chart billy graham chart w rehnquist chart christopher reeve chart oprah winfrey chart elbert benjamin chart david caradine
The Signs and Accomplished People, Sagittarius – Part 9
Sagittarius is the 9th sign of the zodiac, it is a mutable fire sign. As a mutable, it is changeable and flexible and as fire, it is enthusiastic. And although it is a fall sign, the fire gives it life. It is bicorporeal and as a result has two natures, physical and intellectual. This is further explained by the symbol, the arrow aiming centaur; which is a combination of human and horse. The animal part represents the importance of the physical and of the appetites, and is strong below the waist. The human part represents the importance of the mind. The two together hunt and search. The animal part exerts, the human part seeks. As intellect, Sagittarius is like fields of study and as physical, Sag is like playing fields. We find this on any college campus.
From the image, we can see that shooting is Sagittarian. Think of popular computer shooting games. The Colorado shooter, James Holmes, had the Sun, Mercury, Uranus, and Saturn in Sagittarius.
The planet Jupiter is associated with Sagittarius. Jupiter is big, good, generous, in charge, and he can do anything he wants. He was the god of the gods. His constant chasing after women, in addition to entertaining the Greeks, may represent the infusion of the divine into the human. Incidentally, in India they call Jupiter, Guru. Jupiter is associated with judgment and Sagittarius is associated with understanding. The key phrase for Sag is, I See.
The body part paired with Sagittarius is the hips and thighs and fat is claimed by Jupiter. Fat stored in this area in good times has kept mankind alive in bad times. The mobility associated with the thighs and the overall image of the symbol defines this sign as freedom loving and fence fearing.
The image that I give my astrology students of Sagittarius is that of geography teachers touring in Europe. They are doing the Sag dynamic, gathering information to share later with students. They are using their bodies for travel and their minds to gather facts and concepts. So this is Sagittarian: hunt and search, gather and share, run and throw, aim and shoot. That last one sounds photographic. In symbolism, if it comes to mind it is part of the set.
The sign opposite Sagittarius is Gemini. Gemini is perception, the facts, science, study, and lower education. Sagittarius is about teaching, higher education, faith, religion, philosophy, drawing conclusions and gleaning meaning from the facts. Gemini is the news section of the newspaper and Sag, the editorials. Facts versus opinion, that’s the axis. Incidentally Gemini is the arms and Sag the legs. We can see why this axis is associated with the athletic.
The gift of Sagittarius is his urge to be physical and intellectual. They seek mental and physical adventures. And they need to exercise mind and body all of their lives.
The 9th house of the horoscope is like Sagittarius. It is about long distance travel, foreigners, religion, visions, dreams, the seeking and sense of finding the divine, teaching, and professing. The Greeks called the 9th house god. They called the opposite house, the Gemini house, goddess.
Stories associated with this sign relate to centaurs. In one mythological story they descend on the wedding of Hyppodamia and steal her. Centaurs are and Sagittarians can be violent, wanton, and sporting. Sounds like biker one percenters to me. The good centaur was Chiron. Due to a wound he could not “ride” so he became the teacher of the gods and a healer. The centaur image is reminiscent of a man on a motorcycle or on a bicycle. Lance Armstrong has Jupiter and Neptune in Sag. Sagittarius is cycling, Jupiter is benefit, and Neptune is drugs.
Under the heading of personal counsel for Sagittarians, I would say, get plenty of mental and physical exercise. Be positive in thought and communication. And perfect the handling of facts and opinions.
What do other astrologers say about Sagittarius.
Kustesky says that they have the power to command and the ability to be obedient to the ruling authority.
C.E.O Carter notes that they need freedom and personal liberty and that the sense of home is small. He cites negative qualities of extravagance, carelessness with detail, waste, exaggeration, vulgarity, loudness, and placing too great a faith in luck.
But they are likable.
Burt notes that Sagittarius falls between too serious signs, Scorpio and Capricorn.
She defines Sagittarians as conscious extroverted energy and as spirit. They are about the expansion of awareness and can fire people up. (I’m thinking of coaches.)
On the higher side their concerns are: moral, philosophical, ethical, and legal.
They expect good things and they get good things. They are honest and try to keep promises.
The arrow symbol represents bluntness and directness in speech. But they can lack follow through. Promises made in generous spirit may not be kept due to being scattered. She notes that Sag needs the focus of Gemini. And proceeds to note that Gemini is short sighted and Sagittarius sees the big picture.
Finally she quotes Jung as seeing the horse, which is Sagittarian, as instincts that are out of control.
Elbert Benjamin defines the magic associated with Sag as sending one’s astral form elsewhere or compelling another’s to appear and obey. (So we have the traveling of subtle things.)
He cites Jupiter, the ruler of Sag, as having big virtues and big vices, and also a bad temper.
Sagittarius likes to keep options open and resists fixed deadlines. His aspirations are great but follow through is weak. He notes that to a Mercury in Sagittarius person facts, logic, and particulars are irrelevant.
Alan Oken list positive Sag qualities as: knowledgeable, expansive, religious, wise, and truthful. For negative qualities he cites: wasteful, hypocritical, dogmatic, and opinionated.
Oken says that they can’t keep a secret, that they are courageous, and that they focus on the welfare of the state. He cites Spain and the Inquisition as Sagittarian. Finally, he notes that they are the cosmic mouthpiece for moral standards.
Marlar notes that Sagittarians explore many ideas or talk to many about an idea.
Zondag notes that they need something to advocate.
Dobins says that they are transpersonal, impersonal, having long range views, and concerned about truth with a capital T. Other concerns are what they value and trust and desire as good.
Joan Hodgson notes that the religion of Sagittarius can be any thing from bigoted orthodoxy to spiritual truth.
Myrna Loafthus describes the seeking of Sag as the quest for the Holy Grail or a vision quest.
KISS Guide to Astrology notes that Sagittarius is associated with martial arts. ( We can see the combination of spiritual and physical.) This book suggests that Sagittarians take on less, watch blind optimism, deal with restlessness, and resists the grass is greener allure.
Rudyar lists under Sag the following: crusades, pilgrimages, quests, fanaticism, and martyrdom. He calls Gemini the personal mind and Sag the social mind. He also calls up the memory of the Spanish Inquisition as torture of the body for the benefit of the soul.
Christopher Gibson describes the expression of the duality of Sagittarius as “ base sensualists with high aspirations”.
Moore and Douglas say that to Sagittarius, the purpose of life is to find the purpose of life.
Let’s look at charts of people with something important in Sagittarius.
Billy Graham has the Moon and Mars in Sagittarius in the 9th house. Sag and the 9th are like each other, so this is like doubling the influence. He has enthusiastically professed Christianity since his teens.
Chief Justice, William Rehnquist has Jupiter in Sagittarius on the Ascendant, the most important spot in the horoscope. This describes him as everything that is Jupiter and Sagittarius. He might be a conservative, Moon in the same sign with Saturn, but he wore cowboy boots under his robes. His brilliance is most likely Mercury in the 10th oppose Uranus.
Christopher Reeve was Superman. He had god-like Jupiter at the top of the chart and extreme Pluto on the Ascendant. His Moon and Mars are together in Sagittarius and a horse accident eventually killed him.
He was a sportsman but also a classical pianist; he had Sun, Mercury, Saturn, Neptune, and Venus in the artistic sign, Libra.
Oprah Winfrey has professing Sagittarius rising and the Moon here. Her Jupiter is in talkative Gemini. A grand trine between Mercury, Jupiter, and Neptune in air signs and air houses adds to the social interaction. In a whole sign chart, all her Sag and Gemini are 1st and 7th house, which highlights them. Examples like her are why I use the whole sign house system. She communicates and gets others to do so and this chart specifies that. Her rape in her youth and 5 subsequent years of abuse is personal planets in Aquarius square Saturn and Mars in Scorpio.
Elbert Benjamin, C.C. Zain, has the Ascendant, Venus, Mercury, Mars, and the Sun in Sagittarius in the 1st house. He wrote the Church of Light astrological and metaphysical lessons. The Church used to be the Brotherhood of Light. And before that it was the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. This last name probably says more about the nature of the group. We trace back to Egypt. In this older phase of the organization, members were in touch with members of the Theosophical Society and the Golden Dawn. Benjamin was also a naturalist. He knew and loved nature. This is his Sag and three planets in Taurus. If I wanted to connect with him, I would picture myself walking with him in the woods.
Finally, it is not unusual to see the qualities of a played character in an actor’s chart. David Carradine is especially famous for playing a Shaolin monk in the television series, Kung Fu.. The character is martially and philosophically adept. He has one adventure after another. Carradine had the Sun and Mercury in Sag at the top of the chart, the fame part of the chart. His Sun is in a T square with Saturn, on the Ascendant and Neptune on the Descendant. His Moon is with Mars and his Venus opposes Pluto. In life, he had some trouble.