Is there ever a good time to be a Capricorn? Sure, it’s great to BE one: all solid and stable and hardworking like a solidly-engineered German car. But really, is it ever fun? Is the burden ever lightened for our Goaty friends?

The transits in the next few months are not always going to be kind to Capricorn, so maybe we should make an effort now to be more supportive and caring.

No one has a talent like Capricorn does for making things take root in the worst soil, and the transits lately for Capricorn are all pretty tough. There is of course the ongoing Uranus-Pluto square which has made life difficult for us all in one way or another, but has arguably been more difficult for you. Pluto in one’s own Sign is a special challenge, and as a Sagittarius I could tell you all about that from a few years ago. Jupiter is retrograde in Cancer… Capricorn’s seventh house, ruling relationships. Often this can mean good times in the love life,  and you’ll have your chances to take advantage of that later in the year… but right now, Mars and Uranus and Pluto are all combining to mess with things on an amplified and aggravated manner.

And just to complicate things, Mars is spending several months in Libra, which is an awkward placement at the best of times. The formation the four planets I’ve mentioned here is called a Grand Cross, and what a cross it is to bear indeed. It will affect us all in one way or another, but I’d like to point out that the ever-durable Sign Of The Goat is (arguably) going to be buffeted the hardest by it.

As much as the Grand Cross is a pain for Aries, Cancer and Libra, Capricorn has to endure the Pluto side of this equation. Pluto is necessary in the same way that death and destruction can be necessary… but it’s not usually much fun. Pluto is a painfully slow planet, taking years to move through a Sign. In the words of one of my favorite songs (by Aimee Mann, whose Saturn in Capricorn is being seriously messed with right now) :

“‘Cause I can tell
You know what it’s like
The long farewell
Of the hunger strike…”

And if THAT isn’t the sound of an aggravated Pluto transit, I don’t know what is.

Seriously, Capricorn: I love you guys. You’ve got all the hard-edged determination of Aries, but with more of a talent for the marathon rather than the sprints that Aries excels at. You’re just a sensitive as your opposite, Cancer, but manage to function in a dignified, orderly way… or at least you maintain the appearance of it, which is almost as good. On the inside, though? You’re as messy as the rest of us… maybe a little more, because being a Capricorn is a little like being born wearing a pinstriped suit. You have the same needs as everyone else, but based on appearances, everyone assumes you showed up knowing how to change your own diaper. Efficiently. And at heart, you’re just as much of a dreamer as Libra.

So, with all due respect and admiration, please accept this musical token of appreciation for you, Capricorn: