“I was obliged to be industrious.  Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.” Johannes Sebastian Bach

The fiery red planet Mars, signifying energy in the physical body, enters ambitious Capricorn today (6:49 pm EST), the sign of its exaltation, where it will stay until January 15, 2011.

Mars, which additionally governs the aggressive urge, is “tamed” or more “restrained,” when in Saturn’s neck of the woods.  Disciplinarian Saturn rules Capricorn, a sign associated with authority, business, and people in high places. Keywords for Capricorn are: “I use.” Mars in Capricorn is hugely talented at utilizing all of the resources at its disposal to get ahead.  Mars in Capricorn can be very “pioneering” and “enterprising” in business.  It is often a signature of an “executive.”

And, yes, on the shadow side, Capricorn energy can be equated with being “manipulative” or orchestrating situations to get an “unfair advantage” from time to time. No question about it, Capricorn does like its power, and the feeling of power, and doesn’t like being without it. So that is one thing we have to be careful about with Mars here.  That we don’t ride roughshod over others in our quest to get, or keep, our high-profile seat in the boardroom. Although, Mars in Capricorn characteristically tends to be pretty cautious, and will generally refrain from engaging in certain behaviors or improprieties out of fear of adverse consequences in the future. It tends to “naturally check” its own behavior, in other words, perhaps as part of its strong survival instinct.

On a collective level, Capricorn is also linked with government. And, even though assertive Mars is “more controlled” in Capricorn, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is not interested in “spreading its sphere of influence” or “growing its dominance” in the world. It may be that a few governments around the world try to aggressively vie for more power now, but in a very strategic, well-thought out way, with Mars, again, ruling the need for assertion.

Last time Mars entered Capricorn on December 27, 2008, was exactly the same day that Israel reportedly initiated “Operation Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip, after launching an extensive wave of airstrikes. Mars in Capricorn can denote a capable strategist or war general, whereas Mars in impulsive Sagittarius can sometimes symbolize a warrior zealously going off “half-cocked,” in search of the truth, without bothering to do the necessary due diligence, in advance, to ensure victory.

Too, we may want to pay closer attention to the world news with Mars’ pending conjunction with tyrannical Pluto, which will be exact on December 13th and 14th, although, for practical purposes, this influence is already starting to apply. Governments could get very aggressive in wanting to wield more power with this aspect. Capricorn is very concerned with self- preservation and security issues.

Also, we have the matter of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks front and center on the world stage, with Pluto ruling leaks and spying and espionage. Many governments, especially the U.S., are now grappling with serious intelligence issues and defense concerns (Pluto), in wake of all these cable leaks, and they may want to take some kind of swift action (Mars) as a result. Or, at least plot new strategies to deal with this emerging Plutonian-themed problem.

Pluto conjunct the North Node in Capricorn has correlated with an historic exposing of confidential government information, with aggressor Mars in fanatical Sagittarius square blabbermouth Jupiter, acting as the trigger point for it. What do they say, “Loose lips sink ships.” Have to wonder about the long-term implications of this WikiLeaks breach, and whether there may be new developments with the matter with Mars conjunct suspense-ruling Pluto, which loves to bulldoze and plunder.

Getting back now to a more personal level: With Mars in “reputation is so vitally important to me” Capricorn, we are wanting to put our energies effectively to use, in a practical way, so as to deliver more prestige and status to ourselves. We are inclined to believe that these two things will be natural byproducts, if we but apply ourselves and put our nose to the grindstone, and also, of course, hobnob around with important “movers and shakers.”

It could be, too, that we will want to become more involved in business networking efforts now, with Capricorn officially ruling “big business.” Especially with a new year on the way and its characteristic “new ambition.” Of course, Mercury retrograde (Dec. 10 thru the 30th) could impede or complicate some of our Mars in Capricorn ambitions to get ahead here, in the short-term, but Mars will still be in Capricorn for a couple weeks after Mercury stations direct, giving us lots of time to progress. Too, a lot of times with Mercury retrograde, we can still have great success in matters, we  just need to pay more attention to detail and following up on the execution of matters.

NEWS UPDATE 12/8/10: It was reported today that sympathetic supporters of WikiLeaks launched cyber attacks into MasterCard and Visa, and various other sites today as part of “Operation Payback.” I was thinking tonight that warrior Mars’ movement into Capricorn is sort of playing out here, initially anyway, as “war on big business,” as Capricorn rules business. It’s always very interesting to watch the events in the collective when Mars enters a new sign, as energizer Mars is such a catalyst for things to happen.

Patrice Thompson