Capricorn preview for 2025

Topics (linked to paragraphs):
Capricorn
The Culmination
Climbing the mountain
Emergent boddhisattvas
Capricorn groups and nations
Group impact
The full moon
Eris’ mythology
Ancient karma revisited
Preparatory clearing
Current events
Ukraine update
West Asia update
The dangers of ‘victory’
Who is in the driver’s seat?
Iran in the crosshairs?
Revivals in Syria
Paris and Brussels
The incoming administration
Brzezinski, globalism and wokism
O Canada!
Panama
Greenland? Really?
Washington and Capricorn
In conclusion

Greetings Everyone!

It is a holiday tradition in this part of the world to tune in to the New Year’s concert in Vienna on New Year’s Day. There are many such concerts across the world on that day to usher in the New Year. What better way to do so than to celebrate the start of the year with some of the most beautiful music in the world? This year the Vienna Philharmonic was directed by the Maestro Riccardo Muti, who gave his thoughts for the coming year in the quote at the start of this letter, after he was interrupted by the audience at the opening strains of “The Blue Danube” (“An der schönen blauen Donau” by Richard Strauss II). Never interrupt the Maestro. One always gets an earful if so. But his blessing for the year is one we can all take to heart in fullness. I certainly echo his sentiments. Seeing those concerts always brings back fond memories of my time playing in the community orchestra when I was at university. We couldn’t hold a candle to the Vienna Philharmonic, but we put our full efforts into it. The strains of the Blue Danube echoed through my head for days after the Capo D’anno concert this year, especially after Muti’s words.

The Christmas season just ended here in Italy. The Epiphany (Jan 6) is the official end of the season. It is also known as the day of La Befana (witch). The befana is a soot-covered woman or witch in Italian folklore who delivers presents to the children on the night before the Epiphany. Of course, the parents all know who the befana really is, but we don’t tell the kids. So, the kids here get two nights for receiving gifts. Not a bad deal. The day after, though, all the Christmas lights are turned off in the city, the stalls at the Christmas market are disassembled and life returns to the daily grind. Sigh…It’s always a little sad to see it all go. It also means the working year is reinstated and the New Year is on in earnest. The only things that remain from the holidays are the after-Christmas sales. We take our lights and decorations down here at the house this weekend. And as for the natural seasons, we can already notice the daylight hours here beginning to slowly increase. I know, too, because the dogs are already waking me up a little earlier as the weeks pass. Animals live by the sun, unlike we who live by society-imposed clocks. But this theme of increasing light is connected with our current theme for this month – the sign Capricorn. Capricorn has been called the “birthplace of the Christ,” the place of the “second birth” into spiritual Life.^[2] Hence, Christmas is celebrated in Capricorn.

Capricorn: In the northern hemisphere the winter solstice, marking the ingress of the Sun into Capricorn, signals the end of the darkest daylight hours of the year and the promise of increasing light. Capricorn in the north thus symbolizes the victory of light over darkness. The victory is not apparent yet, but as the weeks pass the victory becomes more and more apparent, to be fulfilled at the solstice at Cancer. However, there is light, and then there is spiritual Light. Esoterically the situation of light in relation to the cancer/Capricorn axis is reversed. The darkest of days in terms of spiritual light is when a person enters into physical incarnation, archetypally in the sign Cancer.^[3] It is in Capricorn, esoterically, when the greatest Light is experienced and the doorway that leads out of samsara (the necessity for rebirth in a physical body) is opened wide. We have at that point, having seen the open door, only to make the effort to walk through it. So, we have a theme here, as in ‘from darkness to the Light’.

The Culmination: Capricorn rules the natural 10^th house (sector) of the Western zodiac, with the cusp of that house being called the Midheaven. In terms of daylight hours the Midheaven represents the noon hour, the hour of greatest sunlight, whereas the cusp of the 1^st house (the Ascendant) represents dawn (the birth of daylight). Capricorn marks the culmination of all efforts, material and spiritual. And we see it reflected in the northern hemisphere these days with the dual representation of Capricorn in the Christmas season – the overt materiality as it is emphasized in the West (the Christian world) as well as the celebration of the coming Light in the birth of the Christ child. The two are celebrated hand-in-hand. But to walk through the door to liberation and the eternal Light, we must leave the material world and thoughts of it behind. Given our look at the preceding signs in these most recent letters, we thereby have a basis to properly parse what this most mysterious of signs has in terms of meaning for us. And in this present period of upheaval the following quote will concern the rest of what follows in this letter:

“Capricorn is ever the sign of conclusion, and of this the mountain top is frequently (though not always) the symbol, for it marks the point beyond which further ascent in any particular life cycle is not possible. Capricorn is, therefore, the sign of what has been called esoterically “periodic arresting.” Progress becomes impossible under the existing forms, and there has to be the descent into the valley of pain, despair and death before a fresh attempt to scale the heights takes place.”^[4]

Climbing the mountain: Capricorn is ruled in the orthodox and esoterically by Saturn. By the time one passes through the 3^rd initiation the rulership of Capricorn becomes Venus.^[5] It is this point upon which we will focus on this topic in this letter, because this stage follows upon the goal-fitness of the disciple to be able to pass through that door, as exemplified in Sagittarius (starting from the topic “Sagittarius”) from our previous letter. What we are looking at here with Capricorn is the attainment of a sort of ‘critical mass’ in the process of utilizing the internal fires in the process of clearing away the obstacles to full enlightenment, such that a wide enough channel is opened such that the full light of the higher Self floods into the brain consciousness, temporarily blinding the new initiate to the world, experienced as the ‘light supernal’, leading to the esoteric motto for the sign: “Lost am I in light supernal, yet on that light I turn my back.”^[6] It is at that point, in that experience that the secret of the soul is revealed:

“Capricorn guards the secret of the soul itself and this it reveals to the initiate at the time of the third initiation. This is sometimes called the “secret of the hidden glory.”^[7]

That ‘hidden glory’ is the very light supernal just described, the very nature of the soul itself. Thus having been experienced, why would the initiate then turn away from it? What we have in the experience of the initiation itself is the transition from the rulership of Saturn to the rulership of Venus in Capricorn. A little explanation is in order, and it starts with the following:

“Saturn is one of the most potent of the four Lords of Karma and forces man to face up to the past, and in the present to prepare for the future.”^[8]

Exactly what is being cleared in the Sagittarian process of utilizing the internal fires is, in reality, karma itself, which has been incorporated into the bodies of the personality. It is a uniquely painful experience at times. Yet, with each goal achieved, the expansion of consciousness thereby attained puts to rest any consideration of pain. Suffering is thereby lessened. We know from Buddhism 101 that the cause of suffering is ignorance – ignorance of the nature of the soul, and ultimately of the Buddha nature (the latter achieved at the 5^th initiation, exemplified in Pisces). With the 3^rd initiation, called ‘the ground of the Very Joyful’ and the ‘Path of Seeing’ in Buddhism, personal karma is not yet complete. At the same time the new initiate (a.k.a. ‘the rich young man’ who encountered Jesus^[9]) realizes that, along with the experience of the light supernal, the work is not yet done. But a great achievement has been had. The word from the soul (higher Self/the Spiritual Triad) sounds forth, referenced in Matthew 19:21:

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

Emergent boddhisattvas: The consciousness of the initiate at this point is twofold – the soul is seen in all its glory, yet the suffering of the world is also apparent, and still felt in the body of the initiate. A grand desire arises: to bring everyone else (as in all sentient beings – ‘the poor’ in the Bible verse) to the experience just had. The true bodhisattva consciousness is born. It is no longer an aspiration. It is a true realization. The spirit of renunciation arises in the consciousness of the initiate – the realization that worldly matters can never bring one to the experience of The Very Joyful. All worldly concerns – urgings, desires, attachments and ambitions are given up and used as tools for teaching – bringing ‘the poor’ towards enlightenment. There is no thought of self. The soul and the personality are fully integrated and consecrated to service. Thereby we have the rulership of the planet Venus at this stage of spiritual development. This is the ideal for Capricorn, to become a true bodhisattva, renouncing the world for the sake of the spiritual enlightenment of all. There is a materialistic path for Capricorn, too, but with that we are not concerned here. It is worth noting, though, that extremes are a key note for Capricorn, both material and spiritual. Whenever Capricorn is prominent in a horoscope some ultimate achievement along a chosen goal is mandated in the life of the individual, group or nation. Thus we can see the extreme lust for wealth and power on the one hand, and the height of spiritual realization on the other. Thus it has been said that “…the Capricornian can express all the worst of which a person is capable and all the best. It is a sign of extremes…”^[10]

Capricorn groups and nations: There is a particular interest in this letter regarding nations and a certain group, given this year ends the Stage of the Forerunner. We see crystallization and breaking in a few of the main nations mentioned in A. A. Bailey’s The Destiny of the Nations. Brussels and Paris have Capricorn as their personality rulers, indicating crystallization, age and materialism.^[11] The same is true for nations who have Capricorn as their personality ruler – Australia, Austria, Greece, India, Japan and Spain, of the major countries that have been concerned in this Stage of the Forerunner. The Jews as a group also have Capricorn as their personality expression. And in a significant number of the members of that group (certainly not all of them and probably not the majority), we see the worst of humanity in action in their utter brutality against the Palestinians, driven and aided by Zionists in the US and Europe. That must end if there is to be any peace in the world. This needs to be stated and kept in mind. In what follows in the remainder of this letter we will have an overview of how that materialistic ambition is likely soon to be shattered. There is one more point to mention here.

Group impact: There is a cycle of group impact that takes place every seven years in the first week of the Capricorn quarter (Dec 21 – 27), in which the energies of Capricorn are augmented.^[12] The most recent such heightened impact was in 2019. That is when the emergence of the coronavirus took place, with the resulting effect of a heightened awareness of humanity to the use and abuse of power. This present cycle, closing in 2026, has been one of an accelerated awakening of humanity – to the powers that rule over us, to the nature of our societies, to our supposed alliances and likewise supposed enemies, and so on. One can trace the cycle backwards and gauge the effects of those week of group impact: 2012, 2005, 1998, 1991, 1984, 1977, 1970, 1963, 1956, 1949, 1942, and so on. We do not have the space to go into it here. But the effects of that week are said to be heightened if the full moon takes place in that period. Such will be the case in 2026, as in December of next year. Such was the case in 2012, 1991, 1977 and 1942. With all the preceding in mind we move on now to the full moon and what might be indicated as to the further awakening of humanity in the unfolding world events.

The full moon takes place on 13 Jan 2025 at 22:27 UTC (09:27 AEDT on the 14^th for Australia). The Moon, Mercury and Mars are all out-of-bonds (OOB), explained shortly. The full moon axis is approaching the Mars/Pluto opposition, which has been with us for some time, with Mars in its retrograde phase. The Sun will be conjunct Pluto in Aquarius at the time of Trump’s inauguration. Venus is conjunct Saturn, with both of them square to Jupiter. Eris sits at the apex of a t-square with the full moon axis. We will get to the synthesis of all this in a moment. First, a few words about Eris are in order. Eris is slightly larger than Pluto, and needs to be considered as a matter of course in astrology now.

Eris’ mythology is that of a warrior goddess. She is said to have accompanied Mars on the battlefield, delighting in the bloodshed of war. She is the daimona (personified deity) of strife, discord, contention and rivalry.^[13] Her symbolism has a particular connection with our current situation in West Asia, described as follows (see endnote):

“Because of Eris’ disagreeable nature she was the only goddess not to be invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. When she turned up anyway and was refused admittance, she raged and threw a golden apple amongst the goddesses inscribed “To the fairest.” Three laid claim to it – Hera, Aphrodite and Athena – and in their rivalry brought about the events leading up to the Trojan War.”

Ancient karma revisited: For those readers familiar with Greek and Roman mythology, the Trojan War was fought at the ancient (now defunct) city of Troy, which existed at the outlet of the modern Turkish straits into the Mediterranean at the Dardanelles (Hellespont). Australians and Kiwis know the region better from the battle at Gallipoli at ANZAC Cove (25 April 1915), where Aussies and Kiwis still make a pilgrimage every year. ANZAC (Australia-New Zealand Army Corps) Day is a national holiday in Australia and New Zealand. Gallipoli is across the Dardanelles from ancient Troy. This little digression still has significance to our investigations here. The Turkish straits are strategic choke points permitting transit to and from the Mediterranean and the Black and Azov Seas. The straits have been hotly contested for at least two centuries for their strategic importance, especially by the British.

The battle at the Dardanelles in 1915 was a battle fought by British and French-led forces to capture Constantinople (Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, in an effort to relieve the Russian forces that were fighting the Turks in the Caucasus. One of the main aims in WWI was to finally break up the collapsing Ottoman Empire, the other being to counter the rise of Germany, both of which had upset the balance of power in Europe. The Ottomans had sided with the Central Powers (Germany and Austro-Hungarian). From our look at the carving up of the dying Ottoman Empire after WWI, we know the Balfour Declaration of 1917 saw the creation of Palestine, along with other treaties that led to the current nation states of West Asia at the defeat of the Ottomans. The end of the war also redrew the map of Europe, spelling the end of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires. Ukraine briefly became an independent nation after WWI, having been part of the Russian Empire since the 18^th century. Prior to that what is now Ukraine was then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In essence for West Asia, what had long been Turkic lands in West Asia were separated into nations with synthetic borders, in what was really a project to foment weakness and further strife across West Asia in order to enable Western control of the region. What is currently called Israel in fact was part of the Ottoman Empire since the early 16^th century. We see these old cultures and antagonisms working out today. Idlib and Aleppo in Syria were regions of Turkic culture and influence for centuries. The Turks have decided they are to be returned to Türkiye, full stop. They also have their eyes on Jerusalem. That brings us back to Eris and the full moon. What do we see in Syria now? – three nations (two in reality) all vying for control in what was once Syria – Türkiye, Israel and the United States. In reality Israel is an outpost of the United States and the UK.

Preparatory clearing: Returning to the full moon, what might we expect to see as we move toward the three main spiritual festivals for this year – Aries, Taurus and Gemini? This full moon figure represents an explosive set of factors. This figure presages the inauguration of Trump, with that administration expected to throw a few ‘golden apples’ into West Asia, and Europe as well. We already see the effects building to what is to come. With the fall of Syria, imperial hubris is on full display. Each of the three factions vying for control in Syria are convinced that they are ‘the fairest’, with each of them being likewise convinced that they are on course to achieve their long-term objectives. For Israel that objective is regional hegemony, leading ultimately to the creation of Eretz Israel and the breakup of all the Arab States. For the United States the goal is to sow chaos and secure resources in an arc running from the Baltics to the Persian Gulf, ultimately leading to the breakup of Russia and the halt of the Chinese rise to Asian dominance. For the Turks the ultimate aim (in Erdogan’s mind) is to recreate at least part of the Ottoman Empire and expand his pan-Turkic ideology across Western and Central Asia, all the way to Xinjiang. All three of the nations just mentioned have their own selfish interests at heart, but they also work in tandem in order to achieve their individual goals. Syria is where the modern ‘battle for Troy’ will emerge, because when it comes to it, the aims of the three nations are at odds with each other.

In summary and synthesis of this full moon figure, we have the very powerful t-square of the full moon axis square to Eris. The Moon rules the chart, being in its home sign of Cancer. Mars is retrograde there, too, in its fall by essential dignity, signifying buried anger and emotional frustrations that will come boiling to the surface, especially since Mars is out-of-bounds (OOB). Mars OOB always indicates an increasingly restive period. It will reach its maximum OOB station from 7 – 12 February. It will exactly square Eris on the day of Trump’s inauguration (20^th Jan). That means the Trump administration will feature the Mars/Eris square. Well, the forecast for the Capricorn quarter (Dec 22 – Mar 20) was for a wild ride, after all. Mars will make its direct station on 24 Feb, square to the US natal Saturn: imperial hubris will lead to blunders. These points all have significance for the United States and the West in general; to be explained as we go along here. In the full moon figure emotional tensions are further indicated by the Moon OOB, along with Venus conjunct Saturn, the latter indicating emotions (desires) facing realities. Coupled with the square to Jupiter, the indications are for thwarted ambitions and lashing out in reaction to those realities. In other words, it will soon enough become apparent to the current powers in old Syria vying for control that they have in reality won pyrrhic victories. The Resistance will soon enough be rising again, to be explained in the West Asia update.

Ameliorating the tensions found in the full moon figure are sextile/trine aspects to the full moon axis by Uranus and Neptune, the two planets not being in aspect to each other in the chart. The combination of the two, however, points to peculiar psychic states, inspiration, spiritual insight and understanding, as well as contacts with foreign countries. It is a chart that lends itself to the inspiration that comes from moments of crises. And there will be plenty of crises from which to draw our inspirations in the following weeks. We should see this period as a positive instead of onerous events to come. The combination of Mars OOB opposite to Pluto along with the t-square described above is of the nature of a preparatory clearing, which at times will seem quite brutal. But the preparation is for the decision to be made about the timing for the reappearance of the World Teacher, for which many people yearn. The obstacles to that reappearance are the militarism we see in the world, the hatred and recalcitrance we see of certain parties, especially in West Asia and Western leadership and the misuse of money – being geared to usury, as a weapon and a means for selfish gain and power. These factors must be corrected if there is to be peace, brotherhood and love in the world.

The fact the obstacles to the reappearance are so entrenched points to the necessity for painful measures to be undertaken to remove them. The removal of those obstacles is much closer than we might believe. We recall the famous quote from Thomas Paine:

“These are the times that try men’s souls: the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country…”

The quote was written in 1776 at the time of the American Revolutionary War. The meaning is clear, in that crises call on the measure of a person’s and a nation’s soul. We do not see the soul when in comfort. We see it ray forth in times of crises. In our current era it is the soul of humanity that is being called upon once again, as it has been many times. I have no doubt humanity will respond once again, at least enough of humanity, and that the utter barbarity we are witnessing in West Asia will be called to account. The suffering in Eastern Europe is well on its way to being resolved, where a new and just security for Europe will emerge at the cessation of hostilities there. Capricorn represents darkness, but also the blinding light of spiritual realization. We are going to witness some conflagrations in the weeks ahead. See them as a purgative instead of devastation. We are already seeing some major events since the last full moon. We may as well list some of them here. Let us not be ‘summer/armchair soldiers’ and ‘sunshine patriots’ as we start our preparations.

Current events: Some of the following events were touched upon in the Capricorn ingress post on the blog site. The ingress took place a week after the Sagittarius festival…

For subscribers the full letter will be posted on Wednesday (in two days), events willing

The full article will be posted here by Friday (17 Jan)