Rewilding rigour: a creative toolkit for Capricorn season
+ An exclusive new card pull for leaning into Capricorn's creative energy
Hi little coven, and happy Capricorn season.
You can always trust a Capricorn to have a big goal and an air-tight plan for reaching it. The drive to make things work at any cost is a value that serves creative Capricorns particularly well — they rarely fall prey to the magpie tendencies that distract many artist-types from our primary goal.
While a rigorous work-ethic is an essential element in how Capricorns conceive of success, creatives under this sign really come into their own when they make room in their practice to indulge their weird and wild side: some of the most famous Capricorns include iconoclastic musicians like David Bowie, Dolly Parton, and Elvis Presley; bold, boundary-pushing artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and John Singer Sargent; and quirky-yet-artful actors like Timothée Chalamet and Diane Keaton.
But you don’t need to be a born Capricorn to infuse the sign’s unique power into your creative process.
Let’s talk about two archetypes that you can learn from this Capricorn season: the classic Sea-Goat symbol that represents Capricorn in the Zodiac, and the Devil tarot birth card.
Horns aside, these images don’t initially appear to have much in common thematically. In many ways, they contrast each other: The Sea-Goat’s ethereal, wild nature meets its polar opposite in the Devil’s claustrophobic darkness.
The Capricornian Sea-Goat is a fantastic portrait of flexibility: this creature is as at home on land as it is on sea. It’s strange and magical, a symbol of life with notable mythical associations to Pan, the Greek god of wilderness and Amalthea, the goat who served as nurturing foster-mother to the god Zeus, two icons of wildness and warmth. “Wild” and “warm” aren’t qualities immediately associated with Capricorn, a sign that has a reputation for being deeply motivated by money and power, yet these traits’ innate connection with Capricorn’s Sea-Goat mascot proves this sign craves wildness just as much as it hungers for worldly gain.
The Devil, meanwhile, trades images of flexibility for vice. The Sea-Goat’s expansive playground reaches from sea to plains to stars, but the Devil is relegated to a dark prison. In the tarot, this card can be a cautionary tale: your worldly desires are a trap. That’s a strong sentiment, one many modern readers temper with a healthy dose of compassion. There can, after all, be much-needed and hard-won release in indulging your desires… in going a little wild.
Together, the Sea-Goat and Devil archetypes represent the range of Capricorn energy: a penchant for dreaming big and paving a one-of-a-kind path, tempered by a desire for control and an impulse to constrain creative potential that yearns to run wild.
Speaking of dreaming big, next week on December 29th, I’m hosting a workshop experience to meet your personal Tarot Muse for 2025. Become a paid subscriber to The Shuffle now to get access to the live session and the replay.
To maximise your creative energy this season, learn from Capricornian extremes: offer your creativity enough structure to sate its appetite for steering the ship, without cowing its natural magic. Find the fulcrum of wildness and worldliness by offering yourself freedom and comfort in equal measure. Recruit Capricornian rigour to the task of running wild. Work hard at playing hard.
Creative Prompts for Capricorn Season
Use the following prompts as jumping-off points for your own creative exploration of Capricorn season. These aren’t homework — try what feels good or interesting to you, and know you have my permission to ignore the rest.
Journal about the Capricorn Sea-Goat and the Devil tarot card.
How do these images make you feel?
What memories, desires, and questions, do they bring up for you?
What similarities and differences do you notice between them?
Create a collage or mixed-media piece that balances the wild and the worldly.
Try mixing organic materials or imagery with more man-made aesthetics. How can you use this art experiment to capture the Capricornian range?
Choose one of the famous Capricorn creatives listed at the top of this post, and create something inspired by their aesthetic.
Take the time to learn about your inspiration - how did/do they work hard at playing hard in their creative life?
Choose two tarot cards: one to represent the groundedness your creative practice needs, and a second to represent the wild elements you want to explore in your practice
Keep them on display in your creative space throughout the next four weeks, to remind you to balance wildness and worldliness
Reflect each morning or evening on how you explored what each card has to offer
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