Venus shining in my window awakens me early these mornings. Jupiter is nearby. It is breathtaking to be awake at the end of night, hours before dawn. Venus and Jupiter, the feminine and expansive benefics are in the sign of Capricorn. I make no claims to asto-wisdom though for many years I have been exploring the subject. Capricorn is a feminine sign and yet it covers corporations, big business and banking things we think of as the masculine world. As i lay in bed this morning watching the stars, I was contemplating the feminine nature that might belong to Capricorn.

The Grandmothers

When i was young (1950s) I was surrounded by powerful older women. My Swedish great aunts were among the first to graduate from the University of Washington. Aunt Lil taught school her whole life. When she retired she took a mule and hiked the Cascade Crest Trail from Canada into southern California. Alone. Aunt Clarabel with her husband bought land to log. She set choker, he was the faller - just a little gypo operation in northern Washington. Her husband was seriously injured early on and she took over the logging herself. Swedish women, we come from a very egalitarian stock. No one in my family thought a thing of women doing such things it was completely normal.

Our family lived on the reservation (Salish). A clash of culture? I never, ever noticed any. Differences yes, but I believe that the women created a bridge.

ALL of our children ARE all of our children.

The Grandmothers agreed.

And as this totem implies all are unique, each has it’s own tomanawas (power or medicine) and all are connected.

From Scandinavian women i learned to knit listening to clicking needles and various dialects and languages of a far-away north; Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish. From Salish women I learned beading and basket weaving listening to a soft wind and rain in cedar Lashootseed language that the eldest of elders still spoke.

The Salish grandmothers could raise a finger and without words silence a disrespectful adolescent. One finger in a movement so quick and small you could miss it; power of generations - respect and love.

I owe a large debt of gratitude to all of my Grandmothers, strong women with clear memories embodying the current moment in a long line of ancestors ~ the feminine strength of Capricorn? Perhaps.