Sagittarius - Truth-Seeking Independent Fire Spirits

by Robert Wilkinson

December is the month that features the Fire of Sagittarius, though in 2005 we have fewer Sagittarius planets than usual. When the Sun transits Sagittarius we are challenged to open to a wider view, a greater truth, and a more generous attitude regarding future possibilities. This is the sign of the quest, where the abstract mind opens to a higher reality and ideally finds a more abundant sense of humor and perspective. It is the last sign of Autumn and the harvest of our socialized activity from the past year preparing us for personal power and authority in Capricorn.  The light force is at its yearly minimum, so conserve energy and concentrate on what you need to learn.

Sagittarius is fiery, mutable, changeable, adaptable, and refuses to be boxed in by ordinary thinking. The Sun in Sagittarius shines the light of wisdom on how we must be open to our freedom to explore universal perspectives, and can lead us to a greater spiritual and philosophical aspiration that demonstrates the higher benevolent law of our cosmos.

In this phase of the twelve-step evolutionary process that which began in Aries, stabilized in Taurus, expanded in Gemini, consolidated in Cancer, creatively projected in Leo, refined in Virgo, shaped into a new ideal in Libra and given magnetic power in Scorpio is shown the truth of itself opening future possibilities. This sign's keywords are "I aspire." This is the sign of the open-minded, tolerant, and generous philanthropist. Sagittarius explores the archetypes of abstraction and transference through its experiments in truth, seeing a bigger picture and teaching the world how to open to a larger point of view.

Jupiter is said to "rule" Sagittarius. While the Sun is in Sagittarius, Jupiter will exert a greater influence than usual on all things Solar, and will extend its influence to Mercury-ruled affairs when Mercury re-enters Sagittarius between December 12 and January 3, 2006. This month the "perfect forms" and expanded relationships glimpsed or embraced while Jupiter was in Libra will become more focused due to Jupiter occupying Scorpio. Keep piercing through all that blocks your light, as well as stagnant emotional material that corrodes your vitality. We are learning how to concentrate power while eliminating all that is no longer useful to our expanded vision of effectiveness.

Also, a secondary but powerful influence this month is Mars in Taurus. Since Mars rules Scorpio it will influence Jupiter while Jupiter is in Scorpio. This would indicate that there may be oppositions this month, but they should serve to liberate us from struggles we don't need to stay stuck in, and bring important realizations to surface about what we value and what we don't. They can also bring us what we need to resolve oppositions we've been dealing with for the past few weeks.

Sagittarius is the freedom loving humorist adventurer, a wandering Magician-Engineer who shows that life is an unending series of "experiments in truth."  Everything becomes grist for the mill of Soul, and all things seen as opportunities to break free of obsolete limitations and narrow views. Sagittarius takes an infinite amount of limited interpretations and weaves everything together into a larger understanding, morality, philosophy, and truth.

Sagittarius, when freed of the traps of being scattered, excessive, indulgent gamblers who can be too open and gullible to tangential wisps of passing truths demonstrate a generous, honest, open-minded inspired idealism showing others how to dance with ever-greater truths and visions. They are natural humorists, benevolent and demonstrative philosophers who joke their world while refusing to be bound by narrow points of view.

Sagittarius has given us some of the most remarkable beings of history who possessed the power to open their world to a greater reality. Think Beethoven, who electrified his world by giving them a new kind of music, then blazed even wider musical horizons proclaiming that "a new century needed new music."  The same was true of Jimi Hendrix, another legendary Sagittarius whose fiery offerings changed musical history. A major innovator, both his guitar work and his production techniques opened greater possibilities and are studied to this day all over the world.

Two more legendary Sagittarians were William Churchill, the World War II leader of Great Britain who became the truth and voice of a nation standing alone against Fascism, and Mark Twain, the correspondent turned novelist offering America the vision of its Mississippi legend and its western frontier, complete with jokes, asides, ironic insights, all delivered while skewering its racism, ignorance, and hypocracies. Both of these icons began as newspaper correspondents, which is natural for Sagittarius, the sign that rules publishing and all "news at a distance."

Never knowing what they're going to give us next, flamboyant Sagittarian superstars "Little Richard" Penniman, Bette Midler, Tina Turner, Jim Morrison, and Keith Richards have all shown us outrageous genius. Other major musical talents of history from this tribe include Scott Joplin, Ira Gershwin, Jean Sibelius, Spike Jones, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Mandel, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Maria Callas, Louis Prima, Brenda Lee, and Stan Kenton.

Musical talents of more recent vintage include John Mayall, Junior Wells, Dionne Warwick, Judy Carmichael, Lou Rawls, Bruce Hornsby, Paul Shaffer, Randy Newman, Chuch Mangione, Michael McDonald, Gregg Allman, Billy Idol, Shuggie Otis, Billy Gibbons, Sinead O'Connor, John Densmore, Dennis Wilson, Peter Buck, Tom Waits, Harry Chapin, Jim Messina, Jakob Dylan, Britney Spears, Nelly Furtado, Christina Aguilera, and Billy Bragg.

In the world of theater we find Lynn Fontanne and Mary Martin, while a special nod goes out to Sagittarian Walt Disney, who opened the world's inner child through animation, multimedia, and theme parks, and Steven Spielberg, who gave us "ET," "Close Encounters," and many other timeless movies.

Sagittarians are known for their sense of humor. Some who used the silver screen to give the world many smiles include Harpo Marx, Woody Allen, Peter Bergman, David Ossman, and Ben Stiller. Other bright Sagittarian stars of decades past include Boris Karloff, Busby Berkeley, Jean-Luc Godard, Otto Preminger, Ossie Davis, Cicely Tyson, Eli Wallach, Lee J. Cobb, Kirk Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Margaret Hamilton, Dorothy Lamour, Edward G. Robinson, Lee Remick, Geraldine Page, and Betty Grable.

In more recent times we have talented luminaries Jane Fonda, Liv Ullmann, Ellen Burstyn, Patty Duke, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brad Pitt, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Lee, Daryl Hannah, Kim Basinger, John Malkovich, Jamie Foxx, Kenneth Branagh, Jeff Bridges and his brother Beau Bridges, Judy Dench, Christopher Plummer, Richard Crenna, Jennifer Beals, Judd Nelson, Ed Harris, Tom Hulse, Lucy Liu, Holly Marie Combs, Brendan Fraser, Marisa Tomei, Benjamin Bratt, Katie Holmes, and Tyson Beckford.

Television has given some very funny Sagittarians a forum, including Dick Van Dyke, Jon Stewart, Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, Flip Wilson, John Larroquette, Rich Little, Ted Knight, "Buffalo Bob" Smith, Gary Shandling, Robert Guillaume, Wally Cox, Buck Henry, Dick Van Patten, Teri Garr, Morey Amsterdam, Tim Reid, and Tim Conway. Other TV talents of this tribe feature David Carradine, Agnes Moorehead, Dan Blocker, Don Johnson, Ricardo Montalban, Efram Zimbalist Jr., Rita Moreno, Susan Dey, Leslie Stahl, and Jessica Steen, with a special nod to televison pioneers Steven Bochco, Dick Clark, and Phil Donahue.

The world of literature gives us major Sagittarian talents such as William Blake, legendary poet and painter who challenged society's concept of God, Jonathan Swift, author of satires "Gulliver's Travels" and "A Modest Proposal," and C.S. Lewis, author of "The Chronicles of Narnia," "A Grief Observed," and many other masterworks. Other literary Sagittarians include John Milton, Louisa May Alcott, Emily Dickinson, Joyce Kilmer, Noel Coward, Jane Austen, Joseph Conrad, Arthur C. Clarke, and William F. Buckley.

Famous political Sagittarians who made their mark on history are Presidents Franklin Pierce, Zachary Taylor, and Martin Van Buren. We also find those with a more difficult legacy such as Mary Queen of Scots, Francisco Franco, Strom Thurmond, Adam Clayton Powell, and G. Gordon Liddy. Other political Sagittarians include John Kerry, Fiorello La Guardia, Abbie Hoffman, Shirley Chisholm, and Andrew Cuomo.

Sagittarians who made us smile include "Peanuts" creator Charles Shultz and legendary clown Emmet Kelly, while an eclectic group have made history other ways, including pioneering anthropologist Margaret Mead, legendary outlaw Billy the Kid, sports figures Joe DiMaggio, Ty Cobb, and Tracy Austin, "first kids" Caroline Kennedy and her brother John F. Kennedy Jr., fashion maven Gianni Versace, circus impressario Charles Ringling, artist Diego Rivera, billionaire J. Paul Getty, paranormal investigator and psychic adept Uri Geller.

Finally, a special happy birthday goes out to my friends "Tie Dye" Andy Weaver and political activist and supermom Rayne. Birthday cities in the US feature Birmingham, Tuscaloosa (the butt of a classic Groucho Marx line), Anchorage, San Diego, San Jose, Wilmington(DE), Tampa, Macon, Annapolis, Lancaster(PA), Columbia(SC), Greenville, Spartanburg, Chatanooga, Memphis, Beaumont, Spokane, and Chenenne(WY). Happy birthday to international cities Avignon, Budapest, Cologne, Provence, Naples, Nottingham, Sheffield, Singapore, Stuttgart, and Toronto. Also happy birthday to the states of Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and the nations of Australia, Belgium, Chile, Hungary, Madagascar, Peru, Spain, and Tibet.

Comments

[abacus]

thanks robert, am a saggitarius...

quick question - would you perchance be putting up a feature on the venus retrograde ?

i have my venus in scorpio and was wondering what the impact would be ?

[Robert]

Hi Abacus -

Yes, I was planning on doing something about the coming Venus retrograde, just hadn't gotten around to thinking about it yet. I'm still creating the forecasts for each sign for 2006, no small task. The coming retrograde should help you personally, as the early Aquarius through mid-Capricorn span of the retrograde should refine your Venus function that started when it conjuncted itself in Scorpio. If your Venus is in mid or late Scorpio, the retrograde will be in very good aspect to itself, also very helpful. Thanks for checking in.

[Dawn]

Sagittarius Mars, rising. Jupiter in Gemini. Pisces sun, Taurus moon.

[Robert]

Yes?

[abacus]

Thanks Robert !

are the 2006 forecasts up for sale ?

all the Best

[Robert]

I've created 5 of the 12 so far: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Libra, and Scorpio. I'll be doing Sagittarius today and others next week, and hope to have them all done by Monday, Dec. 19. If I don't, they will be done before January 1.