Understanding The Universal Zodiac Signs: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, And Pisces

Understanding The Universal Zodiac Signs: Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, And Pisces

For Leo, Virgo, Libra, And Scorpio, click here. For Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer, click here.

*The following descriptions deal with the basics behind each sign principle and are only intended to give general information.


To finish our ride through the signs, we will end with the Universal Signs. These are the four last signs of the zodiac wheel.

These last signs are universal because they represent the last quarter of the life journey of higher vision, growth, achievement and the so called ultimate universal love.

Their archetypes have to do with the maturity of the self, a more evolved person who has already learnt and passed the lessons from the personal signs and the social signs.

The problem though, is that universal signs might be so immersed in their current life stage that they might miss the magic of the personal contact and the thrill of the social contact.

Nevertheless, all signs are stages of one journey. As stated before, a person is not delimited to be just one sign (their sign, or as we should already know, their Sun Sign).

Signs archetypes are about parts of life evolution, which some can be more prominent in some people (not necessarily by the Sun position, but also by the other planets, aspects and houses).

SAGITTARIUS

After having gone through the underworld, the depths and darkness from Scorpio, it comes the light again. It comes vision.

Sagittarius in one word is vision. The centaur. The lower part is animal and the higher part is human. Its arch pointing towards somewhere, sharpening its vision, focusing it, and reaching to a larger scale. Sagittarius then sees what others cannot see. It sees clearly and it is sure about what it is seeing. It is true. And then, it feels ready, it feels loaded with passion and thrill, with devotion, with faith to release it arrow.

Mutable fire. It represents the energetic transition from the depths and the dark waters of Scorpio into the cold and dry earth of Capricorn. The transition between autumn and winter. Those last days of light before the real coldness hits. Although what changes in Sagittarius is not their approach or their true substance, but their passion is like a whirl, of fire.

Ruled by Jupiter, the planet of optimism and expansion, Sagittarius is constantly expanding the scope of vision. It is constantly trying to reach somewhere that can bring to him or her the ecstasy of seeing what the universe actually means. The meaning of life. Always thinking bigger, larger and stronger.

Sagittarius indeed, has a thirst for life meaning and for higher drives. In general, their passion is represented through optimism and enjoyment. They possess a positive vibe that is noticed by those around. Sagittarius can embody a very funny and cheerful person.

Their need for something larger pushes them to explore. To learn and keep learning. In some cases this learning can take the form of literal travel explorations.

Sagittarius and Jupiter can take the person to explore other cultures, countries and lands. It can take them to try on different ideologies and even traditions. The Traveller. All of this with the aim of finding their truth. That which feels good with their own constitution. That which resonates with their own creativity and potential. That which aligns in harmony with their mind views. A belief system that fits with their individual needs.

They will know when they reach to that level. They will just know it. Because as different from its polarity sign Gemini, Sagittarius does not operate in reason mind level. Sagittarius operates through fiery intuition.

And they won’t stop learning even if they ever found this particular truth or system.

In a different scenario, the Sagittarius quality can embody somebody with a different approach. Not the explorer, but maybe the Priest. This is a more passive Sagittarian quality. It is the person who aligns itself with a standard belief or view. Makes of it his or her truth.

In other case, it can be the Philosopher or the Intellectual. That person who does not explore physically the world, but who explores the knowledge world. Always studying more and more. Learning philosophies, adapting them into his or her own. Discussing with others about different points of views. Engaging into new skills.

And again, this is basically the Sagittarian passion for needing to get into somewhere beyond here. The need to understand the world and life as a simple higher truth or belief. They need to see.

And then, the latter archetype is what many astrologers attribute as the Teacher. Why the teacher? Because let us not forget, that Sagittarius element is fire. Once this person has found that particular belief that resonates with him or her the next step is to spread it.

To help others learning about it. To benefit from it. To help them reach higher too. They want others to align with this particular belief, knowledge or notion, because it is what they consider as the true vision.

So they go out and teach, debate, discuss and spread the word. In fact, because of this fire, Sagittarius can become pushy. The passion can distort into the need of making others follow what they consider absolute. Debates can be heavier, arguments about opinions can take stronger form and in the worst scenario, it can turn aggressive.

When a person’s chart shows a strong Sagittarian imprint, and the person channels it positively, it will typically reflect someone who has a natural strong will to reach his or her goals. It will be an optimistic and charming person who emanates passion for life and for knowledge. A person who feels the thrill of life, either through physically traveling and exploring or through intellectual studies and learning. Trying different cultures or through sticking to a particular belief or religion. It will be a generous person who will always be there to share and teach what they know. It will be a person with vision.

However, if this person has a conflicting Sagittarian imprint, or if by environment circumstances the person cannot channel this energy in a positive way that promotes growth, the fire can become a strong bustle. The person might become too attached to his or her particular views, beliefs or traditions. As a result, the broad vision can become narrow, and the person might stick to this so hardly, creating conflict with other people. Trying to convert others to his or her ideas. In worst cases, it might end in violence or injustice.

As an example, think collectively about religious conflicts. Think about Inquisition. Think about persecution.

Another negative or not-so-negative way that Sagittarius manifests is through confusion. It is mutable, so it has the potential to release confusion. Confusion of ideas, confusion of needs, confusion of plans and confusion of visions. Then we can be left with a demotivated individual.

CAPRICORN

One of my favorite signs. Apologies, but this will be long.

Continuing our trip through the zodiac, we finally reached it: winter. The strongest challenge that natural phenomena presents to us. How to make it out alive and preserve ourselves through winter?

Imagine life in the Neolithic. Let’s be worse: imagine it in the Palaeolithic. How life could be preserved when the deadly winter arrived? Stirring all forms of life at its way.

That is Capricorn: survival and preservation of life.

The beginning of winter. Ruled by the lord of karma and time. Ruled by Saturn. In astrology, there is always so much buzzing about Saturn. It does sound a little frightening no? “The lord of Karma”, “The lord of Time”.

As Capricorn would like, let’s get down to business. The prime need of Capricorn is reflected by the action of its ruling planet Saturn, the need to keep themselves up. To preserve, to perpetuate, to survive, to make it out alive in this jungle of life.

Cardinal earth. We talked already about the need for security of fixed earth Taurus, and the exploitation and use of earth resources of mutable earth Virgo.

But Capricorn is in another level. Capricorn needs to strive and succeed. Their unconscious engine operating behind is the need to make it out alive in this world. Not just alive, but also in good status! In good conditions, in good reputation and with a higher rank. To be strong.

It is needed a great deal of skills, strength, practicality and logical thinking to make it out alive in winter (if we were of course, alone in the jungle). But that is Capricorn.

How does Capricorn will gain this universal sense of security and safeguard? Easy: through work. Normally, the Capricornian quality will make the individual to set a goal in life. This goal is usually associated with their instinct to preserve or to position themselves. And a strong quality of Capricorn is pure perseverance.

Even though it is a cardinal sign, it is not that impatient when it comes to steadily work towards a goal. Reaching steps that take them every moment closer to their final ambition.

They know their skills and they will use them. They will keep responsible and committed to this goal. And there we hit another word associated with Capricorn: responsibility.

Duty, order and structure. It is all about the planning! Saturn, the lord of time. They will use their practical skills to design a plan which will also cover all possible risks, and which will take them to finally reach their goal.

Everything that messes up with the plan, with the order, and the structure of the project will for sure make Capricorn get annoyed and this will trigger the cardinal quality of intolerance.

They just don’t need to preserve themselves but also their families. And that is when society, organisations and laws come to hit the Capricornian landscape. Capricorn, in a collective sense, is the law. Capricorn is society norms and structure. Capricorn is politics. Order.

Why? Because only through structure, through organizations that promote the well-being of the community, laws that restrict evil and misbehavior and laws that promote integrity of humanity shall order be preserved.

So all these things that annoy our pure self: laws, regulations, organizations, politics, the boss or the parents, are indeed a collective form of the Capricorn archetype.

Capricorn loves order and regulation. They love everything on time and neat. Usually they will have a natural tuning with time itself.

Just as they love order and structure in work, this also applies to their daily domestic and relationship lives.

Typically, Capricorn is associated with the father or the providing mother. Capricorn will represent a model for the family. A providing and integral figure. Capricorn will teach their family, loved ones, colleagues and friends, about life lessons. About learning and persevering. About not giving up. About always give a little bit more, and about what integrity means.

Capricorn knows and will teach lessons about maturing and becoming an adult that is ready and equipped to be somebody in this life.

This somebody in life, however, is not restricted to just be someone. Usually, Capricorn will have high expectations on what to become and what to have. Capricorn will look for status and rank, as well as for all other possessions that can reflect the status that he or she has gained. Capricorn likes the good life and has a special eye to detect anything that is good.

Of course, all of this in excess can be corrupted, and this is the negative side of Capricorn, its darkness.

Repression and distortion of repression. Whatever we suppress, whatever we deny, whatever we bury, it can deform. This distortion can be harmless and very mild in some cases. But in other cases it can become severe and quite toxic.

The nature of repression is the need for order and structure in order to attain the necessary integrity to preserve the self or the community. In order to attain a planned solid system which eliminates all natural (evil) desires and feelings that can get in the way of attaining this goal.

Think of a person who represses his or her natural desires, wishes, feelings and behaviour. What happens then? Bitter, cold and heartless attitude towards life and others. Heartless is the word. A person that seems to be angry or grumpy all the time. A person who is way too much mature, way too much adult, and who has forgotten what joy and play is. A person who has forgotten that it is good to be a kid sometimes. That it is good to have feelings, and to be weak, and to be emotional (Cancer, the polarity of Capricorn is the inner child, while Capricorn is the mature adult).

A person who has denied its desires and sexuality. A person who has forgotten that the real goal in life is to do what our truth is. In cases, the person can block this unique truth in order to follow the collective Capricornian principle of the elders, the parents, the society.

Once it is repressed, it has all the potential to become distorted. And when it distorts, it can be negative, toxic and very harmful in some extreme cases. As a result, a very negative attitude towards life and even illness (colon, or bone or spine type) can appear.

Think of the lion. The Leo quality from the lion is his need to be the centre of attention, to be the bountiful and playful animal that irradiates sunny energy. But, we can also associate the lion with the Capricorn side. In this case, it would be the need of the lion to position himself as the king, as the most powerful animal, the one that can beat any obstacle, the strongest, the one who will survive, the one that has dominion and control of the zone and the king of the jungle. This is Capricorn.

In its most negative expression, Capricorn can take the form of the dictator or the oppressor. Of course, these are all names of archetypes, and let us remember that each sign quality can manifest at its most negative or at its most positive expression.

And here we go to the positive side of Capricorn. A person with a strong Capricorn, and who has a proper use of this quality, will take the form of a being who is extremely organized and extremely smart. Smart is the key. They have outstanding logical a practical skills, as well as excellent planning.

They are going to persevere at anything they choose as a goal, because they have structure and the notion that things can take time and each step is another step closer to the goal. They will definitely not be bothered about what others think of them or of their actions. In fact, they will only care about what is important for them (their goals or their loved ones). For the rest, they absolutely don’t care about. But, that doesn’t mean they will be mean. In fact, Capricorn can be very social and fun. But well, they are also good at diplomacy.

They will have a solid strong heart, which protects their integrity from becoming emotional or soft at other events. They have perspective and strong ideals and beliefs. They normally won’t be let moulded or changed, on the opposite, they stick to their traditions.

Their views are quite unbreakable. So as their decisions. Capricorn will analyze (normally quick and effectively) every decision they are faced with, and once they decide, they will stick to it as part of their solid integrity and loyalty.

Capricorn will protect everything and everyone they love. Typically, they will not demonstrate too much affection or love, but that doesn’t mean it is not there. Because of their strength, once they love, you can be sure it will be strong and even though they don’t always show it, they do feel it. In some cases, they will demonstrate affection and a playful side with those they choose to be members of their “trust circle” (it can be even just one person!)

Capricorn will be precise, exact and punctual, just like Saturn, the lord of time.

Finally, they will be figures of maturity. This goes back to their own life lessons. Things they have learnt on the way to their objectives, things they have passed through and sacrifices they have had to make. They will be agents of growth and teach you what life is about.

It is not just butterflies, fun and childish tears (the Cancer polarity). It will teach you that if you have a goal, you need to persevere, to work hard, to fall and get up. Like Saturn, the lord of karma. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

Astrologer and forever learner.

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