Tarot and the zodiac · Sagittarius
Sagittarius in the tarot: Temperance, and the arrow aimed at the right target
The wildest sign gets the calmest card. Its decan cards are the last three Wands: speed, stamina, then a load you were never meant to carry alone.
Urania's Mirror, London 1824 · Library of Congress
At a glance
The Sagittarius tarot card is XIV Temperance. Its decan cards are the 8 of Wands, 9 of Wands and 10 of Wands, and the Sun crosses them Nov 22 to Dec 21, 2026.
- Major Arcana
- XIV TemperanceHebrew letter Samekh · Thoth: Art
- Decan cards
- 8 of Wands, 9 of Wands, 10 of Wandsruled by Mercury, Moon, Saturn
- Court cards
- Knight of Wands (0° to 20°), Queen of Pentacles (20° to 30°)Book T's spans
- Sun in Sagittarius, this cycle
- Nov 22 to Dec 21, 2026enters Nov 22, 2026, 07:23 UTC
- Ruler's card
- X Wheel of FortuneJupiter rules Sagittarius
Find your exact decan cardBirthday in, five Golden Dawn cards out.
The card
Why Sagittarius is Temperance
Try this today
- Pick two things in your life that seem to clash: work and travel, freedom and commitment. Write one way they could mix.
- Before you share your next hot take, wait one hour. Notice whether you still want to post it.
- If Jupiter or your rising is in Sagittarius, read Temperance for your sense of meaning and how you grow.
Sagittarius zodiac sign: dates and traitsSagittarius myth and constellation
Sagittarius has a passport, three new hobbies and a hot take ready for any topic. They are the friend who suggests the road trip at midnight and somehow makes it happen. They also have a habit of saying the honest thing just a little too loudly.
Book T gives Sagittarius to XIV Temperance, "The Daughter of the Reconcilers; the Bringer-Forth of Life," with the Hebrew letter Samekh, which means prop or support. On paper it's a strange match. The most adventurous sign gets the card of patience, moderation and mixing things in careful measure.
But look at the 1909 card. An angel pours water from one cup into another, one foot on land and one in a pool. Behind, a path climbs between two peaks toward a crown of light. That's a traveller's card. Temperance is the art of combining opposites into something new, and Sagittarius is the sign that goes out into the world to collect them.
The sky behind it
Book T calls Temperance "The Daughter of the Reconcilers; the Bringer-Forth of Life" and gives it the Hebrew letter Samekh. Its number, XIV, never moved: Marseille, Waite-Smith and Thoth all agree on it.
On the 1909 card
What Temperance shows, and what it asks a Sagittarius
A winged angel with one foot on land and one in a pool, pouring water from one cup into another, a path behind leading up between two peaks toward a crown of light.
Temperance isn't the card of doing less. It's the card of doing things in the right mix. The angel's water flows between the cups in a way that seems to defy gravity, a hint that the blend itself is a kind of magic.
In a Sagittarius reading, Temperance often asks for pacing: the long journey instead of the sprint, the study that takes years, the idea that needs another ingredient. Crowley called his version Art, and that name says it well. Balance, for a Sagittarius, is a creative act.
The three decans
Sagittarius's three minor cards: the 8, 9, 10 of Wands
Sagittarius is mutable fire, so it takes the last three Wands: the 8, 9 and 10. Book T titles them Swiftness, Great Strength and Oppression, a fast start, a long middle and a heavy finish.
8 of Wands, Lord of Swiftness · Mercury in Sagittarius, 0° to 10° Sagittarius · Nov 22 to Dec 2, 2026
Eight wands fly through clear air over a green landscape, all slanting the same way, with no person in the card at all. Mercury's decan is Swiftness: messages, travel, things moving fast. It's the only card in the Waite-Smith minors with no figure at all, just motion, which suits the sign of the arrow.
9 of Wands, Lord of Great Strength · Moon in Sagittarius, 10° to 20° Sagittarius · Dec 2 to Dec 12, 2026
A man with a bandaged head leans on a wand, watching, eight more wands standing behind him like a fence. The Moon's decan is Great Strength, often read as resilience. Sagittarius gets knocked down and stays standing, a little battered and still curious about what comes next.
10 of Wands, Lord of Oppression · Saturn in Sagittarius, 20° to 30° Sagittarius · Dec 12 to Dec 21, 2026
A figure bends forward under ten heavy wands, walking toward a town in the distance. Saturn closes the sign with Oppression: the burden of saying yes to everything. For a sign that loves possibility, it's a fair warning about overcommitting.
The sky behind it
8 of Wands: 9.9 days. 9 of Wands: 9.8. 10 of Wands: 9.8. Longest this cycle, the 8 of Wands; shortest, the 10 of Wands.
The court cards
The Knight of Wands and the Queen of Pentacles
The Knight of Wands ("The Lord of the Flame and the Lightning", 20° Scorpio to 20° Sagittarius, Sun Nov 12 to Dec 12, 2026) holds Sagittarius's first twenty degrees; the Queen of Pentacles ("The Queen of the Thrones of Earth", 20° Sagittarius to 20° Capricorn, Sun Dec 12, 2026 to Jan 10, 2027) has the last ten.
The Knight of Wands, Book T's "Lord of the Flame and the Lightning," carries most of Sagittarius. He's the most impulsive of the knights, charging off on a rearing horse toward whatever looks exciting.
At 20° Sagittarius the Queen of Pentacles takes over, "The Queen of the Thrones of Earth." The adventure starts coming home: hearth, budget, comfort, a calm run-up to Capricorn season and the solstice.
The ruler
Jupiter, Sagittarius's ruler, and Wheel of Fortune
Try this today
- Lay Temperance next to the Wheel of Fortune. Write down one thing you can't control this month, and one thing you can mix differently.
- Find your Jupiter sign. Astrologers read it as where you grow and where luck tends to show up.
Jupiter rules Sagittarius, and Jupiter's Major Arcana card is X Wheel of Fortune. In the Waite-Smith card a great wheel turns in the sky, a sphinx on top, a serpent descending one side, and the four winged creatures reading books in the corners of the clouds.
With Temperance in front and the Wheel behind, Sagittarius is the sign of big cycles and patient blending. The Wheel says luck and timing turn; nothing stays up or down forever. Temperance says what you do while the wheel turns matters. Optimism, for a Sagittarius, works best with a plan.
Find your card
Which Sagittarius card is yours?
Temperance belongs to every Sagittarius; the 8 of Wands, 9 of Wands, 10 of Wands split them three ways. Your birthday picks one.
Clock: UTC.
First decan · 0° to 10° Sagittarius
8 of Wands
Lord of Swiftness. Mercury in Sagittarius. This cycle: Nov 22 to Dec 2, 2026.
Second decan · 10° to 20° Sagittarius
9 of Wands
Lord of Great Strength. Moon in Sagittarius. This cycle: Dec 2 to Dec 12, 2026.
Third decan · 20° to 30° Sagittarius
10 of Wands
Lord of Oppression. Saturn in Sagittarius. This cycle: Dec 12 to Dec 21, 2026.
A three-card Sagittarius reflection
Temperance · 8 of Wands · Knight of Wands
Lay out XIV Temperance, the 8 of Wands and the Knight of Wands. One question:
Which two parts of my life could I blend instead of choosing between?
More to read
Shorter reads. Each opens in place.
When it comes up hard
Temperance reversed, or on a bad day
Reversed, Temperance can look like excess or imbalance: too much travel, too much spending, too many plans. For Sagittarius the shadow is often running from something by calling it adventure. The fix isn't to stay home forever. It's to make sure the journey has a direction.
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Either side
Between Death and The Devil
Scorpio hands over XIII Death; Capricorn picks up with XV The Devil once the Sun leaves Sagittarius, on Dec 21, 2026, 20:50 UTC.
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Plan ahead
Sagittarius's cards in the 2027 cycle
Nov 22, 2027, 13:16 UTC: Sagittarius opens again. The 8 of Wands runs Nov 22 to Dec 2, 2027, the 9 of Wands Dec 2 to Dec 12, 2027, and the 10 of Wands Dec 12 to Dec 22, 2027.
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Sagittarius tarot cards and their dates
Both cycles, all seven Sagittarius cards.
| Card | Book T title | Span | 2026 cycle (UTC) | 2027 cycle (UTC) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XIV Temperance | The Daughter of the Reconcilers; the Bringer-Forth of Life | 0° to 30° Sagittarius | Nov 22 to Dec 21, 2026 | Nov 22 to Dec 22, 2027 |
| 8 of Wands | Lord of Swiftness | 0° to 10° Sagittarius | Nov 22 to Dec 2, 2026 | Nov 22 to Dec 2, 2027 |
| 9 of Wands | Lord of Great Strength | 10° to 20° Sagittarius | Dec 2 to Dec 12, 2026 | Dec 2 to Dec 12, 2027 |
| 10 of Wands | Lord of Oppression | 20° to 30° Sagittarius | Dec 12 to Dec 21, 2026 | Dec 12 to Dec 22, 2027 |
| Knight of Wands | The Lord of the Flame and the Lightning | 20° Scorpio to 20° Sagittarius | Nov 12 to Dec 12, 2026 | Nov 12 to Dec 12, 2027 |
| Queen of Pentacles | The Queen of the Thrones of Earth | 20° Sagittarius to 20° Capricorn | Dec 12, 2026 to Jan 10, 2027 | Dec 12, 2027 to Jan 10, 2028 |
| Mark | 2026 cycle | 2027 cycle |
|---|---|---|
| 0° Sagittarius | Nov 22, 2026, 07:23 UTC | Nov 22, 2027, 13:16 UTC |
| 10° Sagittarius | Dec 2, 2026, 04:37 UTC | Dec 2, 2027, 10:21 UTC |
| 20° Sagittarius | Dec 12, 2026, 00:57 UTC | Dec 12, 2027, 06:47 UTC |
All times are UTC. In the Americas the local date can be a day earlier; in Asia and Australia a day later.
Quick answers
Why is Temperance the Sagittarius card?
Book T gives Sagittarius to Temperance through Samekh, a letter meaning prop or support. The Golden Dawn linked the card's blending of opposites to the archer's aim and to Sagittarius as the sign of long journeys and higher learning.
Is the Wheel of Fortune a Sagittarius card?
It's the card of Jupiter, Sagittarius' ruler. So it stands behind Temperance as the ruler's card. The sign's own card is Temperance.
What tarot card is Sagittarius in the Thoth deck?
Art, number XIV. Crowley renamed Temperance but kept its place in the deck and its attribution to Sagittarius.
What is the Sagittarius decan card for early December?
Usually the 9 of Wands, the Moon decan from 10° to 20° Sagittarius, which the Sun crosses from about December 2 to December 11 or 12. Birthdays in late November get the 8 of Wands.
When is Sagittarius season in 2026 and 2027?
Nov 22, 2026, 07:23 UTC to Dec 21, 2026, 20:50 UTC, then Nov 22, 2027, 13:16 UTC to Dec 22, 2027, 02:42 UTC.
