Capricorn December 22 – January 19

Capricorn

  December 22 – January 19

   

"And that there is a place in you 

where you have never been wounded, 

where there's still a sureness in you,

where there's a seamlessness in you,

and where there is a confidence and tranquility in you.

And I think the intention of prayer and spirituality and love is

now and again to visit that inner kind of sanctuary”.

Irish philosopher and poet: John O'Donohue

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2011 January Dates 

New Year’s Day 

Janus Day, Roman god of past and future

Epiphany, Christian, Three Kings Day, visitation of the Magi to infant Jesus, the twelth day of Christmas.

Lohri, Hindu, Punjab, celebrated on the last night of the month of winter solstice celebration day.

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Native American: Full Wolf Moon, Amid the zero cold and deep snows of midwinter, the year starts with an ache for warmth. The wolf roams in packs looking for food.

Wiccan: Hunger moon. In cold and intemperate climates of the Northern Hemisphere, it was difficult to find food during January, thus the name hunger moon. This is a good time for planning the year ahead from a spiritual perspective. What do you want to accomplish this year. What do you "hunger" for? Set some goals and plan how to achieve them. 

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Attributes

Duality:             Feminine  

Element:           Earth

Position:            Cardinal

Symbol:            Sea-goat

Planet:   Saturn, the old god,  father of time,lord of  karma, keeper of  wisdom of the ages.

Flower:     Carnation, snowdrop

Gemstone: Turquoise

Anatomy:  Bones, joints and  knees. Noted for long lives,  vulnerable to rheumatism, arthritis, known for their  beautiful bone structure.

Best Foods: calcium phosphate, oranges, lemons, figs,celery, cabbage, dandelion greens, cheese, buttermilk and yogurt .

Avoid: Overwork, skipping meals, and eating  too much, too fast.  Natives do not handle alcohol well. Beware of being blamed for past sins.

Colors: Black, grey

Action needed: Commitment to  the service of humanity, to use spiritual energy in to transform and heal.

Motto:  “I  Use”

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Vedic:

Capricorn is represented as a Unicorn, an extinct animal, but it has special significance in ancient myths. Capricorn is known as Makar in Sanskrit meaning the pentagon, which symbolizes the microcosm. This sign is said to represent simultaneously the microcosm, the human body, and the macrocosm, the world of external objects of perception. It is under this sign of the zodiac that unity between the inner man and the outer Cosmic Man begins to be established.

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Character:

Under the sign of Capricorn you will be concerned with ambition and the active use of matter for selfish (or unselfish) purposes. The keyword above all others is “crystallization.” All visions must eventually be implemented on the physical plane, and you are blessed with a fantastic capacity to manifest high visions and ideas.

 

When Capricorn figures significantly in your horoscope its energy provides you with the will-power and ambition necessary to accomplish things in your life. You are equipped with an enormous disposition for work which makes you an industrious worker. Your unwavering ambition drives you to invest all your energies into the accomplishment of your life's goals.

Man achieves his highest ambition in Capricorn, whether this is personal ambition or an ambition to be of help to others. Your powerful ambition gives you the strength to climb on the social ladder, to achieve power, money and fame. Many leaders in the world of business are strongly influenced by Capricorn. These souls are energetically trying to fulfill their desires in the area of their choice.

Capricorn is a sign with many possibilities. Since it is an earth sign you learn to be practical. It provides you with powerful ambition and a determination to achieve your goals in life. Capricorn supplies you with will-power and an ability to sacrifice everything to reach the object of your desires. The will-power and determination of Capricorn can move mountains. A lesson to learn is humility in balance with your power.

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 Myths and Legends:

“We are told that the experience of the first initiation will become a mass event for large groups within humanity at this time. We can well imagine what it will mean for the future and for the Aquarian age, when the Christ consciousness will be realized on such a large scale. Think of the change in outlook and worldview that would prevail. But in preparation for that to happen, at present “the whole of mankind is passing en masse through the fires which precede the first initiation.” (Discipleship in the New Age,  by A.A Bailey Vol. 2, p. 553).

During the months of January and February –The Mother’s powers of Light and Knowledge are accentuated. “Let there be light". We can say with conviction: “ I am the womb into which the light of God will shine. I am ready to sustain and transform this light. In me, sound becomes light and then form. I listen for the silvery tones from on high to guide my way. I am committed to the transformation of this light into love, service and fidelity. I am one with my fellow humanity. I burn with the passion to transform light into love”.

In this month we finish the practice of the meditation of the 12 Days of Christmas. See the chapter with this title.

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New Year’s Day

This time of year has always been a time of great anxiety and celebration ever since humanity has observed the changing seasons. At the winter solstice, the sun turns to start it’s journey once again towards warmth of summer. Ancient farmers held their breath at this moment when the sun stood still for winter solstice, fearing it would not be and many festivals were celebrated to ensure this event would transition smoothly. This has traditionally been considered the annual birth of the sun, this is shortest day and the longest night of the year (in the northern hemisphere). The sun’s return to summer was a guarantee that crops would grow, and towns would thrive.

With time, the birth of the physical Sun soon became the birth of the spiritual Son. Many civilizations, religions and cultures celebrated and held festivals on this day that reflected the association of the return of light with personal enlightenment.

In this month we are invited to undergo again our first initiation. This is the birth of the Christ consciousness within us. This new cycle stimulates in us a completely new worldview and outlook. We are given a new task to accomplish on our path this new year.

This re-invention of ourselves is never easy and always reminds us of our humble beginnings and of the frailty of the newborn babe, symbolized by the weak rays of the winter sun as it tries to warm our world.

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Janus Day

January is named for Janus the god of gates, doors, doorways, new beginnings, endings and time. Most often he is depicted as having two faces or heads, facing opposite directions; one looks back at the last year while the other looks forward to the new, simultaneously into the future and the past.

He was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the progression of past to future, of one condition to another, of one vision to another, the growing up of young people, and of one universe to another. He was also known as the figure representing time. Hence, Janus was worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as well as marriages, deaths and other beginnings. It is proven that we forget what we were doing once we pass a doorway - that feeling of why did I come here?

Capricorn/Saturn represents the densest point of concrete materialization of which the human Soul is capable of experiencing. Saturn represents “The Dweller on the Threshold” – Janus. In facing this Dweller, we face our past lives and our current fears and our potential future.

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Epiphany  or

Three Kings Day

In the three kings we remember our mentors, gurus and masters who were the love, discipline and dedication that guided our first steps on the path. They carry gold – the purest metal of the alchemists, what we all aim to become; frankincense, a precious resin that centers and calms us and myrrh a bitter resin used in preparing sacred places and healing.

A cave was originally the birthplace of the Sun God, but later Christianity transformed this symbol into a simple manger. This is actually the cave of our hearts and minds that we have been preparing these last few months through atonement and meditation to receive the pure and innocent ray of light that is love.

Epiphany is the celebration of the presentation of Christ (our center of love) to the Magi (the three aspects of wisdom). Capricorn is also the sign of sacrifice. Sagittarius the centaur archer is believed to have shot Capricorn, transforming him into a sacrificial goat, or scapegoat. This is the very foundation of many religions, including the story of Jesus Christ.

In the Apocalypse, St. John explains that the Sun God (or son of God) is always born at midnight when the sun enters this sign of the winter solstice. The child is born in poverty, in a goat's manger in a stable, so that he can later save humankind as its sacrificial lamb.

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Epiphany Cake

Many European Christians celebrate Epiphany by making the "Three King's Cake" or “Galette des Roi” in French.

The cake has a small coin, whole almond or small trinket (often a small ceramic baby, said to represent Baby Jesus) inside, and the person who finds this trinket has various privileges. They may wear a crown for a day and ask that their chores be done by others and are thought to have good luck in the coming year. However, in some areas, the person who gets the little trinket is thought to soon have a new baby in their family in the coming year. Sometimes there are separate cakes to select a king and a queen. In New Orleans, the cake for women is sometimes called a  

King's Cake (Galette des Rois)

1. Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F)

2. Preparation time: 15 minutes

3. Baking time: 20 minutes

Cost: Reasonable

Difficulty: Relatively easy

Ingredients

- 250 g (9 oz.) premade puff pastry (made with butter) 

 - 1 egg yolk mixed with a drop or two of water

-  Almond paste

- One dry bean or ceramic trinket

Preparation

1. Divide the puff pastry in half.
2. Roll out to form two discs.
3. Place the first disc on a baking sheet.
4. Spread a layer of almond paste on top.
5. Place the bean inside.
6. Cover with the second circle of pastry.
7. Using a knife, create a decorative pattern on the top of the pastry.
8. Brush with the beaten egg yolk.
9. Bake at 180° C (350° F) for 20-25 minutes, until the top is nicely browned.

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Lohri

Lohri, is celebrated in India on 13th of January. It is a festival to worship fire. People believe that the fires of Agni will help the daylight increase. At this time it is very cold and foggy, everything seems stagnant in the northern part of India. 

However, below the seemingly frozen surface, you would be amazed to find a flurry of activity. People, especially in the northern Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and parts of Himachal Pradesh, are busy making preparations for Lohri — the long-awaited bonfire festival — when they can come out of their homes and celebrate the harvesting of the Rabi (winter) crops and enjoy the traditional folk songs and dances.

On the morning of Lohri, children go from door to door singing and demanding the Lohri 'loot' in the form of money and treats like til (sesame) seeds, peanuts, jaggery or sweets. In the evening at sunset huge bonfires are lit in the harvested fields and in front yards and people gather in circles around the bonfire and throw puffed rice, popcorn and other munchies into the fire shouting "Aadar aye dilather jaye" (May honor come and poverty vanish!). This is a sort of prayer to Agni, the fire god, to clean out the old, bless the land with abundance and prosperity and bring in the new fertility for the coming year.

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 Conclusion

January is timeless – a clean slate.  The white veil of the Mother is lifted for Christmas and now starts to descend again around us. A new light is born in our hearts.

The Cosmic forces of Aquarius start in the Point of Silence of the Holy Mountain, a mighty chord sounds forth and seven cosmic portals open to shine a new light upon us. 

Through these seven portals great Cosmic beings, descend from the sons of Aditi, to enter our sphere and hover over the earth. The seven daughters, (Pleiades) rising from a Deep Mystery rejoice and awaken to their call. 

The dark night has now passed and the New Year awaits us, bringing new challenges and new opportunities. It is certain that our world is still in a lot of trouble, but we have been told that there is a purpose in the madness we see all around.

At the beginning of the 21st century, we try again to prepare ourselves for a new world view. So many times, we have been afraid to open ourselves to the new energies, trying to hide behind well-known safe patterns which we have become accustomed to all our lives. We should remember that the well-trodden secure paths may very well disappear from beneath our feet and that we may have to learn to rely on other qualities in our lives.

Many predictions have hinted at a shift of consciousness that will take place. Flash Mobs will sprout up everywhere, in this time; humans will work together
for the greater good. Independence, freedom, and leaving behind the status quo. As apprentice occultists we have surely realized that the changes have begun and that we are actually right in the middle of them.

In all fields- for example in the American presidential elections – we are seeing that the normal rules and laws just cannot fix things anymore: somewhere another paradigm will have to be used; another law of a higher order has to be accepted and put in place.

We have been given an answer, an answer which has been hinted at and even described to us by Tara, Alice Bailey and others, Even Robert Redfield in his book The Tenth Insight, tries to give us an idea of this next development in the consciousness of the human mind/soul. It mostly will come in the form of change and enhanced relationships between all beings: human beings will start realizing their unity with one another and at the same time with the whole of the created forms in the world: we are all brothers and sisters and everything that happens to each of us affects everyone.

Relationships on this new level of consciousness will be very different from anything we can imagine and will have to do with a very real acceptance of soul consciousness. It is still uncharted terrain for us, though; Alice Bailey gives us very valuable indications of the laws that are governing this new approach.

This soul-group dynamic is only now slowly coming into the human awareness. It is very fragile and  demands that we approach each other cautiously (like “walking on eggs”) in human relationships. This requires that again and again we have to reconsider our mutual relationships and try to place them on the soul level. There is nothing predictable in this, as other laws enter into action, which are still unknown to us. We are like pilots in a supersonic jet having to reverse the commands when we pass the sound barrier.

Rituals in this time will have that new openness and innocence of the white snow that covers part of the planet: the white Mantle of the Mother that speaks of harmlessness and innocence and a new beginning.It will now be easier to imprint new patterns on our consciousness as we are given those new patterns with the help of the energies sent to us by the Divine Mother. .

We are on experimental ground here and the solution is unconditional love. The pure energy of the Heart is the key to transformation of our worldview. This will bring about changes in a silent and gentle manner. The more we rely on Her Heart energy, the easier our transition and the world's transformation of consciousness to the new age will be.

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Telepathy

We’ll be forced to become telepathic soon. Not the kind of telepathy of like reading each other’s thoughts, rather, we will have an easy way to plug into the a group consciousness. It is the telepathy that is found in groups whose virtues are of the highest quality. Anything lesser is spiritually dangerous. The Tibetan writes of telepathy…

From Discipleship in a New Age I, pp. 63-4)

“The need for telepathic sensitivity in every group, composed of disciples, is based upon three necessities; I would like you to understand this more clearly.

1. The cultivation of an interrelation of a telepathic nature upon the mental plane is essential. The time has now come when this group quality must - for the sake of a needy world - be developed by disciples in the group (by humanity itself).

2. This telepathic unfoldment will lead to a greater sensitivity to/with others.

3. This telepathic sensitivity will also lead to the new science of inter-communication, which, in the New Age, will reach general use and comprehension. Of this condition, the radio is the outer physical symbol.