Mercury in Capricorn

On Tuesday, December 24 cerebral Mercury entered orderly Capricorn. This began an 18-day period when minds seek structures and patterns in which to anchor our ideas. Organizing the details of our lives is a positive expression of this transit, yet there is also a risk of becoming intellectually rigid and obsessive about putting information, objects and people in the “right” places. The potential of locking into mental immobility plays an even more important role when Mercury joins the Sun in Capricorn on December 28. While there is hope that the creative solar force can spice up thinking with bright ideas, the Sun’s involvement puts will and ego into play, which can amplify the instinct to restrict reality with our minds. The cosmic message is to reform, renovate and make new traditions instead of rigidly holding onto the old ones. Whether we succeed or not will have a lot to do with how we handle Mercury in Capricorn. Rigid thinking can exacerbate the potential explosiveness of December 25 and leave chaos and confusion in its wake. So the irony is that the more tightly we try to control our world the more easily disrupted it becomes. It’s difficult to adapt to the surprises that appear to be in store for us when we’re stuck with an old rulebook that doesn’t leave room for exceptions. Mercury’s conjunction with the Sun on the 28th, therefore, could represent the last stand of old ideas that are not suited for the new world. Happily, there are other ways to use our minds that should prove to be effective under these volatile circumstances. Clear thinking is different than conditioned thinking. It has an inherent objectivity that offers the widest range of perception possible. Cerebral Mercury is naturally objective until it’s colored by rules and dressed in regulations that inhibit original thought. Conditioned thinking is about preservation rather than discovery, which might be useful in a museum but isn’t valuable in a living, breathing, changing reality. Capricorn, in spite of its reputation for authority and control, is a practical, season starting Cardinal sign whose conservatism is meant to nourish growth rather than to stop it. The pragmatic way to go these days is not to retreat from the rising tides of change, but to build a vehicle of clear consciousness that allows us to lead the way. In fact, the primary challenges of these times and through next two years is to become leaders instead of being followers. Resistance to change is futile but energetically engaging in forging ahead with new personal habits and professional aspirations is how we can succeed. Practicing these habits by making small changes in safe areas of life is perfect preparation for taking bigger steps in riskier areas. Whether it’s opening our hearts in spite of fear of intimacy or shifting careers in an uncertain economy, the solutions we seek come from the courage and creativity of our actions rather than the rules imposed by external authorities. Clear thinking frees us to be in the present, which is the best place from which to create the future.