Capella

Capella sits on the body of the Little She-Goat held in Auriga's arms. As Amalthea, the goat nurses the infant Jupiter, and her care earns her a place in heaven. Curiosity and apprehension share this star's oldest reading, like a goat searching for fresh shrubs while startling at every noise. The desire to learn persists through the fear of unfamiliar ground. The reading has since gained care that leaves room for independence. Capella's interest in another life can be generous without directing its course. Its restlessness holds a tension between the pleasure of discovery and the worry that keeps searching after an answer has been found.

Capella by birth year

On 1 January 2026, Capella stood at ♊ 22°13′ Gemini in the tropical zodiac.

It has been in Gemini since before the year 1000 and stays there past 2400.

Positions are for 1 January of each year; a star moves about 50 arcseconds a year, so a birth late in the decade sits close to the next row.

From latitudes poleward of 44° S it never rises, and from latitudes poleward of 44° N it never sets (geometric horizon, refraction ignored).

Computed by the Augurine engine on the apparent equinox of date from HYG coordinates with proper motion applied (engine build 1c1cc33).

Fresh shrubs and the Olenian goat

Manilius describes Capella rising as the last degree of Aries comes up. Before he turns to human character, he recalls the goat feeding the infant Jupiter with her milk. His people born under her rising are easily alarmed and eager to explore, like goats browsing farther afield for fresh shrubs. Firmicus pairs the same traits in Mathesis VIII.6.7. Capra rises with the 30th degree of Aries, and those born under it show uneasiness alongside an impatient desire to hear something new. These are co-rising degrees, the zodiac degrees on the eastern horizon when the star rises. ^{[1] [7]}

With Capella rising, you pursue a subject because it interests you or because uncertainty makes it difficult to leave alone. Either keeps you reading long after everyone else has stopped. The difference shows when you find an answer. Interest lets you enjoy what you have learned; apprehension sends you looking for something you might have missed. Manilius's goat takes pleasure in browsing, even while approaching unfamiliar ground cautiously. ^[1]

Ptolemy assigns Mars and Mercury to the bright stars of Auriga collectively; Hephaistio repeats that assignment as Ares and Hermes. ^{[5] [6]} Read that mixture through the urgency with which you pursue a subject. New information either lets the goat act or sends her further afield. Before opening another book, decide whether you already know enough to take the next step.

Amalthea's care and a life of your own

Allen derives Capella from the diminutive of the Latin capra, goat. In his Amalthea accounts, the nurse is either the Cretan goat herself or a nymph who, with her sister Melissa, feeds Jupiter goat's milk and honey. He also records a separate identification with the goat's horn, broken in play by the infant god and placed in heaven as the Horn of Plenty. ^[4] Care takes the form of feeding someone. Begin there when reading Capella's abundance, with what you have available and who needs it.

Brady reads a planet in paran with Capella, a shared angular timing, through freedom expressed without aggression. She gives relationships for Venus and thinking for Mercury. Her Amelia Earhart example has Venus culminating at the same time as Capella on Earhart's birth date; her John Glenn example has Saturn culminating with it. ^[3] With Venus, you want a partner to have a life of their own and still count on your care. With Mercury, let another person pursue a thought without steering it toward the answer you would give.

Capella's quick speech under public attention

With the Sun, Robson pairs martial honor and wealth with changeability, quick speech and criticism; with the Moon, he describes indiscreet or sarcastic speech, quarrels and domestic disharmony. ^[2] Read these as tendencies within the whole chart. With the Sun, give a thought time to settle before putting your name to it, especially when your standing is at stake. With the Moon, let the people closest to you answer an interested question without pressing them for an explanation of every detail.

With Mercury, thinking for yourself includes taking responsibility for what you publish. Robson lists legal difficulty over writings and success after trouble; Brady reads Mercury's Capella paran through independence in thinking. ^{[2] [3]} Decide which statements you are prepared to defend before putting them into circulation. For Venus, Robson gives literary and poetic ability with poor financial returns, while Brady puts freedom into relationships. ^{[2] [3]} Enjoy making the work, and settle the terms on which you share it, including payment when the work is professional.

With Mars, Robson describes learning and intellect applied to subjects he considers unworthy. His Jupiter list includes legal or religious connections alongside excessive zeal and criticism. With Saturn, he describes earning money and struggling to keep it, with expensive tastes and domestic friction. ^[2] For Mars, compare what you have learned with the time spent pursuing it. For Jupiter, notice when enthusiasm becomes an argument for everyone else to agree. With Saturn, compare the income with the cost of the life it supports.

At the Midheaven, Robson describes institutional advancement, with stronger honors when the Sun, Moon or Jupiter shares the condition. ^[2] Read this as a career in which recognition puts your judgment before other people. With an Ascendant contact, curiosity and caution describe how you enter a situation, though a longitude conjunction differs from Capella actually rising. For Manilius's and Firmicus's accounts, check the star's actual rising before applying their descriptions. ^{[1] [7]}

Capella's 2026 longitude is 22°13′ tropical Gemini, while the Little She-Goat itself lies about 23° north of the ecliptic in Auriga. Robson identifies it as Alpha Aurigae. ^[2] Augurine's calculator uses a 1°30′ conjunction orb for Capella. Compare the longitude for your birth year with the planet or angle involved.

The rainy Goat-starre and the court musician

Allen's Capella has a stormy reputation. He records Manilius and Pliny treating the goat as a sign of rain, and quotes Lamb's translation of Aratos on sailors disliking the star that people ashore admire. ^[4] The nurse of Jupiter was also an unwelcome sight to someone at sea.

In Magical Influences of Fixed Stars, Robson gives Capella the image of a man playing musical instruments. He lists sapphire and horehound among its materials and describes the image as a means of gaining honor before nobility. ^[2] His natal Venus account also allows ability to win an audience without earning much money. In a chart with a close Venus contact, discuss recognition and income separately, especially if the person already writes or performs.

Capella's milk nurse and Erichthonius's chariot

Capella sits on the body of the goat held in Auriga's arms, and its name means Little She-Goat. ^[2] Amalthea, the Cretan goat in Allen's story, nurses the infant Jupiter. She puts her own kids aside to make room for her foster-child, and her nursing earns her a place in heaven. ^[4]

Amalthea also appears as a nymph in Allen's account. With her sister Melissa, she feeds the infant Jupiter goat's milk and honey on Mount Ida. Another version identifies the star with the goat's horn. Jupiter breaks it off in play, and it is placed in heaven as the Horn of Plenty. ^[4]

Erichthonius, a king of Athens and son of Vulcan, invents the four-horse chariot and earns his place in the sky as the Charioteer. Myrtilus takes the Charioteer's place in another version; he betrays his master Oenomaus to Pelops. ^[4]

How the authors read Capella

Paran Interpretations

Parans describe what happens when Capella and a planet simultaneously occupy the four angles (rising, culminating, setting, nadir) at a given location.

Notable Charts

Sources

1. Marcus Manilius, Astronomica, translated by G. P. Goold, Harvard University Press and William Heinemann Ltd, 1977. Used for the Olenian goat's rising, curiosity and apprehension.
2. Vivian E. Robson, The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, American Federation of Astrologers, Inc., 1923. Used for Capella's 1920 position, natal entry, and Magical Influences of Fixed Stars.

   Text of the 1923 edition; the site quotes a 2017 reprint.

3. Bernadette Brady, Brady's Book of Fixed Stars, Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1998. Used for care and independence, with Venus and Mercury readings and named parans.
4. Richard Hinckley Allen, Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Dover Publications, Inc., 1899. Used for the goat's name, Amalthea and the Horn of Plenty, Auriga's charioteer stories and the stormy reputation.
5. Claudius Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, translated by Frank Egleston Robbins, 1940. Used for the Mars and Mercury classification for Auriga's bright stars in 1.9.
6. Hephaistio of Thebes, Apotelesmatics, Book I, translated by Robert Schmidt, The Golden Hind Press, 1994. Used for the collective Ares and Hermes assignment in 1.3.
7. Firmicus Maternus, Ancient Astrology: Theory and Practice, translated by Jean Rhys Bram, Noyes Press, 1975. Used for Capra rising and setting in VIII.6.7 and VIII.6.14.
8. Anonymous of 379, The Treatise on the Bright Fixed Stars, translated by Robert Schmidt, The Golden Hind Press, 1993. Used for Robert Hand's editorial comparison showing Capella's absence from the treatise.