As a kid, I always took special notice of an elaborate poster that boasted “Sagittarius” in big red letters in my grandma’s kitchen. It rattled off the typical textbook qualities inherent to the sign- “adventurous, optimistic, jet-setting” and so on. I was amused to spot it again on a recent visit with her, its placement now proudly pinned to the wall just above a garbage can. I remember feeling somewhat baffled by what the sign so confidently declared about her compared to her reality. Sagittarius was supposed to never sit still, to abhor doing the same ol’ same ol’, to possess an inherent craving for adventure, expansion, and culture! Yet, there’s been an indentation in the middle of the couch where she’s returned daily for the last twenty years, the curtains are always closed off to the glimmer of a courtyard outside, and a deep feeling of solitude perpetually permeates the apartment. What happened here with this shut-in Sagittarius? Is the astrology invalid? The same questions arrive begin to arrive when you encounter a cowardly Aries or a messy Virgo.
I didn’t make sense of these contradictions until years later when I came across a snippet from a Dane Rudhyar book, where he spoke of people either taking “the sun path” or “the moon path” in their lives. The sun path being where you follow your essence and lean into your evolutionary calling fearlessly. To become the courageous Aries, to become the efficient Virgo, to become the stimulation-seeking Sagittarius. The moon path is where you play it safe, where you stay close to home, where threats and risks to ones security and safety are heavily calculated. That’s when I realized you can turn your back all together on the path your sun tries to lay down for you. That you can either hang out in it’s shadow or simply avoid it all together. Now that I think about it, the mode of questioning in this post is almost laughably Sagittarian in its nature. Gemini sees my grandma’s poster and memorizes the qualities, the facts, the data. It’s collected the information. Sagittarius adds them up mentally and asks is this true? Can I find meaning, understanding, and make sense of this? It’s collected the experience.
Sagittarius season wants to ask where in your life can you take a few new risks? How have you been underestimating your own potential? The eclipses are currently lighting up the Gemini/Sagittarius axis as we speak, so pay close attention to where you draw that line between intellect and intuition, and if you’ve been playing it a bit too safe to get the growth you crave.