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Sagittarius - New Symbol Article
By Editor on Sunday, November 21

"Though the stars in the celestial hemisphere designated as Sagittarius do not appear to depict the outlines of a centaur-like figure, it is in this zone that ancient astronomers located those cosmic influences that could be symbolized in the form of an archer with the body of a horse. He is a man-horse with drawn bow and arrow, sometimes depicted with wings, sometimes with two heads, one facing forward and one turned back. In Baby Ionian tradition this elaborate zodiacal symbol had the head of a human as well as that of an animal and, like its Egyptian counterpart, wore a crown upon the forward-looking human head. The Latin name Sagittarius is taken from Sagitta and refers to the arrow, while its Hindu name, Dhanus, refers to the bow. These implements are extremely meaningful: the upper and human portion of the body both directs the lower animal portion and draws the bow and arrow. The human torso and arms are always powerfully depicted in ancient as well as modern illustrations of the symbol, while the head is uplifted, its eyes steadily fixed upon a distant target. The glyph that represents Sagittarius is of even more ancient origin than the iconograph and, like the other glyphs of the zodiac, tells a complex story in one or two simple lines. The archetypal form suggests the essential aspirational character of Sagittarius by an arrow with a cross-member denoting a bow."

Thus begins SAGITTARIUS, the eighth of the 12 HERMES essays on the astrological signs, written from the Theosophical perspective.



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