Do you know how embarrassing it is to be a Capricorn Rising who doesn't know what the F they're doing?
I remember I was first getting into astrology and when somebody told me I was a Capricorn Rising, I was like, "huh?"
"How?"
Capricorns are known for having their ish together. For being super disciplined and responsible. And I guess I can be like that sometimes, but for the most part, I be having my head in the clouds. Like, I live in ✨La La Land✨ for real.
Folks ask me what I'm thinking about and it's almost annoying because babe, you couldn't even begin to imagine. And I couldn't explain it if I tried! Although I probably will anyway, and that's not gonna do nothing but piss us both off!! So now what?!
It's not that I think my ideas are just soooo sophisticated and folks would be too stupid to understand. It's just that words can never do ✨La La Land✨ justice. ✨La La Land✨ is something you have to see for yourself.
Now, from a purely archetypal perspective, you could make the argument that every Capricorn has their head in the clouds. The mountain goat is a good symbol for our sign because it likes to climb to the pinnacle where the snow caps seem indistinguishable from the sky. Capricorns dream big, honey.
But as Earth signs, they're dreaming about things you can very much imagine. They have tangible, material goals that can be planned out and plotted onto paper. A blueprint. Goals that would impress people to see reflected on a resume. Goals that make a real impact in this world.
And therein lies my problem: with Neptune in my 1st House, I don't aspire to ish in the real world!! Shoot, with Neptune just two degrees from my Capricorn Rising, I'm liable to be like "what is the real world anyway? What is the real world anyyyyywayyyyy?"
It's not that I have no ambition, or that I don't believe in work, or that I think I'm too good for work. I'm still a Capricorn Rising at the end of the day, and like any mountain goat, I'm willing to climb any mountain I have to. Any mountain I must.
It's just that with illusory, ✨mirage✨-like Neptune, the mountains I set my sights on, nobody else seems to see. Because, yes, they don't technically necessarily exist. Yet!
A long time ago, someone who didn't know no better read my chart and told me not to bother with that Neptune placement because "outer planets don't affect us that much." But they actually matter a lot when they're in your 1st House. Even more if they're closely conjunct the degree of your Rising.
I don't care if it's an outer planet like Neptune, Uranus, or Pluto, or an asteroid like Chiron or Black Moon Lilith—having any kind of placement in the 1st House, conjunct your Rising sign, makes it a whole new ball game. It changes everything about how that Rising sign normally operates. And if that hasn't been taken into account, it could be the reason why you don't all the way resonate with your Rising sign. You could have a whole other planetary or energetic influence there that can make that Rising sign into something else entirely.
This is why I suggest people see professional astrologers or really research their birth charts, because everything about me made so much more sense when I realized my Rising sign energy—the energy through which I see and make my way through the world—is wearing Neptune tinted glasses.
The Rising, also known as the Ascendant, represents the “I am,” and mine is steeped, soaked and saturated in Neptunian energy, which is dreamy, imaginative, ethereal and sometimes very delusional. Pretty much the complete opposite of where Capricorn is coming from.
Capricorn, the no nonsense realist, and even pessimist.
Capricorn, from serious a$$ Saturn.
Shoot, the more I learned about how impactful Rising sign conjunctions can be, the more I started to wonder if I should tell people I'm a Neptune Rising instead of a Capricorn Rising. Like, no, it does get that serious. It does.
It explained why I felt so out of step with how Capricorns get depicted, and even the other Capricorns around me. It's why I've always had such a strange relationship with resumes. It's why the blueprint that looked brilliant in my head never seemed to make sense on paper.
The crazy thing is, if you did see my resume, you'd probably be like, "Girl, how dare you get on here and start talking all this?" But that's not the point, okay?!
Don't think I'm saying I have no ambition. I could never claim to not think about legacy, or deny that I'm not high-achiever coded or have been in the past. All Capricorns at least have that in them, okay?
It's just that my Capricorn energy is specifically attuned to the frequency of Neptune. I aspire toward achieving a higher operating consciousness for all of society, or cultivating spiritual oneness through structures and systems. Creating mythologies that turn the hero's journey completely on his head.
And while I love that for me, I also can't deny that it's been quite a mess! Especially when this was something I wasn't really aware of and didn't understand; something I could only sense, but never successfully say out loud or articulate.
Like I said, Neptune and Capricorn are as different as can be, and with it being on my Rising sign, I swear I felt the tension of that difference every single day. I still do.
Capricorn is an Earth sign and Neptune, as the modern ruler of Pisces, is Water energy. And what happens when you put Earth and Water together? Well, in some circumstances, usually ones where there is a high level of consciousness and awareness, a whole garden can bloom. But in other circumstances, you just get mud.
And for a long time, that's how I felt. Ashamed. Because do you know how wild it is to be a Capricorn who's trying to build on mud? Or worse, on fairy dust and moon rocks?!
Capricorn just wants to build a solid, stable world that's rooted and structured. But the magical, intangible nature of Neptune makes it feel like you're just building sandcastles, constantly at risk of being washed away. And that the only truly stable systems we can build are ones that serve our spiritual and material well being equally, if not more.
Let me tell you, it's not an easy set of energies to balance, but navigating and trying to harmonize them is literally a part of my everyday journey. And not just the outward facing parts of that journey either.
Neptune, the planet of confusion and misdirection and illusion, being in the 1st House of self can bring a lot of confusion and delusion around what? The self. And I truly believe that learning astrology and learning about my birth chart and really understanding my Rising sign and 1st House placement has been a transformative and healing part of my journey.
It helped me make sense of the puzzle pieces before me and ease some of the unnecessary suffering I was putting on myself in trying to put them together. It's helped me be less harsh on myself for not being like my other Capricorn Rising compadres. And for constantly being late to the high-achievers club meeting.
Because don't get it twisted. I'll still show up! I'm still a card carrying Capricornian like the rest of them. It's just that having Neptune on my Ascendant means we have different metrics of success. Or KPIs for my business girlies!
So my recommendation would be to get a full assessment of your first house, which you can talk about with me by booking a session with me.
I had a client the other day who was an Aries Rising with Saturn in her 1st House. I was like, "girl, how you a kid and a little old lady at the same time?" And she was like, "I don't know, but I really am!" At the very least, you might finally feel seen.
Do not discount the power of having planets in the 1st House. Even if it's an outer planet or an asteroid. It matters.
Having Neptune in the 1st House can make you very attuned to our collective dreams, hopes, goals, visions for society.
Having Pluto in the 1st House can make you very acutely aware of the generational traumas that may need to be broken that are currently coursing through our collective veins. Like, that my feel distant to other people, but for you it's personal.
Uranus in the 1st House can make you...the patron saint of black sheep everywhere. Okay? You get it. You you get it, okay.
Let me know in the what you think. If you have anything in the 1st House, if you have any questions about any placements that might be there, I'd love to talk about it with you one-on-one or on the next episode of my podcast.
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Thank you so much for reading. Asé!