In this series, I’m going to break down each and every rising sign and every house of your chart, based on the rising sign. I’m going to be using whole sign houses, which is a house system where every sign is a separate house.
This isn’t so much of a breakdown, actually, and more of a synthesis. When you look at everything in a chart isolated and dissected, ultimately you’re not going to get much of a narrative about your entire chart. By relating every house back to your rising sign, you can understand your entire chart in a more holistic way.
If you’re not using whole sign houses already, I highly encourage you to apply it to your understanding of your chart. While Placidus is still the most popular house system being used, it’s actually more relevant to electional astrology than using your natal chart to understand your personal drives. Whole sign houses are more relevant when you use astrology to build self understanding.
Capricorn rising, Cancer descending: Tenderly building yourself up high
Capricorn risings are gatherers. They gather people, resources, and connections to build something that gets bigger and bigger over a huge amount of time. Before they start any project, they’re going to be trying to figure out whether it can be sustained for a long period of time. And the number one question that they’re going to be asking themselves is: do I really care about this issue enough to dedicate time to it?
There’s a lot of stuff out there that talks about how Capricorns are all about control but Capricorn is actually a sign that attempts to control the self, not necessarily other people so much. Capricorn risings can be hard on themselves, willing themselves to grow up very quickly even when they’re literal children. With Cancer on the descendent angle, Capricorn risings are mostly looking for tenderness from other people.
Because Capricorn risings don’t necessarily know how to react emotionally in the moment, they may hold meetings around friend dramas almost like they’re at a business meeting. They tend work with their friends as well, starting small projects that really bring people together so business and personal things definitely start to overlap. Within groups, they always try to make sure that things are running smoothly and that no one is doing the bulk of the work. It’s important for them that labor is distributed fairly and with accountability.
This is why is can be actually very surprising when you get to know a Capricorn rising well enough to start to hear about their personal life. Since they’re a bit guarded, it can take a while for your relationship to reach that stage. Even though Capricorn risings are fairly good at navigating relationships where there are responsibilities to be balanced, they can often struggle in relationships where there’s a lot of emotions at play. Capricorn risings are highly emotional but they don’t want to be, meaning that they can often hide behind a guise of only wanting to talk about facts when, in fact, so much is going on in their hearts.
Aquarius second house, Leo eighth house: Collective action
As we mentioned before, Capricorn risings are really good at teamwork. Not only that, they’re also good at making sure that everyone is working towards a goal together. Because their goals are big, they take a lot more than just one person to put into action. Capricorn risings believe in the power of collective action. They know that one branch is much harder to break than a whole bunch. They know that, to go far, that you must go together.
But there’s no way that you’re going to find Capricorn risings be the person working behind the scenes in any scenario. When they create together, they want the group project to make themselves shine. With Leo on the eighth house cusp of building together, they’re the type of leader who doesn’t shy away from having their name and face on the website of the project that everyone is helping build. They want their name out there and they want other people to know that they’re taking people places.
The axis between Aquarius and Leo in the second and eighth house is really about needing their own space when they’re really deep in thought about something, of needing to work in private to actually get things done, and wanting their work to have a social impact and needing other people to acknowledge their work. This can mean that Capricorn risings are always trying to strike a balance between working on a research project in private and trying to figure out how to use the work to connect to community. It can mean that the doing of a project and the sharing of a project are two separate things that they’re always trying to do at the same time.
Pisces third house, Virgo ninth house: Transparency
In a lot of spaces, everyone can start to feel reluctant to talk about politics even when they just have a question. This doesn’t apply to Capricorn rising. They’re not the type to shy away from a hard topic or to filter themselves just because they don’t know how well they will be critically received. When they speak, especially when it’s in criticism against an institution, they’re tough and they’re biting. When they ask questions, they don’t try to filter themselves or to ask the “right” questions. They ask questions that they actually want to know the answers to.
This is important because Capricorn risings aren’t afraid to be wrong. They’re not afraid that someone will take their words the wrong way. They say things that they think will make the entire group grow. While this is an important role in any group, it can create some chaos in terms of interpersonal communication. Sometimes people take things personally even when they’re not meant to be. Sometimes, Capricorn rising may say things that are very thought provoking but accidentally criticize a person who they didn’t mean to criticize.
When everyone is willing to speak with the transparency that Capricorn risings are, this can mean that there are endless discussions of some important topic that is never quite relieved. However, a lot of people like to bundle up their thoughts and save them for another day. This confuses Capricorn risings, who want conversations to be as clear as water. This makes communication murky. Capricorn risings are challenged, in this way, to not only hear what is clearly and loudly said in a room but also to what is hidden and not talked about. This is a little harder for someone who wants everything to be laid out in the open.
Aries fourth house, Libra tenth house: Selective
From the outside, Capricorn risings look extremely well put together. They’re the slightly younger person in a group of older friends, all of who can’t believe that Capricorn rising is younger at all since they act so much older. They dress well, they look clean and polished, and always put the interests of the group before themselves. On social media, they might have a well crafted image if they post at all. A lot of time, it can feel like Capricorn risings feel the pressure to please other people and this can be something that’s frustrating to them.
However, deep inside themselves, Capricorn risings are just like a little kid. They’re excited about what they’re excited about and they really don’t care that much about this stuff that you’re showing them, even if they pretend to. Capricorn risings spend a lot of their private time at home doing whatever it is they want to do, regardless of the consequences.
What this looks like together is that, when working on something together, Capricorn risings will never put any effort into anything that they don’t actually care about. When they really do care about something, that’s when they give their 100%. You’ll know if Capricorn rising doesn’t actually want to go on a trip that you planned with them, work on a writing project together, or go to an event with you because they’re make it super clear. However, if they are invested they’ll come out and make sure that you have a good time as well.
In other words, Capricorn risings are only selfish about how they spend their time when making decisions. Once they decide to commit to something with you, they’re going to hold a lot back and let you take up a lot of space. When you ask them to do something, they’re secretly thinking “do I really care about this?” before saying yes. If they say yes, that’s when they feel like they have to start putting aside a lot of their own interests to make sure that it really works out in the end.
Taurus fifth house, Scorpio eleventh house: Intentional Giver
Okay, when Capricorn risings like you and want to show you love, they’re going to go all out. All class consciousness aside, this is a bougie sign and, even if they’re a leftist, they’re going to try to create abundance in your life if they care about you. If they work together with you on a project, then they want everyone to make money and as much as possible. Capricorn risings are here to create wealth. That doesn’t have to happen in a capitalist way. They can be excellent farmer, plant dads, or just have a lot of stuff.
Capricorn risings want relationships to be full of material abundance, whether that is making and eating rich foods together, investing in really nice furniture in your shared house, buying something cute just because, or creating a beautiful garden together. Because these things take such a huge amount of time and energy, Capricorn risings don’t just share their voluptuous amount of love with just anyone. Before they let you in like that, they’re going to test you and make sure that you’re willing to invest an equal amount of care and attention into them. That’s the Scorpio in the eleventh house. Capricorn risings can seem a bit stringy with their acquaintances. They’re holding out for the people that they really love.
What’s interesting about this is that it can affect Capricorn risings in terms of their ability to craft long term plans. Often, Capricorn risings anticipate scarcity in the future even when they don’t in the present. When making long term plans, they can often plan for the worst case scenario while living their absolute best life in the moment.
Gemini sixth house, Sagittarius twelfth house: What if it’s just too much?
This placement can be a little tricky to handle. Gemini in the sixth house means that Capricorn risings are extremely good at making things run smoothly, at figuring out all the details and components of a project, that they might get a little nervous because they put a heavy mental strain on themselves, and that stress affects them right in the nerves. The Sagittarius in the twelfth house means that, because Capricorn risings zoom right in and look into the little details of whatever it is they’re working on, that they can be afraid of actually taking on the big hopes and dreams that they think about when everyone else goes home and the lights go out.
Sagittarius twelfth house makes Capricorn rising a dreamer. They want to change the world and they have the work ethic to do it. It’s just that, when they consider everything about what it takes to make something happen, whether that’s a one time event or even baking cookies, they can start to feel overwhelmed. It’s just so much work. Again, that question comes up: is this really worth it? Do I really care enough to put all of my energy into this?
This is where it comes back to the Cancer descendent. It’s so important for Capricorn risings to get support for what they take on, for them to feel that they’re not alone, because they feel the sheer immensity of the project at hand. And for them to feel really supported, they need to actually let other people take big roles in the project as well. Without that support, Capricorn risings can end up relegating themselves into some very small missions. This doesn’t suit their personality so they then start to resent those who simply start big without worrying why how every single little thing is going to get done.
