Ibp3.771°30′
17♒4118♒23ι CapDai, TaeG8III4.271°20′
17♒4818♒1736 CapJin, TsinK0III4.501°10′
20♒1220♒54ε CapCastraB2.5Vpe4.511°10′
21♒3922♒21κ CapG8III4.721°00′
21♒4822♒30γ CapNashiraA73.691°40′
23♒3324♒15δ CapDeneb AlgiediA7m III2.832°00′
25♒5026♒32μ CapKuhF3IV5.071°00′

CAPRICORN is endowed with an aspiring, determined, serious mind, considerable reserve and self-control and greatly interested in acquisition. They have the ability to scale the heights, the ability to manage and direct others and for others, but when under bad directions, many pitfalls await the Capricornian. They are careful, cautious, and farseeing as far as they are concerned, inclined to be serious, have the ability to command and direct, and command the respect of friends, yet fail to hold their respect and benevolent feelings. Sudden and unexpected losses while under adverse conditions may be experienced, but equally good fortune awaits under good directions.

NEGATIVELY: Capricorns waste time being moody and have a tendency towards being indecisive; they tend to take advantage of others, they can be downright greedy and selfish, and at times, they are carried away by their own thriftiness. They tend to be severe with themselves and others, and people generally think of them as being cold and aloof. They can be hard to please and tend to have a calculating nature.

KEYWORDS: in Capricorn constellation:

(+) Positive: Self-reliant, independent, ambitious, conservative, persevering, practical, grave and sober, determined, disciplinarian, indefatigable.

(–) Negative: Uncompromising, schemer, abrasive, proud, selfish, ultra-conservative, ruthless, vindictive, intolerant, Severe. [1]

Constellation Capricornus: Ptolemy’s observations are as follows “The stars in the horns of Capricorn have efficacy similar to that of Venus, and partly to that of Mars. The stars in the mouth are like Saturn, and partly like Venus: those in the feet and in the belly act in the same manner as Mars and Mercury: those in the tail are like Saturn and Jupiter.” By the Kabalists this constellation is associated with the Hebrew letter Yod and the 10th Tarot Trump “The Wheel of Fortune.” [2]

The constellation Capricorn has a great influence over human affairs portending major changes in such areas as climate and political customs. Along with the sign, the constellation is also noted as the “Mansion of Kings.” Unfavorably situated with regards to lunar eclipses, it indicates major storms, especially at sea. [3]

Capricornus next to the eastward from Sagittarius, is our Capricorn, the French Capricorne, the Italian Capricorno, and the, German Steinbock, — Stone-buck, or Ibex, — the Anglo-Saxon Bucca and Buccan Horn…Very frequent mention was made of this constellation in early days, for the Platonists held that the souls of men, when released from corporeity, ascended to heaven through its stars, whence it was called the Gate of the Gods; their road of descent having been through Cancer. But some of the Orientals knew it as the Southern Gate of the Sun, as did the Latins in their altera Solis Porta. Berossos (the Babylonian historian Berossos, about 200 BC) is reported by Seneca to have learned from the old books of Sargon [this Sargon has been considered the almost mythical founder of the first Semitic empire, 3850 BC.] that the world would be destroyed by a great conflagration when all the planets met in this sign…

In astrology, with Taurus and Virgo, it was the Earthly Trigon, and black, russet, or a swarthy brown, was the color assigned to it; while, with Aquarius, it was the House of Saturn, as that planet was created in this constellation, and whenever here had great influence over human affairs; as Alchabitus asserted, in the Ysagogicus of 1485, caput et pedes habet; and it always governed the thighs and knees. It also was regarded as under the care of the goddess Vesta, and hence Vestae Sidus. Ampelius singularly associated it with the burning south wind Auster, and Manilius said that it reigned over France, Germany, and Spain; in later times it ruled Greece, India, Macedonia, and Thrace, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg, Saxony and Wilna, Mexico and Oxford. Manilius also wrote of it as in our motto, And at Caesar’s Birth Serene he shone.

The almanac of 1386 has: “Whoso is borne in Capcorn schal be ryche and wel lufyd”; in 1542 the Doctor, as Arcandum was called, showed that a man born under it would be a great gallant, would have eight special illnesses, and would die at sixty; and according to Smyth it was “the very pet of all constellations with astrologers, having been the fortunate sign under which Augustus and Vespasian were born,” although elsewhere, in somewhat uncourtly style, he quotes: “prosperous in dull and heavy beasts.” It also appears to have been much and favorably regarded by the Arabians, as may be seen in their names for its chief stars, and in the character assigned by them to its lunar mansions. But these benign qualities were only occasional, caused probably by some lucky combination with a fortunate sign, as is known only to the initiated, for its general reputation was the reverse; and, in classical days, when coincident with the sun, it was thought a harbinger of storms and so ruler of the waters. [4]

Capricornus Constellation

Capricornus Constellation [Urania’s Mirror]

In her shrine Vesta tends your fires, Capricorn: and from her you derive your skills and callings. For whatever needs fire to function and demands a renewal of flame for its work must be counted as of your domain. To pry for hidden metals, to smelt out riches deposited in the veins of the earth, to fold sure-handed the malleable mass—these skills will come from you, as will aught which is fashioned of silver or gold. That hot furnaces melt iron and bronze, and ovens give to the wheat its final form, will come as gifts from you. You also give a fondness for clothes and wares which dispel the cold, since your lot falls for all time in winter’s season, wherein you shorten the nights you have brought to their greatest length and give birth to a new year by enlarging the daylight hours. Hence comes a restless quality in their lives and a mind which is often changed and floats this way and that; the first half of the sign is the slave of Venus, and that with guilt involved, but a more virtuous old age is promised by the conjoined fish below. [5]

Giedi is the first star by longitude in Capricorn, also the first by Greek letter rating, α Capricorni, though not actually the brightest. It should be pronounced ‘zhaydy’, coming from one of the Arabic words for goat: Al Jadii. Situated in the head of the creature, it is actually a stellium of five stars in two very close groups,  α¹ and α². The first contains three stars, the second two. Very close to these is γ Capricorni, Al Shat (the Sheep), generally viewed as a ‘sacrificial lamb’ symbol, while conjunct in longitude but somewhat to the south of the others is β Capricorni, Dabih, ‘The Slaughterer’. This is another apparent double star, β¹ and β². It will serve us best to consider the whole group at once.

Ptolemy gave Giedi the very unusual rating of a Venus-Mars type, while Dabih, its full name being Al Sa’ad al Dhabih, the Lucky Slaughterer, is a Saturn-Venus. He did not mention Al Shat, which seems to have been introduced into the scene by Arab astronomers, for the attention of Mr. Dabih, we must presume.

Readers will generally be familiar with the story of Abraham being spared at the last moment from having to sacrifice his son Isaac when God provided a sheep as an alternative. Learned clergy of three religions have written volumes about this legend, a rather sick one to most people today. Human sacrifice may have had its origins in one of two ways after the Great Disaster; either the shortage of food was such that warring between communities was conducted for what little was available, including the bodies captured, dead or alive, or else the general condition of the survivors was so poor that the leaders had many of the culled to preserve the quality of the fitter ones. It sounds horrible either way, and so it was, but quite possible. The growth of the idea that it was Divinely ordained is not surprising in the wake of a cosmic disaster that had almost wiped out everyone. [6]

References

  1. The Power of the Fixed Stars, Joseph E. Rigor, 1979. p.181-182
  2. Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923, p.36.
  3. Fixed Stars and Judicial Astrology, George Noonan, 1990, p.36.
  4. Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Richard H. Allen, 1889, p.135.
  5. Astronomica, Manilius, 1st century AD, book 4, p.241.
  6. The Living Stars, Dr. Eric Morse, 1988, p.100.

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