Full Moon in Capricorn: The Heart-Led Inner Authority

The heart is being seasoned, opened, prepared to receive a new vision and inspiration. This is the grounded, rooted center of embodied personal sovereignty.

Today, we welcome a Full Moon in the cardinal earth sign of Capricorn, the ambitious and hard-working Sea Goat. Because of the Moon’s close proximity to power-versus-force planet Pluto, tough themes continue surrounding control, government, and the imposition of external authority. And yet, what is making this a particularly delicate time to look at inner versus outer sovereignty is the emotional heart of our current Cancer season: Mercury and the mother goddess asteroid Ceres are conjunct the Sun in Cancer, asking us to lead and process and decide with our feelings rather than our rational, logical minds.

How is this impacting the Capricorn drive to keep things in order, to produce, to achieve? Pluto’s presence on the world stage continues to reveal that those in charge – the plutocracy, the power elites – are not going to back down easily. These institutions, which have essentially been installed for thousands of years, were ostensibly set up to help the people but in effect are actually assisting only the wealthiest tiers of societies; those in charge are holding on very tightly and turning the screws on the common person all over the globe, especially those poorest or otherwise most disadvantaged.

There’s a lot to be upset about, to cry about, to feel intensely over. I cry my tears of grief when I read the occasional news journalism, even safely ensconced as I am in my comfortable home and lifestyle. Immediately, I turn within and connect with Spirit to see what I am meant to see, what I am meant to share with you all, and that brings me back, as it often does, to personal sovereignty.

Cancer and Capricorn encompass the axis of the parents in astrology – mother and father. And what is sorely missing on Planet Earth right now is a healed sense of inner parenting. Because of our distorted relationship to the archetype of the masculine right now, specifically the inner father, we have a projected, diseased shadow authoritarian in the face of government sicknesses the world over. Some of us are called and individually built to address social issues directly through community action and political involvement. Regardless, it is vital to do the internal work of healing one’s own relationship to inner authority, first.

Personal sovereignty – how do we access it? How do we know what is right for us? Sure, early on, we need mentors and – ideally – healthy parents to model for us, to guide our way and help us make decisions. But once we’ve started the process of individuation – breaking away from outdated or dysfunctional conditioning in our families or cultures – we can no longer get away with unconsciously going along with what everyone else expects of us. No, we have to dig deeper. We come across this word “responsibility” in a new fashion. Wise personal sovereignty requires us to go into the heart – the emotional life – and tend the waters there. We have to feel, and hang out with our selves for as long as it takes to truly hear what our Soul is asking of us. This is the Big Work.

The Heart is Stretched – Let It Speak

This lunation carries two significant, watery squares that are contributing to the waves of emotionality and heart energy: Venus square Neptune, and Mercury square Chiron.

The square between Venus in “let’s connect” airy Gemini and Neptune in dreamy, watery Pisces brings emotional growth through heart-confronting moments, like hearing a piece of music or eying a blast-from-the-past photograph that transports you and leaves you stunned, your love center gushing, falling into a portal to other ways of knowing. Similarly, the square between the collective mind, Mercury, in sensitive and watery Cancer, and wounded healer Chiron in fiery Aries has us questioning our identity, bringing up longings and ruminations of “Who Am I?” and “What am I doing?” Though the Universe may not be responding with clear directionality – yet – the heart is being seasoned, opened, prepared to receive a new vision and inspiration in the Divine’s timing, not yours. Do your best to stay present, lest you miss the miracle upon arrival.

In another times forgotten space
Your eyes looked from your mother's face
Wildflower seed on the sand and stone
May the four winds blow you safely home

~ The Grateful Dead’s “Franklin’s Tower” (1975) with lyrics by Robert Hunter, a Cancer (b. June 23, 1941)

(And if you get confused, listen to the music play!)

Most people have to practice sitting with themselves; it’s not often taught and it’s certainly not modeled in our modern world so keyed up for instant gratification. Sitting down with a cup of coffee, a pen and paper, and ten to fifteen minutes of quiet in the morning is a good start. Just write down at the top of the page:

HOW DO I FEEL RIGHT NOW?

And write down a few words or sentences. Let the heart speak.

Many people will avoid doing this exercise simply because it would be terrifying to uncover the answer. Again, there’s that responsibility piece – what would you do with the information you received if your heart told you that you wanted to move to another location? That you weren’t happy in your relationship? That your job was causing you physical stress and illness?

And this is where the Capricorn-Cancer parenting axis comes in again: the inner papa supporting the inner mother, and vice versa. The soft heart of the mothering element (Cancer) will whisper her nourishing truths to you through tears of joy, laughter, or sadness. But it’s the heart-centered, sensitive inner papa of Capricorn energy that comes in to help you initiate and execute on the information you receive. The inner papa will help you set a boundary, to say No, to walk away, to make a request, to ask for a raise, to stand up for yourself, to get angry in a positive sense, to defy a rule or regulation or custom that is an affront to your very soul.

And I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
And the less I seek my source for some definitive
(The less I seek my source)
Closer I am to fine, yeah

~ The Indigo Girls, “Closer to Fine” (1989); lyrics by Emily Ann Saliers, a Cancer (b. June 22, 1963)

The watery, mothering Cancerian emotional center reveals the direction your soul needs to grow in order to thrive; the earthy, Capricorn parent archetype takes that impetus and grounds and centers it deep in our personal root. This is embodied personal sovereignty. It is not projected as shadow onto external authority, where it can be distorted and perverted and replicated like a virus that is unhealthy for us as an interconnected species on Mother Earth.

Capricorn in its highest vibration is not at all disconnected from All That Is. Decisions are made with a felt sense of what is right and true and good for us as individuals and, as an extension, for the collective – from the ground up. Then, the mountain-sea goat can be confident of her footing, emerging from the oceanic depths and ascending to the highest heights. But she must take the first steps alone. She must have the confidence to start the climb, even if it means leaving others behind. She listens, she hears the call. . . and she climbs.

Pluto will be in Capricorn until March 2023. This is the final Full Moon accenting this long, transformational and evolutionary chunk of time. Pluto has been a gargantuan wrecking ball in government, banking, elections, courts, and other institutions since he entered Capricorn in 2008. We’re in the deepest, culminating part of the shadow work lesson right now – reclaiming our personal power by establishing inner authority and personal sovereignty. This is the evolutionary lesson, challenge, and opportunity of Pluto in Capricorn.

We have a solid chance right now to allow our hearts to break open with the emotional wisdom that can give our lives the real rudders we need. This is how we forego falling into a plummeting despair and negativity about the greater global situation – we RECLAIM and KNOW that our soul is the ultimate authority. She knows you completely, wholly. And she will never, ever let you down.

Erin Reese, M.S. is a writer, author and intuitive channel. Her foci include astrology, the Divine Feminine, cosmic consciousness, and nondual wisdom. She is the author of the memoir Truth Seeker: A Spiritual Adventure of Love, Loss, and Liberation.Visit erinreese.com for more information.

Who makes you feel the way that I make you feel / Who loves you and knows you the way I do / Who touches you and holds you quite like I do / Who makes you feel like I make you feel

~ “Who Makes You Feel” (2003) by Dido, a Capricorn (b. December 25, 1971)

You can listen to all of my article songs on my Spotify Substack playlist here: