Saturday morning, Nov. 22, is the Sagittarius New Moon -- and it got me thinking. Years ago, a Sagittarian ex of mine said to me, “You’re the only person who’s never judged me for being who I am.”
He was a creative, sensitive poet-type and was having trouble reconciling his authentically non-monogamous side with his the part of him that truly desired to settle down and start a “traditional” family. Not everyone he dated was comfortable with the tension that dichotomy generated, or appreciated how hard he was trying to be true to himself.
We tend to think of Geminis, the sign opposite Sagittarius, as being the ones who can’t decide between their options. Sagittarius is attributed a more singular focus, represented by its symbol: a centaur (half horse, half human) shooting an arrow into the sky.
But what if it’s not so much indecision, as a case of “getting it all” on one level -- getting that everything’s connected, that we’re all one, that it’s all love -- and then just wanting it to work on the ground the way they know intuitively that it should? There’s something very compelling about this kind of Sagittarius when you meet them. Unfortunately, much of the world just is not operating on that level. And that can be very painful for them -- and those who care about them.
Then there are the fun-loving, freedom-claiming jokesters of the Sagittarius clan -- the optimistic gamblers. According to many astrologers, this is often a phase in younger Sagittarians that can give way to the more spiritual, inwardly seeking type later in life.
Of course, someone born under this sign might be a synthesis of both types. I’m thinking specifically of a dancer/choreographer friend of mine. He plumbed the depths in his art; he got that love is what matters most of all; he could DJ a wicked dance party. He also could not give me a straight answer when I asked, “So, are you married?” during one early conversation in which he was clearly hitting on me. Nothing that evening was going to pin him down to anything black or white; the part of him that was half horse was not about to be corralled.
Part of what gives Sagittarius its more “out there” feel is that it contains two mysterious, powerful deep-space points. The most compelling may be the very core of our galaxy, considered a “cosmic homing signal” in astrology related to the deeply spiritual leanings of more “evolved” Sagittarians.
The other is the Great Attractor, a massive gravity anomaly tens of thousands of times larger than our galaxy, drawing everything in our region of space toward it. In astrology, the Great Attractor is often associated with people and events that have a polarizing effect on those around them, that is, a strong attraction or repulsion.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that the more devoted you become to your own authenticity and the path of your soul’s growth (a Sagittarian theme), the less equivocal people’s reactions to you are. Either people love who you are becoming and support you 100% (even when that means you may leave their immediate personal orbit as you grow), or they get vicious -- accusing you of betrayal and selfishness, judging you with the pain of their own unprocessed shadow. As Kermit sang, it’s not easy being green.
If you like to track the specifics, the Sun ingresses Sagittarius at 4:38 am, followed by the Moon at 7:19 am. Not even 15 minutes later, at 7:32 am, they conjoin for the Sagittarius New Moon, not far from Venus. Venus adds some extra love to the proceedings as the Sun moves through the sign and encounters a plethora of challenging minor planets, along with the Great Attractor and Galactic Core. Soak it up now, and make like E.T., another “misfit” who “got it”: keep your heart light on.
