The days are cold and the sky gray and low. But sometimes I wake up to a perfect blue sky with a sleepy looking sun. For me there’s a drowsiness, a slowness to Sagittarius season.
The days are so short. The sun sets around 4 pm behind the tall buildings next to my flat, leaving the room in obscurity. All my evening routine shifts an hour earlier, even though I’m guilty of staying far too long on the sofa, tucked under a thick blanket, geeking on my computer.
But despite those tiny days, time sees to be more stretched, almost as if it was frayed. It’s the fuzzy stillness of introspection, where 10 minutes feel like 40, yet the next hour passes in 15 minutes.
How different is the mood of Sagittarius season compared to the actual reputation of the sign.
Have you heard what is said about Sagittarius?
Sagittarius is sociable, friendly, extroverted. Sagittarius loves to think big and in an optimistic way. Sagittarius is the philosopher of the zodiac. Sagittarius is the traveler of the zodiac.
Dear Sagittarius, always meeting new people, always discovering new ideas, always exploring new places.
Sagittarius is that bow stretching to its limit so that the arrow will go always further and further.
To be honest, I’ve always felt uncomfortable with the reputation of the sign of Sagittarius. I’ve always struggled to connect and appreciate with this adventurous archetype.
It’s no wonder that Sagittarius falls in my 6th house, a house viewed by ancient astrologers as hidden. It’s difficult for me to see clearly Sagittarius.
But I see the appeal. I definitely see the appeal of the image of Sagittarius, especially for us spiritual folks.
Sagittarius is the free spirit. It’s infinite growth. It’s, “if you can dream it, you can make it.”
Sagittarius is the power of manifestation.
I’ve always felt uncomfortable with the power of manifestation. Hoping, dreaming, thinking and willing is good. Especially in our societies we’re our confidence is so often crushed. Where as women, as people of color, as queer folks…
it’s hard to believe in better things than what’s actually present.
So I get the appeal.
But…
Did you know that Sagittarius is the last fire sign of the year?
Did you know that once the sun leaves Sagittarius, we won’t feel the element of fire through our days until spring and Aries?
Next will come the earth of Capricorn, the air of Aquarius and the water of Pisces.
It will be 3 months to go. It will already be a new year.
Sagittarius knows that they’re our last fire. Sagittarius knows that we need to soak up their energy, because that’s all we’ll have to stay warm throughout winter.
Sagittarius is the last orange leaf before the trees are completely bare.
Maybe that’s why Sagittarius has to be so big.
It’s the last breath before you dive into the cold winter water, so it better be deep, long and infused with the animal lust for life.
That’s something I usually don’t consider too much because I dislike how animals are too often depicted as bestial, all in instinct and incapable of thought and complex emotions. But Sagittarius is half human and half horse. Our lovely centaur.
Could Sagittarius be this idea of our lust for life?
That pull to wake up and get out from the cave after a long hibernation. To feed yourself and live again. The small but crucial strength of getting out of bed in the morning when it’s still early morning.
I prefer this more primal, this more simple image of Sagittarius.
Because there are too many problematic fantasies woven in the archetype of Sagittarius the great traveler.
Do you know that travel doesn’t always open the mind? Some of the most bigoted people I’ve met had traveled the whole world. And especially Asia, because, you know… it’s so cheap.
That might be one of the roots of my discomfort with Sagittarius. Sagittarius just seems so white and privileged. Sagittarius is the philosopher of ivory towers. Sagittarius is the healthy white man who can afford to travel anywhere without any fear.
It’s easy to be brave and bold when you don’t risk anything.
So I’d like to consider throughout Sagittarius season this new image of Sagittarius as the flame that pushes us forward despite not knowing what the future holds. Despite all the things around us whispering that time is coming to a halt.
Worse that we are sinking into the end of the cycle. That time past is forever lost and nothing will ever come back exactly as it was.
The flame of Sagittarius is a nostalgic one. It’s more the memory of a candle, of a warmth, of a dream, of something that you’d like to reach again. And so you move on, with that flimsy hope.
How often I’ve mocked that hope.
The words you’re reading here come from a deeply saturnian person. And Sagittarius is very much the opposite of Saturn. Saturn is the pessimistic planet while Jupiter, the planet that rules Sagittarius is the optimistic plant.
So it’s normal that I’ve struggled with Sagittarius. And I’ll probably keep struggling with this archetype my whole life, especially when the weather feels so slow, distant and stretched during those Sagittarius days.
If Jupiter is well and loud in your birth chart, if Sagittarius or Pisces rules important houses like your 1st or 10th house, the flame of Sagittarius must feel different to you.
For you, Sagittarius probably doesn’t feel like a distant flame at all. Perhaps it feels like the bluebell flame Hermione Granger carries around in a jar to keep her and her friends warm at all time.
I like that image of bluebell flames for Sagittarius.
Sagittarius is our coldest and dimmest fire in the zodiac. There must be a hint of magic in Sagittarius for it to exist during a time of the year when it can snow.
Sagittarius is a flame you’ve got to keep protected and close to your heart to feel it. Sagittarius is the kind of flame you nourish because you believe that you and your friends deserve better. That you deserve, whatever comes next, to be a part of it.
Maybe I’ll buy myself a blueball flame to keep warm throughout the long months of winter.
Jin
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