clock zodiac dial, detail of the Sagittarius

"Sagittarius is an hybrid, oriental, hot and dry, choleric, masculine, and dominates above the thighs and above the superfluous or missing members, as would be the sixth finger that a man could have in his hand against nature, or over a hand of four and above the infirmities of those, and above the blindness and the guilty, and above the beasts' impediments, and above the spine of the back, and his planet Lord is Jupiter. "
Here Pietro Adamo, in describing the emblem of Sagittarius, the last autumnal sign, usually depicted by a centaur who is about to shoot an arrow (but here instead we can see an equally armed snake-like triton creature) talks about the characteristics on which the sign dominates. Dominance is a central concept in astrology, and involves the protection of the zodiacal part on particular human activities, on parts of the body or even, as in this case, on malformations of the person. Each sign is then connected to one of the planets so far known in the solar system, or to the Sun itself or the Moon.