Ninth: Sagittarius

If you haven’t already, I urge you to read the article explaining how the zodiac may be seen as a collection of twelve psychological types and thus gain context.

In Sagittarius, the ninth phase in the yearly cycle of human experience, the Night Force grows to its apex at the solstice, the powerful sixth level. The power that in Libra and Scorpio fought in order to expand the horizons and feelings, is able to act unopposed by the Day Force that shrinks to its base, the first level. Collectivity concerns prevail over individual ones, and society dominates the personality. A time for broad considerations, not narrow viewpoints.

It is the time for great adventures, unexplored broad generalizations, philosophy, religion, abstractions, and metaphysics. The Crusades, the pilgrimages searching for God, the search for eternal values, and for the absolute. It is also the time for fanaticism, martyrdom and intolerance. The moment when man may lose touch with his own self-preservation and pursuit of personal happiness and instead fly towards social or mystical ideals for which he will gladly die. The social process that began as a Libra ideal and was emotionally established in Scorpio expands the mental horizons in Sagittarius.

Whereas in Gemini, its polar opposite, man builds a web of narrow connections: the nervous system, a system of reasoning and intellectual logic, or a technique for experimentation to satisfy his curiosity for all that surrounds him, in Sagittarius he is concerned with social or mystical factors such that the web he builds is based on broader connections. Such relationships will form a “nervous system” of the social organisms which are his top priority. A good example is the complex system of laws and regulations that ensure the health of society.

Two Types of Mind

Both types of connections imply mental activity, which is why both Gemini and Sagittarius are considered “mental signs”. In the former we have mind operating within the smaller personal sphere while in the latter it is working in the larger societal sphere. However, Rudhyar stresses that in both signs mind operates in a direct and constructive manner, as opposed to the critical and destructive mind of Virgo and Pisces, which at best may be called regenerative.

In the final stage of growth of a Spiritual force, either Day or Night, mind acts as the final integration agent for a personality or a civilization, respectively—recall that Spirit is the integrative Principle of Wholeness acting in the realm of Life. That mind, proper of the signs preceding the solstices, has a different purpose than the mind of the signs preceding the equinoxes when one of the Spiritual forces overtakes the other.

The mind in Virgo and Pisces works to clear the slate for a new type of activity to be powered by the Spiritual force that will become prevalent at the equinox. It acts by constantly reminding us that “neither this nor that” is fit for the trip, so to speak. It is a type of mind that invites us to forget, grow and transcend. In Virgo, the sentimental and dramatic expressions of Leo are guided by self-discipline and sacrifice, whereas in Pisces what must be overcome is the social excitement and exaggerated idealism of Aquarius.

The Centaur

The symbol of Sagittarius is the mythological centaur, a half-man and half-horse creature, which some astrologers have taken to symbolize the struggle between the terrestrial and spiritual natures, even though such struggles are common in every sign. The horse is the symbol of useful power, unlike the bull (Taurus) that is raw, untamed power. The power of Sagittarius comes from organizing that which man experienced deeply in Scorpio, the sign with the raw power of the fusion with others such that man is more than himself. Initially that “more” is the two-in-one sexual fusion with the beloved that is not even remotely interested in procreation. It will likely expand to a true identification of his feelings with those of the larger group, becoming a constructive or destructive spokesperson for the group, depending on said group’s energy and purpose.

Power always tries to expand to higher levels before flowing down to a level it can fecundate or govern. In Sagittarius, the power is already in the individual who has identified himself with the group, society or any organic life larger than himself. The half-man in the centaur is able to harness that power to reach higher and farther goals. If the horse is available energy, the man is the conscious use of that energy.

But, there is a third element: the bow and arrow, symbols of direction and goal. The arrows being aimed toward the sky at 45°, the direction of farthest travel. Sagittarius is already empowered by the results of social interactions: sex, arts, business, marketing, commerce, etc. His problem is not how to gather more power but to figure out where and how to channel it, and the symbol shows the right direction.

Architect of Civilizations

When we discussed Scorpio, we mentioned that the Night Force’s desired product is a civilization, much like a personality is what the Day Force attempts to build. Both are born and mature at the solstices so the signs that precede them are responsible for their final form and substance, acting at the level of a constructive mind. What in Libra was the simple awareness of our inherent social impulse to be more than ourselves, perhaps symbolized by the joining of hands, and in Scorpio became a joining of hearts and creative powers, must give rise to a joining of minds in Sagittarius. This is when social consciousness finds its own field of operation and civilization emerges from nature.

Capricorn is the sign of building the actual civilization architected in Sagittarius, much like Cancer builds a real personality designed in Gemini. Just like the signs are paired into six complementary axes, like Sagittarius and Gemini, they are also paired as six operative couplings: consecutive signs that have been traditionally called masculine (Fire and Air) and feminine (Water and Earth) signs, although those names only convey the “coupling” aspect. Rudhyar renamed them root and confirming symbols, to emphasize their “operative” nature within the pair. It bears noticing that, whereas the equinoctial signs mark the end of one such coupling and the beginning of another, the solstitial signs occur within a coupling, both signs having the sixth level (maximum) of one Spiritual force.

Visionary Pragmatist

As Rudhyar points out, the mind of the Sagittarius type is very coherent, which is why he is both stubborn and intolerant, everything is valued from a perspective of law and organization. Yet, he is most concerned, nearly obsessed, with aesthetics but as a system of human relations and not an ideal dream. He is not an idealist and prefers to expand what has already emerged from societal structures. Not an inventor, he is more of an interpreter, always finding new meaning and dimensions of thought, giving light to obscure topics, piercing the veils of ignorance, one by one. However, he will not become lost like Scorpio in complete identification with unlimited energies or like Aquarius with mystical consciousness.

Sagittarius never loses track of the limits, of form and rhythm. He is not the eagle but the horse, his power comes from the reality that is known and experienced. He aims his arrows to the sky but feels the earth under him as a source of power. A power to be used, not by which he will be enslaved. He will direct his power much like a warrior would direct his horse in battle, knowing that his life depends on it. He likes physical exercise, feeling the ground under his feet, and working in collaboration with others, feeling society and its groups. He dislikes being alone or limited to sameness in his environment. He may try to organize other people’s lives, often with unsavory or mixed results. He loves to manage and direct power, and always rushes to do it.

As I mentioned earlier, Sagittarius has been linked to organized religion and its rites, which is born out of a need to identify ourselves with the community’s totality of life. Such energy is formed by prophets into “images of salvation” for the community, and is managed by priests or heads of a theocratic government. And the sign also refers to philosophy and metaphysics, where it attempts to establish a feasible order to the great complexity of natural and social processes. It is able to do this by uncovering hidden connections and possible correlations between occurring events, which are then interpreted and formulated as laws.

He will travel in the “world of ideas” with the power obtained from having identified himself with the needs of the group. For a sufficiently-evolved Sagittarius type nothing is more important than the “needs of the times”, the needs of the community to which he belongs. His awareness and the degree of identification with such needs make him a thinker or a prophet. The Sagittarius person becomes the needs of the community. He can interpret the “signs of the times” and be of service to the community.

The Dark Side

As hinted earlier, this is also the sign of the fanatic and the puritan. Given that the Day Force is at a very low level and shrinking to the base minimum, a Sagittarius person will have little respect for the individual. The welfare of the community is intrinsically more important than any personal concerns. A historical testament may be found in the Spanish Inquisition and its emphasis on the salvation of the soul, all the while the body is tortured—in its chart, Spain has its Sun, Ascendant and Mars in Sagittarius. Scorpio’s frustrations may also give rise to the fanaticism of Sagittarius, with particular emphasis on cruelty and sadism. In some twist of logic, the community is awarded the right of salvation at the expense of the suffering, and the lives, of its members.

The objective value of individuality may be so vague and the social sense so irreproachable that at times must resort to subconscious avoidance and the excitation of violence to acquire a sense of his own personality. Unfortunately, this is fairly common among Sagittarius people and more so when society around him is presenting such chaos that he is filled with destructive energies, often giving him an aura of arrogance. Once again, this is caused by his own surrendering to collective forces, for the Day Force is so weak that it hardly resembles a force. In the words of Rudhyar, he needs a “strong flesh” to rise as an individual and, once he is risen, he may act compulsively with the negative tendencies of a Scorpio, or perhaps worse, for the mind and its intellectual prowess are in control and not the emotions. The compassion of Jupiter turning into unconscious sadism.

Gift of Comradeship

Civilization is concerned with the transference of knowledge and wisdom from one geographical area or generation to another. It is thus concerned with generic truths applicable to others and in the future. The same universality and timelessness carries some negative possibilities. By fitting everywhere, and at any time, its truths are unable to touch the life of a particular individual, giving rise to the dark side of the sign. Yet Spirit only speaks to individuals about individual concerns. Its gifts are given to individuals, even while their contents are of universal concern.

In this day and age, the universalist and civilizer often forget that society is composed of individuals, with individual aspirations and concerns. To those who forget the humanity of whom they seek to convert to some great—or not so great—civilizing vision, Spirit offers a most essential gift: Comradeship, which may be defined as the practice of cooperative and warm living with other human beings treated as human persons. Quoting Rudhyar: “To be a comrade to other individuals is to meet them in terms of their individual needs and characters, at the level, not of abstractions or dogmatic beliefs, but of concrete, actual, and everyday living. It is to meet them as unique persons through unique occurrences requiring unique forms of cooperation and understanding.”

Eighty years have passed since Rudhyar wrote those words but we must still heed the call for comradeship in this century, perhaps more so. The word is derived from camera, meaning “room”, indicating the behavior when more than one person are together in every-day living, which implies sharing daily activities, such as working or sleeping, as well as every-day problems within a common space. The space must be bounded even as it may range from a small room, a palace, or a city, all the way to the entire planet. Moreover, comrades share the space not because of a common past or ancestry but due to common activities, as stated earlier, and perhaps a common purpose.

Living within a confined space promotes respect and tolerance. More than anything else, comrades are forced to consider each other as human beings and not merely as representative automatons of some generic ideal or vision, who are guided by abstract principles or dogmas. They must learn to understand each other as individual persons and not as servants of some social Cause, a geographical State and its rulers, or a jealous God and his priests. Rudhyar writes: “True comradeship operates at a level where fanaticism and narrow bigotry cannot exist”. He argues that its practice is an art, because it demands that comrades be creative in how to deal with each other, a keen attention to detail, a continuous commitment to an objective give and take, and a realization of meaning and purpose in the activities that put the group together in that place.

A Most Difficult Art

Viewed this way, comradeship is the art of living together. It demands essentially that not one of the comrades takes anything for granted in their relationship, or in himself! Just like the creative painter sees a new and fresh landscape, regardless of how many times he has been at the beach before, the comradeship relationships must begin anew every time; his comrades being unique facets of humanity who bring new viewpoints and abilities to the challenges of every-day living. It should be obvious that whoever acts in conformance to a rigid set of conventions, follows a binding set of dogmas or is fanatically devoted to gods or ideas, cannot be a comrade. He may be an exemplar partisan, a martyr, a terrific worker, boss or servant, but not a comrade.

Comradeship is, both, apex of social consciousness and antidote to an over-civilized society. Comradeship demands respect to the dignity of every single person in a civilization driven by constant generalizations and remote goals that try to render individual and immediate concerns pointless. Comradeship frames the civilized goals within a psychological understanding of neighbors and friends as individuals having similar activities and problems. It is valuing that which is near in a world obsessed with far-flung goals.

Comradeship is the answer to the most poignant need of Western civilization and indeed the best gift for someone living the dark side of Sagittarius. The religious leader who doesn’t think twice of ruining someone’s life to “save his soul”, the leader of a nation that is preserved while millions die of hunger, or the great efforts to save far-away children while local slums are ignored, are all signs of a sick civilization. The song of comradeship must not be quieted. We must become adept at living together as comrades and friends. Writes Rudhyar: Comradeship is the living substance of a civilization true to Spirit.

Always Love. 🌹🙏💖