- Sagittarius -

The explosive nature of the fire element is given free reign in the last of a fire signs, and a mutable no less. In effect, all fire signs have a bit of an "I rule" nature to them. But when Sagittarius says that, he means it literally as Jupiter, ruler of the Archer, was king of the gods.

Sagittarius is a sign where there's social consciousness all around. Conscious, not necessarily conscience, though you might find the Sagittarian throwing the occasional fundraiser, in a sense that the sign is always aware of the newest and latest. Sagittarians have a reputation of being trendy, always there for most parties, chatting up a storm. Ulala undeniably has style, and the first time you meet her in Eternal Punishment is when she's getting ready to go to a party. Her cell phone also carries the latest craze in the form of Wang Long fortune telling.

Fire elements have a reputation of blowing things out of proportion. Aries has his hard headed rashness, Leo mythologizes everything around him, and Sagittarians make an award winning play out of emotions. Don't dare tell the Sagittarians they're being melodramatic or exaggerating, though. Happiness is always extreme joy, and anger is a hurricane. Like Zeus hurling a thunderbolt, the temper conjures up a giant storm which goes away as suddenly as it appears. In the heat of the moment, a Sagittarian might take things to extreme, and ignore it later until it comes back to bite them. Things like, oh, say, cursing your best friend.

But a sign doesn't become king by being trendy and emotional. Sagittarian is a sign where philosophy, faith, and aspirations are more prominent. Most books describe Sagittarius as being an incredibly lucky sign. While they won't be winning the lottery every week, Sagittarians have incredible faith that somebody out there must really like them. Unlike it's complementary opposite, Capricorn, Sagittarius rarely, if ever, plans for the future. Most would rather ride a tidal wave into the great unknown, and then expect everything to work perfectly well from then on. No one can accuse Sagittarians of lacking hope. In Ulala's case, there was too much hope. As she tells Baofu in the Parabellum, she expected everything to work out well in the future. Except not everything did.

Much of what has been said of Sagittarius also applies to it's ruling planet, Jupiter. Jupiter and Saturn are usually called the "social planets" in astrological systems. That is to say, they're both concerned with society, but with radically different attitudes. Liz Greene uses the example of a donkey. Saturn is the stick that beats the animal to move forward, while Jupiter is the carrot dangled in front of it's face. Saturn-Capricorn takes a grim, cold-hearted approach to conventions, in a pessimistic "that's just the way things are" way. Jupiter-Sagittarius, though, is incurably optimistic about things, and internalizes everything; the social dreams becomes their dreams. The Great Dream, like marriage by twenty five, of society is the dream and aspiration of the Jupiter person. And not being able to follow through is bad.

But aside from the anxious parts of Ulala, the optimistic and upbeat energy of Jupiter-Sagittarius is usually expressed. After all, the term jovial refers to a Jupiter jolliness.