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Fire · Mutable

Sagittarius

The Archer, the 9th sign of the zodiac year, usually printed as 22 November – 21 December.

A hand-coloured star card of Sagittarius: a centaur with a brown horse's body drawing a golden bow, a yellow cloak flying behind him, with a laurel crown beside.
Sagittarius and Corona Australis, Microscopium, and Telescopium · Sidney Hall · Urania's Mirror; or, A View of the Heavens, London, 1825
Element
Fireenergy, initiative and self-assertion, in the tradition
Modality
Mutablethe signs that close a season, traditionally read as adapters
Traditional ruler
JupiterAssigned before the outer planets were found
Modern ruler
JupiterSame as the traditional ruler.

When the sun actually crosses

The moment the sun enters Sagittarius and the moment it leaves for Capricorn, each year from 2015 to 2026, in UTC to the minute.

21 Nov 00:0021 Nov 06:0021 Nov 12:0021 Nov 18:0022 Nov 00:0022 Nov 06:0022 Nov 12:0022 Nov 18:0020122016202020242010202621 Nov 00:0021 Nov 06:0021 Nov 12:0021 Nov 18:0022 Nov 00:0022 Nov 06:0022 Nov 12:0022 Nov 18:00201220162020202420102026
Where the sun crossed into Sagittarius, 2010–2026, in UTC. The marked years are the ones where a 29 February has fallen in between and pulled it back by most of a day.
YearSun enters SagittariusSun leaves for Capricorn
201522 November, 15:26 UTC22 December, 04:48 UTC
201621 November, 21:22 UTC21 December, 10:44 UTC
201722 November, 03:05 UTC21 December, 16:28 UTC
201822 November, 09:01 UTC21 December, 22:22 UTC
201922 November, 14:59 UTC22 December, 04:20 UTC
202021 November, 20:40 UTC21 December, 10:03 UTC
202122 November, 02:34 UTC21 December, 15:59 UTC
202222 November, 08:21 UTC21 December, 21:48 UTC
202322 November, 14:03 UTC22 December, 03:28 UTC
202421 November, 19:56 UTC21 December, 09:20 UTC
202522 November, 01:36 UTC21 December, 15:03 UTC
202622 November, 07:24 UTC21 December, 20:50 UTC

VSOP87, checked against published equinox and solstice times.

Which dates can be Sagittarius

Since 1920 the sun has entered Sagittarius on 21 November, 22 November or 23 November, and left it for Capricorn on 21 December or 22 December (UTC). On those dates the sign depends on the year, and in a crossing year on the hour; each date's page gives every year.

In the tradition

In Western astrological tradition, Sagittarius is classed as a mutable fire sign. Mutable signs are the signs that close a season, traditionally read as adapters, and fire signs are traditionally associated with energy, initiative and self-assertion. Its ruling planet in that tradition is Jupiter.

These are associations reported from tradition, not claims about anyone born under the sign.

Crotus, friend of the Muses

Many called this figure the Centaur, Hyginus writes, and others denied it, because no centaur uses arrows, and asked why he has a horse's flanks but a satyr's tail. The answer he records comes from the tragedian Sositheus: the archer is Crotus, son of Eupheme, the nurse of the Muses, who lived on Mount Helicon in their company, hunted there, and was swift in the woods and clever in the arts.

The Muses asked Jove to place him among the stars, and Jove gave him a body that showed all his skills at once: horse's flanks because he rode a great deal, arrows for his keenness and his speed, and a satyr's tail because the Muses delighted in him as Liber did in the Satyrs. The ring of stars before his feet some said was a wreath, "thrown off as by one at play."

Hyginus, Astronomica, book 2, in Mary Grant's translation (1960), chapter 2.27, checked .

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