I think it’s safe to say that the fire signs – Aries, Leo and Sagittarius -- are the action heroes of the Zodiac. These energetic, creative, enthusiastic, inspirational, aggressive folk are here to grab life by the balls. They know what they want and they’re brave enough to set out to achieve their ambitions. And they’re so optimistic and enthusiastic that they really have no idea there may be obstacles in the way of achieving their goals. These movers and shakers gallop through life battered and bruised from the hell they put themselves through and wear that cheesy grin of theirs as if it’s tattooed on their faces.
As for their notorious impetuousness…let’s just say that it wasn’t the neighborhood kids who turfed your lawn and TP’ed your trees last night. C’mon, can’t you take a joke? They remain strangely child-like (alright, downright immature) throughout their whole lives. A fire sign can be the CEO of a publicly traded company and still wonder why there’s no toy at the bottom of adult cereal boxes. Heck, many fire signs never graduate to adult cereal. They like the sugar rush the get from Cap’n Crunch. As for their own kids, they remember how they hated feeling powerless when they were young, so sometimes they let their kids eat ice cream for breakfast. They even let their kids talk back – as long as their bratty comments are amusing. But they’ll never let the kids disrespect them in public. And the kids seem to know this. It’s a sort of silent agreement. They mind their p’s and q’s in public, but at home it’s mayhem.
And yes, they are temperamental. But these are the people you want mad at you (that is, if you’re looking to piss someone off). Because like fire, their anger blazes wildly, but then it’s over. The fire is out. Everything is cool – no grudges, no hard feelings. There’s some residual smoke, but that eventually blows away.
They literally thrive on competition. Competition gives them the incentive to try harder. They welcome it. They’re arrogant enough to believe no one is better than they are, and are happy to roll up their sleeves and prove it. In their world, there are winners and losers, plain and simple. Remember this at your next company or family picnic when you suggest a friendly game of touch football. Don’t perceive that glamorous, petite Leo gal in the designer shoes to be harmless. Touch football will become full-blown tackle football if that is what it takes for her to keep you from making a touchdown. She will pummel you. You, on the other hand, will be left blindsided, laying face down on the turf, with only the faint smell of her perfume and Jimmy Choo tracks on your back to remind you of your stupidity for underestimating her.
But being a fire sign is not all merriment and adventure. No, there’s a dark side to this element: They sometimes get so down in the dumps you literally have to scrape them off the pavement. Sorry Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio, water signs are not the only ones who get the moody blues. Granted, water is the element of emotional depth, directly in touch with the ebb and flow of human emotions. However, just because water signs are in-tuned with emotions doesn’t give them the market on depression. Think again. Fire signs suffer from melancholy, too.
Yes, yes, I know it sounds a little weird: Fire signs are supposed to be the champions of enthusiasm, the soldiers of idealism, the energetic optimists! Well, that’s precisely the problem. Try being like that in a world like this. Not easy. Fighting the plethora of injustices in this world is an exhausting, never-ending battle. It’s like they’re just asking to be let down and left feeling helpless and hopeless.
Better yet, fire is so damned fragile. Water puts it out, earth stamps it out, and air blows it out. Sadly, inspiring others can be a real energy drain and the negative energy of others wears off on them. The cruel world and its even crueler inhabitants are constantly dousing them. It’s no wonder that their resilience, which is constantly being tested, sometimes gives out and they give in to feelings of gloom and doom. And because they’re uniquely different from each other, they are propelled to spiral down into the depths of despair by different types of circumstances.
 Aries become depressed when they are not recognized for being the originator, the creator, the one who thought of something. But they don’t see how they bring this on themselves. The friendly Rams trust everyone and don’t know when to keep their mouths shut. They don’t care who you are; if you have ears they’ll happily tell you their ideas. Many of these ideas are brilliant. Since they’re easily distracted and are always coming up with new ideas, they either don’t finish what they start or lose interest in their projects. So a lot of times the people who complete their projects get all the credit. Aries is also known to act and haste and pitch ideas without protecting them (Note to Aries: filling out the copyright paperwork takes seconds) and they get their ideas stolen. Stuff like that.
For example, an Aries may meet up with a TV producer “friend” and in the course of conversation Aries tells his friend about a great idea he has for a television program. The producer friend tells Aries it’s a good start, but he should really go home and pound out the details. “Details” is not part of Aries’ vernacular. Aries gets distracted with another 50 or so projects and the next thing he knows his show is on TV’s fall line up at his so-called friend’s new network. His friend didn’t even bother to change the name of the show. Why should he? Aries never protected his idea and never followed through. Aries is devastated. He’s betrayed by a friend and nobody believes he thought of the new, number one rated hit comedy. This kind of heartbreak spells disaster for the Aries and his brightly burning flame is reduced to a pile of smoldering, lifeless ashes.
However, I encourage this independent thinker to work with others in this lifetime; Aries’ polar opposite is Libra, the sign of partnerships, and Aries can benefit from Libra’s example. It’s good for their evolvement. But they should never, ever partner up with a credit hog. For instance, if an Aries guitarist should start a band, the Aries should be careful not to let the lead singer constantly steal the center stage and the lead singer should be extremely conscientious about reminding the public of the band’s originator. Without proper recognition, Aries will get petulant, jealous, throw tantrums, then rambunctiously flip the bird at everyone and quit the very band he started. Then when the band wins a Grammy and he’s no longer part of the equation, his bitterness and resentment will turn into full-blown depression.
 Leo definitely has more follow-through than Aries, though Leo is a lot more sensitive and doesn’t take rejection quite as well as the Ram. Leo cannot separate his ego from anything he does, so he takes any rejection, whether it’s not getting the job or coming in second in a contest (yes, that’s rejection to a Leo) to heart. Leo is brimming with enthusiasm, confidence and creative vision. The more conservative folk see these creative visions as visions of grandeur. But Leos have so much faith in themselves and their projects it kills them when other people don’t support them. And support to them means not questioning their methods or ideas. All they want is a cheerleading squad to follow them around wherever they go. That would suffice.
For those of you left-brained people out there who think creativity is just an excuse not to grow up, I’ve got news for you: It’s really, really hard to be a creative person. Creative people walk a lonely path, often unfulfilled by what society preaches as normal and acceptable. It’s not a choice; it’s how they’re wired. It doesn’t help that so many people frown upon creative innovators and whisper things behind their backs like, “He’s dreaming!” or “When is he going to grow up?” or “What the hell is he wearing?” or “Does he really think he can feed his family on that idea?”
Leo is the most creative sign on the Zodiac and they become despondent when they can’t express themselves. They can act, write, draw, paint, dance, and basically pull any idea out of thin air and materialize it. They are also born leaders who will stop at nothing until they succeed. But this need to be creative combined with the need to succeed is an equation that has “disaster waiting to happen” written all over it.
Succeeding in the creative fields takes a lot of tenacity. Leos have the passion to prevail and are willing to brave it out and take the risks. But since the Leo’s ego is so frail, too many rejections may make them feel worthless and hopeless. And it’s really hard to get sympathy from family and friends who have succumbed to “typical” lives, so often Leos rely on themselves encouragement. They don’t want to give up, they really don’t. But they begin to wonder if they’re just dreamers and they should be happy with the 9 to 5 grind just like everyone else. And when they stop believing in themselves, the encouragement stops, and they go into a funk.
Don’t get me wrong: A lot of Leos like the business world and they excel there; but they still need to express their creativity somehow and usually Leo’s approach to getting work done is uniquely their own. Their methods tend to turn off the crusty old traditionalists who scoff at their wacky newfangled ways and far out ideas. But Leos just know if the upper echelon would give their ideas a chance they can prove they’re superstars! So when the higher-ups finally give Leo a nod to go out and knock em’ dead, Leo accepts the challenge with enthusiasm and confidence. And in a perfect world, they always succeed. But we all know this world isn’t perfect…
Public failure on any scale can send a Leo into a dark, ugly tailspin. And Leos are great actors. For example, everyone thinks the Leo ad exec who lost a big account to another agency has taken the failure in stride. She proudly glides through the office with a smile on her face as if nothing happened. Little do they know she’s spent the last seven evenings in bed drinking wine, eating junk food, listening to Joy Division, and masochistically reading through the 500 rejection letters she got for the screenplay she was sure would rescue her from the corporate scourge. Next thing you know, vanity is out the window, she’s put on weight, her hair is a mess, her manicure is stained orange from Cheetos, and she no longer cares about her work. Depression has struck and she can’t get the words “I told you so” to stop playing over and over in her mind.
 With Sagittarius, depression has less to do with not being recognized or being stifled creatively and more to do with stuff that goes on their heads. Sagittarius is the most idealistic sign, and by definition “idealistic” means to live in a world of ideas. Combine this idealism with the optimism bestowed on them by Jupiter and wow, what a normally happy bunch. But say they wake up one day and realize that they’re not living the life they envisioned. Or things haven’t gone the way they anticipated. Or they’re not fulfilling a grand purpose. Or they’re simply unsure of their purpose. Or worst of all, when they realize what they’ve perceived to be reality is nothing more than a false perception. When reality bites them in the ass they don’t like it one bit.
(If you’re thinking that this all sounds rather Piscean – that is, they are blown away when they realize what they thought was reality isn’t reality at all – then you’re on to something. That’s because up until the time Neptune was officially discovered, Pisces, like Sag, was ruled by Jupiter. To this day, Jupiter is still considered Pisces’ co-ruler. And Jupiter is all about faith and believing in stuff. That’s why both Sag and Pisces are unable to function when they’ve lost faith.)
Jupiter likes to super-size everything, so when Sagittarius gets the blues, they do it all the way. They’re famous for grandiose statements like, “If you would have told me at 20 that this was going to be my life at 40, I would have ended it right then and there.” (They don’t mean it. Well, not entirely.) Then they go on a self-loathing binge. They drink too much. Eat too much. Talk too much. And they let philosophy get the better of them and start asking questions like, “Is this all really worth it?” and “Why the hell am I here?”
It seems weird that Jupiter would let them get that way. Why would this happy-go-lucky planet encourage them to go skipping blindly through life, to instill them with the faith that everything will work itself out, only to pull the rug out from under them? Because Jupiter doesn’t like to do all the work – Sag has to pull his own weight. Sag sometimes relies too much on luck, too much on “everything will work out fine,” and doesn’t tow the line. For Jupiter to cooperate, Sagittarians have to pull themselves together, finally determine their noble, lofty goals and then set out to pursue them. They will stop suffering once they take a step toward realizing their ideals. Jupiter is very benevolent and only asks for some effort. He’ll provide the rest to his darling Sagittarians. Lucky bastards.
So what happens if they finally determine their ideals but are unable to take action due to external circumstances? If their mundane responsibilities restrict their mobility and they can’t explore far away lands and rub elbows with the natives? If they are trapped in a job they hate because it pays the bills and puts food on the table? Look, Sag parents are doing the right thing by keeping their steady jobs and making sure his kids are fed. However, those arrows aren’t going to shoot themselves and the yearning to go on an adventure will always be there. Squashing their inner needs and desires will only make matters worse, possibly leading to a complete freak out or a deep, dark depression.
If Jupiter wants Sagittarius to have one thing it’s this: All. This jolly fatso is the master of indulgence. So lucky you, Sag, you don’t have to choose between living life either as lonely adventurer or as a frustrated captive. It’s possible to find a balance between being a responsible adult and a wide-eyed wanderer. Journeys don’t need to be physical. Or drug induced. Sagittarians can get happier just by expanding their mental horizons, like taking a class, indulging in a new hobby, or reading a series of books that tickle their brains.
There’s nothing like having a loving family to come home to after a long journey, (be it mental or physical). And there’s nothing like immersing yourself in a culture and eating bugs, or sheep intestines, or whatever the hell Sagittarians ingest during their travels (or when they try out a new ethnic restaurant). Sagittarians are smart people, and they have the ability to find a way to have the best of both worlds. This balance ensures they’ll remain buoyant. And we need them to be happy so they can go back to cheering up the rest of us!
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