Solar Zodiac · The Sun's Path

Sagittarius

“Aimed at the far thing, and honest about it on the way.”

Polarity: positive · Modality: mutable · Element: fire · Ruler: Jupiter

Sagittarius is mutable fire ruled by Jupiter, the sign of travel, philosophy and the unedited opinion. It wants range: more countries, more books, more arguments worth having, and it is genuinely optimistic in a way that survives evidence. The bluntness that comes with it is not unkindness, it is a nature that finds the diplomatic version slower than the true one. The archer is usually identified as Chiron, the centaur who was nothing like the rest of his kind: a scholar and physician who taught Achilles, Jason and Asclepius. Struck by an arrow that could not be healed, and immortal, he was left with a wound that would never close and no way to die of it, so he gave his immortality away and was placed in the stars. And the bow points somewhere specific. Directly behind Sagittarius lies the centre of our galaxy, so the arrow is aimed straight at the heart of everything we belong to, which no other sign can claim. A Sagittarius is the friend who tells you the truth about your relationship, arrives back from somewhere with three new obsessions, and treats a setback as material. They are generous, funny and hard to keep in one place. The cost is the arrow's flight: always aimed further out, rarely at what is in the room, and a candour that can leave real damage behind while the archer has already moved on.

Sagittarius Ancient Zodiacs

Every sign a Sagittarius can be, one for each year of the Chinese zodiac.

• Hummingbird: Sagittarius Rat, “Crosses an ocean on a body that weighs nothing.”
• Hawk: Sagittarius Ox, “The long view, held from a fence post, for hours.”
• Roc: Sagittarius Tiger, “Arrives like weather and leaves the map redrawn.”
• Moth: Sagittarius Rabbit, “Steering by a light that is very far away.”
• Giraffe: Sagittarius Dragon, “Sees the whole savannah, and it cost a heart to get there.”
• Firefly: Sagittarius Snake, “Makes its own light, and knows exactly who is watching.”
• Albatross: Sagittarius Horse, “Born for distance, allergic to standing still.”
• Leopard: Sagittarius Goat, “At home anywhere, and belonging to nowhere in particular.”
• Jaguar: Sagittarius Monkey, “Solves it in one move, and the move is decisive.”
• Parrot: Sagittarius Rooster, “Says the true thing, loudly, in your own voice.”
• Coyote: Sagittarius Dog, “Run out of every town, and now living in all of them.”
• Mongoose: Sagittarius Pig, “Cheerful, sociable, and unafraid of the thing in the garden.”