What is Capricorn’s Ruling Planet?
The ruling planet is the planet which has the most influence over a sign of the zodiac. The rulership of signs by planets is one of the most ancient and central parts of astrology. The powerful and unique properties of each planet have a direct influence on the characteristics of people born under the sign ruled by that planet.
Capricorn is ruled by Saturn, the Ancient Roman god of time, called Cronus in Ancient Greece. He was the father of Jupiter, who usurped him to begin his own dynasty, which is why Saturn is often associated with endings.
However, Saturn had many different connotations and complex meanings over the time that he was worshipped, and continues to be seen in a variety of ways today.
Saturn’s fields of influence have traditionally included regeneration, rebirth, agriculture, wealth, and abundance. Saturnalia, a festival in honour of him, was held in December, and the traditions associated with Saturnalia (like gift-giving and decorating trees) eventually became merged into the Christian holiday of Christmas.
It was a joyful festival of light, and a time of great celebration, just as Christmas is today! If you’ve ever been told that you’re a killjoy, Saturn is probably why – so just remind yourself and the person insulting you that Saturn is the reason we celebrate Christmas.
Saturn is a very difficult planet for some people to understand and come to terms with. While it has all those positive connotations, it has also been associated by astrologers through the ages with death, old age, fruitless labour, and general joylessness.Its seemingly negative implications that can put a Capricorn (a sign already prone to a certain degree of melancholy) into a serious funk.
But this really isn’t fair, to either yourself or to Saturn! There are lots of things to worry about in this life, but being ruled by Saturn isn’t one of them.
While your Ruling Planet might appear scary at first glance, it’s actually an extremely powerful and beneficial planet to have as your ruler. Read on to learn how to harness Saturn’s power for happiness and success in your life.
Facets of Capricorn’s Ruling Planet
Saturn is sometimes called “the planet of greater misfortune” in older astrology texts (for reference, Mars is “the planet of small misfortune.” Venus is “the planet of small fortune” and Jupiter is “the planet of greater fortune.”) This is because of the negative associations discussed above, and probably has something to do as well with the rather nasty way that the god Saturn died at the hands of Jupiter in Roman mythology.
All things considered, this name is pretty unfair to Saturn. It’s a highly responsible planet, just trying to do its job!
Saturn rules money, age, hard work, the material world, and a cautious attitude. And, in spite of its ominous name, it’s not a harbinger of bad luck on any kind of personal level. Some astrologers have connected Saturn to global disasters, claiming some connection between the placement of Saturn and tragedies like wars and natural disasters.
However, there is no indication that Saturn is more instrumental in indicating disasters than any other planet. The First World War began while Leo was high in the sky (indicating desire for power), and the Second World War began when the Sun was in Virgo. As you can see, Saturn wasn’t the central player in either of these disasters. Any planet and sign can be dangerous if it’s surrounded by the right combination of factors.
So wipe those worries about being a tragedy waiting to happen right out of your mind!
Saturn bestows on those it rules a desire for perfection that no other planet seeks after in the same way.
Unlike (for example) Venus’s attraction to perfection as an outside quality, Saturn seeks perfection in the self, and those ruled by Saturn are more than willing to pour as much effort into becoming the ideal versions of themselves as necessary.
You are a diligent scholar and a tireless worker, thoroughly testing yourself at every opportunity and refusing to rest until you measure up successfully against your own (invariably extremely high) standards of excellence.
Astrological scholar Isabel Hickey describes Saturn’s personal philosophy: “the purpose of life is not pleasure but to gain experience, patience, humility, wisdom and compassion.” This is not to say that all people ruled by Saturn are Puritanical sticks-in-the-mud who refuse to ever have a good time, but for you, play will always come after work, and it will never be a goal on its own.
Even in your leisure activities, your attitudes are either competitive or productive. For example, you may enjoy playing video games or sports, because you can see your progress and clearly improve when you practice or grind certain skills.
Or you may like crafting, like knitting or crocheting, because, again, progress is measurable, and at the end you have a usable item.
Saturns are also the great reformers of the heavens – there is a reason that, for centuries, Saturn was also considered the ruling planet of Aquarius (the sign of revolution and freedom). You have a very pragmatic and goal-oriented approach to enacting the type of change you want to see in the world.
You can clearly see the problems with structures that presently exist in the world, and are very skilled at working around those structures to enact change. You work hard to dismantle old, worn-out forms, and create new, more useful ones, in reaction to the realities of the modern world.
You have an orderly, critical, and analytical mind, approaching each problem with a highly logical framework, and resisting the idea that some mysteries can’t be solved. This isn’t because you don’t love mysteries (you do!) but unlike, for example, a Pluto-ruled individual, you find the great joy of mysteries not in their existence but in your own ability to unravel them.
Because of this mystery-solving impulse, you can be quite a strongly religious or philosophical soul. It probably took (or is taking) a long time for you to come to a religious understanding that suits you exactly, but once you’ve found it, you are extremely firm in your beliefs.
This firmness of beliefs translates to other fields of your life as well. You have strong ideas about politics, your career, the state of the world, your relationships, and what other people should do. It is important that you practice empathy and understanding, because just because you hold your ideas firmly, doesn’t mean that everyone else does, or that they are wrong if they don’t.
It’s all well and good to share your points with the clear, logical frameworks that you’re so good at, but there’s no reason to get angry (or, more likely, sullen and aloof) if people disagree with you. There’s room for lots of different opinions in the world.
Capricorn’s Ruling Planet in Love and Romance
For all of Saturn’s positive points – its logic, its hard work, and its desire for reform – it does tend to result in emotional inhibitions that can prove problematic in seeking relationships.
Saturn is simply not a very emotive planet. You view both logical and practical thought with a much higher degree of respect than that with which you view emotional thought. You have trouble understanding people who let themselves be ruled by their feelings.
A well-adjusted Saturn-ruled individual does have a good grasp of her own emotions, and can blend them with her intellect to come to excellently well-rounded decisions. However, this is a fine balance that it often takes years of diligent self-study (and practice) to master, so if you’re not there yet, don’t feel bad.
Because of your more logical style, some might suggest that you should seek a more emotionally-attuned partner, so that they can help you open up and express your emotions more strongly. I won’t say that this is necessarily a bad idea. Michelle Obama, a classically practical Capricorn, seems to be doing just fine with Barack, a heart-driven Leo.
However, there’s a certain risk involved here, especially if you’re feeling quite clammy about romance, or if your prospective partner is a real dreamer who doesn’t have much footing in the real world – Barack Obama might be tuned into emotions, but he’s obviously still a pretty grounded guy, or he wouldn’t have become president.
Overall, it’s more likely that a Saturn-ruled Capricorn will be most comfortable in a relationship with someone who has a good emotional intelligence, but is ultimately a grounded and practical soul. Capricorn/Taurus is a famously compatible pairing, because both are highly practical earth signs, but the influence of Venus over Taurus injects just a little extra romance into the pairing.
Capricorns also do well with Scorpios, because you both have slightly cynical attitudes, but instead of dragging each other down, your philosophies are different enough that you can help each other see the flaws in your own. This leads to great conversations and a genuinely constructive ability to build better philosophies.
Saturn-ruled Aquarians make great partners too, because of your shared planetary alignment. Aquarius has a lot of similar energies to Capricorn, but they are ruled by a greater degree of rebelliousness and desire for freedom. Together, you make a world-changing power couple, as long as you can make sure you’re always on the same page about what you want in life.
A Capricorn who has reached the level of good adjustment described above can also be an excellent partner for a Pisces. Pisces is one of the most emotionally driven signs of the zodiac. However, if the Capricorn has mastered the blending of feelings and thoughts, she can be a very positive influence on the Pisces, who can, at the same time, help the Capricorn loosen up a bit and become more flexible and adaptable to the realities of the changing world.
It is also highly beneficial for you to match yourself up with someone who has a lot of energy. You can quickly tire out partners who can’t keep up with you while you are surging ahead.
Remember, as always, that these guidelines for compatibility are far from watertight. There are a myriad of factors affecting astrological compatibility, which cannot be distilled to something as simple as just the sun signs, and certainly not communicated in the form of a general rule being applied to all readers – and that’s before even taking into account the very real “human factor.”
A practical Saturn-ruled soul isn’t likely to dive into a relationship just because the stars say it should work well, but it bears repeating anyway: always evaluate the people you meet in terms of your situation, not just what the stars have to say.
Using the Power of Capricorn’s Ruling Planet in your Daily Life
Saturn’s power is extremely beneficial for use in your daily life. It gives you skills that are both highly valuable and relatively unique – not many other people have your skill for deep, focussed work, or your borderline-insane ambitions.
Use Saturn’s power to your benefit by taking on commitments that other people are fearful of. Others become quickly intimidated by high-stakes, high-effort projects (especially management positions), but you jump into them with ease.
Just like Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius, you can cultivate a lot of respect with your solid ideas and strong managerial sense. So why is Jupiter called “the planet of greater fortune” and Saturn is called “the planet of greater misfortune” if you have so much in common?
Ultimately, in a lot of ways, it comes down to how you frame your efforts and your successes. Jupiter bestows on the people it rules a highly optimistic attitude, and even a tendency to put on blinders in bad situations and look only at the most positive aspects.
By complete contrast, Saturn has razor-sharp perceptions of everything, including (maybe especially) the negative parts of life. You are far more conscious of your failures than a Sagittarius is.
To some extent, this can be a negative thing, because you may, over time, develop the perception that nothing you do will ever be good enough. This can do a lot of damage to self-esteem and your own feelings of self-worth.
However, this is also part of why you tend to be so successful in life. You are a tireless and never complacent worker. Because you never feel that anything short of perfection is good enough, you consistently work until you achieve that perfection.
This leads to incredible payoffs, because people are floored not only by the quality of your work, but by the obvious willingness with which you did it. This creates a positive cycle, where people compliment your work and give you further opportunities for success, which (of course) you achieve, leading to further compliments and further opportunities.
Take praise to heart, even if a part of you feels it is undeserved – people are not lying just to make you feel good or any such thing.
Ensure that you do not neglect your emotional life in your quest for success, or else you may find that the old adage is true, and that “it’s lonely at the top.” It is possible to have friends and success at the same time.
People will naturally respect you, so try not to spoil that respect with the brusqueness and sarcasm that you sometimes slip into. If you are unkind or rude, no amount of success that you achieve will make people want to be your friends, and even the toughest Saturn needs friends.
Make cultivating good relationships one of your goals, and approach it in the same way you approach your other goals: in a diligent, orderly fashion. You could challenge yourself to make a certain number of catch-up phone calls to old friends every week, or give your partner one new compliment about something every day.
By approaching relationships in the same way you approach other tasks, you can make them seem far less amorphous and scary, and achieve the same type of success that you find in other fields of your life.
And don’t listen to people who say that relationships don’t work like that – the fact is, people appreciate when other people dedicate time and effort to them. Does it really matter whether you’re checking off a literal box on a to-do list, or just trying to remember to be nice whenever possible? The to-do list is going to get more consistent results than the remembering, and the sentiment behind it isn’t any less genuine for being written down.
Final Thoughts
As intimidating as Saturn can occasionally seem, with its ominous names and at times negative associations, having Saturn as your ruling planet can be extremely beneficial, and is one of the reasons why Capricorns are known for being so successful.
It is one hundred percent possible to take advantage of the good points of Saturn (like the hard work and diligence) and train yourself out of the less good points (like the emotional congestion, and the negative attitudes).
You know better than anyone that discipline trumps motivation every time when it comes to self-improvement, and you have discipline in spades, so self-improvement is kind of something that you’re a natural at.
You will find the greatest degree of satisfaction in your life when you can develop a degree of emotional strength and intelligence to compliment your natural tenacity and hard work. Think of it this way: the goat that represents your sign can climb to the top of a mountain, but it can also happily lay down its head on a child’s lap and be petted. You don’t have to sacrifice your strength for emotional comfort.
Can you feel the power of Saturn in your life? Are you hardworking to the point of mild obsession? Do you approach every project with plans for absolute perfection, and become disappointed (but resolved to work harder) when perfection is not reached? How will you harness Saturn’s disciplined power to achieve the type of life that you are truly looking for?
Please like this post if you found it useful or enjoyable. Share it to share advice for other people born under the hard-working rulership of Saturn!
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