Sagittarius

“ The constellation Sagittarius, an archer, half man, half horse, is not a figure of Grecian invention. It is to be met with depicted on Babylonian monuments, unmistakably the archer of our celestial sphere; and this constellation, when it rises in the [156] east, always drives below the western horizon—i.e., mythically exterminates, the last stars of the constellation Taurus. ”

“ I have myself detected such a dark space devoid of stars and nebulosity in one of the brightest parts of the Milky-way, in the constellation Sagittarius, in about 17h. 45m. right ascension, and 27° 35' south declination. It is a small miniature coal-sack or opening in the Galaxy, through which the sight penetrates beyond this great assemblage of stars. ”

“ Thus, for example, Leo, Virgo, and Sagittarius enlarge the person; and Pisces, Cancer, and Capricorn tend to make it diminutive; and thus, again, the upper and anterior parts of Aries, Taurus, and Leo increase its strength and their lower and posterior parts render it weaker: while, on the other hand, Sagittarius, Scorpio, and Gemini act conversely; for their anterior parts produce greater debility, and their posterior parts greater vigour. In like manner, Virgo, Libra, and Sagittarius contribute to render the person handsome and well-proportioned ”

“ It is indeed strange, as Ideler points out, that these non-drinking animals should be found here so close to a river, but the suggestion has been made that these stars represented pasturing cattle, that being the translation of Na'aim, the title of the 20th lunar station of the Arabs located here.
Some authorities, who claim to explain the origin of the constellations, assert that Sagittarius was so called because, at the time the sun entered it, the hunting season opened, and that this is the Archer or Huntsman. Sagittarius has always been considered the patron of the hunter and the chase. ”

“ But when the sun rises "triumphantly" in the heavens, and is most truly "the day star on high," as he ascends towards the summer solstice, and becomes the "Lion of Juda," in July, he has victoriously thrown the zodiacal archer, Sagittarius, as it were, "into the sea" that is, below where the sea bounds the horizon. ”

“ Sagittarius. “You grasp her meaning?”
“I do hear certainly,” said the Prophet, beginning to feel that he really must rub up his classics.
“She helps Capricornus, sir, of an evening. She assists him in his Latin. Madame is a lady of deep education, sir.”
“Quite so. But—”
“There can be no going back, sir,” continued Mr. Sagittarius. “Can there, Madame?”
“No human creature can go back,” said Madame Sagittarius. “Such is the natural law as exemplified by the great Charles Darwin in his Vegetable Mould and Silkworms. No human creature can go back. ”

“ Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, the great benefic planet, and it may be said generally that those who are born while the Sun is in this sign from November 23rd to December 22nd are well liked in the society where they move. They are of a hearty and jovial disposition, princes among men, hail-fellows-well-met, and their acquaintances are generally glad to see them. ”

“ The stars at the point of the arrow in Sagittarius have influence similar to that of Mars and the Moon: those on the bow, and at the grasp of the hand, act like Jupiter and Mars: the nebula in the face is like the Sun and Mars: those in the waist and in the back resemble Jupiter, and also Mercury moderately: those in the feet, Jupiter and Saturn: the four-sided figure in the tail is similar to Venus, and in some degree to Saturn. ”

“ Just as if you reach forth to push yourself away from a wall, there is no push on your body until your hand reaches the wall. Not until dozens of years had passed, we knew, would that great ray strike the star in Sagittarius that was its goal, and not until then would come the back-push against Triton, the bracing back-push that was its purpose. And in those dozens of years, with the great ray shot ceaselessly forth to that star, of course, Neptune and Triton themselves would be moving somewhat, would be moving as Neptune followed its slow orbit around the sun. ”

“ The lines of stars, which are evidently connected by some actual physical relation, are either straight, curved, radiated, or in parallels. In Sagittarius is a very striking collection of about thirty stars resembling in form a forked twig with a curved hook at the unforked end. The dark rifts in the Milky Way show the same features as those in star-clusters. Sometimes they are parallel; sometimes they radiate like branches from a common center; sometimes they are lines with bright stars; sometimes they are quite black, as if utterly void ”

“ True it is that, speaking generally, Gemini and not Taurus is the constellation of the Zodiac opposed to Sagittarius, but owing to the irregularity in the shape and size of the portions assigned in the ecliptic to the Zodiacal constellations, the extreme western degrees of Sagittarius are opposed to the extreme eastern degrees of Taurus. Therefore about 4,000 B.C. the equinoctial colure passed through the constellations of the Archer and the Bull. ”

“ The eastern expanse of Sagittarius is a poor region compared with the western end of the constellation, where the wide stream of the Milky Way like a great river enriches its surroundings. The variables T and R are of little interest to us, for they never become bright enough to be seen without the aid of a telescope. In 54 we find, however, an interesting double, which with larger telescopes than any of ours appears as a triple. The two stars that we see are of magnitudes six and seven and a half; distance 45′′, p. 42°, colors yellow and blue. ”

“ Jupiter, for instance, requiring a period of nearly twelve years to make a single journey around the sun, moves about 30° eastward among the stars every year. The zodiacal constellations are roughly about 30° in length, and as Jupiter was in Sagittarius in 1901, he [Pg 274] will be in Capricornus in 1902. Saturn, requiring nearly thirty years for a revolution around the sun, moves only between 12° and 13° eastward every year, and, being in conjunction with Jupiter in Sagittarius in 1901, does not get beyond the border of that constellation in 1902. ”

“ But those children of Sagittarius who are symbolized by the human part of the centaur, aiming the bow of aspiration at the stars, are as different as day is from night, for they are extremely idealistic, moral and law-abiding, noble characters who win the respect of society in general and particularly all with whom they come into intimate contact. ”

“ Gemini, Sagittarius and Pisces. So called because in the pictorial Zodiac Gemini is represented as a pair of twins, Sagittarius as a Centaur, part man and part horse, and Pisces as two fishes. They are of a dual, vacillating nature, and it is remarkable that events in the lives of people having these signs promiment are repeated. They marry several times, their misfortunes never come singly, but their good fortunes also come in multiple.
Dragon’s Head:
The Moon’s North Node. The Nodes are points in the orbit of a planet where it crosses the ecliptic, or Sun’s path. ”

“ When the winter months begin, the sun is in the constellation of Sagittarius, in the beginning of spring in the constellation of Pisces, in the beginning of summer, in Gemini, and at the commencement of autumn, in the constellation of Virgo. The zodiacal constellations are very important, and to the people in the olden days, the sun's position in front of them was a way to tell the season of the year. ”

“ Manly or humane, curteous Signs, Gemini, Virgo, Libra, Aquarius. Ferall Signs are Leo and last part of Sagittarius. Mute Signs or of slow Voice, Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces; the more if Mercury be in any of them, in Conjunction, Square, or Opposition of Saturn. The use hereof is, that if your Significator or Lord of the Ascendant be in Aries, Taurus, Leo, Sagittarius, Capricorn, there’s in the condition of that party something of the nature of that Beast which represents that Sign he is in; as if he be in Aries, the man is rash, hardy and lascivious ”

“ Jupiter, in his houses Sagittarius and Pisces, represented throned, with an upper dress disposed in radiating folds about his neck, and hanging down upon his breast, ornamented by small pendent trefoiled studs or bosses. He wears the drooping bonnet and long gloves; but the folds about the neck, shot forth to express the rays of the star, are the most remarkable characteristic of the figure. He raises his sceptre in his left hand over Sagittarius, represented as the centaur Chiron; and holds two thunnies in his right. Something rough, like a third fish, has been broken away below them ”

“ But the star-clusters in Sagittarius are more interesting than the separate stars. A little southwest of Mu is the famous cluster 8 M., of which Barnard has made a photograph that is amazing beyond all description. Other clusters are all about in this part of the sky. A good opera-glass or field-glass is almost indispensable for one who would enjoy the glory of this wondrous region. Its riches are almost oppressive in their lavish abundance. Here one can have handfuls of stars for the picking up, like sands of gold from the bed of Pactolus. ”

“ In the Bag Sagittarius, as we at length discover, Teufelsdröckh has become a University man; though how, when, or of what quality, will nowhere disclose itself with the smallest certainty. Few things, in the way of confusion and capricious indistinctness, can now surprise our readers; not even the total want of dates, almost without parallel in a Biographical work. So enigmatic, so chaotic we have always found, and must always look to find, these scattered Leaves. In Sagittarius, however, Teufelsdröckh begins to show himself even more than usually Sibylline: fragments of all sorts ”

“ Many planets in watery signs, Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, and also in the sign Virgo. When the majority of the planets are in cardinal and flexed signs, Aries, Gemini, Cancer, Virgo, Libra, Sagittarius, Capricornus, and Pisces, there will be many changes and journeys. Also if the Sun, Moon, Mars, and Mercury are in either the 3rd, 9th, 12th, or 6th Houses, there will be many journeys and long explorations in foreign countries. ”

“ Saturn governs Aquarius and Capricornus.
Jupiter governs Pisces and Sagittarius.
Mars governs Aries and Scorpio.
Venus governs Taurus and Libra.
Mercury governs Gemini and Virgo.
The Moon governs Cancer, and Leo is governed by the Sun.
When a planet is found in a sign over which it is said to govern it acts more strongly than usual, and when in the opposite signs to those it governs it is said to be in its “fall,” when it is weaker than usual.
Planets governing opposite signs to one another are said to be “enemies.” ”

“ The rotational center of your minor sector is situated far away in the enormous and dense star cloud of Sagittarius, around which your local universe and its associated creations all move, and from opposite sides of the vast Sagittarius subgalactic system you may observe two great streams of star clouds emerging in stupendous stellar coils. ”

“ In and around the Sagittarius region the intermingling of nebulæ and galactic star clouds and clusters is particularly remarkable. That there is a causal connection no thoughtful person can doubt. We are unable to get away from the evidence that a nebula is like a seed-ground from which stars spring forth ”

“ Deeper and deeper sinks the soul into material forms. The evolution of sex has produced the necessary avenues for the entrance of countless forces, and the soul is now rapidly losing the last vestiges of its spiritual conscience. In other words, Sagittarius symbolizes that state of the soul wherein it is descending to its polarizing point, and is, therefore, the vortex of innumerable opposing forces, seeking expression in different forms. ”

“ At this time the constellations that were near the meridian in summer will be found sinking in the west, Hercules being low in the northwest, with the brilliant Lyra and the head of Draco suspended above it; Aquila, "the eagle of the winds," soars high in the southwest; while the Cross of Cygnus is just west of the zenith; and Sagittarius, with its wealth of star-dust, is disappearing under the horizon in the southwest.
Far down in the south the observer catches the gleam of a bright lone star of the first magnitude, though not one of the largest of that class. ”

“ Other Indian nations believed that the souls of the departed entered this pathway by the door situated where it intersects the zodiac in Gemini, and left it to return to the gods by the door of Sagittarius. The ancient Greeks and Romans had this same notion.
According to a Swedish legend, there once lived on earth two mortals who loved each other. When they died they were doomed to dwell on different stars far apart. They thought of bridging the distance between them by a bridge of light, and this bridge is to be seen in the Milky Way. ”

“ As the signs of Sagittarius and Pisces are also afflicted, and Jupiter so oppressed by the conjunction, Spain and Portugal will likewise be sensible of their effects; neither do I like the mischievous position of Mars in Taurus, the ascendant of Ireland, particularly as he is upon the mid-heaven, and so near the mundane quartile of Saturn and Mars. ”

“ Such is the solution given, but it is but a very rough approximation, and by no means always near to the truth. An example will shew why. Let Arcturus have the same altitude at 10 P.M. as at 2 A.M. In the first case the 4th of Sagittarius is ascending, in the second (with sufficient accuracy for our purpose) the 2nd of Aquarius; and the mean between these is the 3rd of Capricorn. ”