Libra New Moon, October 17-18, 2009

Spending a few weeks enjoying the glorious colors of a New England Fall reminded me that Libra's concern with beauty is based just as much on the natural cycle of the seasons as it is on our cultural ideas of beauty. While fashion is ruled by Libra, the transformative beauty of birch, oak and maple leaves turning golden, orange and red amidst the deep pine greens touches on the deeper beauty of the soul. We see that beauty is fragile and precious, and comes in different forms in different seasons of our lives. Venus, Libra's ruler, calls us to connect to our unique beauty so that we can mingle with other souls and recognize their beauty.

As I mentioned in my Aries Full Moon 2009 newsletter, Libra's Scales symbolize our self-worth and what we bring to the collective table. Scales measure how one side comes into balance with the other side, and Libra calls us to step forward and engage with others on a level playing field. We might think we're not as smart, rich or beautiful as the person we're dealing with or the situation we find ourselves in, but Libra says, “Go on, try to balance the scales.” At the end of our lives, when our hearts are weighed on Maat's scales of truth, we are all equal. If we can learn that lesson while we live, we truly are the equal of anyone we meet. If we respect ourselves and our experience of life, we can respect anyone. Out of that respect, we learn to come to agreements about what is fair, just, necessary and true.

Peace. Justice. Balance. Harmony. Partnership. These are words that we use to describe the sign of Libra. But what do these words mean? Peace is not only the absence of war; it also means ‘to agree' or ‘to receive with favor' or to be ‘capable of pleasing'. Harmony means ‘an agreement of feeling', as in music. Balance means ‘a general harmony between parts'. Partner comes from a word meaning ‘portion' or ‘part holder', as in someone we share something with. Justice comes from a word that means ‘righteousness or equity' as in being equal. All these words that we use to describe the meaning of Libra tell us that we have to learn to share with others, to connect with others. And so Libra also rules the social norms we all live by.

Each sign of the zodiac offers us a different means of expressing who we are. Libra says, “Express your ability to agree and be pleasing with someone else.” For some of us, Libra is an easy task. For others, not as much! But each year, we all get a chance to practice the Libra tasks of life while the Sun is in Libra.

To practice peace, balance, and harmony, we have to find it within ourselves before we can find it with another person. We can't ignore the Aries lesson of self-discovery and self-interest. And the Virgo lesson to ‘know thyself'. It's best if we learn to understand how we use our masculine and feminine energies. Without self-knowledge, we throw the balance of Libra off. When we forget to put ourselves into the equation, we create imbalance. It does take two to tango! Or to balance each other.

Too many Libra Suns think that they have to give over their own sense of self to achieve peace and harmony. But it doesn't work like that. Hopefully, this month's full Moon in Aries made you stand up for yourself. Now you understand that taking a stand is just as important for peace as it is for war. If you don't know what you stand for, how can you negotiate with another person? If you give ‘in' to another person's needs, you are not creating balance. You are just creating a situation where your needs are not met.

Libra asks, “How can we both get our needs met?” To do this, you have to learn the fine art of diplomacy, which is another Libra trait. When a Libra answers a question about what they want with “whatever” you know there will be repercussions down the road. So do your homework: understand who you are and what you believe; know your values and your desires; love yourself and others enough to be truthful; open yourself to Spirit and to Nature – our archetypal parents, the Sky Father and Earth Mother.

We'll have a chance to really dig into Libra's lessons in the next few years. Saturn, the planet that symbolizes our collective ‘reality', is leaving Virgo at the end of October and will occupy the sign of Libra for the next 2 years. Saturn enters Libra on October 29, 2009 at 10:09am Pacific time (17:08:43 GMT) and will remain in that sign (except when it retrogrades back into Virgo from April 7 to July 21, 2010) until October 5, 2012. Which puts Saturn in Scorpio on December 21, 2012, but that's another story!

Saturn in Virgo energized many of us with the discipline to get in shape and get healthy; it has made us more aware of the environmental health of the planet and how it affects us, especially our food; it has forced America to face its health care crisis; it has brought many of us into service to others and our world. While Saturn has opposed Uranus in Pisces three times while in Virgo (there will be a 4^th one in Virgo and a 5^th one in Libra-Aries), very close to the degrees of the Uranus-Pluto conjunction of the mid 60s, we have been going through a collective awakening that is forcing us to face our personal and collective future. Don't be surprised that the ideas and beliefs we discovered in the 60s contain the answers to many of our collective problems.

Saturn in Libra will concentrate (a Saturn trait) our attention on our relationship to others and the world. Saturn works well in Libra, creating a maturity and responsibility within each of us that will eventually bring justice and peace to our world. We can do it peacefully, or we can succumb to more war and destruction. While Saturn is in Libra, we have a chance to practice the art of truthful engagement, peace and cooperation. This morning I heard a newsperson announce that “the battle of the sexes is over and we are entering a new era of cooperation between the sexes.” Sounds like someone knows that Saturn is going into Libra!!!

Women and men do need to start appreciating and understanding each other again, this time on a higher level of consciousness. We need to cooperate if we are going to change our world. Women and men are different, and yet, when we equally respect each other, our energies complement each other, like Yin and Yang, and create a new third energy. Carl Jung said that when we can bare the tension of opposites, a whole new dimension opens up. He called this third thing the Transcendent Function, which unites the opposites. This is the lesson of Saturn in Libra, and with the publication of Jung's Red Book, perhaps his theories will inspire more people to understand themselves and to consciously see and desire the possibility of humanity moving beyond war and power and greed. The New World Order cannot be dictated by the corporate imagination. The new world order must be the child of the World Soul's wisdom. Our whole human journey calls us to this encounter. Humanity must grow up.

With Pluto in Capricorn beginning its de-construction of our financial, governmental and societal structures (I like to think that it is the entire patriarchy that is being laid to rest), we have a chance to bring the spiritual and personal ideals born in the 60s into the public arena. They will be the ideals the future is built on. Neptune, Jupiter and Chiron in Aquarius are enlightening our collective mind, opening us to a new vision of our human potential. Science and technology are showing us who we might become. Personal spirituality is opening us to our divine nature. We will need to establish a new vision in our cultural structures, for the old structures, which existed to manipulate and control ‘the masses' are no longer viable.

This new Moon in Libra is being squared or challenged by the moon's nodes, which show us our collective destiny for the year and a half it occupies a sign. The North Node of the Moon is now in Capricorn and the South Node is in Cancer. Our old collective karma (South Node in Cancer) must be released. We need to leave behind our unthinking patriotism, our collective negative mother complex, our fear and insecurity, our unconscious emotional motivation and neediness. We need to embrace our new (Capricorn North Node) destiny and develop self-control and discipline, self-reliance and personal power, maturity and responsibility.

This Libra new Moon is under pressure from the Moon's nodes to plant the seeds of maturity and responsibility in our relationships and our sense of fairness, as well as in our sense of self-worth. If we take responsibility for how we relate to others, if we speak our truth, show our beauty, and stand up for justice, we will enhance our collective destiny. We are the ones who will turn the tide of destruction back upon itself. We have the choice to create a new world or to let our old world stagnate until it collapses around us.

The Sabian Symbol for 25* Libra is: The sight of an autumn leaf brings to a pilgrim the sudden revelation of the mystery of life and death.

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