'I should see the garden far
better ... If I could get to the top
of that hill:
and here's at path that leads straight
to it- at least; no, it doesn't do that...
But I suppose it will at last. But how
curiously it twists!... Well then, I'll try
the other way."
I would say that finding an example of
this Sun sign is as easy as rolling off a
log, except that it isn't true. It's much
easier than rolling off a log. Pick any
party and look at the center of the
liveliest group. See that fellow sitting
there happily with his rather large foot
stuck in his mouth? He's a Sagittarian who
has just gone out on a verbal limb, but he
doesn't know it yet. When he does, he'll
look slightly bewildered-and the group
around him will be looking daggers.
The archer will walk up to you, give you
a hearty slap on the back and a wide,
friendly grin. Then he'll greet you with a
remark like, "How the heck do you manage to
look so young when you're as old as you
are?" Or "Say, that turtleneck sweater sure
is flattering. You should wear them all the
time. Hides your double chin." After one of
these cheery openers, he'll still be wearing
his bright grin, but your own smile may
start to droop a little. It will take him a
while to figure out just what he said that
set you back on your heels, and even longer
to understand why. Then he'll try to
explain. Keep your cool. It gets worse.
Golly, didn't you understand what he
meant? He thinks it's fabulous to look only
twenty-five years old when you're really
thirty-eight (which is six years older than
you actually are). As for the double chin,
lots of people your age have a little flab
in the neck region. The only time you can
see it is from the side. You know, when you
turn your head. Just don't have any pictures
taken in profile.
After he's carefully explained his verbal
goofs and got you feeling all better again,
he'll go on his merry way, whistling a tune
from the latest Broadway show. When you cut
him dead the next time you meet, he'll be
heartbroken -and puzzled. There's no use
getting angry or embarrassed. Sagittarius
is completely free of malice. He blurts out
his shockingly direct speech in total
innocence. The fact that he usually adds
insult to injury when he tries to fix it
also escapes him. Don't judge him too
harshly. He means well. Not that he needs
your sympathy-or mine. Under his tactless
manner is an extremely clever mind and high
standards. His unique combination of wit,
intelligence and fiery drive usually brings
the archer straight to the winner's circle.
What really gets you is that both male and
female Sagittarians are oblivious to their
own blunt speech. They are truly convinced
that they are the most diplomatic souls in
the world. They're always saying, "Why, I
wouldn't hurt anyone's feelings for
anything. I'm very careful about that." And
they honestly believe it. In fact,
everything they do is done honestly.
Pretense and deception in any form appalls
them.
Their physical characteristics aren't
hard to learn. Look for a fairly large,
well-shaped skull and a high, broad
forehead. The features will be open and
cheerful, inviting friendship and the
exchange of ideas, and the movements will
normally be rapid (though you'll find a few
who move slowly and deliberately). They will
often make wide, sweeping gestures, which
may be dramatic and vigorous, but possibly
not very graceful. Sagittarius can wave his
arms to make a point, and upset the ketchup.
Hell stride purposefully forward, head high,
and trip over the curbstone. His brief case
may snap open at the same time, scattering
his papers all over the street.
Jupiter eyes are as bright and alert as a
sparrow's, and they sparkle and twinkle with
refreshing humor. The archers are either
very tall and athletic looking or shorter
than average, with strong, sturdy bodies.
The tall ones will remind you of
thoroughbred horses or spirited colts. In
youth especially, many of them have a stray
lock of hair which keeps falling over the
forehead, like a horse's mane. They'll flip
it back with a toss of the head or a quick,
unconscious movement of the hand-a habit
that may last long after a new hairstyle has
been adopted in maturity or after baldness
has set in.
Sagittarians are normally restless. They
hate to sit or stand still. The archer is
physically conspicuous, if only through his
obvious confidence and his disregard for
con- f ventional behavior. He walks as
if he's really go "g somewhere. There's no
halting or hesitating. (But remember that a
conflicting ascendant can slow down the
gait.)
When you first meet him, Sagittarius
could be perched on a horse or walking his
dog. He loves animals passionately.
Sagittarian Frank Sinatra once ordered his
driver to stop his car when he saw an
injured dog lying in the street. He was on
his way to a television rehearsal, but
musicians, director and camera crew had to
wait until the singer had tenderly carried
the dog to a vet, was assured he would be
fine in a few days, and had found the dog's
owner.
Sagittarians with natal afflictions to
the birth planets can have, instead, a
morbid fear of animals, but it doesn't
happen often. Ordinarily, people born under
Jupiter's influence fear nothing. The
typical Sagittarian is attracted to
danger-in sports and in his job or his
hobby. An element j of risk excites and
challenges the archers. They love
speed. I Fast cars, planes-even roller
coasters draw them magnetically. Daredevil
test pilots are often Sagittarians. The
average Jupiter person enjoys nothing more
than a hairbreadth escape of some
kind-either physical or emotional. It
exhilarates them. They'll take a chance on
literally anything (unless a meeker sign on
the ascendant dilutes Jupiter's daring).
There's a difference between the
legendary bluntness of the archer and the
brutal speech of the Scorpio. Scorpio tells
the truth, completely conscious of its
effect, but still refusing to compromise.
Sagittarius is totally unaware of the effect
when his direct honesty compels him to
speak. Scorpio feels little compunction
about the wounds his statements cause. To
him, the truth is the truth, and if you
can't bear to hear it, don't ask. The
Jupiter person, on the other hand, is
crushed and dismayed at his own lack of
discretion when he discovers he's really cut
you. It would be touching if it weren't so
infuriating.
What is on the archer's mind and heart is
almost instantly on his lips. He's as frank
and earnest as a six-year-old. You can take
that old advice, "If you want the truth, go
to a child," and switch it to "If you want
the truth, go to a Sagiittarian."
There's a woman in the publishing
business in New York about whom the same
thing is said. "If you want the truth, go to
Kay-if you can stand it." Kay is not only an
authentic archer, she also has additional
Sagittarius influences in her natal chart. A
Jupiter girl plus, you might say. She's warm
and generous, typical of the sign, and she
has lots of loyal friends who love her, also
typical of the sign. They would have to be
loyal, and they would have to love her to
survive incidents like the time three years
ago when she opened up her big heart and
decided to completely outfit her secretary
for the winter. The young girl was flat
broke, since she had just been through a
drizzly financial disaster, and she was
touched to tears. Others had sympathized,
but until Kay, no one had offered a concrete
helping hand. Leave it to Sagittarius. (You
can read that several ways.)
One fine fall day, the two of them set
forth for Saks Fifth Avenue in a fever of
excited female anticipation. The poor
secretary was delirious with happiness-until
they entered the elevator. Suddenly, the
Sagittarian gave her a long, appraising
look, and said quite firmly and quite
loudly, "We'd better try the Fat Girl's
Department first."
Blind ecstasy was instantly replaced by
numb shock. The secretary's fiance had
always told her she was "pleasingly plump."
Now, in one flashing painful moment of
Sagittarian honesty, she had become a baby
blimp. To this very day, the young girl
remembers how everyone in the car turned to
stare at her curiously, as she wondered if
her fiance secretly thought she was
grotesque. But good old Kay fixed it.
Noticing the girl's discomfiture, she
hastily made a joke to jolly her up. "And if
we can't find anything to fit you there, we
can always try the tents in the camping
department." The Sagittarian howled at her
own hilarity. So did the people in the
elevator.
Just after Kay's warm, generous excursion
with her secretary, she cheered up her boss,
the publisher, who had been on doctor's
orders not to drink for a year. One solid
year. He had had infectious hepatitis. No
liquor. Not one drop. After going for twelve
long months without even wetting his lips,
he was justifiably proud of his will power.
Kay, just freshly back from Europe, paid
him a typical Sagittarian compliment.
"About your drinking," she began, and he
smiled, waiting. "I hear you've been trying
to stay on the wagon." Trying? After
twelve months without a single drop?
Trying? As he recovered his composure,
she went on. "Say, you know there's a party
tomorrow night for Joe's book? I thought I
ought to warn you, but I never get to see
you alone." Warn him? Warn him about what?
The publisher forgot his chagrin under this
new threat. She continued: "We were all
hoping that, well, this is embarrassing-but
we were all hoping that you wouldn't spoil
the party." By now, the publisher was
speechless. Not Sagittarius.
"What I mean is, we hope you don't mess
up the evening by being a wet blanket about
not drinking-and all that. Joe likes his
martinis, and after all, his book is a
Literary Guild selection. If you slink
around like some fugitive from prohibition
and make everybody miserable, just because
you have this terrible disease, it will
throw a damper on the whole thing. Say, can
people catch it from being in the same room
with you?"
The publisher somehow managed to stammer
that she was safe, then gathered his injured
dignity together long enough to remind her
that he had hosted parties himself for
authors like Edna Ferber and Ernest
Hemingway without mishap. "I have always
been told," he said evenly, between
clenched teeth, "that my manners are
impeccable." The Sagittarian, blind to her
boss's near apoplexy, heartily agreed with
him. "That's for sure. You're a fabulous
host. No one in the publishing business can
figure it out." The publisher had just
barely enough breath left to ask. Figure
what out? The archer's answer zinged home.
"How is it that you can be such a great host
and such a perfectly lousy guest? Your own
parties are marvelous, but you always pull
such big boo-boos every time you go to
somebody else's whing-ding. It's really
weird."
Then she noticed something else weird.
Her boss's face. It was turning purple.
Suddenly contrite, the friendly Sagittarian
immediately apologized. "Gee, I hope I
didn't say the wrong thing. It won't matter
how you behave anyway. Joe thinks you're
really swell. He was just telling us all
today that he's glad he decided to come to
us even though his old agent had been
against it. He can't understand why he's
heard such awful things about you. I told
him people were just jealous. Say, you don't
look so hot. Are you sure your doctor knows
what he's doing?" (There are rumors that
Kay's boss went off the wagon that night,
permanently.) The Sagittarian? Oh, she's
happily helping new authors get over their
nervousness at the same publishing company.
Fired? He wouldn't dare fire her. As I said
in the beginning, everybody loves her.
Few people can resent the archer for very
long, because he's so transparently free of
harmful intent. You'll see this lovable,
likable, intelligent idealist almost
anywhere or any time. You may catch him
shooting out his careless arrows from your
television screen some Sunday night, leaving
his guest stars numb and speechless with
astonishment at his frankness. He may be
your cab driver some Monday morning, the one
who cheerfully explains to you why he hates
stingy tippers-or you could find him serving
you in a restaurant some Friday evening,
earnestly advising you not to order the
oysters because they're a little on the dred
side.
Most archers sincerely try to cheer you
up. At least, that's what they start out to
do, but sometimes it falls a little short of
the good intention. I once had a Sagittarius
manager who tried to boost my morale by
telling me how much better my hair looked
than it usually did when I hadn't washed it
or rolled it up for more than a week. But
he's still a good friend, so you can see
it's useless to get exasperated. Besides,
now and then Sagittarians can come up with a
dilly of a statement that sends your spirits
really soaring, and makes up for all the
rest. They can offer profoundly wise
counsel, when you've had time to analyze
their viewpoints. This is a fire sign, so
most archers are extroverts, talkative and
forward. There are a few who are painfully
shy and timid, but even these are full of
original ideas-and they're just as blunt. In
fact, the quiet, fey Sagittarians with the
reclusive, meek ways can dream the biggest
dreams and aim for the highest goals.
Introvert or extrovert, the archer is a
promoter at heart. The rare one who doesn't
say much could be planning something really
spectacular to spring on an unsupecting
world. His mind is busy even when his tongue
is still, so you have to remember his Sun
sign is always there at the bottom of his
nature, lest he lull you into not being
prepared for his next startling move.
Most of the time the typical Sagittarian
is happy and gregarious, but his temper can
fiare like a sky rocket if he's pushed
around by people who abuse his natural
friendliness or who get too familiar.
Rebellion against authority and stuffy
society is also common. Sagittarius will
never run away from a fight or call for
help. The women can lose their normally
pleasant dispositions and let go with a
barrage of unexpected plain talk that puts
troublemakers right where they belong. The
men will use their fists and scorn weapons.
A rude, insulting person who has challenged
Jupiter's good nature often find himself
sprawled on the sidewalk wondering where
that truck came from.
High-spirited Jupiter people can't stand
to be accused of dishonesty. An unjust
accusation or a slur against their integrity
will make righteous indignation flame high,
but after an especially fiery display of
temper, the typical Sagittarian will feel
remorse and try to make amends. He'll black
your eye and put you in the hospital, but
he'll probably shower you with flowers and
sympathy the next day. The archer usually
speaks and acts first, and considers the
consequences later.
Many Sagittarians seek the stage, and no
one is happier giving encore after encore
for an excited audience. He'll sing himself
hoarse or dance his shoes off for the sheer
exhilaration of performing. Show business is
full of archers.
There's a strong religious streak in
Jupiter men and women, especially in their
youth. They're intensely interested in
church affairs, but as they grow older they
can become skeptical of dogma, inclined to
question former faiths and search for a
perfection of values. It's a rare
Sagittarian who doesn't have a matched set
of luggage. They love to travel, and there's
usually at least one suitcase, well worn
from hundreds of trips, that's kept packed
and ready for instant use.
You'll always notice something child-like
about the typical naive, brave, optimistic
Sagittarian. He refuses to accept the
seriousness of life, though some of them
manage responsibility with admirable
conscientiousness in later years. Still,
they're never truly happy when they're
burdened by it. Jupiter natures rebel
against confinement, and too much of it can
bring on serious illness. If the Sagittarian
can survive that, and the wear and tear of
scattering his energies, he'll live to be as
old as Methuselah. Most archers retain their
faculties, razor sharp and refined by age,
to the end. Senility is almost never a
problem.
His sensitive areas are the hips, lungs,
liver, arms, hands, shoulders, intestines
and feet. The Sagittarian love of sports and
the outdoors may bring accidents through
reckless over-activity. Hospitals can
rarely keep him bedded down more than a few
days. He gives in to sickness reluctantly,
and usually recuperates with amazing
swiftness. Life seldom defeats these people
permanently. They believe that tomorrow will
surely be better than yesterday, and today
is pretty interesting. Moody spells are gone
almost before the clouds have a chance to
obscure the sunshine.
Every Sagittarian is something of a
gambler, unless there's a cautious,
conservative influence in the natal chart.
Very few of them can resist throwing a
couple of bills on the green felt. The sound
of dice rattling in the dealer's hand
attracts some Jupiter men and women like the
siren song of Circe. With adverse aspects
between the planets at birth, an archer can
gamble away a fortune, or throw the rent
money on the nose of a favorite horse. Las
Vegas attracts Sagittarians like sugar
attracts flies. So do the more staid gambles
of the stock market and real estate.
Fortunately, the majority of them keep the
urge to speculate under control, but even
these will risk a few dollars now and then
on a fast poker game or a lottery ticket.
Both the timid and the forceful ones will
take a chance on love anytime. Sagittarians
plunge into romance with reckless abandon,
but they often stop short suddenly when
marriage is mentioned. They think it over,
then go ahead and make a mistake after
careful consideration. Although the archer
is warm and wonderful in love relationships,
he's a little tricky to catch. Symbolically
he's half horse-half ' man, which obviously
gives him a head start in any game of chase,
if he doesn't stumble over his own feet.
Among the most unpleasant traits of some
Sagittarians are a tendency to violent
temper, a love of too much food and drink,
which can lead to obesity or alcoholism,
mental brilliance stained by burning
sarcasm, or extreme eccentricity and the
inability to keep a secret. But none of
these need be permanent flaws. They can be
easily rooted out with Sagittarian
determination. The average Jupiter man will
loan you money without ever making you
ashamed to ask or even obligated to repay it
(barring a stingy Moon sign). The Jupiter
housewife will adopt the homeless orphan or
the lost animal, and always make room for
one more at her table.
Sagittarians have a tendency to go off on
tangents. The archer will take on a great
cause with blind devotion and believe that
the possibilities outweigh the shortcomings,
an attitude that results from his brilliant
imagination and progressive thinking. He
never fails to present his case with cool,
reasonable arguments, sometimes cutting the
opposition to ribbons with sharp satire,
and yet remaining aloof from the fray,
somehow. The fire is always ready to leap
forth, however, when anyone unfairly attacks
his miracle or his cause of the moment. He's
a formidable foe, because he aims straight
when he takes the time to focus on the
victim. His arrows then rarely miss their
mark. They're dipped in clever wit and sharp
enough to pierce the strongest armor.
Although a few December people are
genuinely funny, it's a curious fact that
when most of them tell a joke, the timing is
slightly off and they fluff the punch line.
The audience-at home or in the theater-will
roar at the obvious awkwardness, and the
jovial Jupiter soul will think everyone is
laughing at his great sense of comedy
timing. It can be hilarious.
Male or female, the archer can either
behave in such a slap-dash fashion, or
pretend to have such unassuming caanners
when he chooses, that you may get the
impression bis mind isn't too sharp or that
he's timid. True, there are a few
December-born people who occasionally
exhibit eccentric reclusive habits, but that
just gives them more Opportunity to sharpen
their intelligence into genius.
Although Sagittarians have fantastic
memories that tell them exactly what they
said and where they were on April 14, 1939,
and they remember every detail of books and
inovies, they can forget where they left
their coats. Most of them are constantly
losing gloves, car keys, wallets-and some
people are unkind enough to say they would
lose •their heads if they weren't fastened
on their necks.
A Sagittarian can never successfully tell
a lie. No one believes him for a minute.
Deceit is unnatural to the archer, and when
he tries to dabble in it, the exposure is
usually swift and sure. He's always better
off to stick to the truth and let the chips
fall where they may. Even his observant,
highly aware mind won't rescue him from the
results of an excursion into deception,
unless he has Scorpio rising. I know a
secretive archer who has such a Pluto
ascendant, and therefore manages very well
to play a good chess game. This kind of a
Jupiter person is an exception, but be
prepared to meet a few.
To the Sagittarian, life is secretly a
circus, and he's the clown, rolling and
tumbling through purple hoops in a sky-blue
suit. His face is smeared with the bright,
gay colors of greasepaint, and his eyes
glitter with curiosity and fun. As the music
of the calliope gets louder, he stumbles and
falls, then executes a perfect somersault on
the back of a prancing pony. On his fingers
he wears three turquoise rings; on his toes
are bells that ring like the chimes in a
distant church spire that disappears into
the clouds. The archer happily blows a
lustrous tin horn, made of the soft,
malleable metal that's barely affected by
moisture. Whether he's bold or backward, the
true nature of this generous idealist is as
merry as the Christmas holly berry. Bravely,
he pins a large carnation over his big
heart, and curves his bow toward the sky.
When he aims straight, he shoots higher than
man can see-past the stars-to the place
where all dreams are really born.
Famous Sagittarius Personalities
Beethoven Arthur Brisbane William
Buckley, Jr. Maria Callas Andrew Carnegie
Edith Cavell Winston Churchill Noel Coward
Sammy Davis Joe DiMaggio Walt Disney Betty
Grable Grimaldi
Mark Twain
Julie Harris Pope John XXM John Lindsay
Mary Martin David Merrick John Milton Robert
Moses John Osbonae Lee Remick Lillian
Russell Frank Sinatra David Susskind James
Thurber
TOP
"/ hope no bones are broken?" "None to
speak of," the Knight said,
as if he didn't mind breaking two or
three of them. "The great art of riding, as
I was saying,
is-to keep your balance properly. Like
this, you know-"
He let go the bridle, and stretched
out both his arms
to show Alice what he
meant, and this time he fell flat on
his back,
right under the horse's feet.
I don't want to discourage you, but
Sagittarius men have this odd habit. They
leap on a big, white horse and go charging
through the streets, waving a sword and
defending causes. Then they have another
idiosyncrasy. They tumble around like clowns
in a circus, indiscriminately mixing with
(he elephants and the bearded lady, gaily
scooping up cotton candy.
He can be captured with certain
maneuvers. But first you've got to get him
down off that white horse, away from those
elephants, and of course the bearded lady
has to go. Causes and circuses don't leave
much time for family life, let alone
sentimental hand-holding.
You have one thing going for you right
away. So many Sagittarians charge around and
tumble through life that you'll have plenty
to choose from. Remember the Victor Herbert
refrain; "Give me some men who are
stouthearted men, who will fight for the
right they adore; Start me with ten, who are
stout-hearted men, and I'll soon give you
ten thousand morel"? It happens like that.
The idealistic enthusiasm and curiosity of a
Sagittarian man is contagious. Of course,
sometimes his innocent exuberance can get a
little out of hand. Like he'll throw you up
in the air in a moment of mad, impetuous
exhilaration-and forget to catch you.
There's almost always a crowd around him.
That's another obstacle. You'll have to
push your way through all those people to
get near him. But don't get pessimistic-
because this man is an optimist supreme.
He's so optimistic, if his enemies mailed
him a huge carton of manure, he wouldn't be
offended. He'd just figure they forgot to
include the horse. That kind of optimism can
be dangerous. It's really just another term
for blind faith. The Sagittarian man has
stacks of it. Now, blind faith is fine. I'm
all for it, being a fire sign myself. But it
can lead to trusting with such naive belief
that he frequently falls into puddles. It's
easy to fall into puddles when you're
running with a bow and arrow, always looking
up in the sky for some high goal no one else
has ever had the courage to aim for-or no
one else ever had the lack of common sense
to try to reach.
Trusting is great, but trusting the wrong
people can slow down even a race horse. In
the strict sense of the word, he's not a
misty dreamer. His dreams are always
scrutinized by Jupiter's intelligent logic
and compelling curiosity. If they stand up
under the frank investigation of a
Sagittarian, they're probably as practical
as they are wild, even if the world isn't
quite ready for them. Once he's established
that there's some hope of fulfillment, he
lugs out his paint pots and colors his
practical dreams with the most vivid and
courageous imagination this side of the
designers of the Edsel. But the fuddy
duddies are always waiting to stomp on
progressive ideas and strangle them before
they've had the chance to prove themselves,
and you know how many fuddy duddies there
are around.
His soaring imagination can cause him to
fall down or go busted. But wonderfully.
Lady Luck has a way of rescuing him just in
time. This man is usually so lucky it's
disgusting and illegal. He could go
prospecting in the hills, bring back a bag
of rocks, find out they're not gold, cry
awhile, then discover they're uranium. If
you pick up that shiny object at your feet
near the subway grating, it will be a piece
of tinfoil from an old chewing gum wrapper.
If he picks it up, it will be a chip from
the Hope Diamond Harry Winston dropped when
he was hailing a cab.
Naturally, with that kind of luck, he's
optimistic. There's always that day when a
rock is a rock and tinfoil is tinfoil, but
the typical Sagittarian recovers quickly
from such crushing blows. Your Jupiter man
is very much that way about love. He's
lucky. When he isn't, he recovers quickly.
He discriminates against dishonesty, but
that's about all, which is why he has so
many friends and well-wishers. He looks
beyond the external appearance of people for
a truer, more intrinsic value. Not that he
doesn't have enemies. There are a few, but
far less than the number accumulated by
other Sun signs. People who have been stung
by his frank remarks may glare at him and
feel like strangling him, but they usually
come around to realizing his harmless
intent. The sin of the Sagittarian male is
tactlessness and thoughtlessness, never
deliberate cruelty.
You may have discovered by now that his
speech is as direct as his symbolic arrow.
He can say outrageous things, and if you're
in love with him, he may get away with it.
But yotfll have every right to take offense
when a Sagittarian man who has just met you
gazes at you frankly with his bright, alert
eyes and remarks that you're just the kind
of woman a man would choose for a mistress.
Just as you're ready to clobber him, he'll
get an innocent, boyish look on his face,
and explain with disarming candor that what
he really meant was, well, the kings and
aristocracy back in the middle ages married
for convenience. Their wives, therefore,
were often ugly, drab creatures, with good
blood lines. But their mistresses were
beautiful and brilliant, the kind of girls
they would have chosen to fall in love with
and marry, if the rules had been different.
He's been reading up on it, because he's
always been curious about that particular
period. You may calm down, and even feel a
little smug. You'll also be impressed. How
many men spend hours reading history when
they don't have to do it? He might even be a
genius. Just think, you could be the wife of
an intellectual! Wrong. You could be the
mistress of an intellectual. By the time he
has you ga-ga over his brain, you won't
realize that, had your reaction been
agreeable to his original proposition-and
make no mistake, that's what it was-he would
have moved in fast, and you would be a
fallen woman.
Of course, not every female would accept
such a fumbling explanation of an obvious
pass; but it doesn't matter. Even after his
victims explode in indignation, they return.
to be the Sagittarian's close friends again,
when their anger cools. That should show you
just how much danger you're in with this
apparently harmless chap. With that candid,
naive grin, he doesn't bear the faintest
resemblance to a wolf. He looks more like a
Boy Scout troop leader.
But he is not a boy scout in romantic
matters. It would pay to keep that in
mind when he asks you to go hiking.
The Sagittarius male lives his romantic
life on a surface level, but he's honest
about it. (After all, if you'll brush those
sentimental cobwebs out of your ears, you'll
remember he did say mistress. He did not
say wife. He is not a king. And these are
not medieval times.) Sagittarius seeks
casual relationships, and sometimes they can
get so casual they're downright promiscuous.
Occasionally, the shenanigans of an archer
can put a Scorpio to shame, and I promise
you it takes a great deal to put a Scorpio
to shame.
Let's get back to his honesty. It's a
safer subject. If you've learned through
bitter experience how fickle other men's
vows of eternal devotion can be, you'll
welcome his frankness. You won't even flinch
when he tells you how many affairs he's had,
and what he expects of this one with you,
all very clearly and logically. He won't
knowingly tie a legal knot with a lie in
his heart or on his lips, but somehow, he
can get himself involved in a flirtation
which tangles itself into a proposal
(possibly from the girl, not him), and have
to run like sixty to avoid the altar. Since
he's a little clumsy, he may trip, and shell
catch him before he gets too far away. In
that event, he'll think it Over and
illogically decide that, since she appealed
to him in one way-either physically or
mentally, no matter which-she'll eventually
appeal to him the other way. He'll give in,
get married, and the seeds for another
Sagittarian divorce have been planted. His
normally dependable reasoning powers seem
to desert him when he's romantically
trapped.
Women often misinterpret the attitude of
a Sagittarian, and think the relationship is
more serious than it really is, and this
same quality also sometimes makes it appear
that he seeks a dark liaison, when he's only
after a light, non-physical friendship, or
just a girl to pal around with. It seems the
archer loses both ways. But he's lucky, and
most of his messes turn out straight. He's a
flirt, that can't be denied, but he's not
looking for sex alone. He likes variety and
mental stimulation. If a woman gets sticky
when he was only diverting himself, hell try
to pass the whole thing off as a joke. She
may definitely miss the punch line.
(Remember how unsuccessful the typical
Sagittarian is with jokes.) Lots of
Sagittarians get accused of making passes at
every good-looking receptionist or pretty
girl they see-sometimes even the little old
woman who sells newspapers on the comer, or
a lady policeman. Now, no man in his right
mind would seriously flirt with a lady
policeman-at least, not while she's on
duty-so you can see that unjustified
suspicion is annoying to the archer. In all
fairness, most of the time, he was just
being breezily friendly.
If you're a smart girl, who uses her head
for something besides an object to poke
under a hair dryer-and you'd better be,
because these men insist on intelligence in
a woman-you'll have caught on by now. Don't
be jealous. Don't be suspicious. Give him
lots of rope if you want to hang him
eventually. Don't question him, weep, nag or
threaten to leave him. Smother him with
freedom. Imagine how refreshing that would
be to him. If you take life in the same
spirit he does, and take people as you find
them, you have the basic requirements of
being his kind of wife-woman. As long as
you're basically honest with each other,
flying kites together can be a ball. Why
worry about when they'll hit the ground?
They look so beautiful and free, soaring up
there in the sky. No, you don't have to give
this man everything he wants to get him.
Just be what he wants. Be
wide-awake-let him direct and dominate your
energies. Love sports. Go camping with him
and take your St. Bernard along for a
chaperone. Be generous, affectionate,
enthusiastic, and don't try to keep him
locked up in your pantry making fudge every
night. Make it clear he can't keep you all
to himself, either. Let him know you're a
free spirit, just as he is. Never throw
water on his fiery ideas, and keep yourself
busy with other things while he's out
shooting his arrows at impossible targets.
That way, he'll tell you honestly some
lovely night that you are just about
everything he needs in a woman. Once he's
gone that far, then tell him just as frankly
that he's okay in your book, too, but it's
time to make a decision. Point out that you
like him so much you'd even consider
marrying him, if he'd promise not to
interfere with your freedom. Otherwise, you
really don't have any more time to camp
around with him. It's a shame, you're so
compatible, but you've always been curious
what it would be like to have children.
Motherhood is a new kite you'd like to fly.
Be sure to arrange for an old flame to call
you on the phone in the middle of your
speech. Accept the date casually, in front
of your archer. When you hang up, smile
brightly and remark that there's no reason
why you can't still good friends. Then
invite him to come along on your date, so he
won't have to sit around all by himself.
That should do it. (You're welcome!)
After you're married, you probably won't
have in-law trouble. Many Sagittarians are
shockingly disinterested in family ties.
They don't accept the theory of loving blood
relations unless they deserve loving. Even
those who are fond of their parents and
brothers or sisters manage to keep a healthy
distance. They visit and show warm
affection, but they never expect relatives
to interfere with their private lives.
Better see that your own relatives don't
meddle, either.
Keep your suitcase packed. You'll be
doing a lot of traveling. You'll still want
to take the St. Bernard along on camping
trips-not as a chaperone anymore, but
because your new husband loves animals.
(Tell the dog it's okay now, he doesn't have
to stand guard outside the tent flap.) Keep
yourself busy and give him as many nights
out as he needs. Never question his honesty.
When he's in a temper, the archer can break
down a door, or punch a hole through a wall.
He's just letting off steam, but it does
make a lot of work, and how many times can
you call the plasterer? It's a lot easier on
everyone's nerves not to accuse him of a
lack of integrity in the first place. When
he does something wrong, he'll almost surely
tell you. That will be hard enough to take
without worrying about imaginary things.
Practice facing his frankness, if that
tomorrow ever comes, and be prepared to know
he still loves you, instead of chasing after
false rumors today. Be as practical as he is
about human emotions. You'll be surprised
how strong love can grow in such honest
soil. Truth has a way of encouraging
permanence in a relationship.
You'll have to put in some hours being a
Polly-put-the-kettle-on woman. Since he's a
sports fan, he'll probably expect you to
watch all the big games on TV with him. But
he'll also take you along to all his many
social activities if you're pretty and fun
and you like people. Sagittarians can't
stand droopy clinging women who aren't good
mixers. He'll be proud of any special
talents you have, and do try to have one or
two. Read lots of books, and be prepared to
defend a few of his causes, especially the
lost ones. -'
He may be a little extravagant, and he'll
like an occasional game of chance, but the
same impulse will make him pretty generous
about your spending money, if he's a typical
archer. He probably won't mind if you want
to work to buy yourself extras.
Expect a little forthright criticism,
often painfully lack-; ing in tact. You
should be used to it by now. Let it pass.
You'll be busy enough patching up the damage
with his friends. You're supposed to
understand him, remember? You gave him that,
the night you forced the issue.
He'll enjoy the children more when
they're older, but babies and toddlers might
puzzle him a little. Sagittarius fathers
usually love to take the youngsters on
outdoor excursions. He may be closer to the
boys and share their sports and activities,
but he'll be tender with the girls. They'll
find him more of a pal than a father image.
The older they get, the closer they'll be to
him. Now and then, his frankness may disturb
them when they need privacy. Children are
sensitive about their secrets, and their
feelings may suffer from his curious
questions and plain-spoken observations.
Youthful escapades will amuse him rather
than anger him, but his very tolerance might
keep them in line. He'll probably be strict
only if they tell a lie. It will be one of
the few occasions they'll feel his
displeasure. Don't ignore him for the
little ones. When he wants you to fly some
kites with him, drop the diaper pins and the
talcum, call a sitter (not your mother) and
go.
The archer thinks with both his heart and
his mind. He won't always be wise. Sometimes
he'll be foolishly courageous. He'll
stumble and fall, then get up and try again.
But you'll forgive him for almost anything,
because he'll set your heart free with a
very great gift-an honest love.
TOP
"Then it doesn't matter which way you
walk," said the Cat.
"-So long as I get somewhere,"
Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the
Cat,
"if you only -walk long enough."
She's not always going to say the kind of
things you want to hear. Most of the time,
she'll curl your sideburns with her
remarkable, flat statements and her
embarrassing questions. But now and then
she'll say something so special and splendid
it will make you feel like singing.
You may need a sample. Scene: Coffee
shop. You've just gotten up the courage to
tell her you love her, but before you can
say it, she looks at you with wide-open,
guileless blue eyes-or forthright, steady
brown ones- and asks you curiously, "How do
you feel about being so short? Does it make
you neurotic or anything?" While you're
gulping, trying manfully to recover, she'll
add, "You shouldn't care about it. Lots of
men were short. Like Napoleon. And Fiorello
LaGuardia." That's almost adding insult to
injury, but before you get a chance to walk
out, thinking no woman ever deserved such
ungallant treatment more, shell muse
dreamily, "I hate men who look like bean
poles. You're perfect. I noticed when we
were walking over here tonight-we measure
just right together."
Sit back down. You're staying. For a long
time. A friendly, frank Sagittarius girl has
just wound herself around your heart with
her own, peculiar brand of charm. She'll
always be a little outspoken, because she
sees the world exactly as it is, even while
she's wearing those ridiculous, rose-tinted
glasses. That, you must admit, is quite a
talent. It's not everyone who can apply
clear, reasonable logic to every situation,
and retain the happy faculty of believing
things will get better or else deciding to
accept them^or what they are.
Sagittarius females are regular
Pollyannas. It will cut when she tells you
she wishes you would make more money, but
then she'll add, "Of course, too much money
can make people selfish. Maybe it's lucky
that you're poor." Admittedly, it's sort of
a left-handed optimism, but you'll get used
to it. This girt will never lie to you.
Sometimes, you may wish she would. Show
curiosity about how she spends the nights
you're not with her, and you'll get a
detailed, perfectly honest report of the
letters she writes to that handsome intern
she met last summer on her vacation and how
many dates she turns down on the phone. She
may even relate her troubles with insomnia,
brought on when she lies awake at night
wondering if maybe what she feels for you is
friendship instead of love. You'll feel like
yelling at her, "For Pete's sake, lie
a little once in a while, can't you? A man
has his pride." Don't yell too loud. You'll
offend her, and she's not exactly
noncombustible herself. Sagittarius girls
have been known to fly into some pretty
fiery rages.
She will probably live alone. Sagittarius
girls are very • independent, and both sexes
have a strange aloofness to family ties.
Maybe it's because they travel so much, they
don't get home often enough to get to know
their families well. Even if they only
travel to the movies and girl friends'
houses, they're restlessly on the go. I
don't want to frighten you, but I once knew
a Sagittarius woman so unaware of the
nuances of family relationships that she
invited her rejected beau to come along on
her honeymoon with her new husband. The poor
thing looked so lonesome. He said he'd pay
his own way. Why are you looking at her like
that? Did she do something wrong?
There's one thing you'll have to learn
right away, or the relationship will never
get off the ground. When you want her to do
something, ask her. Don't tell her. The cave
man technique went out with Tarzan and Jane,
as far as she's concerned. She enjoys being
protected, but she doesn't want to be
ordered around. Not even her mother gets
away with that. Who are you, that you should
top her mother? She may have an Aries
mother, and if a Mars woman can't boss her
around, no male on earth is going to do it.
However, there's a queer twist to her
nature. Although she dislikes being bossed,
especially in public, when she's testing you
for firmness, be firm. Jupiter women can't
stand weak, wishy-washy men. If she gets too
high-spirited and her clever tongue gets too
sarcastic, or she threatens some action that
really incenses you, give her a light touch
of the Tarzan treatment. Just enough to keep
her in line. Like "You do that and I'll
break your neck." She may react with
surprising meekness if she thinks you're
serious. A Sagittarius female has no
in-tendon of giving up her individuality for
any male, but she kind of likes to know you
think of her as a girl.
j She may confuse you, but that's
nothing to what she does | to herself. Many
a Sagittarius girl mistakes friendship for |
love and love for friendship. If you're one
of those old-| fashioned men who prefer
evasiveness and timidity in your i women,
you'd better look for another Bingo partner.
This young lady has bright, frank ways with
men, and she's not going to play any silly
games of "Guess how I feell" or "Guess what
I think!" How she feels and what she thinks
are identical with how she acts and what she
says. Her outspoken bluntness naturally
causes misunderstandings, and a good share
of fiery battles, let alone hurt feelings,
but it doesn't crush her spirit. Jupiter
pride comes to the surface and rescues her
in a crisis, allowing her to pass off her
heartache as the biggest joke of the season.
Inside, she may be weeping, but she'll
employ such clever wit in answering the
questions of friends about the break that
they'll decide the whole affair was a
harmless flirtation on her part. Little will
they guess how she soaks her pillow every
night, wondering what she could possibly
have said that fractured everything. It
might have been when she told him not to
stop by her apartment the time he called
from the lobby around midnight-because she
was "busy talking with a man who had a few
problems." Actually, the man was her
brother-in-law, but with the peculiar
Sagittarius twist of leaving out the core
of the story, she neglected to mention
that. Why should she have to explain
herself? (All Sagittarians show a raging,
righteous anger when their integrity is
doubted.) Or it could have been when he
asked her if she minded him bringing his
little sister along to the movies and she
blurted out, "Gosh, I hope that doesn't mean
she's going to be hanging around all the
time when we're married." She may have
sincerely liked the young girl, but the
natural Sagittarian fear of being suffocated
by in-laws brought on her thoughtless and
forthright statement. Now she misses his
sister as much as the man, but it's too late
to explain what she meant. Besides, no one
would understand.
Impasses like this are impossible for her
to fathom, for all her logical mental
processes, and often lead the Jupiter girl
into a never-never land of romance, not
knowing where the fire might flame up, or
why, and afraid of being burned when it
does. Then she'll play it too cool and be
unable to take anyone seriously, least of
all herself. She'll flirt openly, but
without any intention of making it a lasting
or a forever thing, and gain the reputation
of a cold heartless female. A fire sign is
never cold or heartless, but then there are
a lot of astrologically ignorant men out
there who don't know that. If such a state
of affairs should happen to lead to
spinsterhood, she certainly won't be a dry
and bitter old maid. She'll still clown with
life and have a barrel of fun. She'll have a
dozen interests to replace a man-and enjoy
every one of them.
Of course, you're not interested in a
Sagittarian spinster. You plan to make one
your wife someday. (At least, I hope you
have honorable intentions. This poor girl
has enough problems without you setting out
to seduce her.) Let's stop dwelling on
promiscuity, and think about marriage. Like
the male Sagittarian, she's a little
skittish about wedlock. You'll need to use
some bright, colorful pieces of tinsel as
bait to get her pinned down (to accepting
your proposal, that is). She's breezy and
unconventional in her relationships with
men. Since she considers herself your equal,
she may copy your mannerisms, as well as
wear your sweater. If she also likes sports
and camping, as lots of Sagittarian females
do, you may have trouble distinguishing her
from the boys. But she's not the same. For
one thing, your sweater looks different on
her. Not that Jupiter women are offensively
masculine by nature. They can be the
softest, most feminine women you ever
squeezed. It's just that she pals around
with so many men you get used to seeing her
in the crowd-everywhere but in the . steam
room and the gym. Since she's so
scrupulously honest and aboveboard, she may
be a little careless of her reputation and
contemptuous of the hypocrisy demanded by
society. If you question her about it,
she'll be plain-spoken. She'll probably t«U
you that waltzing in at midnight doesn't
indicate promiscuity any more than coming
home at a more conventional hour indicates
innocence. She knows her morals are above
reproach, and that's all that matters.
Naturally she's dead wrong. What other
people think matters very much to a female
reputation. But try to understand her
attitude. Don't think she's fast and loose
just because she laughs at a few jokes,
usually without the slightest idea of what
they're all about (the subtlety of the
double-entendre often escapes Sagittarius).
So- she stays up to watch the sunrise from
the George Washington Bridge (or from the
top of a silo, if you live in the
country)-that doesn't mean she's the wildest
girl in town.
The truth is, she's a trusting child at
heart. Her outlook is so naive it makes her
vulnerable to wolves, con artists and
phonies (though oddly enough, not in other
areas, just in romance). Forget about how
cleverly she argues and how startlingly
logical she can be. All that has nothing to
do with her heart. Her mind isn't under
discussion. It's bright and intelligent, and
well able to take care of itself in any
emergency. But her heart is defenseless. It
falls down and gets bruised quite often.
That's another thing. She's slightly
clumsy. At times when the Sagittarius girl
strides down the street like a thoroughbred
horse, you'll think she's the most graceful
woman you've ever watched-until she stumbles
on a crack in the sidewalk, awkwardly grabs
the awning over the fruit stand to catch her
balance and upsets two crates of oranges.
The owner may swear a little, but hell soon
shrug his shoulders, tell her to skip it,
and hand her some grapes. The sunny
Sagittarian disposition can melt the hardest
hearts. Now and then, this girl will remind
you of a clumsy puppy dog, wagging its
friendly tail, and walking all over your
feet. But then friendly puppy dogs do get
lots of people to love them and feed them.
Of course, dogs are a little cheaper to
feed. The typical Jupiter girl has a large
appetite. She likes good food and wine, nice
clothes, and when she travels, she likes to
go first class. Sagittarians are extravagant
by nature (unless the Moon is in Capricorn
or there's a Virgo ascendant). Money for the
sake of money doesn't interest them, and it
takes quite a bit of training to teach most
of them the meaning of a dollar bill. Check
her ascendant carefully before you loan her
your credit card.
The Sagittarian girl you're involved with
may be in show business, because lots of
them are drawn by the lure of the
footlights. If so, start out on the right
foot by expecting her to put her career
first, until she tires of it. The sweet
sound of applause and the thrill of the
encore will ring in her ears with more
conviction than all the romantic phrases
you can conjure up. Never force her to
choose between pleasing you and the
excitement of pleasing whole gobs of people
at once with her sunshine personality. After
a while she'll grow disgusted with the
hypocrisy and artificial glitter she finds
all around her in the world of show
business, and she'll come running home to
try domesticity with someone who is real.
You. Someone who believes honesty is
beautiful and deception is ugly. You again.
Leaving a career won't remove the wings from
her heels forever. They were fastened there
at birth. The travel bug will always be
nearby to give her a case of wandering
fever. Vacation with her when you can;
otherwise let her go off to ride the
carousel herself, and trust her. She loves
you, not the clowns and organ grinders she
likes to pass the time with.
Because of her casual attitude toward
romance and her shyness of marriage, you may
think she's lacking in sentiment. You are
so mistaken. She'll cry rivers at sad movies
and read poetry with wet eyes. She's
probably saved every note you ever wrote
her, scraps of the flowers you bought her in
the rain, and the tickets from the hockey
game where she met you.
As for her talent as a homemaker, be
brave. And be patient. Sagittarius girls are
acutely bored by the confinement of dusting
and mopping. No sooner does she make a bed
than it gets unmade. Gosh, you'd think the
darned thing would stay neat for a few days
anyway, it was such a drag tucking in those
sheets at the corners. She'll hate it all
with a purple passion. When she has a home
of her own, however, she'll probably swallow
her distaste. She'll prefer that you get her
a maid if you can possibly afford one. If
not, she'll doggedly keep it shining Her
mother will never believe it. That sloppy
child waxing the coffee table? Impossible.
Pride and the eternal Sagittarius logic does
it. She needs to be surrounded with beauty
and cleanliness to be true to herself. The
message reaches her that, if she doesn't
wipe up the linoleum, no one else will. If
she was forced by circumstances to do a lot
of chores in childhood, she may rebel at
first, but she'll eventually reason it out,
and settle down to sweeping the comers with
a minimum of resentment.
Her cooking? Well-you can never tell.
Maybe you'd iust better eat out on weekends.
If she manages decent 'neals through the
week, you can't expect her to keep a
perfect record on Saturdays and Sundays,
too. Most Sagit-tarian women aren't exactly
ecstatic in the kitchen (unless there's a
Taurus, Cancer or Capricorn ascendant). But
she can whip up a mean, fancy dessert when
she's trying to cheer you out of the blues.
Her own moods can be terrors, but they're
rare, and they last so briefly you'll hardly
notice them. When she's really hurt, her
tongue can be bitterly sarcastic. But she'll
forget what she said almost before she's
finished the sentence, and she won't
understand why you want to dwell on it.
This is not the woman for a brooding,
melancholy man. Gloom and pessimism, | can
actually make her physically ill.
| Her children will probably adore her.
Shell be their | buddy, and have a circus
playing with them. Once she's lover her
initial fear of responsibility, she'll cope
with § diapers and daily baths like a crisp,
efficient nurse. Almost | everything she
does she does well, with grace, when she |
finally decides to learn it. Just like the
big people, the little | ones will get a
good dose of her cheerful optimism and |
outspoken remarks. If they survive her blunt
truthfulness, | they'll grow up thinking
she's the greatest big sister a | kid ever
had. She'll read them funny stories with
happy | endings, and take them on sudden,
impulsive picnics in | the woods to look for
the three bears. (She half believes 8
they're hiding there herself.) Her
youngsters will probably be well-dressed,
but not fussily so, and bright-mannered. If
they pick up a few unconventional tricks
from her, like making footprint curtains by
spreading monk's cloth on the floor,
stepping barefoot into yellow paint and
walking across the material-at least you
won't be raising a houseful of conformists.
Her honesty will mark their characters. If
they don't find those three bears after a
careful search under all the fir trees,
she'll probably tell them to forget it-it's
a phony. But she will have looked first. The
child who wrote the editor of the New York
Sun to ask if there was really a
Santa Claus just had to have a Sagittarius
Sun sign. Moon or ascendant. She probably
raised her own children by the frank, yet
idealistic answer of "Yes, Virginia . . ."
The Jupiter mother may have to watch a
tendency to be lax in discipline, except
when she's tired or angry. That's the wrong
time for spankings.
Youll have a lovely hostess. No one
entertains as graciously as a Sagittarian
woman, not even her Leo sisters, who are no
slouches themselves in the social
department. There's a quality about her
sunny, outgoing friendliness that makes
people feel deeply welcome, from the garbage
man to your boss. A Sagittarian breaks the
ice instantly at the stiffest affairs,
though she may raise a few eyebrows, too.
As long as you let her call her soul her
own, and don't make her feel tied down, your
Sagittarius Pollyanna will give you a triple
bonus: her loyalty, her trust and her
affection. The three are inseparable,
because when she gives her love, her
friendship trots right along beside it.
The Jupiter woman is an incurable
idealist. And here's a secret perhaps she
never told you: She fell in love with you
many years ago, when she was a little girl
and wished on the new Moon for someone to
share her honest heart. There were lots of
times when she thought she had found you and
was disappointed. But when you finally came
along, she knew you right away, because you
were a gentle clown with a dream or two of
your own who took her hand and showed her
the way to the stars.
TOP
"There is such a nice little dog near
our house. A little bright-eyed terrier, you
know, •with oh! such long curly brown hair!
And it'll fetch things when you throw them,
and it'll sit up and beg for its dinner and
all sorts of things- I can't remember half
of them."
In the building where I live, there's a
dark-haired Irish girl who was born in
December. She plays a guitar and sometimes
writes songs. Once she wrote a line I
thought was pretty fabulous, but she was
having trouble with the rest of the lyric.
She really didn't need to worry, with that
opener. It was: "There you were, waving your
heart at me. . . ."
Her quaint phrase sums up every
Sagittarian from age one week to one hundred
years. The calendar doesn't matter. They
never grow up, anyway. Take a good look at
your little Sagittarius girl. There she is,
waving her heart at you, like a friendly
sheepdog. Your little Sagittarius son waves
his heart just as enthusiastically, needing
desperately to be liked for his own honest
self. When people don't say "hello" back to
them, their tiny hearts droop in
disappointment. Sagittarians are happy,
playful, miniature clowns, who laugh with
tears in their eyes when they're rejected.
Even the infants show their sunny natures
and desire for comradeship. The Jupiter baby
will cry when he's left alone, but wheel his
bassinet into the living room where the
grownups are laughing and talking, and hell
sleep contentedly, with the warm, reassuring
sound of human voices in his tiny ears. His
dreams will be all the sweeter for being
wrapped in the cozy, familiar atmosphere of
loving and happy people. Later, he may grow
more removed from family ties, but when
he's little, he needs the security of human
smells and sights and sounds, exactly as a
newborn puppy needs one of your old sweaters
in his basket to snuggle up to cozily. If
such close, human contact is denied the
Jupiter youngster, he'll withdraw and maybe
become a little sarcastic. Then hell adopt a
substitute, like the dirty, torn blanket of
Linus in "Peanuts." It can be a soft
pinch pillow or a cuddly teddy bear, with
its ears twisted off and its nose missing,
but it represents security. He'd much prefer
you.
The Sagittarius boy shows his
happy-go-lucky nature by wandering into the
woods with a makeshift fishing pole and a
can of worms, barefoot, cheerfully
whistling, talking to everyone he meets, his
faithful dog trotting behind him.
Sagittarians are informal as youngsters, and
they never, outgrow it. The little Jupiter
girl may go through a tomboy stage, and
you'll always be reminding her to "act like
a lady" as she grows up. But these girls and
boys have their own ideas of what makes "a
little lady" and "a little gentleman." It
starts out with honesty. Naked, unadorned,
brutal honesty. They have it refined to an
art and they will expect it from you-or
else. Or else what? Or else they will refuse
to be docile little slaves, meekly obeying
every 'parental whim.
Your authority is fair game for the
Sagittarian child's frank, curious
investigation. He'll give in graciously if
he's convinced there is logic behind your
command. Parental orders must first pass the
scrutiny of his inquisitive, reasonable
mental processes, and if you don't come out
with a good grade in his test, you will get
left back. There you'll stand, waving your
authority or a switch at him, and there
he'll stand, waving his honesty and defiance
right back at you. If you're fair and you
try to be as honest as he is, the Jupiter
youngster will leam to respect your rules.
You'll have to be firm when you know you're
right and give him a good, solid reason.
When you're wrong, you'll have to admit your
mistake and come right out with a
straightforward confession of stupidity.
Let's face it, many times parents insist on
obedience to rules they make up for their
own convenience, rather than for the
well-being of the child. A Sagittarius
moppet can smell that kind of dishonesty a
mile away as his nostrils quiver like a bird
dog's and his muscles quiver with anger,
backed by righteous indignation. Better plan
to explain all your orders and commands to
him calmly, or be prepared to use up a lot
of switches before the Jupiter obstinacy in
the face of unjustified punishment will
show any signs of weakening.
A phrase often used by mothers with
December-born children is "curiosity killed
the cat." Sagittarian curiosity never ends.
The day begins with a question and they fall
asleep with a question on their lips. When
they're very young, just learning to talk
and to explore the huge world, the questions
will be, "Why is it naughty to touch the
stove?" "Why does candy make my teeth fall
out?" "Why do carrots make my hair curly?"
"Why does Santa Claus need a letter if he's
so magic?" "Why did Daddy wink at you when
you were talking about a second honeymoon,
•and why do you call a Moon honey?" "Why do
you talk like there are two Moons when Billy
says there's just One?" (Billy is the
too-smart-for-his-bluejeans older Aquar-ian
brother, and if you have that
combination at your house, you're in real
hot water!) All through lunch, nap time and
supper, the questions drone on. "Why did you
and Daddy say Grandpa was henpecked? Is he a
chicken?" "Why did my teddy bear tell you I
ate the cookies? Why doesn't he ever talk to
me like he talks to you?"
You can see that most of the Jupiter
youngster's questions are aimed at
puncturing adult hypocrisy or grownup
smugness and downright deception. It won't
do you much good to get all worked up and
yell, "Be still! If you say •why* once more,
111 paddle you. Don't ever say that word
again." Then you'll hear the archer's clear
little voice giving it to you right between
the eyes: "Why not?"
Later, when he or she is older, it will
be "Why do I have to come in at a certain
time when you say you trust me?" (and you
will trust this child, or you should). "Why
does it matter what people think? Do you
care more about people than you do about
me?" That's a tough one. Better practice an
answer to it while he's still in diapers.
The Sagittarian teenager will never swallow
your rules if they're based on social mores
rather than on concern for his welfare.
There are some good, sound, logical answers
to your insistence on his observing certain
social customs, of course. They involve a
reputation and its precious value, but be
sure you have them well-rehearsed and see
that they ring true.
The ancient warning, "when children are
little, they step on your feet-when they're
bigger, they step on your heart," might have
been written about a Sagittarian. There's no
getting around it. This child is awkward, if
not downright clumsy. Keep the medicine
chest well stocked with iodine and band
aids. Tiny Sagittarians clomp on your feet
and get in the way of your dust mop, your
vacuum and all your good intentions. You may
have a constantly sore toe and a sore ego.
But those are nothing compared to the sore
heart you may have someday when the Jupiter
boy or girl plants a foot on it firmly. His
or her strong need for freedom includes
freedom from family ties, and these children
will strike out on their own extraordinarily
early, sometimes neglecting to phone or
write for long periods. It can cause some
mighty painful stabs in the chest region.
The best cure for such parental heartburn is
to make sure when your Sagittarian child is
little that he's learned to respect you for
your sense of honor and tolerance. If you're
narrow and prejudiced, you may only see him
on holidays, if then. But if you refrain
from judging his friends by any yardstick
other than their true value-and if you've
proved you have faith in his decency and in
his dreams, he'll come home to renew his
love and trip over your feet to your heart's
content. Otherwise, he'll stay out there
somewhere with his blanket or pillow or
teddy bear in the form of new friends who
accept him for what he is and believe in
him.
Expect romance to rear its lacy head
quite early. The girls will probably not be
serious; they're just trying out their
femininity, if the right parental attitude
precludes using dates as that security
blanket. The boys may need a little special
tutoring in the subject of birds and bees.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure.
Teach these children economy. They'll
spend money like it's made of paper, which
they've already discovered it is. They have
to leam that when they spend their
allowance, it's spent. Don't plug up the
holes for them. If they waste their lunch
money on comic books or Mad Magazine-
let them take peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches to school for the rest of the
week. That may sound a little harsh, but
it's necessary. Someday the Diners' Club
will thank you.
Both sexes will probably enjoy school.
Their multiple-faceted intelligence and
great curiosity will make learning a
fascinating game, if their bright interest
isn't squelched by too much dull, boring
routine and too much insistence on strict
regulations and rigid study habits. The more
progressive education becomes, the better
and happier students these children will be.
They're restless, and making them sit still
constantly or stifling their fanciful
imagination will soon kill their incentive,
sadly, sometimes permanently. Sagittarian
children with severe, intolerant teachers or
who are victims of unimaginative teaching
methods tend to want to drop out of school
and go to work.
The honor system works very well with
young archers. A Jupiter child will never
cheat in any way, if he's trusted not to do
so. Otherwise, he may figure it doesn't
matter. If no one believes in him, then why
try?
There may be a deep and very serious
interest in religion. These are the boys
and girls who decide at a tender age to
become a priest or a nun, minister, rabbi or
missionary in a foreign country. As they
grow older, they'll question dogmas, perhaps
change faith and church membership,
searching eternally for truth. The Peace
Corps invariably attracts Jupiter
youngsters. They like the idea of seeing the
world and the chance to put their idealism
to work. A Sagittarian without a cause is
like a dog without a bone to chew on.
Fighting for causes develops their strength.
Without a bone, the puppy may tear the couch
or chair to shreds. Without a cause, the
Sagittarian youngster may tear into ideas
with such fervor and fanaticism that he can
shred his future irreparably.
His eyes are fastened trustingly on the
stars, and he may take a few spills as he
trudges along, not noticing the rocks in his
path. He's an independent, honest little
archer. Give him lots of room to shoot and
to practice drawing his bow. He needs to
feel the grass under his bare feet, feel the
rain on his face and bake his dreams in the
strong, warm sunlight until they're
well-done. There he is, waving his happy,
optimistic young heart at you. Wave back at
him with cheerful faith.
TOP
'Wo, no! the adventures first,"
said the Gryphon in an impatient tone:
"Explanations take such a dreadful time."
The first week on the job with a
Sagittarius boss may leave you a little
confused. You won't know whether to laugh or
cry. The gentleman obviously is a dope.
Or is he a genius? No, he's neither-he's
clearly just a rude boor. At second glance,
he has a touch of Don Quixote. But that
couldn't be. Not when he insults you with
such relish. Still, he does flatter you with
warm sincerity. Look at him-as awkward as a
three-legged colt. No, actually he's a
graceful as a racehorse. What does he use,
trick mirrors?
After the second week, you'll uneasily
decide to stay awhile and see what happens
next. By now, you're sure his mother spoiled
him rotten. (Wrong. She didn't have a
chance. Did what he wanted to do.) Well,
he's somebody else's problem, not yours.
You're leaving soon. She's welcome to the
guy-his wife, that is. You've begun to feel
sorry for her. (She sheds a few tears of
self-pity herself at times, but she leads an
exciting life.) You're sure he secretly
hates you. (He's crazy about you. Just
brutally honest when you make a mistake and
painfully frank about your faults.) You
think he's going to promote you. (Not yet.
He was just a little over-enthusiastic
yesterday.) He invited you to lunch this
morning. Now you can find out what he's
really like. (He cancelled it. He had
forgotten he promised to speak at the ASPCA
meeting.)
Two months later, both you and your
psychiatrist feel it's time to have a
serious talk with him. You make up your
mind: If he listens to your complaints about
his erratic and puzzling actions, and he
lets you know where you stand with him and
the company, you'll remain on the job.
Otherwise youll quit. You will be firm.
(Sorry. He just left for London.) All right,
you can wait. So you'll put your cards on
the table when he returns, and tell him
exactly how you feel. Give him a few days to
get back into the swing of things. He looks
a little tired. But you're not going to let
that impress you. By tomorrow he should be
settled down enough to listen to reason.
(You'll have to call the airport instead.
He's leaving for Tokyo.) Now wait a
minute! When is he going to light
somewhere long enough for you to tell him
what's wrong with the way he treats you?
You really want an answer? Never. Your
Sagittarius boss greases the ball bearings
on his skates each morning and casually
glides around town, building one gargantuan
promotion after another. He certainly
doesn't want to stop long enough to hear you
tell him his faults. He thinks he's a pretty
good apple. And he is, when you stop to
think about it. Often he's shy and helpless,
and he needs to be understood.
But he keeps making those outrageous
remarks to people. Why should he expect you
to make excuses for him? Besides, a person
can run out of excuses. (Call his wife. She
keeps an alphabetical file of them.)
It's not fair for him to keep smiling so
cheerfully while he completely ignores what
you're saying and refuses to stick to a
schedule. (Call his mother. She'd love to
discuss it with you. Been waiting for years
to find someone to sympathize with her.)
What are you going to do? You simply have to
do something.
You might try writing him a letter. Be
sure it's logical, with no phony emotion or
one-sided arguments which make him the
villain and you the righteous one. He's the
righteous one. If you make a fair point,
hell consider it, and try to mend his ways,
but he doesn't want to spend six hours
discussing it. In his opinion, there are
more exciting adventures than listening to a
recital of why he's wrong. Besides, he's not
going to change anyway, so why waste his
valuable time? Doesn't he have any virtues
at all? Well, yes, he does. Stop right
there. Hang on to those, and forget the
rest. His mother did. His wife does. Imitate
their wisdom.
You could start by checking off a list of
his good points. Right away you have to
admit he's seldom grumpy. Only once in a
while, when somebody tries to dampen the
fires of his enthusiasm, or when that stuffy
accountant wants him to remember what he
meant by those figures in his expense report
for last month. Generally your Sagittarius
boss is a rather happy-go-lucky, optimistic,
cheerful fellow. That's a plus. Now, what
else? He's pretty fair about sick leave and
vacations. Another good point-he's generous.
Lots of bosses wouldn't have understood when
you lost all your money at the race track
and had to borrow a month's pay in advance.
All he said was that you should have asked
him which horse was going to win before you
picked such obvious losers. But he gave you
the advance, and said you could pay it back
a few dollars a week later. Another check
mark to his credit.
When you impulsively broke off your
engagement and then regretted it deeply, he
gave you the afternoon off so you could
patch it up. Before you left, he happened to
remark that he thought you were the most
creative employee in the firm, and his
obvious sincerity picked up your droopy
heart. It gave you the courage to run right
straight into someone's arms with
confidence, and the broken love affair was
mended by nightfall. All right, so he's a
pretty great morale booster. Anything more?
You kind of admire him because he's a
crusader. He fights hard for what he
believes is right, and it gives you a warm
feeling to work for a man like that. It's
sort of exciting to be around someone who
defends lost causes. He's true to himself
and his code, whatever it might be. That's
refreshing, isn't it? Of course. Add another
virtue.
But wait-what about that time you felt
like a complete fool when you quoted the
wrong figures at a sales meeting, and he led
the laughter? Then he tried to fix it up by
Saying, "That's our boy, Tom, always
throwing in a monkey wrench, but we love him
anyway." Don't think about those things now.
We're dwelling on his good points, remember?
There's no denying a Sagittarius boss can
keep you a little up in the air. It's hard
to decide if he's a saint or a sinner, or a
little of each. The latter is probably
closer to the truth. It takes a spell to get
used to the Jupiter executive. He's usualy a
hail-fellow-well-met type, but the
Sagittarius honesty and desire to keep
everything above-board (and I mean
everything) can be a shock to more sensitive
natures. This man is so democratic you can't
help liking him. Still, his forthright
manner and brutal frankness are sometimes
hard to take. The Sagittarius employer is
sincere and friendly, and it's obvious he
isn't the kind of man to hold a grudge or
deliberately hurt anyone. He has very few
inhibitions, and correcting your mistakes
definitely isn't one of them. His criticism
is done in the open, usually with a bare
minimum of tact. Even the gentle archers
never think of the wounds they're inflicting
when they cheerfully point out your flaws
with deadly accuracy. True, the compliments
and warm appreciation far outweigh the
embarrassments, but those painful moments
stand out like sore thumbs. The
December-born boss honestly believes that
everyone wants to hear the truth. So he
tells them. When he sees that he has
offended, he can be the soul of contrite
regret. Then he apologizes profusely and
explains, frequently making it worse.
You'll seldom know where he is at any
given moment. Sagittarius can be anywhere at
a minute's notice. You'll leam that he's
great at spotting phonies, fake salesmen
with false pitches, clients with hidden
motives and employees with hidden vices.
He's not so clever about his love life. If
he's single, he may keep the office buzzing
with his sentimental journeys and his active
romantic adventures.
He probably has a host of friends of all
shapes and descriptions. Bank presidents,
important politicians, carnival people,
newspaper reporters, ministers, doctors,
lawyers, plumbers, carpenters, radio
announcers, society dowagers, girl
weight-lifters, gamblers, chorus girls,
architects, bartenders and college
professors all trip merrily over his welcome
mat at all hours of the day or night. He
sizes up people with his own ruler. If they
measure up to his standards, he loyally
defends them.
He gives orders with a rather regal air,
but he's so jovial about it, and there's
normally so much logic in his methods, it's
hard to take offense. Tactless and sometimes
foolish, he nevertheless can call on his
powerful intuition and lucky hunches to pull
him out of almost any jam he gets himself
into. (The romantic jams may be a little
stickier, and harder for him to avoid.) He's
a much deeper thinker than his casual nature
would lead you to believe, A Sagittarius
boss can give any attorney a good argument
and normally come out ahead. If he's a
typical Jupiter executive, he's probably had
an excellent education. Even if he hasn't
you'll never guess, what with all the
knowledge his inquisitive mind has picked up
along the way.
He's basically kind-hearted, but he's
also ambitious enough to step on a few toes
occasionally. His memory sometimes fails in
social situations, but rarely on facts. The
archer can roll off the figures of his
competitor's gross business and forget the
name of his own bookkeeper, who's been with
him for several years. Although he walks
with a free, active stride, now and then
with typical Sagittarian carelessness, he
may step into the wastebasket or grind out
his cigarette in the paper clips. But though
his feet may stumble over the telephone
cord, his mind rarely stumbles. His ideas
are frequently unpopular, and aimed way over
most people's square heads, but nine out of
ten of them pay off.
There arc some shy Sagittarius bosses,
but under the timid surface, Jupiter will
control the personality. Even the retiring
type of archer shoots his arrows toward the
sky, and keeps firm grip on the bow. The
extroverted ones love to talk and expound
their favorite theories (plus most of their
private thoughts). The introverted ones can
manage a pretty fair monologue, too, when
the mood hits them, and what they have to
say is usually interesting or instructive.
Your Sagittarius boss loves animals, bright
lights, big plans, creative thinkers, good
food and drink, travel, loyalty, change and
freedom. He's cool to dishonesty, cruelty,
selfishness, keeping secrets from him,
stinginess, pessimism, possessiveness and
hypocrisy. He's usually a lot of fun to work
for, and he grows on you. You kind of get
the feeling if you ever left him he would
somehow lose his way, in spite of his
egotism and independence. He won't, but
stick with him anyway. Tomorrow may always
be a large question mark, but today will
never be dull.
TOP
"Ifs by far the most confusing thing
I ever heard."
"I should like to have it explained,"
said the Mock Turtle.
"She can't explain it," said the
Gryphon hastily.
"Go on with the next verse."
Lots of employees, when you tell them how
much money they can make after a year with
the firm, plus the financial incentives
after five years' service, show a great deal
of interest. Your Sagittarius employee will
not. He's far more fascinated by what you're
going to pay him now-today. Tomorrow is far
enough away, but next year is unthinkable
and five years is forever. That's play
money. He's interested in real cash. What
happens later is up to the gods. He'll throw
the dice and hope for the best. Usually, the
gods will smile on him.
The Sagittarian is a delight to have
around the office. He may knock over the
filing cabinet or spill coffee on the
outgoing mail once in awhile, but what's a
little clumsiness when he's so cheerful and
willing to help? He's not a whiner or
complainer. He's a positive soul, as
enthusiastic and optimistic as you were when
you first joined the firm, remember? The
difference is that he'll stay that way after
he's retired. It's part of his nature. Some
of it may rub off on you, and who knows, he
may shine some light on that dark corner
where you lost your illusions, so you can
polish them up and try them out again.
Sagittarius never does things halfway.
The only thing he's slow to make up his mind
about is marriage. In everything else, he's
fairly speedy. There are, of course, some
archers with Taurus or Capricorn ascendants
who move with more caution, but they're not
slow pokes in either their emotional or
mental attitudes. Normally, the typical
Sagittarian is way ahead of you, and he
certainly doesn't mind brightly calling your
attention to it when he is. Humility is not
one of his more noticeable attributes. Some
Sagittarians wear a thin veil of modesty
over their fiery egos, but if you peek
through it, you'll see a self-confident
person, who is really quite happy with
himself in general He may be a little unsure
of himself in love matters on occasion, but
who isn't?
Sagittarius may sometimes seem both
casual and careless, but never let that lead
you into the grave error of underestimating
the flashing Jupiter intuition and often
brilliant mental processes. There will be
times when you have no idea where he's going
or where he's been either. There will be
other occasions when you'll wonder if he's
really shy, or just biding his time for that
plan he has pressure cooking in his brain.
At other times, you won't have any room for
doubt. Hell make so bold you'll be aghast at
his forthright statements. There will be
little that's small about his gestures,
ideas or actions. He makes large, grand
mistakes and pulls in superduper winnings
against enormous odds.
The Sagittarian curiosity may get on your
nerves. He'll never be satisfied with simply
getting instructions. He'll want to know the
why behind your orders, and the reason for
your methods. If your logic appeals to him,
hell praise you with his honest approval. If
not, you may shrink before his equally
frank appraisal of the holes in your
procedures. That's before you collect your
wits and become angry. Collecting your wits
may be a necessary precaution in dealing
with a Sagittarian, but getting angry is a
shamfr. ful waste of adrenalin, because very
few people can manage to stay mad at the
archer. He's the kind you want to smack and
kiss at the same time. Since that's
impossible (the first is out if she's your
secretary, and the second is out if he's
your sales manager), you may as well just
give
up-Most Sagittarian employees won't blush
when you pay •Us them a compliment.
They love applause. You may blush for them,
however, when they start to boast about
their talents and abilities. One of the
minor Jupiter flaws is a happy willingness
to promise to deliver anything-the sky is
truly the limit-and then not quite following
through, because the target was a little
further off than he figured. Next time, hell
aim straighter and deliver. The quieter,
more discreet archers will, in their own
mild way, also tend to bite off a wee bit
more than they can chew. Still, both types
will come through on top often enough to
keep you fascinated.
It's the Jupiter luck that seems to hang
over these people. Already fortified at
birth by reliable hunches and excellent
perceptions which progress toward logical
conclusions, they're right more often than
they're wrong. Add a little typical
Sagittarius luck, and you can see why
they're frequently at the head of the
parade. A friend of mine recently pointed
out what he thought was an exception-a
Sagittarius actress who's been trying to get
a break for years. Although it now looks as
if it's just around the corner, she waited
so long and had to work so hard to get
recognized he thought Jupiter had deserted
her. But her delay in becoming a star had
nothing to do with the consistent
Jupiter-type good fortune. Everybody's
timetable is a little jerky sometimes.
Still, she gets the landlord to fix her door
knobs while the water is flooding the
bedroom in another apartment; she gets to
the store just in time to buy the last honey
dew melon in the rack; and she finds a new
pair of stockings in the refrigerator when
she's torn her only pair and doesn't have a
dime left until next Tuesday. She got her
first really good job because the producer
thought she was Sandy Dennis, and then was
glad he made the mistake after he saw her
act. Those kinds of things are always
happening to Sagittarius people. Before the
situation gets too black, the sun pops out
from some unexpected source and shines on
them, as if the sun wanted to reward
Jupiter's pure and naive optimism.
Sometimes the Sagittarian luck works in
reverse for the archer you employ. Hell
fumble the biggest deal your outfit ever
had the chance to close, but the day before
you fire him, you'll discover that the
president of the company he insulted and
called a phony was just indicted for selling
watered stocks. That crazy Sagittarian's
blunder probably saved you from sheer
disaster. Your Jupiter secretary who forgot
to mail those important letters hardly has
time to dry her tears at your cruel abuse
before you find out that one of them
contained a check made out for more money
than your firm could cover at the bank that
week.
There are Sagittarians who scoff at their
own good fortune and like to give the
impression they're real born losers. If you
employ one, don't be tricked by his
shrewd-ness. He may be one of those
suspicious types with a Scorpio ascendant
who thinks that, if he talks about it, his
luck will change, but he wins at Bingo as
often as the rest of the archers. Last week,
he walked into a shoe store (o buy the
cheapest pair of shoes they had, because he
was broke. It turned out that he was the one
millionth customer and he won a new pair of
shoes every month for five years. He didn't
tell you about that, did he? Scorpio
ascendant. But Jupiter Sun sign.
Dishonesty is not one of his weaknesses.
Neither is tact. You may have to patch up
some office squabbles or have to make peace
when your brutally frank Sagittarian
sympathizes with the bookkeeper about his
baldness and suggests a cure-after you've
spent years pretending the poor fellow had a
full head of hair to keep him happy because
he's a Leo. Your gal Friday will never
forget the time she was on the telephone
with the firm's most important customer, and
the Sagittarius member of your staff rushed
up to her excitedly and shouted within an
inch of the mouthpiece that the pipes were
broken and the ladies' room was flooded. It
can be disconcerting, but you'll get over
these little character deficiencies.
The Sagittarius employee may surprise you
with an occasional outburst of temper
directed toward anyone from the elevator
operator to yourself. (He's not prejudiced.)
His fiery, righteous indignation is usually
aroused when someone dares to question the
honesty of his intentiona. He's the soul of
integrity, even if he takes some odd,
winding back roads to reach the truth. He
really is. Doubting him or accusing him of
false pretenses can cause him to dip his
verbal arrows in flame. They'll pierce your
sensitive spots as if he had been trained by
Robin Hood himself. In fact, Robin is a very
good nickname for him. He probably deeply
sympathizes with robbing the rich to help
the poor. As for his anger, it never lasts
long enough to really bum, and his arrows
seldom leave scars. Just little nicks in
your ego.
If he can't find an apartment, let your
archer move into one of your large, roomy
suitcases and pay rent. Hell much prefer
living out of a suitcase to living under a
roof and between four walls, if they
threaten in any way to rob him of his
freedom. When he comes in with his brief
case covered with travel stickers, he's
giving you a subtle I message that his toes
are getting itchy. Take the hint and j send
him on a trip. He probably needs it.
Hell come back r with a full bag of orders
and a lighter heart. He's a good salesman,
but you may have to train him to curb his
hasty enthusiasms. The Sagittarius can dash
out after a challenge, and forget to wear
his caution. But as impulsive as he is, when
his thinking cap is securely fastened on he
can beat all the pros with his sound,
logical, if a bit startling ideas. Money is
important to him, because he has to support
himself in the style to which he would like
to become accustomed. He's seldom stingy
and if you are, he'll move on to more
congenial surroundings.
Your Archer can cause you to throw up
your hands in despair, but it won't do any
good. When he sees you with your arms in the
air, he'll just toss you a ball and say,
"Catch!" What are you going to do? Catch.
The exercise will be. good for you.
"Speak in French -when you can't think
of the, English for a thing-
Turn out your toes as you walk-and
remember
Who you are!"