Sagittarius

Jupiter holds this sign as house and joy in Lilly 1659, who also counts it double bodied, a fit for a figure drawn part man and part horse. Ptolemy, in Ashmand's 1822 translation, describes Jupiter's two signs as airy and fruitful, which is a surprise to anyone used to calling this a fire sign. He never names the four element groups at all, and Lilly lists Sagittarius among the detriments of Mercury, because it sits across from Gemini.

Alan Leo 1899 reads the Archer as aim, with an arrow said to find its mark and people who pursue one thought at a time. Set beside the two-handed Gemini on the opposite side of the circle, that makes a neat contrast, though he does not draw it himself.

Horses run through the older lists. Lilly's places for the sign include stables of great horses, the 1697 English Manilius names chariot racers and horse breakers, and Adams 1928 even finds a horselike face. Modern popular astrology has moved on to travel, belief and bluntness, and the animal has dropped out of the picture.