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When I decided to write about Shamanism and Astrology, I mentally thumbed through the signs and came up with Capricorn. I thought about Thomas Moore and his book, Care of the Soul, where he said that he could walk down any street and tell how much soul there was in each house that he passed.

The light of the soul in each of us reflects outward into our physical world, the world of Capricorn. Capricorn is that cardinal, earthy energy which forms and shapes the perfect physical structure for Spirit in all material things. Do not mistake this definition of Capricorn with the ego orientated sun-sign Capricorn. Each person born on this planet has the shaman energy of Capricorn. It is in the chart, dormant until some transit comes along and sets it in motion. When that happens, our personalities are compelled to use will power to create a better world, a world filled with soul and alight with spirit, to witness spirit within ourselves and to teach others to do the same.

The placement of Capricorn in your individual chart can become a place of mastery where spirit joins with physical forms, creating a sense of sacredness and honor in that area of your life. As you work with this energy time and again through the transits of Saturn, and the soul planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, you become aware of a three-fold purpose in this particular part of your being.

1. To manifest an unblemished physical form, a proper receptacle, for spirit as it descends into organic matter.
2. To protect and strengthen that receptacle
3. To become the threads which bind the receptacle to the spirit within.

The shaman experience can be explained as Colin Wilson, author of The Outsider and other books has said, as "a peak experience." An experience which utilizes light and spirit as it whispers down through the universe and enters into our consciousness. We alone, through patient attention and constant action, can bring this gift of the true shaman, the bringer of life and light, into the turf of earth.

In the natal chart, the placement of Capricorn energy is where we take all personal life experiences and manifest a perfect material monument to spirit. The natal Saturn placement in the chart marks our deepest fears concerning fulfillment of our task. When Saturn transits the area of Capricorn in the chart, it brings fear to the surface and karma is set into motion. Past life actions must be healed through the force of Saturn will power.

At present, Saturn is transiting in Aries and this brings us to an interesting point. Aries is the beginning of our journey toward the shamanship of Capricorn. It is the dare we take, the impulsive action, the courageous impulse, to begin the journey. Saturn is the fear that holds us back. Wherever Aries is in your chart, is the beginning of your journey. It is also where your fear is presently manifesting. Can I do it, will I do it?

Aries answers the question; "Who am I?" And Saturn tests relentlessly during its two and a half year transit which started April 7, 1996. Neptune has been in Capricorn since late 1983 and will continue in that great energy until November 27, 1998, going briefly into Aquarius from January 29, 1998 until August 23, 1998. Neptune's key word is wisdom, the wisdom to know what is real and what is not. Since Capricorn is the physical vessel we build, then we have had plenty of time to judge the value of our creations. The negative energy of Neptune is the fraud. We have had twelve years to practice our shaman energy here.

Shaman energy can be seen by all of us each day if we will just look around. The space station circling the earth, the laws which protect the environment, the work of our leaders for better education and health care, the construction of a beautiful building, the planting of a garden. The business or corporation which honors its workers, the scientist who refuses to experiment on animals. Beautiful music and intelligent and informative programs made available on National Public Radio. These are just a few.

Lets take a brief look at the shaman work which waits for you in the houses. If you have Capricorn on the cusp of the

First House: work must be done on the physical body to form the perfect vessel for spirit.
Second House: Learn to see the shaman value in your own good works
Third House: Learn first, then teach the tasks of the shaman
Fourth House: Only through acknowledgment of your shaman energy will you find peace and fulfillment
Fifth House: Create, not for the end result, but for the desire to create
Sixth House: Serve wherever you can and whenever you can
Seventh House: Learn to recognize the shaman energy in others
Eighth House: Experience the shamanship of bonding with another or others
Ninth House: Go beyond traditional beliefs and bring back the shaman wisdom of the Ages
Tenth House: Become a beacon for all people
Eleventh House: Revolutionize shamanship, lift the energy to a new level
Twelfth House: Become a master in whatever you do

As we look deeply into the Capricorn area of our charts, it is wise to remember what C.G. Carter wrote in The Zodiac and the Soul, "From an occult standpoint we may say that Divine Providence perpetually flows into the Cosmos and into Man, but by the misuse of his faculties, man may produce an apparent separation between himself and it (spirit), so that we have to study the perversions or distortions (to) Goodness." Carter emphasizes that this depends on just how unified or separative we feel about the cosmos, the "God within" and therefore the more separative we become the more perversions and distortions we create.

The real measure of the karma we bring in with us is in the natal Saturn position. Saturn separates each of us into a bag of bones and skin that is filled with fluids, and then leaves us there alone. We start each life journey in this way. Alone. It is this feeling of separativeness that has pushed many of us, as Carter says, into perversions because we can't find the God within.

Where is God? Where is the Place that God dwells which so many have lost. It is in your chart. Found in the house which has Capricorn on the cusp. Capricorn: the perfect physical Place for God. In Spiritual Path, Sacred Place by Thomas Barrie, Barrie says One's identity (to the sacred or God) is contingent on the sense of belonging to a place. The creation of place and entry is a fundamental human activity, enacted by all humans, beginning with the archetypal children's game of creating "houses" for themselves under tables, in boxes, or out of found materials. This activity has a strong psychological component, which is particularly apparent in archaic societies whose self-definition and sense of well-being were often intimately connected to specific places.

This sense of sacredness which I see as a combination of the physical with the spiritual, can be brought back to life in all of us through the use of the energy of Capricorn through the wisdom of Neptune in transit there. To find the Sacred Place and restore it in ourselves and in our environment is our duty. Capricorn, the shaman, keeper of the great spirit, brings the struggle inward to all who are aware.

Pluto now transiting in the 12th house position to Capricorn (Editor's note: Pluto is now in Sagittarius, the sign before Capricorn, thus its 12th house) in your natal chart will find you pushed inward, deeply searching for meaning so that those who are aware can begin a great forging of the soul and the personality. Pluto entering Sagittarius Nov. 10, 1995 until November 26, 2008 tends to bring out an eerie awareness in all us that it is time to find our Sacred Place, within and without. With Saturn in Aries, the beginning of the trail starts with the Aries question: "Who am I" Saturn limits Aries energy only too well so that everyone who listens will be pulled to a halt. Take a good look at yourself, your life, your sacredness.

And, as always with Saturn, we WILL see how limited we have become. The square or challenge from Aries to Capricorn is the natural tension which arises from that eternal question of Aries identity. By the end of the Saturn transit, we will find the answer and hopefully move forward toward Capricorn and into our sacred place.

One final note: with Uranus and Jupiter forming the core of a stellium in Aquarius in February and foreshadowing the year, thought forms of all the sacred places within and without will blossom forth into human consciousness. For those who listen, and want to grow into their shamanship roles, this is a doorway into a new dimension of awareness: we are not alone, never have been, and never will be. An awesome thought.

© Copyright: Sare Van Orsdell