Sagittarius 2007 - Freedom Loving Fire Spirits

by Robert Wilkinson

Though we are almost at the Winter Solstice, December is the month that features the Fire of Sagittarius, and in 2007 we have had more 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. What we glimpse in Sagittarius gets organized in forms of personal power in Capricorn, so face the future that's already upon you!

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 exerts a greater influence than usual on all things Solar. This past year it's been in Sagittarius, the sign it rules, and so has been a major influence on any planet in Sagittarius and Pisces. Thus this past year it's been a factor in how Uranus and Pluto have functioned in all our lives, due to its rulership of both those signs.

In 2004-2005, while Jupiter was in Libra, we glimpsed "perfect forms" and expanded relationships, and focused that power of Jupiterian expansion in 2006 when Jupiter occupied Scorpio. We had to get a bigger picture and wider view by piercing through all that blocked our light, as well as stagnant emotional material that corroded our vitality. There was protection and opportunity in learning to concentrate power and eliminate what was no longer useful to our expanded vision of effectiveness.

This concentration of power and elimination of outmoded views led us all to a form of a larger life adventure or view this past year, which could have meant everything from accepting a quest for truth or vision to a greater mobility and freedom. This "Distributive Fire" energy has prepared us all for expanded personal authorship and public effectiveness coming in 2008. There will be major opportunities for those who take responsibility in an organized, mature way.

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, judgmental, 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 Ludwig Van 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 Winston Churchill, the World War II leader of Great Britain who became the truth and voice of a nation standing almost 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, and 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, Keith Richards, Bette Midler, Tina Turner, and Jim Morrison have all shown us outrageous genius. More major musical talents of history from this tribe include Scott Joplin, Ira Gershwin, Frank Zappa, Jean Sibelius, Spike Jones, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Mandel, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Maria Callas, Arthur Fiedler, Louis Prima, Brenda Lee, Connie Francis, Harry Chapin, Chuck Mangione, and Stan Kenton.

Other fantastic musical stars of our era feature Motown pioneer Berry Gordy Jr. and blues legends John Mayall, Junior Wells, Joe Williams, and J.J. Cale. We continue this amazing list with Dionne Warwick, Randy Newman, Judy Carmichael, Lou Rawls, Bruce Hornsby, Paul Shaffer, Randy Newman, Michael McDonald, Don Harris, Felix Cavaliere, Gregg Allman, Billy Idol, Shuggie Otis, Billy Gibbons, Charlie Rich, Benny Andersson, Sinead O'Connor, John Densmore, Alvin Lee, Dennis Wilson, Peter Buck, Mike Mills,Tom Waits, Ozzy Osbourne, Jim Messina, Peter Criss, Jakob Dylan, John Rzeznik, Tom DeLonge, Bob Dorough, Nick Beggs, Emjay, Brad Delson, Natasha Bedingfield, Britney Spears, Nelly Furtado, Aaron Carter, James Galway, Chris Angel, Sheila E., Christina Aguilera, Billy Bragg, and my old friend from the Lost Gonzo Band, Gary P. Nunn.

In the world of theater we find Lynn Fontanne, Mary Martin, Cyril Ritchard, and playwrights David Mamet, Noel Coward, and Eugene Ionesco, 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 directors Busby Berkeley, Jean-Luc Godard, Otto Preminger, Carlo Ponti, and George Roy Hill.

Legendary actors feature Boris Karloff, Ossie Davis, Cicely Tyson, Eli Wallach, Lee J. Cobb, Kirk Douglas, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Margaret Hamilton, Dorothy Lamour, Edward G. Robinson, Maximilian Schell, Ralph Richardson, William S. Hart, Christopher Plummer, Richard Crenna, Lee Remick, Geraldine Page, Dina Merrill, Jeff Chandler, Richard Fleischer, Bruce Lee, Irene Dunne, Diane Ladd, and Betty Grable.

In more recent times we have talented luminaries Jane Fonda, Liv Ullmann, Brad Pitt, Samuel L. Jackson, Ellen Burstyn, Patty Duke, Jamie Lee Curtis, Daryl Hannah, Marisa Tomei, John Malkovich, Jamie Foxx, Kenneth Branagh, Judy Dench, Kim Basinger, Jeff Bridges and his brother Beau Bridges, Jennifer Beals, Julianne Moore, Judd Nelson, Ed Harris, Tom Hulse, Jake Gyllenhaal, Cathy Moriarty, Bill Pullman, Lucy Liu, Wes Studi, Jessica Steen, Jack Noseworthy, Anna Chlumsky, Holly Marie Combs, Brendan Fraser, Benjamin Bratt, Katie Holmes, and Jennifer Connelly.

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, Paul Winchell, Buck Henry, Dick Van Patten, Teri Garr, Morey Amsterdam, Tim Reid, Tim Conway, Ray Romano, and Andy Dick.

Television talents from earlier decades include David Carradine, Agnes Moorehead, Dan Blocker, Don Johnson, Ricardo Montalban, Efram Zimbalist Jr., Rita Moreno, Leo Gordon, Robert Urich, Bob Barker, John Davidson, and Susan Dey. A special nod goes to televison pioneers Chet Huntley, Don Hewitt, Eric Sevareid, David Susskind, Leslie Stahl, Steven Bochco, Dick Clark, and Phil Donahue.

More modern stars of this tribe feature Kiefer Sutherland, Teri Hatcher, Kim Delaney, Felicity Huffman, Mandy Patinkin, Jane Kaczmarek, Edd Hall, Adam Brody, Tyson Beckford, Christina Applegate, Julie Condra, Scarlet Johansson, Madchen Amick, Donna Mills, Frankie Muniz, Morgan Brittany, Madchen Amick, Julie Condra, Katherine Heigl, Rider Strong, Mayim Bialik, Austin Majors, Raven-Symone', Miley Cyrus, Kaley Cuoco, Elisha Cuthbert, and Alyssa Milano.

The world of literature gives us major Sagittarian talents such as the author of the most famous predictions in history, Nostradamus. Other legends include William Blake, poet and painter who challenged society's concept of God, Jonathan Swift, author of satires "Gulliver's Travels" and "A Modest Proposal," C.S. Lewis, author of "The Chronicles of Narnia," "A Grief Observed," and many other masterworks, and Madeline L'Engle, author of "A Wrinkle in Time."

Other literary Sagittarians include John Milton, Louisa May Alcott, Emily Dickinson, Joyce Kilmer, Jane Austen, Joseph Conrad, James Thurber, Kenneth Patchen, Arthur C. Clarke, Gayle Sheehy, Shirley Jackson, 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 two of the worst butchers in history, Josef Stalin and Francisco Franco, as well as Mary Queen of Scots, 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, legendary clown Emmet Kelly, and comedian Steven Wright, while an eclectic group have made history other ways, including pioneering anthropologist Margaret Mead, legendary outlaw Billy the Kid and the equally legendary lawman Bat Masterson, sports figures Joe DiMaggio, Ty Cobb, Al Kaline, Johnny Bench, Larry Bird, Archie Moore, Chris Evert, and Tracy Austin, and "first kids" Caroline Kennedy and her brother John F. Kennedy Jr.

Gifted Sagittarian artists include photographer Gordon Parks, artists Diego Rivera, Georges Seurat, Edvard Munch, Wassily Kandinsky, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and Washington portraitist Gilbert Stuart.

Other distinguished Sagittarians of history feature tire magnate Harvey Firestone, circus impressario Charles Ringling, billionaire J. Paul Getty, and prohibitionist Carry Nation.

Of more recent vintage are civil rights crusader and Southern Poverty Law Center founder Morris Dees Jr., self-help pioneer Dale Carnegie, anthropologist Richard Leakey, fashion maven Gianni Versace, and 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.

© Copyright 2007 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[carrie ann]

Wow! I never saw such a complete list. Glad to see so many musicians, since I Aspire to that tribe!

[Fan of Miley's Music]

Miley Cyrus, my current favorite singer in the world, has certainly been a famous Sagittarian, and from the list above, there have been quite a few others.