Libra Insights
September 22
Sun enters Libra: 08:05 PM EDT
Libra: Our cosmic reminder of balance, equality, justice. Equinox: one of only two moments in the year when day and night live in perfect relationship. Libra thinks it’s about peace but the peace we long for, the kind that ‘passeth understanding’ has nothing to do with Libra. Libra negotiates, debates, and to be honest, goes to war, thinking it can find peace. It does not live out beyond understanding. It creates laws and fine-tunes contracts. Libra is not the judge or the judgement, simply the inclination to consider options, to evaluate, which is to put our values on the scales and see what they weigh. Each and every harvest reminds us that winter is coming. Perhaps this year especially, we should consider the equity of food security. Maybe Libra’s secret is that it invites us eventually to encounter Scorpio. Every sunrise leads to a sunset. All that live, dies. Beginnings become endings. What kind of conversation are you having with the Sun in Libra as it journeys through the Great Wheel we call a year?
As the Sun works its way through Libra this year at the start, it will oppose Neptune and trine both Pluto and Uranus (suggesting that we have stirred the hornet’s nest of huge challenges as we move toward our future). Later in the journey, in October, the Sun will oppose Saturn and sextile Jupiter reminding us to seek stability and reason as it goes.
September 24
URANUS CONJUNCT SEDNA
There is a cataclysmic feeling to this conjunction in the early degrees of Gemini. Sedna is an extremely slow moving planet out beyond Pluto. Uranus is the fastest moving of our trans-personal planets. Gemini is the sign of the magician. It’s as much about pick-pockets as it is about brilliant and ingenious revelations which can hack solutions to problems that seem unsolvable. We don’t have to look far and wide to figure out who is picking our pockets, trying and succeeding to con us into some real-world, demented chaos worthy of the super villain the Joker (definitely a Gemini character). It may take some fancy footwork to manage these times. I imagine Sedna reminds us of our relationship with nature; respectful or not. The way we do this determines what we receive from Nature. Fire, water, air and earth come to mind but especially the waters. This conjunction is not really personal. It says something about our collective experience here at the time of the Great Turning.
September 25
Sun opposite Neptune
From today through the 28th the Sun’s aspects seem to goad the three outer planets, accentuating the need to find equilibrium in the whirlwinds of change blowing across planet Earth.
Libra loves a good opposition, inviting integration and engagement with others. When facing an ‘other’ we need to consider if the engagement will be competitive or cooperative. Are we adversary or advocate? How is Libra (reason) to find equilibrium in the face of (Neptune) overwhelming waves churning and crashing on the shores of our world? Are you negotiating with God? Do you think They can hear you alone above the noise? Better to turn toward your own sense of balance. How is your inner ear positioned to listen to change?
September 26
Full Moon: 3* Aries: 12:48 PM EDT
Sun trine Pluto
We might be empowered by the possibility of reasonable engagement between opposing forces. No doubt, we are here for each other. Libra always shows us options. The powers at work in the macro environment suggest a different kind of engagement. We see a blood thirst for Libra’s other possibilities: a clash, a battle, a test of manhood, the age-old call to war. You would think we could do something about that by now.
September 27
Mars square Chiron
Mars enters Leo
Just as the Sun will trigger the outer planets, Mars will do the same as it aspects Uranus, Neptune and Pluto over the next while. Mars activates. It steps into the fray, often looking for a fight. Mars can be motivated by a desire to destroy (vigorously) what needs to be destroyed. To use Mars well we have to make sure to aim it at doing the least harm for the greatest good. If we were narrating the story or Mars today would be when the hero visits Chiron, the wise teacher in preparation for the journey through the kingdom (Leo). Given that this engagement is in the form of a square we might imagine the teacher chastising the hero regarding his past actions which were not aimed at the least harm and the greatest good. Take inventory on this theme in your own life before setting out on your adventures.
September 28
Sun trine Uranus
The urge to think, act and create outside the box is irresistible. When consulting technology (AI) for inspiration it has been said that your first ask will get you the average, the least innovative, the most status-quo. So before asking Claude or Gemini for inspiration look into your own heart, your own images, the stories telling themselves as you walk down the street or up the stairs, the ones that prevent you from falling asleep; the ones that wake you in the night. Who are these people? What does this mean to me? Possibly our most persistent, unwanted thoughts hold the keys to our ability to think outside the box.
September 29
Mercury opposite Chiron
What wisdom is coming your way that you don’t want? Which of your wounds are asking for resolution that you think you don’t have time for? Who or what is getting up your nose and bringing on a mighty sneeze?
September 30
Mercury enters Scorpio
Be on the lookout for sub-text, hidden meanings, and nuance. Mercury will be here for a while due to an upcoming retrograde motion. Sometimes the biggest secrets are the ones simmering away inside the cauldron of our own felt sense.
October 2
Mercury square Mars
Mercury square Pluto
Mars trine Neptune
Pressure is intense. Our thoughts feel oppressed by the heavy and intractable weight of circumstances we cannot control and which we do not feel we had any part in creating. We want nothing more than to escape. The struggle between resistance and escapism is eased when we drop into the body. You know how to do this. Release your shoulders, loosen your jaw, and see yourself reflected in the natural world. Every tree, every river, even the sky are mirrors.
October 3
Venus stationary retrograde
Mars opposite Pluto
In the ancient world (as I imagine it) the day of Venus stationing retrograde would be reason for a sacred rite. The most beautiful Queen of Heaven is at her brightest in the western sky after sunset. Soon – by the end of the month – she will have vanished completely from view. Her descent into the underworld of oblivion requires nothing less than everything. She will die. And, count on it, She will be reborn and return to us as the morning star. It’s a glorious enactment of loss, transformation and return. Mars and Pluto have front row seats, underscoring the notion that it’s not a fair fight. We all must bend to forces greater than our will. Even so, alignment with the drama helps orient us as we go. Surrender is not capitulation.
October 4
Mercury in the shadow
Sun opposite Saturn
Consider your options with care, caution and cooperation as best you can. Knowing limits helps us maintain equilibrium. Ignoring limits is a kind of denial that only invites disaster when the bill comes in the mail. In these times of Great Change it is useful to feel your feelings with the awareness that others feel too.
October 6
Mercury conjunct Venus
If the cosmos had a highlighter it would be telling us to pay attention to Mercury in the shadow of its upcoming retrograde and Venus making her descent. They are in cahoots, as they join in the intense sign of Scorpio. Possibly there is art to be made, stories to be told, songs to sing. What else do humans do when they need so intensely to bear witness to such a time?
October 07
Mars sextile Uranus
As you bear witness to these times do not shy away from doing it your way. Your personal creative signature is not necessarily an ego trip. It’s a bold, courageous risk allowing Creation Itself to speak through you. Why else would you have been made so distinctly and uniquely you?
October 10
New Moon: 17* Libra: 11:50 AM EDT
Mars square Venus Rx
High-minded, over-confidence can be a kind of denial. Our intentions at this New Moon ask us to be somewhat idealistic and confident that we can and will create a world that is hospitable for humans and other living things. Today’s intentions require a particular understanding; this ‘better world’ we are aiming for does not entitle us to anything more or less than anyone else. The challenge is to bring our fear of lack and loss to the affirmation. We can share with all that lives. After all, we are only humans.
October 15
Sun sextile Jupiter
Pluto stationary direct
Stations are like wind-ups when a pitcher gets ready to throw a ball. Pluto is aiming at 7* of Aquarius. Not a big throw you might think between 3* where it is today and 7* where it will be in May of 2027. But that’s Pluto for you. Slow and steady, boring into the depths of the very systems that underpin civilization as well as the ideas and ideals that compel them forward. Which systems are you aware of? What manner of creative vision can you bring to the change?
October 16
Mars trine Saturn
If you are inspired to roll up your sleeves and make a contribution to the systemic transformations that are underway, go for it! Sweat equity is what we need. Sometimes the wheels don’t spin as much as they grind along, and so the world keeps turning.
October 20
Venus Rx square Pluto
Looking back over your life, however long or short it seems to you at the moment, there are things you might regret: ways you acted, things you never acquired, people you never met or have lost contact with. Now is not the time for nostalgia. Now is a time for releasing. Our hearts and minds are like attics and basements holding old, outworn shards and shreds of experience, vaults of memories. We are made of these things, it is true. Letting go, releasing isn’t banishment or denial, it is transformation. Repurposing. Recycling. Grieve if that’s helpful. It generally is. We are in the belly of the composter.
October 21
Sun opposite Chiron
What teacher or teaching is challenging you at the moment? Respect it. Engage it. Defending against it won’t be as useful as meeting it, eyes wide open. Willing.
