• Mutable Fire                                                                        
• Ruler:  Jupiter
• Detriment:  Mercury

The mutable fire sign of Sagittarius is the most mature but also the most restless and expansive of the fire signs. With Jupiter as its ruling planet, Sagittarius is always seeking the bigger picture, the meaning of life, greater wisdom, more knowledge, more adventures into the unknown and more experiences. It is the journey itself, rather than the goal, which is important for this mutable sign. Sagittarius refuses to be trapped either physically or intellectually, and as soon as, or even before, something threatens to become mundane or routine, they will be off to the next thing, chasing the next horizon which holds fascinating future possibilities for something even more meaningful. As king of the Gods, Jupiter was larger than life, flamboyant, spontaneous, reactive, with an explosive temper, hurling thunderbolts when he was angry. The sheer scale of Sagittarius, its generosity and benevolence, its gales, hurricanes and tornadoes, can be overwhelming, and the explosive temper, quickly spent, can nevertheless leave the more sensitive signs shaken for some time afterwards.

This sign often has a tremendous amount of physical energy and a strong constitution, and physical exercise and sport can be a positive way to work off this energy. Sagittarians have no natural boundaries, which explains why they are often so clumsy, crashing into things and into other people. Fundamentally sociable and gregarious, Sagittarians tend to sweep up other people into their orbit. The more people, the bigger the party, the better. They will always be seeking a more universal or philosophical dimension to life. Their vision is so powerful that, with the self-confidence of all the fire signs, they can even come to believe that they are the arbiters of the one and only truth, which opens them up to accusations of being arrogant, patronising and condescending.

The integration of the opposite sign of Gemini and of the planet Mercury, in its detriment in this sign, can bring a more objective, rational approach and an appreciation of the possibility that truths can be partial and multiple and that other, equally valid opinions and views exist. The integration of Mercury can bring a sense of humour and detachment to what can otherwise become a rather overbearing, evangelical approach to life. 

Planets in Sagittarius

Audience:  I have Venus in Sagittarius and I certainly love to travel.

Clare:  Absolutely. If you put Venus in Sagittarius in an office, she will go crazy.

Audience:  Yes, actually that's true, I do go crazy in offices.

Clare:  A frustrated Venus is always dangerous, because if she doesn’t get what she wants she becomes extremely disruptive. One of the ways you might escape from an office situation is to start arguments and spread chaos until you are fired - in other words, until you get your freedom.

Audience:  That's really true. I didn't realise that's what I was doing.

Audience:  I have Mercury in Sagittarius. I suppose that means I talk a lot.

Clare:  Yes, and also you may find yourself embellishing or exaggerating what you say, turning otherwise ordinary events into a drama, into theatre, feeding the fire. So for example, the weather will be absolutely terrible, an ordinary unfortunate event will be a complete disaster, a holiday will have been fantastic, amazing, wonderful  - all big words. Mercury in Sagittarius is also said to have ‘foot in mouth’ disease, the tendency to speak before thinking, and to interrupt. On the other hand, it is highly intuitive. There is an extraordinary ability to perceive and anticipate the future, what lies around the next corner.

Let’s have a look at the Neptune in Sagittarius in Sally’s chart, since many of you are likely to share this placement. Neptune was in Sagittarius for fourteen years from November 1970 to January 1984, and again briefly between June and November 1984. Neptune describes our collective dreams and longings for a more ideal world, what we are thirsty for, what we look to for spiritual redemption and salvation, and what illusions and fantasies we are particularly susceptible to. For the Neptune in Sagittarius generation, the longed-for ideal lies somewhere ‘out there’, beyond the scope of our ordinary lives. There can be an idealisation of foreign lands and countries, travel and exploration and people from different religions and cultures than our own.

From a personal point of view this placement can be very painful, since it can indicate a dissatisfaction and refusal to accept what is actually possible, an inability to settle for one’s lot which can condemn the individual to a life where any kind of commitment can be seen as second best, because whatever one is seeking for belongs somewhere else, if only they could find it. On the other hand, if there is a sufficiently well developed ego structure, which can withstand the force of Neptune’s tendency to overwhelm, then we could say that this generation has a genuine connection to a way of being which is more meaningful and inclusive, and that they can be the carriers of these ideals for the benefit of the collective.

The time has come for us to leave the mythic world of fire and to come down to earth. I think it is important to realise that, collectively, we are losing our natural connection to the earth and our sense of belonging to and being a part of nature. Collectively, the qualities of fire are admired and encouraged, whereas the qualities of earth are misunderstood and undervalued. For the last two hundred years at least, we have been plundering the earth’s resources and increasingly developing the power to control and manipulate nature. We are also doing this to our bodies, which are often seen as the ‘enemy’, ready to strike back with illness and disease unless they are fiercely controlled and disciplined. Our natural connection to the earth and to living nature has been overtaken and distorted by the widespread materialism, consumerism and need for ownership which is such a feature of modern life. All this tells us that the earth function needs to be collectively redeemed. The earth signs can help us reconnect with the natural world and from this point of view we have much to learn from them.