Insights for Libra
September 22
Sun enters Libra: 02:19 PM EDT
(Mars enters Scorpio before at 3:54 AM)
Are we civilized yet? Do we know what ‘civilized’ looks like? Is it about deals, equal rights, social welfare, or dominance? White supremacy? Love thy neighbor? Libra, the only sign represented by a human-made object, indicates our human ability to create a social world. It’s a constant experiment. Libra struggles with appearances. Social connection and rules of engagement can matter more than what is actually happening. We call ourselves Homo sapiens but we might call ourselves Homo liars. The appearance of peace isn’t the same as a peaceful society. Watch what they do, not what they say… Deny, deny, deny is Libra at its worst: A tool for brutality to hide behind.
Let’s not blame Libra for the conditions of a distressed society. Better to challenge what we can’t abide. Even if we aren’t diplomats or politicians it’s still our culture, our civilization. Maybe it’s contradictory to think we can fight for peace but Libra in the hands of power-driven liars who believe they can claim truth with lies isn’t something we should allow. The Scales of Justice have always been somewhat off balance. It is just a lot more obvious in these times to those of us who haven’t been paying close attention.
Today the Sun enters Libra in the afternoon of a day when Mars, the enemy or challenger of Libra has just entered its home sign of Scorpio. A reminder of iron fists in velvet gloves and a cosmic mirror reminding us of the challenge we face as we at least try to balance those scales by speaking truth to power. On the personal level, we are faced with the need to act rather than to act out.
As the Sun wends its way through Libra it will oppose Neptune, trine Uranus and Pluto and square Jupiter. Engagement with the three outer planets asks us to look honestly into the future. Mars as counterpoint reminds us to assume nothing, to look behind the mirror and to trust ourselves.
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September 23 & 24
Sun opposite Neptune
Sun trine Uranus
Sun trine Pluto
Mars square Pluto
Point, counterpoint. Aware as we are of change, possibility, potential and the Great Unknowns we want to believe the long arc of history bends toward justice and goodness. We’re assured that we haven’t arrived. What if… there is no arc except how we live through our days, meet challenges, use, misuse and abuse our powers: to love, to fear, to trust, to betray, to move or congeal, to care, to turn away? The Sun rising, culminating and setting each day throughout the year reminds us that the long arc of history is shaped one day at a time. Mars, red like blood, reminds us that all living and non-living things are made of light and shadow, a mix of contradictions, truths, and fictions. To be willing is 9/10ths of the challenge.
Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres marking the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations itself recalled that his youth in Portugal was spent “in the darkness of dictatorship, where fear silenced voices and hope was nearly crushed. Yet, even in the bleakest hours—especially then—I discovered a truth that has never left me: power does not reside in the hands of those who dominate or divide. Real power resides from people, from our shared resolve to uphold dignity, to defend equality, to believe—fiercely—in our common humanity, and the potential of every human being.
September 25 – October 1
The Waxing Moon
With no mutual planetary aspects from September 25th – October 1st we are guided by the Moon. Awareness of the constant ebb and flow of energies as she waxes toward Full calls us to flow along the river of life; to breathe deeply into the corners and caves of the physical as we sleep, wake, eat and interact. There is a river, a flow, that carries us unimpeded by the powerful gods or complexes in the psyche.
October 1
Mercury square Jupiter
An alarm bell rings, demanding we Wake Up! A snarl in the flow of time and events requires us to listen to what’s being said while staying connected to our feelings, judgments, and even our basic assumptions. One person’s hero is another’s terrorist. Negotiation is good but if it breaks apart there will be conflict. A third option reveals itself if we can bear not knowing the future. We are caught in the endless cycles of nature and culture.
October 3
Mercury opposite Chiron
Who is your shaman, your wise person? What are they showing you about the challenges of the moment? It’s a conversation. To turn away opens us to aggression whereas turning toward it engages us with a wise and challenging teacher. Sometimes it’s obvious who our teachers are but sometimes it isn’t.
October 6
Full Moon: 14* Aries: 11:47 PM EDT
Mercury enters Scorpio
When did random acts of kindness become acts of courage? When faced with injustice we are called to use our privilege to defend the undefended. In these times of Outrageous Change it’s important to keep your balance on shifting sands rather than waste time seeking solid ground. Dancing with change makes it seem less chaotic even if you aren’t sure of the steps.
That’s the Full Moon.
In Scorpio, Mercury steps into the laboratory. Time for deep research and pondering subjects that have the power to change minds, even your own.
October 7
Mercury square Pluto
In the depths of reflection we come up against a Fortress of Resistance. A fortress built from bricks of fear forged in the fires of all that we don’t understand, despite vast stores of accumulated knowledge. Fear in the mind is deadly. Fear in the body is protective. Stay curious.
October 8
Venus sextile Jupiter
Count your blessings. Especially the ones that seem at first like curses. They make the best stories.
October 11
Venus opposite Saturn
Just for the fun of it, why not consider those things that seemed like blessings but turned out more like curses? It appears that life is neither a bowl of cherries nor a big mistake. More like a wheel, turning, churning, sometimes burning toward this, away from that and back again. Meaning is found in participation and the getting of wisdom. There is no ultimate tally; no comparison that matters as much as how you show up here and now. There is a fullness in being present with kind intentions and a willingness to engage rather than focusing on possible outcomes.
October 13
Venus enters Libra
Venus opposite Neptune
Pluto stationary direct
The wild animal in our bones senses a shift. The cultivated part of us that lives in civil society wants to know what it means, where we’re going and what will become of us. We are like gardens, longing to be re-wilded, constricted by lies and violence which seem to be overtaking the world we have known. Today our wild parts need time and attention. The felt sense of tectonic shifts which are bigger than all of us resonates with the wild beauty of our essential nature. It’s a soul thing.
October 14
Venus trine Uranus
Venus trine Pluto
The wild mind continues to speak its truth. Are we at war with nature, with the 10 million conditions which life requires? Are we doomed or will we rise above, ascend into some theatrical New Age as promised by all manner of nimble witted promotions? Neither is likely. Wild is not the same as chaotic. Imagine the Library of the Universe and your boundless curiosity, free to consider, imagine, and learn. When Beauty and Justice engage with innovation and powerful ideas we create new possibilities. You have full run of the library even as you sense that for something to be true it must also be beautiful. It must call to the soul and resonate with the nature of your being not just your mind.
October 17
Sun square Jupiter
Sun opposite Chiron
Jupiter and Chiron are moving into a square which will be ‘perfected’ on October 23rd. The Sun sounds the bell with some questions:
Do we get what we deserve? Does the Universe only give to us that which we can handle? Consider the way society treats the very old and the very young when trying to fathom these (spurious?) assumptions.
October 20
Mercury conjunct Mars
Action speaks louder than words. Right action requires clarity to have the least destructive, most life-affirming effect. Look before you leap.
October 21
New Moon: 28* Libra: 08:25 AM EDT
As civilization unravels and reshapes itself, whose rules are to be followed? Whose authority is questionable? This might be less about politicians and more about the Algorithm and the insidious ways it shapes our awareness. Make an intention which challenges the quality of change.
October 22
Neptune enters Pisces 5:46 AM
Sun enters Scorpio 11:50 PM
While the Sun remains in Libra for most of today, Neptune enters Pisces for the last time in our lives. Later today, almost tomorrow, the Sun will step into the sign of Scorpio.
Pisces and Scorpio are water signs. Water is feeling. We are awash in all manner of feeling. I leave you to consider your own gut feelings and how they interact with the waves of collective feelings that continue to wash over and through us all.
These insights, are meant as contemplations. Astrology is a kind of sky writing which invites the muse. No two perceptions are exactly the same but any of us can find insight through the images if we look. These are mine, happily offered for you to reshape and fashion into something of your own. Follow the links, where you find them for further musings on the planetary aspects.