Traditional Capricorn Traits
Practical and prudent
Ambitious and disciplined
Patient and careful
Humorous and reserved
On the dark side....
Pessimistic and fatalistic
Miserly and grudging
over conventional and rigid
The Capricornian is one of the most stable and serious of the zodiacal
types. These independent, rocklike characters have many sterling qualities,
although admittedly some of these are as dull as they are worthy. This
type is normally cautiously confident, strong willed and calm. Hardworking, unemotional, shrewd, practical, responsible, persevering they are capable of persisting for as long as is necessary they are reliable workers in almost any profession they undertake. But they are neither original nor creative and can only develop what others invent or initiate.
Within their limits, however, they are resourceful, determined managers,
setting themselves and others high standards. Honest in their criticism of
self, they respect discipline from above and demand it from those beneath
them. In their slow, tough, stubborn, unyielding way they persist against
boredom, frustration, and hardship to reach their objectives long after
more brilliant and volatile subjects have given up. In fact when practical
business ability allied with the drive of ambition and lust for power and
wealth are required in employees to make a project succeed, Capricornians
are the people to hire. They plan carefully to fulfill their ambitions
(which often include becoming wealthy), are economical without meanness
and able to achieve great results with minimum effort and expense. Because
of their organizing ability they are able to work on several projects
simultaneously.
They love authority but may not be popular if they reach high rank, for,
self-disciplined themselves, they expect their underlings to be equally so
and to perform every task undertaken to the highest standard. They are,
nevertheless, fair as well as demanding. Among their equals they are not
always the most pleasant of work fellows either, for they are reserved
and too conservative, valuing tradition more than innovation, however
valuable the latter, and they are often humorless. There is also a tendency
to pessimism, melancholy and even surliness which many Capricornians are
unable to keep to themselves, especially if they fail personally or do not
achieve the corporate success which they had planned for their firms. They
can spread gloom and tension in their circle which depresses everyone
around them. In the extreme this trait can make them manic-depressive,
ecstatic happiness alternating with the most wretched kind of misery for
no reason that the subject of these emotions can name.
The swings in mood are not the only reason Capricornians deserve the
adjective based on their name - capricious. They can be surprisingly and
suddenly witty and subtle for the dull, prosaic creatures they seem to be,
and they also have a tendency to ruin everything earned by their caution
and shrewdness by unexpected and utterly irresponsible bouts of flippancy.
In individuals in whom the characteristic is strong, the temptation to do
this has to be resisted with iron self-control. Another unexpected quality
in some Capricornians is an interest in the occult which persists in spite
of their naturally skeptical turn of mind.
Their intellects are sometimes very subtle. They think profoundly though
with little originality, have good memories and an insatiable yet
methodical desire for knowledge. They are rational, logical and
clearheaded, have good concentration, delight in debate in which they can
show off their cleverness by luring their adversaries into traps and
confounding them with logic.
In their personal relationships they are often ill-at-ease, if not
downright unhappy. They are self-centered, wary and suspicious of others,
and in turn attract people who neither trust nor understand them. They
prefer not to meddle with others nor to allow interference with themselves. Casual acquaintances they will treat with diplomacy, tact and, above all, reticence. They make few good friends but are intensely loyal to those they do make, and they are bitter, revengeful enemies. They sometimes dislike the opposite sex and test the waters of affection gingerly before judging the temperature right for marriage. Once married, however, they are faithful, though inclined to jealousy. Family life, if well ordered as they like it to be, more than balances the goat like inclination to lechery and inconstancy which some old authorities have ascribed to Capricorns.
Besides those already mentioned, faults to which the type is prone are
over-conventionality, bigotry, selfishness, avarice and miserliness,
chronic complaining, incessant unnecessary worrying, and severity spilling
over into cruelty.
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