Table of Contents
THE CUSP-BORN SAGITTARIUS
Are you really a Sagittarius? If your birthday falls around the fourth week in November, at the very beginning of Sagittarius, will you still retain the traits of Scorpio, the sign of the Zodiac before Sagittarius? And what if you were born near Christmasare you more Capricorn than Sagittarius? Many people born at the edge, or cusp, of a sign have great difficulty determining exactly what sign they are. If you are one of these people, heres how you can figure it out once and for all.
Consult the cusp table on the facing page, then locate the year of your birth. The table will tell you the precise days on which the Sun entered and left your sign for the year of your birth. In that way you can determine if you are a true Sagittariusor whether you are a Scorpio or Capricornaccording to the variations in cusp dates from year to year (see also page 17).
If you were born at the beginning or end of Sagittarius, yours is a lifetime reflecting a process of subtle transformation. Your life on Earth will symbolize a significant change in consciousness, for you are about to enter a whole new way of living or are leaving one behind.
If you were born at the beginning of Sagittarius, you may want to read the horoscope for Scorpio as well as Sagittarius, for Scorpio holds the key to many of your hidden weaknesses, sexual uncertainties, wishes, fantasies, and spiritual potentials. You are the symbol of the human mind awakening to its higher capabilities. You are preparing the way for the liberation of your soul into the realms of wisdom and truth. You leave behind greed, blind desire, and shallow lust, as you learn to create and understand yourself. You travel, see new places, see how people live, figure yourself out, acquire knowledge.
You may hide a stubborn and dangerous extremism and you may rely too much on luck, but at some crisis point in your life a change of consciousness will occur to shift your behavior patterns. New worlds open up, as you become aware of immortality and the infinite possibilities of your own mind.
If you were born at the end of Sagittarius, you may want to read the horoscope book for Capricorn as well as Sagittarius, for Capricorn is a deep part of your materialistic values. You were born with the need to bring your dreams into reality and put your talents and ambitions to practical use.
You need to conquer worry and depression and inhibition. You will learn to take life seriously, but without losing your sense of humor and hope. You must find a balance between believing nothing and believing too much. You need to find the firm middle ground between cynicism and idealism.
THE CUSPS OF SAGITTARIUS
DATES SUN ENTERS SAGITTARIUS (LEAVES SCORPIO)
DATES SUN LEAVES SAGITTARIUS (ENTERS CAPRICORN)
THE ASCENDANT: SAGITTARIUS RISING
Could you be a double Sagittarius? That is, could you have Sagittarius as your Rising sign as well as your Sun sign? The tables on pages 8-9 will tell you Sagittarius what your Rising sign happens to be. Just find the hour of your birth, then find the day of your birth, and you will see which sign of the Zodiac is your Ascendant, as the Rising sign is called. The Ascendant is called that because it is the sign rising on the eastern horizon at the time of your birth. For a more detailed discussion of the Rising sign and the twelve houses of the Zodiac, see pages 17-20.
The Ascendant, or Rising sign, is placed on the 1st house in a horoscope, of which there are twelve houses. The 1st house represents your response to the environmentyour unique response. Call it identity, personality, ego, self-image, facade, come-on, body-mind-spiritwhatever term best conveys to you the meaning of the you that acts and reacts in the world. It is a you that is always changing, discovering a new you. Your identity started with birth and early environment, over which you had little conscious control, and continues to experience, to adjust, to express itself. The 1st house also represents how others see you. Has anyone ever guessed your sign to be your Rising sign? People may respond to that personality, that facade, that body type governed by your Rising sign.
Your Ascendant, or Rising sign, modifies your basic Sun sign personality, and it affects the way you act out the daily predictions for your Sun sign. If your Rising sign indeed is Sagittarius, what follows is a description of its effects on your horoscope. If your Rising sign is not Sagittarius, but some other sign of the Zodiac, you may wish to read the horoscope book for that sign.
With Sagittarius on the Ascendant, the planet rising in the 1st house is Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius. In this position Jupiter confers good health, a pleasing personality, a generous disposition, and an increased vitality. It also confers honors or wealth at some point in your lifetime. You may reap unexpected good fortune in times of hardship. At some point, too, you may exile yourself from everyday life to serve a larger dedication. You will sacrifice for your ideals. Because you are zealous in your beliefs, you could make enemies behind your back. Again, the influence of Jupiter works to overcome the opposition.
You are the student, the idealist. Your need for wisdom is boundless. And you think big! You are not satisfied gathering concrete facts or analyzing practical information. You want to infer the grand patterns, to abstract, to generalize, and finally to generate new ideas. You are a visionary, a dreamer, a futurist. Philosophy, law, and religion attract you, for their truths go beyond the limits of everyday experience. Though you firmly hold your beliefs, you are not dogmatic. Rather, you romanticize them, and your method of persuasion is more seductive than shrill. You restless types are very adaptable, changing your ideas with each new discovery. Your mind is completely open.
With Sagittarius Rising you can be attracted to great causes. Your ideas are not generated merely to erect an impressive intellectual framework. Enlightened by your deep compassion, they become ideals in the service of humanity. There may be an inspirational quality to the causes you join or to the ideals you generate for a cause. Justice and mercy are concepts to be translated into action. You work hard to do that, but you are not rebellious or bossy or demanding. You are brave and forthright, without being reckless or combative. Cooperation and communication are important goals. You like working in groups; your friendly good humor is a model for all social relationships.
There is another you, a private you, that people do not necessarily know very well but may glimpse when you have gone out of their lives. That you is restless, opportunistic, seemingly rootless. You live so much in your mind that you dont want to be tied down by mundane obligations. In fact, you will escape from situations that limit your freedom of choice or action, even if you must dishonor a commitment to do so. You could shirk responsibility by flying off to some greener pasture, yet be no richer for the new experience. Carried to extremes, your quest for adventure could be self-indulgent, yet wasteful of yourself and selfish to the people around you.