Signs are Seasons

Summer ends with the beautiful colors of Libra. Then, as the Sun moves into Scorpio, the intensity of autumn magnifies. The leaves shrivel and die. By the time the Sun reaches Sagittarius, there is a wintry look to the northern landscapes. The leaves have fallen from the trees and the view is open to a larger sky. Sagittarius is about wide open spaces.

Sagittarius is the Archer, with arrow aimed at a target high in the sky and far away. The arrow of the Archer represents thoughts, and during the Sagittarius month, our aspirations can be aimed high. Our minds go to far-away places and we think about our long-term goals in life. We may dream of travel and visualize the future.

Thanksgiving

Astrologically, each sign is associated with a planet. Sagittarius is connected with Jupiter, the King of the Olympian Gods. Jupiter is bountiful, magnanimous and expansive. It’s no coincidence the United States celebrates Thanksgiving, a holiday built around giving thanks for bounty, on the first Jupiter's day (Thursday) in Sagittarius. We celebrate the vision of our founding fathers and the support they received from the Native Americans who helped them survive.

The Philosopher and the Bachelor

The Archer is a centaur, half man and half horse. This is symbolic of the Sagittarian, aspiring to overcome its animal nature, reaching to the heavens, expanding the mind into realms of abstract thought. The Archer aims mental arrows toward the sky, expanding consciousness into the realms of the gods. Sagittarian Voltaire wrote, “If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him.”

Sagittarians are often quite happy in marriage, yet they need a great deal of independence to follow their visions. Other Sagittarians may live alone quite happily, with a full social life, and not ever miss the trappings of married life. The important thing about those born with emphasis in this sign is that they are driven by the fire of ideas, and as long as they are pursuing their vision, they can remain quite enthusiastic about life.

Life is an Adventure

Since Sagittarius is connected with long distances, typical Sagittarians live their lives as a great adventure. For them, it is less important that a goal is reached than it is that a goal is set and pursued. They may plan a trip around the world, never to complete it, yet the vision remains an important part of the fabric of life. As long as the adventure remains in thought, it is alive.

I Seek the Truth—Don't Bother Me with Facts

Sagittarius paints with a broad brush. It seeks one truth to answer all of life's questions. Its strength is the ability to see the big picture. However, this sometimes means that Sagittarius is weak on details. At its worst, this can lead to prejudice, an unwillingness to see nuance and the smaller differences that define the individual members of a group. Sagittarian optimism can become simplistic sloganeering, rooting for one side with intolerance for those who do not agree with its "truth."

The transforming planet Pluto is moving through Sagittarius from January 1995 through December 2008. This can be a period of religious and political extremes. However, a gift of this period is to drop the external trappings of belief to get to the core of truth.

Humor is a common element among Sagittarians Charles Schulz, Richard Pryor, Woody Allen, Jon Stewart, Gary Shandling and Ben Stiller, while music unites Bette Midler, Tina Turner, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Jakob Dylan, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Frank Sinatra.

Sagittarian visions appear in movies with Steven Spielberg, Brad Pitt, Lucy Liu, Julianne Moore, Kim Basinger and John Malkovich, and in the lives of sports champions Larry Bird and Billie Jean King.