In the next installment of Studying the Stars, we sat down with University seniors and Capricorn power couple, Liv Iraci and Tanner Craig, to get the inside scoop on this cardinal earth sign.

Kendal: Hi! In case you don’t know me, I’m Kendal and I’m an English major. I’m also an Aries with a Taurus moon and rising. I hate myself every day because of it.

Owen: Everyone already knows me here because I’m so popular, but I’m Owen! I’m a Cancer sun, Pisces moon and Sagittarius rising. Now, do any of our Capricorns want to introduce themselves? I was so excited for this month, and I am so glad that we’re in this season now because Capricorn is my favorite sign to talk about.

Tanner: My name is Tanner and I am a senior with a double major in Hospitality and Tourism Management as well as Business Econ. I am also a Capricorn!

Owen: Isn’t your chart all earth signs? I want to say it is Capricorn sun, Capricorn moon and Taurus rising, which makes a lot of sense because, in a non-horrific way, you are a very stubborn individual.

Tanner: Yeah, I can see that.

Liv: What? Tanner, stubborn? Where did you get that from?

Owen: I don’t know, I might have lived with him for a year and a half, so I might know that that’s kind of a thing with him. Liv, would you like to introduce yourself?

Liv: I’m a Capricorn with a Libra moon and I have an Aries rising.

Owen: Oh! There it is! Normally, we like to begin our interviews by giving a little more context about each sign. For example, I have a lot of experience with Capricorns, as you all know and have read in The Pace Press. Kendal do you have any experience with Capricorns?

Kendal: Slightly, yes. My experiences with Capricorn women versus Capricorn men are vastly different. My childhood best friend is a Capricorn woman with an Aries moon and a Virgo rising and thank goodness for her Aries moon because otherwise, I don’t think we’d be nearly as compatible friendship wise. On the other hand, I have some Capricorn men in my family, and I am so sorry to every Capricorn male, but I really struggle to get along with them or understand them.

Liv: They’re definitely an acquired taste.

Owen: I can definitely agree with that. The difference between the male and the female when it comes to Capricorn is so intense! Every Capricorn woman I’ve ever met, including you, have been so poised and always on their A game. But with Capricorn men, I just think of Mr. Big from Sex and the City, and I get annoyed because of their emotional detachment. Additionally, they have complete tunnel vision when it comes to their desires and what they want out of someone or something.

Liv: Not always.

Owen: Why do you say so?

Liv: When Tanner and I first start dating I would say yes, but not anymore.

Owen: In what sense? Give us the details!

Liv: Well, he knows how to compromise. He doesn’t have that intense tunnel vision that makes him incapable of compromise. He’s never given me an ultimatum or been like “If you do that, then I’m out.” I feel like when it comes to Capricorns, they’re very stubborn at first with a kind of “my way or the highway attitude,” but once they start to actually care about you they flip the switch. Capricorns really want to show you that they want you to be happy and that they are willing to talk and compromise to make that happen.

Owen: Tanner, do you have any defense for that?

Tanner: Sort of. I definitely can relate to the tunnel vision at the beginning of the relationship. Even when it comes to schoolwork, I get that way. Although I procrastinate a lot, once I get in the zone, I want it done in a specific way. I’m very picky when it comes to stuff like that. Like Liv was saying when it comes to relationships, it has to be a push and pull and give and take kind of situation. It can’t be a one-way highway sort of dynamic.

Owen: My mentor teacher is a Capricorn and immediately asked, “Does that even work?” when I mentioned the two of you being a Capricorn-on-Capricorn couple.  Based on everything I’ve seen from you guys, it seems yes! Do you guys notice any similarities in energy when it comes to your ends of the relationship?

Liv: Yes, I’m definitely a bit softer than Tanner, so I tend to bring out the emotion in him while he brings out the logic in me. We kind of balance each other out in that way, as Capricorn is a very strong sign; you either love them or you hate them, so it works for us because that core likeness is there.  We’re just different versions of the same sign. He’s very logical and I’m more of an emotional base, which stems from my Aries rising and Libra moon. Meanwhile, Tanner is straight up- EARTH.

Owen: I completely agree because when I think of the two of you, I think of all the times I have heard Tanner talk about his career and his professional development.  Then when I think of you, I think of this beautifully crafted “bookstagram” – shameless @starlightbookss plug- that has a lot of Capricorn energy in the way that it’s organized and presented but also has an artistic softness to it. Kendal, did you want to bounce off of that?

Kendal: Yes, I’m so happy that we’re talking about this because it’s giving me a lot of insight into the Capricorn relationships in my life. When it comes to my childhood best friend, she has way more tunnel vision than the Capricorn men in my life because she doesn’t deviate from the path when she has her sights set on something. With the Capricorn men in my life, it’s more along the lines of what Tanner was saying, where they have to have a specific goal to be motivated by. I don’t want to say they can be lazy, but there has to be a catalyst for that motivation. Once they have that goal, it becomes their entire life.

Tanner: No, you can definitely say lazy. I was a couple of months ago. I had no hobbies and nothing to do because we were stuck in the middle of the pandemic and I was extremely unmotivated.

Kendal: I don’t even know if I’d say lazy because I feel like all of the earth signs are not necessarily lazy, but more selectively attentive. If something isn’t going to help them grow or they have no interest or passion in something then they’re just going to stop giving their time and energy to it which definitely isn’t a bad thing.

Liv: I think we hyper-fixate a lot. For example, Tanner do you want to tell them why you developed hobbies? Oh right! It was because I yelled at you.

Tanner: Just a little bit, yeah.

Liv: And that is my Aries rising on full display, which is why I wear the pants.

Owen: I love that, and I agree with the hyper-fixation idea. For example, I think of how many of my recent communications with Tanner have involved his new hobby of coin collecting which has become a big part of his life, and I think that’s something a lot of Capricorn men do. Once they find that new thing to occupy their mind and time with, that becomes their world.

Kendal: That’s exactly how the men in my family are! It goes from zero to one hundred so fast and all of a sudden they have this brand-new undertaking that they spend all of their time on. Owen, I think one of the main characteristics that go with that hyper-fixation is that career-oriented drive on both sides of the Capricorn spectrum. Do you agree with that and do you have a depiction of what you want your career and professional life to look like?

Liv: For me, I’m not necessarily super career-oriented, but I’m more life oriented. I know exactly what I want out of life. I want to travel, and I want to write my books. People should know that there are Capricorns that want to be the Miranda Priestly style “boss babe” strutting around in couture pantsuits, but there are also so many of us that have set goals and plans in a completely different way…like me.

Owen: It says something that you mentioned that you don’t really have a career goal, but you do have a life goal. Even if they’re not career oriented, you know what you want out of your life and that’s what you’re going to focus on. Tanner, on the other hand, falls directly into that career-driven lifestyle that we typically think of when it comes to Capricorns. Would you agree, Tanner?

Tanner: Yes, absolutely. When I came to school, I already had all my ducks in a row and then things sort of changed sophomore year. I ended up picking up the extra major and instead of dropping the first one, I decided to dive headfirst into the work and tackle both majors at the same time. The same thing goes for my job; if I’m going to do something, I want to give it my all. Sort of easing into the life goal idea, as Liv said, I don’t really have a picturesque career in mind, but I know that I want my career to allow me to lead a financially secure and free life.

Owen: Tanner is literally a Capricorn in the Lubin School of Business. It doesn’t get any more Capricorn than that.

Tanner: To be fair though, I’m not one of those Capricorns that wears a suit to Business 101, so I have that going for me.

Liv: That’s not true! I’ve seen you wear suits at random several times! And if it’s not a suit, it a random watch collection.

Kendal: I will admit that if I had to rank the Earth signs, I would say Capricorns are number one. When I first went to college, the Capricorns in my life were the people who kept me grounded so I would say I’ve had the best experiences with Capricorns overall.

Liv: Earth signs really do keep you grounded, but that’s kind of where Tanner and my rising sign really differ. He’s super earth-oriented while I have that fire in me so sometimes. I’ll be all over the place and he’s the person that reminds me to take a breath and steady myself. I’m a very animated person and I need someone to keep me grounded, so I’m lucky I have Tanner.

Owen: It’s so interesting thinking about how Cancers and Capricorns are polar opposites especially when it comes to mindset and outlook on life. In my experience, Capricorns are very pessimistic. Living with Tanner during freshman year, our dynamic was always me pulling him out of those darker negative spaces and him grounding me and reminding me not to be an idiot in my little Cancer bubble. I really appreciated the balance. Do either of you find yourself to be a generally pessimistic person?

Liv: Me? No. Tanner? Yes. Although, I will say that Tanner has gotten a lot better over the course of our relationship, but only because I yelled at him.

Owen: Liv, if you had met him when I did, he was a completely different person. When you came into the picture, he was just beginning to open up into the world of light and optimism and that shift became more dramatic once you started dating.

Liv: I definitely understand that pessimism and fear of failure because even though I am a lot more optimistic, I still empathize with that desire to be in control. Capricorns have a very powerful presence so when that dynamic is thrown off it feels like the end of the world because you just can’t control every situation.

Owen: That’s also a signature trait of cardinal signs and both of you are cardinal earth signs so you’re almost lost without that control. You have to ask yourself: What do I do when I lose control of the steering wheel?  That’s why I love that you two are such strong forces and are able to work together because of that powerful captain nature your sign has.

Tanner:  I don’t think it is really a bad controlling thing. It’s more like you’ve carefully laid the groundwork for everything in your life, so when that final brick doesn’t fall into place, you become frustrated because the rest of your work is ruined.  It’s as if you feel like your energy was completely wasted. You want to be in as much control as you can be and when something is off, you internalize it.

Kendal: I think that’s a signature Cardinal sign trait as well. We like control because we trust ourselves to lead and when things go wrong it forces you to question that trust. It’s weird to put that trust in someone or something else.

Owen: As we conclude, do either of you have any advice for your sign going into the new year?

Liv: From my experience dealing with Capricorns, I would say that you should have a lot of patience. If you have a Capricorn in your life, give them time and try to uplift them as much as you can. For Capricorns: It’s okay if not everything is perfect or put together because life is so unpredictable that you cannot expect it to be one hundred percent okay all the time.

Tanner: I would follow that up with learning and knowing which battles are truly worth fighting for. You can’t control everything no matter how much you want to and you’re just going to stress yourself out over things that are nowhere near within your realm of control which is just not a battle worth fighting.

Liv: Owen, I told you he was better!

Owen: I knew that, but it still shocks me to hear this new Tanner. I think both of your comments and pieces of advice are very helpful and applicable to Capricorn growth in the new year. It’s your season and it’s your time to shine! This was the Capricorn representation that The Pace Press needed! Kendal do you have any sign-off words?

Kendal: Honestly, this interview was so eye-opening for me! I can confidently say that I have a lot more respect and appreciation for earth signs after today, so thank you for enlightening me!