The second decan of Capricorn

The middle ten degrees of Capricorn, where ambition acquires an appetite for something solid to show for itself.

The technical picture

Degrees: 10 to 20 degrees of Capricorn
Sun here roughly: December 31 to January 9. The boundary shifts by about a day with the leap cycle, so a birthday within a day of either end needs a calculated chart.
Sign ruler: Saturn, over all three decans
Traditional face ruler: Mars, from the Chaldean order
Modern triplicity ruler: Venus, by way of Taurus
Do they agree: No. The two traditions disagree here, as they do on twenty-seven of the thirty-six decans.

The core of this decan

Ambition here wants something you can put your hand on. Taurus colors these degrees in the modern scheme, and the austerity of the sign's opening gains an appetite: the house, the land, the instrument, the thing that is actually worth the years. Planets here are patient in the same way the first decan is and rather clearer about what the patience is buying.

How it differs from the rest of the sign

The opening decan of Capricorn builds the frame and does not much mind what goes in it. This one has opinions about the contents. That makes it the most materially motivated third of the sign and, oddly, the warmest, since an appetite is easier to live with than pure structure. Against the third decan, which refines and improves, this one accumulates.

The two rulers

The two readings pull in opposite directions and the sign holds both. Modern practice gives these degrees to Venus, through Taurus, which accounts for the appetite and the eye for quality. The face system gives them to Mars. That Mars adds the drive that the Venus reading understates, and it explains why this decan will work considerably harder than comfort alone would require in order to get the thing it has decided on.

Where the friction is

An appetite attached to a long timescale gets expensive. A planet in these degrees can spend a decade acquiring something and discover that the acquiring was the part it enjoyed. Status creeps in too, and it is difficult to separate from quality, since the good version of a thing and the version that says something about you are frequently the same object.

Working with it

Ask what the thing is for before the years go into it, and be specific, because this decan will supply the effort without questioning the target. It helps to enjoy some of it in the present rather than holding everything back for a completed version. And notice when the wanting is about the object and when it is about what having it would mean.

Questions to sit with

What are you working toward, and what would having it actually mean?
Which of your standards is about quality, and which is about status?
What could you enjoy now instead of holding it back for later?

The other decans of Capricorn

The rulers involved

Start here

Find which decan your own planets fall in.

Educational and reflective. This describes tendencies, not predictions, and is not medical, legal, financial, or psychological advice.

Drafted from an expert brief, reviewed by a practising astrologer with 30 years of experience, and grounded in computed chart data.