Sun in Sagittarius

Alan Leo 1899 draws this portrait from the archer's arrow: a single aim, carried forward with hope and a strong sense that the future improves on the past. Where his Gemini splits attention in two, his Sagittarius holds one thought until it lands. The 1697 English Manilius sends charioteers, horse trainers and tamers of wild animals to this sign, an older and more physical list.

Adams 1928 draws a fine distinction about the element. Sagittarius, last of the fire signs, is in her account the reflection of fire more than the flame. Lilly 1659 files it as the house and, in the old phrase, the joy of Jupiter, and the Sun has a share in it through the fire signs it governs by day.

As the Sun moves through these thirty degrees the days in the northern world reach their shortest, so the sign closes the year's darkening. The Sun takes about a month here, as in every sign, which is why a birth date is usually enough to find this placement.