Sagittarius invites you on a savory walkabout
Roam far and free, you majestic Centaur!
Salutations, fellow galactic wanderers!
Going off the beaten path has never tasted so good. Sagittarius, the cosmic couch-surfer and van-life philosopher, wants you to get outside of your comfort zone to sample unfamiliar fusions and delights. When this scrappy space-pony is coupled with Jupiter’s benevolent gravity, they spur you to go forth into the unknown, to amass and assimilate the wisdom (and souvenirs) of your travels.
Nosh Altar for Sagittarius
Spice up your life.
Sagittarius is embodied in the stars as a strapping centaur wielding a bow and arrow. Half-man, half-horse, he is built for a life on the road, whether that is joy-riding or undertaking a pilgrimage. With his eye on the horizon and an open mind, he hunts for fresh insights and experiences to enrich his inner life and share with the friends he collects on his travels.
This sign is all about savoring the journey, not fixating on the destination. Sagittarius is no jetsetter greasing the gears of transit with airline points and travel hacks. He delights in detours, luxuriates in layovers, and loves getting lost. He’s more likely to be on the same wavelength as Phish-heads on a circuitous and intuitive route of discovery, only planning as far as the next concert or music festival requires. No map or GPS? No problem, says the centaur as he gallops on his way. With Jupiter as its ruling planet, Sagittarius doesn’t strive for the best or most efficient trip possible (as, say, a Virgo with her spreadsheet itinerary might), but trusts in the generosity of the universe to meet his needs and desires as they arise. This equine wanderer is happy to meander and sample the unexpected abundance that life throws his way.
Sagittarius’ restless and exploratory nature reminds us that there comes a point in life when the comforting (if predictable) cheeses of your homeland no longer get your juices flowing. A time when you long to expand your palate (and your consciousness) by sampling the creations of places beyond the well-trod territory of your neighborhood cheese aisle. You will crave the novel, exotic, and challenging flavors of far-flung lands to reignite your taste buds.
This is called cheese wanderlust, and Sagittarius will be there to help you heed the call. He will show up in a Vanagon at your house some random Tuesday morning, armed only with a backpack of mixtapes, homemade granola bars, and a change of zip-off cargo pants, and say: “Jump in. Let’s go.”
Altar Archetypes
Your Stellar Stylist: Sagittarius
Zodiac Season: November 22 - December 21
Ruling Planet: Jupiter, the generous giant
House: Ninth House of Seeking
Element: Fire
Quality/Modality: Mutable
Constellation: Sagittarius
Symbol: The Centaur-Archer ♐
Your Cosmic Cheesemonger: Jupiter
Duration of solar orbit: 4333 Earth days
Year discovered by earthlings: 3000 BC
Namesake: The Roman god Jupiter aka Jove (Zeus in Greek mythology), the benevolent god of the skies
Your Astral Abode: Ninth House
Motto: I search for meaning
Vibe: Philosophical, ravenous, curious
Winning characteristics: Open-minded, adventurous, optimistic
Drawbacks: Long-winded, restless, pompous
Constellation of Cheeses
Cheeses are listed in order of recommended tasting sequence.
Purple Haze
Type: Fresh, flavor-added | Milk: Goat | Origin: California, USA | Maker: Cypress Grove
Some people count sheep to fall asleep, but I recommend counting tangy dollops of Purple Haze’s goaty-goodness. Dreamy with an infusion of fennel pollen and lavender, it is a dairy sleeping draught to gently carry you off on day dreams or midnight musings. The closest a cheese can come to dozing in a hammock on the California coast.
Tasting notes: Salted licorice, Big Sur in summer, your favorite herbal eye pillow
TomaRashi
Type: Semi-hard, flavor-added | Milk: Cow | Origin: California, USA | Maker: Point Reyes Creamery
An intriguing cheese with a spring in its step and just a dash of sass. This Toma-style cheese’s bright and mellow paste is pepped up with flecks of the Japanese spice blend Shichimi Togarashi. Chili flakes, ginger, orange rind, black sesame, and hints of nori seaweed meld together to form a tingly umami tsunami.
Tasting notes: Toasted chili, midnight ramen run, buttered pasta
Smokey Blue
Type: Blue | Milk: Cow | Origin: Oregon, USA | Maker: Rogue Creamery
A meaty sweetie with depth! Rich in flavor, but not as pungent as its bleu brethren, this marbled hunk pushes blue cheese’s boundaries. Credited as the world’s first smoked blue cheese, it is bathed over smoldering hazelnut shells to imbue it with a delicious veil of caramelized carbon.
Tasting notes: Dank bacon, campfire conversations, your college crush’s leather jacket
Fill your cup
Such a free-wheeling flavor journey calls for an equally punchy road-soda that can hold its own with an eclectic cast of cheeses. West Coast IPAs are ready to ride – fruity, piny, and tangy without being bracingly bitter – and play off of the spices, herbs, and infusions of this motley crew with ease. More laid back than the hop-heavy IPAs of yore, West Coast IPAs are more beach bum than hop bomb, inviting quaffing and pontificating around the bonfire at sunset.
Assembling the Nosh Altar
This eclectic altar is a collection of flavor-added cheeses that attempts to capture Sagittarius’ ineffable and untameable curiosity and his penchant for seeking new sensations and knowledge. More is more for this taste-seeker. He seeks intriguing cheeses infused with a potpourri of added spices, herbs, and libations. Each cheese features a distinctive spice, herb, or spirit sourced from the furthest reaches of the globe. Throw in a handful of trail mix, some jerky, and a piney splash of West Coast IPA, and you have an explorer’s buffet to transport your taste buds, to stimulate your intellect, and perhaps help you reach a higher spiritual plain.
Flavor palette
Spice cabinet musk, bong smoke, sun-drenched chaparral, flower children.
Mise-en scene
Best served inside a vintage Volkswagen van headed towards a tie-dyed horizon. Alight into a funky conversation pit on wheels, ready for adventure and any philosophical epiphanies that emerge between rest stops. A left coast Shangrilah of endless summer, spiritual meandering, and promiscuous sampling of life’s delights. Break out your favorite hammock and hacky sack, don the woven embrace of a well-worn drug rug and Teva sandals. Open road, open mind.
Materials and object d’art
Tibetan prayer flags, beaded curtains, colorful bumper stickers, colorful Mexican blankets, threadbare friendship bracelets.
Color scheme
Exuberant rainbow of Grateful Dead’s dancing bears and saturated blacklight poster neons.
