Mercury in Capricorn
Here at Jo Tracey Astrology, we’ve been doing some future planning. I’m writing this at the beginning of October, but by the time it’s published, it will be nearly 2016 and I’ll be in London.
New business was up during 2015, but most revenue was sourced from the partition. Book sales fell sadly short, and income from astrology was virtually non-existent. I’m reliant on the corporate gig to pay for the upkeep of this website and my writing habit. Certain staff members spent far too much time sleeping on the job, and seemed to think that an hours continuous barking between the hours of 3 and 4pm was sufficient to meet KPIs…yes, Kali, I’m looking at you.
As a result, we’ve been brainstorming, white boarding and thought balling. We’ve tossed around ideas, set some blue sky targets, taken a helicopter view of the situation and gone for a stroll through the blame garden. We’ve confronted the variables of our economic landscape and recalibrated our thinking in terms of our client base moving forward. We’ve looked to reposition our offerings in line with the goals underpinning our mission statement, and with a view to nurturing and cherishing our ongoing commitment to excellence at every level. Outcome focus as a means of achieving positive deliverables within a realizable factual matrix. We’ve drawn a line in the sand and we have some clear visions regarding future proofing the company and generating passive income.
What does this mean? I made a cuppa and started to write some stuff down. Kali, the wonder cocker spaniel and my partner in this enterprise wagged her tail encouragingly.
By the time I finished my coffee, I had what my hubby (who knows about this stuff) would call a business plan for next year.
The quick decisions and sparky ideas from yesterday now need to be turned into strategic goals and ways forward. Think office bingo words and you have Mercury in Capricorn. This placement is ambitious, dry, conservative and goal orientated… so all that detail you ignored with your big thinking big talking ways while Mercury was in Sagittarius? All those future driven ideas? They now need to have some structure and dates put around them. Long term planning, schedules, risk registers, minutes, scope determination, criticals to quality…my Pisces Mercury is developing a headache just thinking about it!
Mercury in the Earth signs appreciates some order in their communication. Mercury in Capricorn is no different- structure is a deal-breaker. She doesn’t like having to deal with too much information or too many messages or too much data from conflicting sources- well, not all at once. She likes the opportunity to methodically break it down. She likes to treat information responsibly- just as she would any resource- and utilize it where it is best suited.
Business decisions are made only after considering all facts, and communicated with a sense of authority and no frills. If you are presenting a plan for a new initiative to Capricorn, save the pretty pictures in the presentation and instead make sure that everything can be supported by data. There is no place for instincts, emotion, manipulation or time wasting in the Capricorn schedule.
As a result Mercury in Capricorn can come across as being conservative, rigid and skeptical- even those with the Sun in either Sagittarius or Aquarius (remember Mercury never is more than one sign from the Sun). Don’t mistake this for humorless though. Capricorn has a dry and ironic wit that is all the more enjoyable for its realism.
Capricorn prefers to stick to methods which are tried and trusted, and will look to experience and the past for answers. This is because reality and responsibility are valued, and speculation and exaggeration mistrusted. As such, to quote Stephen Arroyo, the focus can often be on limitations rather than possibilities. Provide the supporting data and Mercury in Capricorn will put the business strategy in place and turn it into a winner.
Mistrust can be an issue for Capricorn: when every new idea presented by others is met with all the reasons why it can’t possibly work, when skepticism creeps into cynicism, practicality into negativity, and wariness becomes worry. Capricorn has the ability to worry at Olympic level!
This placement, however, has a brilliant head for business and the whole planning and organization thing is usually something that is second nature. Even outside the workplace- not that Capricorn likes to admit this. Mercury in Capricorn may often think they don’t work hard enough, are smart enough, organized enough, focused enough.
From a learning viewpoint, Capricorn is methodical, persistent and not scared of hard work. Respect is a great motivator and Capricorn will work and study long and hard in order to become an authority in her chosen field. Steady and sustained progress will keep her going.
For the rest of us, we can take a little of this energy now to put our own lines in the sand and put some frameworks in place within which strategies can flourish, risks mitigated and targets achieved.
Does this sound like you? If you have Mercury conjunct Saturn you could be nodding your head, and, if you are a Capricorn, you probably already think this way…even if you do sell yourself short. And the title? From a Midnight Oil song.