AUTHOR’S NOTE: Among the Fire signs of the zodiac, the Sagittarius native can be a perennial “dabbler” while the other two are usually accomplished “doers.” Aries sports the ruddy flush of Fire on its ample brow (I know a few who fit the description), and Leo wears the sentiment on its sleeve, but Sagittarius keeps it in a box on a shelf and drags it out now and then to bask in its inspiring glow. Sagittarius is half-way to being a Water sign because its ruling planet, Jupiter, was the traditional ruler of Pisces and was once considered more “watery” than “fiery.” Its associated tarot trump card, Temperance, has a thing about sloshing water around in vases, and “temperate” is a good way to describe the Fire of Sagittarius since it can be an exemplar of the “halfhearted gesture” masquerading as even-handedness.

As an astrologer, I’ve always felt that Sagittarius expresses a rarefied or abstract form of Fire, like a laser beam (Aleister Crowley likened its energy to “electricity”) compared to the “blowtorch” of Aries or the “slow burn” of Leo. I know Sagittarians who are tall, a bit bulky, and florid as befits the common opinion of their physique, but I’ve encountered many who are lean, energetic and not the least bit “horsey,” although all exhibit a certain “frankness” that can degenerate into tactlessness if they don’t mind their tongue. They lack both the ebullience of Aries and the panache of Leo, so they must fall back on the sometimes cruel honesty that is their trademark (even when they think they’re just being sarcastically funny). Sagittarius is the least assertive of the Fire signs (although it isn’t accurate to say that it must therefore be the most sensitive). Aries has Force of Will going for it, Leo has Force of Ego, and Sagittarius has Force of . . . what? Boisterous Repartee with a Side of Gaffe? I’ve seen a few Sagittarians like that. I’ll be kind by ignoring the whiff of superficiality and simply call it Force of Character. The more evolved personalities remind me of King Arthur’s noble Knights of the Round Table for whom chivalry was the quintessential virtue. These paragons of goodness usually come across as fair-minded and incapable of bearing grudges. I just wish they were less convinced of their own brand of the truth and not so quick to dismiss that of others. Along with those born under Pisces, they would make perfect religious fanatics.

Gemini and Sagittarius are opposites in the zodiac, and if Mercury as ruler of Gemini is the tactician and needling gadfly of astrology, Jupiter presiding over Sagittarius is the strategist and dedicated reformer. Gemini epitomizes the practical mind while Sagittarius is more theoretical in its cogitation; where Gemini is occasionally shallow in its presentation, Sagittarius can be a pretentious blowhard. Although both are Mutable signs inclined toward social interaction, I envision self-impressed Sagittarians hanging out in college coffee-shops and holding forth on sociopolitical issues while gregarious Geminis are more likely to be found at an informal gathering of friends over a few beers. Sagittarius has always struck me as a bit sanctimonious and likely to decry the foibles of its cousins, roughneck Aries and smug Leo. (For the record, I realize that I’m stereotyping based on its house position in the “natural” Aries-rising horoscope, but I find that the Sagittarian prototype often runs true to form, especially when it comes to social opprobrium, regarding which Sagittarius people tend to take the “high road” if only to stay above the fray and avoid getting their hands dirty. It’s the Mutable “white-collar-crusader” paradigm at work, whereas Cardinal Aries is more “blue-collar-populist” and Fixed Leo is “self-motivated-pragmatist.”)

It goes without saying that we all have Sagittarius somewhere in our birth chart (although those with it intercepted between house cusps may not be able to connect with it easily). I have it on the 2^nd House cusp but I’m neither a wastrel nor a spendthrift as might be expected from a Fire sign of weak resolve in the domain of earthly pursuits. I’m more likely to contemplate the value of things far removed from the temptations of money and other mundane aspirations ascribed to the 2^nd House. But I also have 1^st House Jupiter in Sagittarius, where it lands with both oversized feet, so I’m likely to be more headstrong (and therefore less egalitarian) in my thinking than the average Sun-in-Sagittarius native. In that sense I’m not one to indulge in gratuitous assertions of my own integrity because my personal agenda is “on rails,” as the saying goes, and I’m almost never influenced by societal benchmarks of etiquette and behavior (if I can get away with it). By the same token, I’m also not much of a selfless humanitarian, a quality attributed to Sagittarius due to its association with that mythical centaur, the healer Chiron, a correspondence that also underlies some definitions of Temperance. Don’t be misled by the politically-correct rhetoric of Sagittarians since they are often highly opinionated but seldom committed to a depth that makes good on the “hot air.” Deep down, all of the Fire signs are more about themselves than others, Sagittarians just want to make us feel good about it.*

*It obviously takes more than a Sun-sign to make a personality, so here I’m talking about the “Sagittarius-dominant” character that could also involve the Ascendant, the Moon sign, and – as in my own case – other planetary qualifiers. I apologize to all of the Sagittarians whom I’ve tarred with the same brush while making my points.