Capricorn: G.O.A.T. or the Devil...or both?
Put on your horns and fish tail- it's the new moon in Capricorn!
Hello everyone! Happy first new moon of the year!
While I used to get excited about the fireworks and sequins of New Years, these days my rituals and celebrations more naturally follow lunar and seasonal calendars rather than the Gregorian one. A circle is round, so we all have our personal choice of where to begin, but I prefer to start fresh at the beginning of Aries season, on Spring Equinox, rather than in the depths of winter (which are being quite wintery here in snowy Santa Fe!)
New Year or not, I am a fan of pretty much any opportunity for energetic new beginnings, and this inspired new moon promises to provide greate structure and stamina for setting future goals and intentions. I hope you took some time to get into a slowed-down yin-state after the rush of the holidays and had a relaxing first week of the year, because today’s new moon means It’s Go Time! With an exalted Mars, Pluto, the sun and the moon all in Capricorn, there is great potential for the actions you take today to have a lasting impact.
Today the sun and moon are meeting at 20 degrees Cap, the sign of the ambitious, diligent and loyal sea-goat. Capricorn, as half-goat and half-fish, is a creature that can ascend across terrain from the bottom of the sea to the top of the tallest peak. As the natural ruler of the 10th house of career and life purpose, keywords for the sign include: tenacious, conservative, determined, pragmatic, powerful, controlling, disciplined, managerial, executive, structured, systemic, conscientious, and hyper-intelligent. The phrase that is often associated with Capricorn is “I use” or “I utilize”.
Holding reign at the pinnacle of the mountain( and the midheaven/top of the birth chart), Capricorn knows they are a force to be reckoned with, a true player that is at the top of their game….maybe even the Greatest of All Time?
One side of Capricorn: the G.O.A.T
A widely-used slang term on social media, the acronym G.O.A.T. refers to someone who is the “Greatest Of All Time”. GOATs are often just represented by the goat emoji, too. 🐐 🐐 🐐
The origins of the term G.O.A.T. lie with Muhammad Ali, the infamous boxer and social justice activist who was nicknamed “The Greatest” during his career. His wife turned that into “G.O.A.T.” for publicity in the 1990’s, and there was no looking back. Since then, it’ has been picked up to describe countless incredible pro-athletes and musicians - especially after it was popularized by L.L Cool J with his 2000 album and song “The G.O.A.T”.
Funnily enough, I just looked up the birth charts of both Muhammad Ali and LL Cool J. Can you guess their sign? Yep, of course, they’re both Capricorn suns. Ali was born on January 17th, 1942 (27 degrees Cap), and LL was born on January 14, 1968 (23 degrees Cap)- which was ALSO the year of the Goat in the the Chineze Zodiac! LL’s quintessential Capricorn advice: “Stay hungry. Stay humble. Go get it."Wonder if Mr. Cool J/Greatest of All Time rapper was into astrology…?
Some other Capricorn sun celebrity GOATs worth mentioning: Michelle Obama, Greta Thunberg, Jim Carrey, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Ellen Degeneres, LeBron James, and Dolly Parton, all undeniable all-time greats in their respective fields.
The other side of Cap: the Devil
Going a little further back in history (way before internet memes, all the way to Mesopotamian pre-history…), Capricorn’s mythology leads us to a character that might also consider itself a GOAT: the Devil himself.
Card 15 in the Major Arcana of the Tarot- the Devil- has historically been associated with Capricorn. Often depicted as a fierce, commanding, powerful lord on high, he seemingly holds two people (the lovers) as prisoners or slaves, with chains encircling their necks.
But the Devil is not necessarily a negative card in the Tarot; upon closer inspection, we can see that the chains that hang on the necks of the lovers are loose, and can easily be removed. The Devil, in this way, represents the things, people, and circumstances that we give our power away to, especially when we are caught up or obsessed with our own personal lusting for power and success.
The Devil card shows us that our perceived constraints are often self-imposed, and that we have the power to break free from them and regain control of our lives if we take initiative and stop making excuses.
A little story about how the Devil become the Devil
(Hint: Capricorn is a key player)
Capricorn’s constellation’s myth- and it’s earliest association with what would later transmute into the Christian Devil- can be traced back to origins in Sumeria as far back as 4,500 BC.
One of the oldest recorded constellations, Capricorn the goat-fish (or goat-carp more specifically) was the sacred animal of Enki, the Mesopotamian god of knowledge, art, crafts, magic, freshwater, and fertility; his godly semen was responsible for the filling of the Tigres and Euphrates rivers with water.
He was also the father of Innana, and the creator, provider, and protector of humanity itself. According to lore, he founded the city of Eridu (which is linked to the Christian Garden of Eden) and populated it with the Earth’s first people. He was a bountiful trickster- his intelligent magic often included manipulations and tricks which benefitted the human race.
Enki is depicted as a man with two carp-filled rivers flowing out of his shoulders, one being the Tigres and one the Euphrates. The carp swim upstream toward Enki, and symbolically toward his home in Abzu, the great mountain/water palace where he is King and from which the two rivers originate. Abzu was originally the the Babylonian term for the Sun, and means “the creator, the wise one, the source of all knowledge”.
Enki was one of the Anunaki, the legendary extraterrestrials/gods of myth who came to Earth to mine gold.
“In one Babylonian story, the elder gods enjoyed a leisurely life while the younger gods worked away mining gold.
The intelligent yet mischievous Enki suggested the gods create other beings to mine the gold for them. The Annunaki were thought to be clone masters who sought to clone lesser beings, such as the human race, to do their work. Control of human beings is still thought to be happening under Annunaki gods today.
Although Enki contributed to the concept of cloning, which could be considered manipulation of the human race, he was well-intended and provided humans with information on how to restore balance to the Earth after devastating droughts and famine. Enki was drawn to forgiveness, compassion, and humanity.” (Gaia.com)
So there’s the fish part of the goatfish… but what about the goat?
On many seals and other depictions, Enki is being presented with gifts of baby goats, who also symbolize fertility as they are born during the spring/summer flooding of the two great rivers.
Goats have been domesticated in Mesopotamia for about 10,000 years, frequently chosen over other animals because of their resilience and ability to thrive in harsh and differeing climates. The Mesopotamian Ibex goat-mating season signals the beginning of winter- the cool, wet season of the winter solstice and Capricorn. Rain and snow that falls during this wet winter season is the source of the fresh mountain water that flows down Tigris and Euphrates, the life-giving freshwater of which Enki is the god, the source.
Ahh, the mysterious sea-goat, carp-goat, fish-goat, in all their glory, traced back to the cradle of civilization, the Fertile Crescent, and their origin story. I’d say Enki is definitely a G.O.A.T- maybe even the G.O.A.T!
Enki is clever and cunning in the same way that water itself is clever, always finding it’s way around obstacles. As the creator god who believed that humans should have access to knowledge and was generally on humanity’s side, was constantly thwarted by Enlil, the god of storms, who sends great floods to kill all the humans and makes Enki promise not to tell them. Of course, Enki finds cunning ways to tell them, saving humanity on more than one occasion.
Sumerian Enki ~> Greek Pan ~> the Christian Devil
When the Greeks inherited the ancient Babylonian star map, their closest god to Enki of the goatfish constellation was the trickster and fertile nature-god, Pan, who was half man/half goat. The Devil, in most classic Tarot Decks, is a depiction of Pan rather than the Christian Satan.
Pan is one of the oldest documented Greek gods. He was the representative of raw nature, pasturelands, fertility, sexuality, shepherds, hunters, music, and the ability to enjoy life. Like Enki, he was shrewd, lusty, cunning, intelligent, physically strong, immune to injury, and filled with humor. He was also magical, with the ability to teleport himself to Mt. Olympus and transform objects, and was as powerful as the creative forces of nature.
Pan was incredibly popular in ancient Greece- there have been more dedications to him found than any other Greek god- but as Christianity began to spread around 300 CE, Pan was demonized and systematically transformed into the great adversary, Satan.
Considering that he was a shepherd and a nature-worshipper, Pan seems a lot more like what we know of Jesus Christ- this has been noted by many poets and thinkers in later times. But the part of him that was not Jesus-like, at least according to the church, was his obvious sexuality and virility. Sexual desire is at its essence a creative force, but untamed sexuality and Pan as a popular symbol of it were seen as destructive and immoral, and so Pan was demonized as, ugly, cruel and evil.
As such a loved character amongst the people, this demonization didn’t generally go over well with the populace, and it took well over a millenia to convince them in one way or another that he was a bad guy. One conniving way to freak people out enough to abandon Pan (and his lusty, musical, sexual behavior), was to associate him with truly evil demons that hide out in the woods. St. Augustine, the first Christian to mention the existence of incubi ( forest demons who rape women in their sleep) was the first to explicitly denounce Pan and his wood-nymph friends for their sexuality. After Augustine’s declaration, the church frequently commissioned artists to transform the goat-god Pan into a dark, sinister, truly demonic character.
And then, the Devil came to America….
The fundamentalist belief in the devil as a hooved and horned goat-figure that lives in the trees in the forest was a major tenet of the Puritan worldview, influenced by the mass propaganda of the middle ages in Europe. Thinking the Church of England was too reformed and straying too far from the Bible, they sailed for ’the new world’. When they arrived on Turtle Island, they commonly believed that the Devil lived in the woods around Plymouth.
The fact that this Christian Devil has such a prominent place in the early European colonization of this country is really striking to me. About 150 years after the Pilgrims made their quest to this land, the Declaration of Independence was signed and the new United States of America fought for freedom from England in the Revolutionary War. At the time of this nation’s establishment, in 1776, Pluto, the planet known as the lord of the underworld, was in the last degrees of - guess which sign? You betcha: Capricorn. And it was at the same degree of the sign as Pluto sits right now.
We are collectively experiencing the United States’ Pluto Return, a profoundly transformative time where anything that was hidden about the origin story of this country is being unearthed from beneath the surface and revealed for all to see- just like Pluto/Hades peotects and unearths riches from the underworld.
Pluto will leave Capricorn for good in November of this year, moving on to the humanitarian and futuristic pastures of Aquarius for the next 20 years. But right now, at the last degrees of Capricorn, we are experiencing a revolution- literally. Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008 (right at the start of the financial crisis and associated big-bank-bailouts), and the past 16 years have definitely shown us the Devilish side of the sign of the sea-goat: the one where power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. We are confronted with the Capricornian energy of a nation who believes themselves to be the Greatest Of All Time, and they have gone to the dark side to maintain control of that title. (…Make America Great Again, anyone?)
On this new moon, I like to think of the other Capricorn- the true Capricorn, before the image of Satan was superimposed on him by Christianity in a play for power and control of their own. Today, I worship the Capricorn that is the the creator god, god of art, god of fertility, god of the bounty of nature. Capricorn, the widely-popular god of music, revelry, craft, and joy. I honor the Capricorn that is the witty trickster fish-god that flows around obstacles in it’s path like water, the fertile goat-god who can thrive in adverse conditions, the god that will use their cunning and trickery for the benefit of humanity.
I believe that version Capricorn is truly the G.O.A.T.
It’s time to take off the chains that bind you and become the Capricornian fish-G.O.A.T. of your own story!
This new moon, I encourage you to embody the benevolent origins of the goat-fish. It’s a wonderful moon to set your intentions for the year on what you want to achieve personally, certainly! But don’t forget to set some intentions for how you’re going to use your mad skills, strategic mind, and powerful purpose to benefit the earth and humanity. The Capricorn in you (and yes, we all have a little Capricorn in us) has the power to use cunning and intelligence for good, to let the people know of floods that are on their way, to fill the rivers with nourishment from your loin. :)
Look to the house in your chart that is ruled by Capricorn to see what part of life this new moon boost of manifest energy will affect you. The sea-goat’s sign is in my 6th house, so I’m ready to create some long-term vision boards in the areas of my health, daily routines, and workflows. (I just braved a blizzard to come to a workout class, so I’m ready to rock it!)
This new moon, in the words of Capricorn GOAT LL Cool J, it’s time to “Stay hungry. Stay humble. Go get it." The moon and sun are making a harmonious trine to Uranus in Taurus, which gives an electrical surge of new ideas and productivity to the earthy, pragmatic energy of the bull and the goat. Take advantage of this new moon as it’s one of the most powerful manifestation portals we’ll experience this year. Remember, the heaviest chains are the ones of your own creation. Unleash yourself, just a little bit, today, and if you can tap into the bounty and beautiful power of Enki and Pan’s nature.
All my love (from the bottom of the sea to the tallest mountain peak),
Alison
P.S. Next week, I’m starting to write a monthly article for the awesome astrology collective Astrum Opus! I’ll be delving into embodied astrology for each solar ingress into a new sign, complete with a guided meditation each month. The collective is made up of some other absolutely beautiful writers and artists too, so if you’d like to expand your astrology knowledge and ritual, find Astrum Opus here!
P.S.S. I’m going to be launching a new website soon and opening my books for astrology readings and breathwork sessions (online and in-person), so stay tuned for that. <3 <3 <3
And, as always, I’d love to hear from you in the comments or on Instagram about how this new moon and beyond is feeling for you!
Here’s a little vid compilation of baby goats to thank for your readership and engagement <3
(Sources:
https://oldeuropeanculture.blogspot.com/2022/03/goatfish.html
https://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/myths/texts/enki/enkiworld.htm
https://www.gaia.com/article/who-was-sumerian-god-enki
https://www.alittlebithuman.com/origins-goat-skulls-satanic-meaning/
https://vamzzz.com/blog/demonization-of-pan/)