Capricorn has his eye on the prize. In fact, I haven’t known any Capricorn who hasn’t had their eye on some kind of prize. A book deal. A tenure. A hot tub. A new car. Which begs the question: now that the Eliminator, Pluto has come to town, paring down our visions of sugar plums dancing, into something else…what is that something else? Some of us have long-held dreams which may need to be transformed for the times; others may already be riding, or gilding, the wave of what’s coming next. Where are you in relation to your goals of achieving what’s next? Because asking that question is what this time of year, and this Capricorn New Moon, is all about.

Pluto’s gift is one of remaining relevant, of knowing when, and what to change. Capricorn’s gift is making those changes sustainable. Of the manifold ways you might apply this missive to your own personal life, well, this sounds like a s***load of responsibility to me. But that’s just me. I sure am glad I’m not president. But I also do feel the enormous transformative power at hand, collectively, and in my own life. And the thought of it is enough to keep at least me busy for the remaining century.

Our next move does seem very important (that’s a Capricorn word). How we play the hand we’re dealt in our respective personal worlds, is just as “important” as the level of integrity we need to have restored & see demonstrated by, our important world leaders. This feels like a monumental job, because well, that’s Capricorn, too. This may be hard, but it won’t be difficult. We’re not flying blind as a bachelor in a speed dating episode of The Bachelor, as we were with Pluto in Sagittarius. There are clues about how to proceed. From merely watching what and who’s going down around us, we can observe that we’d be wise to elect our own new level of accountability and authority. The irresponsible dilettantes will no longer be rewarded.

And this is only the beginning. This is an approximately fifteen years long passage, and the longer the passage of this slowest planet in the solar system (albeit the planet formerly known as a planet), the slower the unraveling shall be. There may be more mysteries than answers, yet. But we all certainly have a sense of where this whole thing is headed, and we will want to be on the up and up. We will want to put on our clean underwear on this and every morning, just in case anything else you know – happens.

I’ve just begun having a major Pluto transit, and I’m feeling this personally. Pluto is filling out the leg of a t-square in my natal chart which will eventually perfect as a grand cross. When, one of my astro-colleagues exclaimed peeking at my chart “Holy t-square, Batman!” I couldn’t help but think of the superpowers, come hell or high waters, that I will eventually acquire. There’s not much to reveal right now but you’ll hear infinitely more about it over the coming years as my third house transiting Pluto invariably involves you. I won’t be able to keep it all to myself. Fortunately, I will also have a few 0-3 degree Cardinal people, surrounding. Those friends with Aries, Libra, Cancer, or Capricorn planets within 0-3 degrees will also be doing the business of transformative essential-izing, or stripping down to the essentials in their respective areas of life, with me. I feel blessed and lucky to have these people in my life.

Still, there’s Saturn/Capricorn fear and anxiety management to tend to. And armed with the craftiest of crafts, astrology, I’m reassured. Like a stern and rewarding headmistress, there are essential and basic rules to follow with Capricorn. So every time I go to the fear side of the unknown equation – the part that’s this far away from freaking out – I go back to the basics with Capricorn. These basics are simple to get at, only requiring me to dip into the archetypal cosmic cauldron and to pull out an adjective – or three, and turn them into verbs (as an instructional aside, changing descriptive adjectives of any sign, to verbs, can help us better understand & accomplish a planet or sign’s missive). When I’m Capricorn-ing, I may not be patient, but I’m doing patience. I may not be an authority on the matter; I’m currently doing authority. I may not be ultra-disciplined, but today I’m doing discipline. By getting down to the business of, as my teacher Steven Forrest says, Capricorn-ing, I get the best from Cappy. This isn’t difficult, but it’s not easy, either. Often, Capricorn-ing only requires me to put one foot patiently in front of another, do the good work, and to stay in integrity within my deepest self. Hey, I can do that.

Capricorn must be productive to be viable, but it’s not busy work; our can-do must be turned into busy goal-setting and planning. Have you ever known a bored Capricorn? Work is definitely on the agenda which makes my Cancer Sun pine for that hot tub we’ve wanted for a few years now. Last year we were certain we could accomplish this in a year, or two. Now, that two-year plan has stretched into a ten year plan and we’re contemplating a yearly pass to our town’s local hot tub spot, instead. One desire is soon replaced by another, because as certain interminables flush out, and start to lay their self on a more realistic timeline, end points also become more certain. I saw this at work while riding to work together on Christmas Eve, when my husband contemplated the uncertainty of the future by declaring prophetically, and with resolve: “All we have to do is keep our cool for another year. No one has the money to do anything right now but if we can just keep our cool this year – we’ll be right where we need to be.” In a flash of intuition, I knew he was right.

I’m not hinging my predictions for 2009 on my husband’s prophecy, but as an early degree Capricorn rising, he just might be the voice of the burning bush. And me, riding shotgun in the third house – I might be an active participant and revelatory witness to this, and other communiques’ of import. This Capricorn New Moon falls in my third house of writing & communication, so I figure I can claim this transmission as a worthy pursuit for this new moon. I can add my hollowed, imaginative voice to the collective din. I can be Capricorn-ing, by diligently writing about the planetary pathos and pleasure with the almighty aid of this once-in-a-lifetime learning curve, Pluto (Did I mention I can already feel that burn?).

But this burn isn’t the beach party bonfire of Sagittarius. No, this burn will be slower, a dry-ice kind of heat. The kind of invisible heat that’s so cold, it’s hot. Dry ice can burn hotter than Hades. And if you wondered whether being cool could burn, think about real power, and then think again. I’m not just talking about Obama, either. Real power is self-knowing. Not getting carried away by the glory of that deepest power of powers. And having the discipline to carry your self-knowing through…to the conclusion of a lifetime.

And now, without further ado, please allow me to officially welcome you to 2009: The Year of Keeping Your Cool.