freewheeling through life

Anyone who doubts the truth about astrology need only look at Hannah, 31, who so fits the typical Sagittarian woman that you would think the script was written for her. She is a fiercely proud single mom who, before the industries in her area started closing down, had a simple but enviable lifestyle working six months of the year and doing her own thing for the rest of the year.

"I couldn’t believe that I'd lost my job and had to put my hand out for welfare," laughs Hannah, "but I reckoned that if that’s the way things are then I might as well enjoy the ride for however long it lasts."

"I don't believe in astrology," says Hannah, "but I do look to the daily horoscopes for guidance, or just to pass time, and I take notice of what interests me, and forget the rest."

"I don’t agree with everything the stars say about Sagittarians but I can see a pattern that intrigues me," says Hannah. "Sagittarians are depicted as archers, and those around me often do get pierced with my arrows but it’s not much good wearing an arrow-proof vest around me because with my lousy aim I'm likely to hit above and below the belt!"

"Yes," admits Hannah, "I am scattered and yet I always seem to hit the bull's-eye with one of my many arrows."

They say of Sagittarians that they hate to be tied down or restricted in any way, and Hannah agrees with this. When someone removes the sharp point of her arrows, or cuts a hole in her quiver so that she has no arrows to fire, Hannah just gallops off into the sunset leaving gob smacked those who tried to thwart her.

"I’m the fourth and last child in a family of four children," explains Hannah, "and I spent more time running away from home than I did living there."

Hannah has had more jobs and husbands than a movie star. Irresponsible?

"Probably," admits Hannah. "I have a thing about freedom and when a boss or a guy tries to tie me down and stifle my spirit I become the best escape artist since Houdini or I will die in trying. I refuse to live in misery or slavery. I will never marry again, and I will never work in a permanent job again. I tried, I really did, but I’m more cut out for a freewheeling life than a mainstream life."

"Really," says Hannah, "the best way to get along with me, and probably all Sagittarians, is to go along with everything I say, and yet do what you want to do. Sagittarians won't notice, and won’t care. My children learned this trick very early in life!"

Sagittarians like Hannah have so many irons in the fire, and are rushing about so much, that they really do not know whether they are Arthur or Martha. It's the Jupiter influence. They are just larger than life, full of brilliant ideas, the Zodiac's entrepreneur par excellence, but they do have a volcanic temper that spews lava over anyone close enough to cop it.

Hannah admits that the ears of some people are likely to have been permanently damaged after she screamed her guts out at them.

"And yes, of course, they deserved what they got," she laughs.

Hannah has never aspired to be a boss, or self employed, but she is intrigued to read that Sagittarians are destined to make fortunes later in life.

She would agree that she is very generous when she has money to splash around, but is a tightwad when she doesn't - which is most of the time. She also agrees that she is very good at cutting expenses to the bone, using orange boxes as furniture and saving pennies in a piggy bank, but she despairs of ever getting more than two pennies to rub together these days.

"When I read that Sagittarians come into their own financially when they are middle-aged, " enthuses Hannah, "I just can’t wait to turn 40 and retire in luxury. But I have no idea how I am supposed to become rich when right now I can't even find a short-term job."

Sagittarians are supposed to be incredibly deep thinkers, very fair-minded - they will not ask you to do something they are not willing to do themselves - and they also have a well-developed social conscience. Hannah agrees with this.

"I am an active member of Amnesty and Greenpeace," says Hannah, "and I do a lot of voluntary work, too, but only when it’s a good cause. You won’t catch me working at charities for free like a lot of women do. Some of those charities are nothing more than scams, with the guys at the top lining their pockets."

Hannah laughs when she reads about Sagittarians being, essentially, ‘over the top’. A Jupiter outlook on life and an Aquarian thinking and communication mode is supposed to make them quite extraordinary if not just plain weird. They are also supposed to talk about weird things. They will be making a business deal on furniture one minute and the next they will be wondering about the social implications of the deal, and the next they will be scouring for information on rain forests and then they will hit upon a story about tropical snakes and will want to tell you all about them.

Snakes? Who wants to hear about snakes?

"Yes, that sounds like me", laughs Hannah. "I don’t know the first thing about snakes, or want to, but I am definitely scattered."

Hannah says that Sagittarians are also supposed to absorb a great deal of knowledge, most of it esoteric, and are often called ‘absent minded professors’ because in the telling of the story they will forget something, often the very point of what they are trying to impart. That is typically her, too.

The stars often portray Sagittarians as sexually immoral, jumping from bed to bed, and this really upsets Hannah because she married the only three men she ever went to bed with and has never had casual sex.

"I do admit, though," laughs Hannah, "that it’s true that I am attracted to weird men, far weirder than I am. But honestly I’m not particularly good at forming relationships with anyone. I think it’s flighty Gemini in the Sagittarian relationship sector that causes this trait. It’s not a good combination for happy ever afters, and having learned my lesson I don’t plan on getting involved with any guy ever again. I’m a three times loser in love. Been there, done that. I’ve been celibate for over a year now, and it’s a lifestyle that suits me."

Above all, Hannah is a fiercely protective and loving mother. Sagittarians have aggressive Mars ruling the children/creativity sector of their solar charts, and Hannah is often down at her children’s school berating the teachers for not living up to her expectations of how children should be treated and what they should be taught.

"Woe betide anyone who slights my children!" exclaims Hannah. "Most of the teachers at the local school are really very poorly educated and were it not for the fact that school gets the kids out of my hair for the day, I’d teach them full-time myself. As it is, I do most of their schooling. But I do believe that kids need fun and freedom to be creative more than they need history lessons."

As far as work is concerned, Sagittarians are supposed to be a bit like their Taurus sisters. They are in it to make money, but unlike the Taurus gal who wants to buy expensive things, the Sagittarian gal wants money to buy leisure, freedom and independence.

"I’ve been working for six months of the year for about six years now," explains Hannah. "I save like mad when I’m working so that I can take the rest of the year off. I’ve been forced onto welfare this year, though. I see no stigma in being a welfare woman, in fact I rather enjoy having a longer break from work than I usually get."

Hannah loves to read about the typical Sagittarian who builds up a business, and then sells it in order to sail around the world or start up something new. Hannah agrees that she bores very easily. Her joy comes from mastering something - often quite a few things at the same time - and then she drops everything for a new quiver of opportunities when boredom or too many obstacles bar her progress.

Hannah has never come across a Sagittarian boss, but when she thinks of what it would be like to be one she thinks of the cartoons where the secretary has nothing better to do than paint her nails between taking telephone calls. If Hannah ever got to be a boss she would not expect her employees to work long hours or, in fact, work very hard at all.

In respect of being a hard worker, Sagittarians are remarkable. They are not depicted as horses for nothing. There is much about them that reminds one of workhorses.

"I’m pretty hopeless at delegating," says Hannah. "I really enjoy being busy, having a finger in every pie, and I’m the type who will even serve the nail-painting secretary coffee - a gesture that would surely compensate the poor girl for the occasional spew of my Sagittarian lava!"

Hannah says that there are some things people should not attempt to try with Sagittarians. Never try to outsmart them by being cunning, sly or a downright cheat.

"People often think they can get away with murder around me," says Hannah, "because I really am far too busy or absentminded to notice what is going on, but when I’m confronted with deceit or disloyalty I will never forgive it."

And there are plenty of people Hannah will never forgive. She has broken away entirely from her family because of their disloyalty towards her.

"I really don’t need anyone in my life," says Hannah. "And I certainly don’t need a deceitful and disloyal family dragging me down."

Sagittarians have the mighty Sun ruling their sector of law and order and if they don't pierce you with a death arrow then the Universe will. It is a wonder that more Sagittarians do not become judges, and yet for the sake of humanity at large it is perhaps a good thing that they don't. Hannah would chop their heads off!

Because of Mercury-ruled Virgo in their tenth solar house of ambitions, Sagittarians are supposed to be both methodical and mercurial in their overall aims.

"It sounds inconsistent, and sometimes Sagittarians can be inconsistent," says Hannah, "but we are exceptionally good planners and can strike quickly. We are also very good at exiting quickly when we need to."

Hannah says that when she deals with people she warns them to be prepared for the unexpected. She has been known to move house overnight, stripping it of everything, all on her own, and then setting up another home for her children with the minimum of fuss.

"Having orange boxes for furniture helps!" laughs Hannah.

Having Venus-ruled Libra in their solar sector of friendship makes Sagittarians pretty nice people to be around, most of the time, but when the scales tip, and they will, Sagittarians can be lousy friends. Hannah thinks nothing about telling you honestly what she think of you, but who wants to hear that they look like they've just crawled out of bed, especially when it's true?

Libras and Arians are supposed to be get on well with Sagittarians, but Hannah is impressed with neither of the two signs. She is fascinated by Scorpios, the so-called dangerous sign of the Zodiac and yet they avoid her like the plague.

"I wonder why?" muses Hannah.

Looking around Hannah’s orange-box furnished rented house, and watching her robust little children play unsupervised in knee-deep grass, one tends to shake one’s head in disbelief that people can be so poor and yet so happy!