Libra New Moon: Love Dissolves Boundaries
Only through
our connectedness to others
can we really know
and enhance the self.
And only through
working on the self
can we begin to enhance
our connectedness to others.
Harriet Lerner
The invitation of the Libra New Moon on October 10, 2026, at 17° Libra will ripple out through the next weeks while its ruler Venus is Retrograde (October 3 - November 13).
We are in a deep dive that will reveal truths underlying relationship patterns and dynamics around the nature of how we love. This will catalyze conversations and actions to break down the barriers that keep our love from flowing freely and fully. The Libra New Moon coupled with the Venus Retrograde invites us to go beyond our comfort zone and act with love rather than looking for where we need to strengthen personal boundaries to feel safe in love.
New Moon Ruler: Venus
is Retrograde
conjunct Mercury
Apex of Fixed T Square with Mars and Pluto
Sextiles Jupiter
Saturn oppose the New Moon
Mars trine Saturn sextile Uranus
Corona Borealis aligned with the New Moon
The house in our natal chart where 17° Libra resides illuminates the area of life where we are looking to listen for the truths about who and what we love, and to move out of our comfort zone to follow and express that love.
The optimal time set an intention for what we want to manifest over the month is within 24 hours after the exact moment of the New Moon, when the Moon has been quickened by the Sun and yet is still dark and not yet visible again in the night sky.
If you want love, give love.
To receive attention and appreciation,
give attention and appreciation.
The more you give, the more
you will receive.
Bob Proctor
This Libra New Moon asks us to consider opening up boundaries. We are to see where they keep us safe but separate. So we can fully love, we are to discover how we can extend ourselves and go beyond our comfort zone. Typically, in Libra Full and New Moons, astrological advice centers around how we can better care for ourselves within relationships and how to assert personal boundaries to avoid over-giving or overextending to meet another’s expectation or need. (To the degree that we are in an abusive or disrespectful relationship, this advise is relevant, and so is the impulse to find ways to shift or extricate ourseles from relationships that require measures of self-protection).
The current Libra New Moon gives deep insight around the truth of our loving nature and the impulse to not play it safe in order to give, connect, serve and take a risk in love. Part of this insight may revolve around healing work needed around trauma or patterns around what inhibits our love to flow.
The reason this Libra New Moon's invitation is different has everything to do with its ruler, Venus Retrograde in Scorpio. Truths around how we love, or where love is distorted, are being exposed. Disconnects and frustrations in relationships are amplified so we can open to and learn another way of relating that brings more of us into intimate contact with life and others (Venus at the apex of a Fixed T square with Pluto and Mars)
New Moon Ruler: Venus is Retrograde (October 3 – November 13)
Mercury Retrograde (October 24 – November 13) will overlap the Venus Retrograde. This is not a time for making a commitment to another, giving someone an ultimatum, or ending a relationship. We are to slow down contemplate what we assign love - a person, possession, financial choice, ourself. We are to better understand why we have it in our life and what we what we want to give, or not give it, moving forward. A revelation about how we love and who and what we love may be a new clarity around motivating behaviors and give us insight into inherited patterns and conditioning. From these revelations, over the next month, we will envision ways to re-balance agreements, re‑negotiate dynamics, and re‑establish fairness within our relationships. Read the full Venus Retrograde post
The Libra New Moon happening within the Venus Retrograde, reinforces the call to review relationships and matters of the heart. But it offers us another angle in which to look at our relationships, with different questions for us to ponder. At Libra Full and New Moons, astrological guidance focuses on having us identify the ways we give ourselves away or focus on the other to the detriment of ourselves. To balance out this counsel and in considering the Corona Borealis, it is perhaps timely to look at where we can extend, where we can go beyond our comfort zone or boundaries we have set to be there for another.
We are being pushed to change something around our beliefs about relationship, about what is true about how we love and the way we love (Venus conjunct Mercury at the apex of a T-square with Pluto and Mars). The New Moon's alignment with stars in the constellation of the Corona Borealis gives us a window into the invitation of the New Moon, which compels us to follow our heart in a way we may have never imagined. Libra is about harmony, fairness and balance in relationship, but with Venus Retrograde in Scorpio, the idea of what we are needing from a relationship becomes more complex, and what we are called to give may be more than we had originally bargained for.
Love Outside our Comfort Zone
The Corona Borealis, known as the Crown of Thorns, is comprised of 7 stars lined up in semi-circle, like jewels in a crown. The one who wears the crown is exalted for a dedication and love that freed others from enslavement, but their success came at a cost.
Christian tradition holds Corona Borealis as the crown Jesus as he freed people from their sins. The Statue of Liberty and her seven-pointed crown evokes Libertas (liberty), ancient Rome’s goddess of freedom from slavery and oppression. Ancient Wales saw CaerArianrhod, ‘castle of Arianhrod’, in this constellation - the prefix Arian is similar to the name Ariadne.
Ariadne was the Greek princess immortalized by Dionysus when he placed seven stars into the night sky into the shape of a semi-circle and named the constellation: Ariadne's crown. Ariadne love much, sacrificed much, liberated much, lost much and gained more than she could have ever imagined by following her heart. So, let us take time at the New Moon and during the Venus Retrograde to contemplate her mythology and how it may inspire us in we what we are called to do next.
Ariadne’s Story in a Nutshell
A Princess in Ancient Crete, Ariadne lived on an island surrounded by water. The primary deity her people worshiped was Poseidon, ruler and spirit of the waters. Adhering to a sacred agreement, King Minos annually sacrificed his finest bull to Poseidon to assure calm waters, good fishing and the blessings that come from the waters. Then came a year when King justified his desire to keep the best bull for himself and sacrificed his second finest bull thinking this was still generous and enough. His selfishness and betrayal of the agreement angered Poseidon. As retribution, Poseidon caused Ariadne’s mother Queen Pasiphaë to lust after the bull. Her desire turned into an obsession that compelled her to have the court architect Dedalus devise a contraption that would permit her to safely copulate with the bull. The result was a child infamously known as The Minotaur.
The Minotaur was half man, half beast and very dangerous. Dedalus was also then called upon to devised and create a maze for the Minotaur where the Minotaur would reside. The Minotaur required human sacrifice. Annually, Athens (who had been subjugated by Crete and under their rule) were required to send seven virginal maidens and male youths to be sealed in the maze with the Minotaur. This went on for some time until the year when Theseus, son of the Athenian king volunteered to be one of the male youths. He arrived on Crete determined to slay the Minotaur and prove his worth as heir to the Athenian throne.
Enter Ariadne. Ariadne took one look at Theseus as he disembarked onto the Cretan land and fell in love with him. She gave him the means to slay the Minotaur and to also escape the labyrinth. One could say she betrayed her family for love. Another would say she addressed the family secret that held them all captive and catalyzed a series of events that restored the balance that had been disrupted when her father disrespected the gods and her mother had given into bestial sexuality.
Ariadne then boarded the barge with Theseus to sail to his home and become his queen. But this is not what happened. On the way back to Athens, the barge stopped on the island of Naxos where Ariadne, exhausted, laid down and took a nap. She awoke to realize that Theseus and the barge had left without her. She was now alone, having left her family and abandoned by the man she loved.
But the story does not end here. Dionysus, god of ecstasy, had been watching the saga unfold from afar and had fallen in love with Ariadne. He came riding his lions across the sea to claim her for his bride. As a wedding gift, he put the starry crown in the sky so all will remember her.
Relationships often calls us to sacrifice something we wouldn’t have done otherwise. It is the love for the other person or an idea that has us go beyond our boundaries, beyond what is rational to give. We may wonder at times why we extend ourselves in ways that make no sense and we take a risk we wouldn't do under any other circumstance. What is key for Ariadne is that she is letting her heart guide her actions. Understanding the motivation that has us overextend can show us whether we are to move forward or pause. If we are guided by fear or wanting to avoid disappointing or letting another down, then we need to pause and find the truth in our heart.
Relationships can call forth something we didn’t know was in us. We may not know what we are capable of until we move beyond the limits of what we think we can handle and what is reasonable to expect of ourselves. In our desire to love and to give ourselves to the wellbeing of someone or something beyond ourselves, we discover what we are truly made of. Most of us have an experience this. Almost every parent can speak to this, but so can people who own a pet, or take care of aging parent, are a teacher to a promising student, and especially to anyone who has fallen in love. The desire to give our love for the benefit of another is perhaps the most human thing about us, and perhaps the most admirable.
The Libra archetype embodies the idea that everything outside us serves as a mirror. When we encounter another, we are actually encountering ourselves. What we give to another, we are giving to ourselves. In essence, the other is an illusion, but through interacting with others, we see and find ourselves.
There is something about modern culture that is profoundly unbalanced. Many of my clients and friends are experiencing burnout. The demands of daily life can leave us exhausted and protective of our energy. This is not something to ignore or minimize. But perhaps what is currently needed is not more boundaries or reinforcement of our personal rights. Modern culture tends to reward those who focus on self-empowerment and fulfilling their potential, rather than those who look to care for those they love. Popular psychology gives ample permission and encourages us to prioritize self-care and cautions us around the costs of over-giving or overextending. Friends may applaud us when we assert good boundaries and reinforce a belief that we are not to sacrifice ourselves.
Perhaps the trend towards personal self-development and prioritizing self-care is to help balance out patriarchy’s conditioning of women to believe they are being selfish if they consider their needs and what they want. This conditioning has led to many unlived lives and women who have grown up not wanting to be like their mothers who lived to serve others. All of us can feel the pressure of how the demands of modern culture has us giving all our time to our work and families with schedules so full that there is no time to receive. The counsel to take care of ourselves, to find balance in how we live, and seek mutual reciprocity in our relationships is sound. But so is the inquiry to explore the truth around what we love and be willing to go out on a limb for what we love and to even sacrifice a little so that we can love fully, without holding back.
At the Libra New Moon, I would like us to look at what shift of perspective is needed for us to access our generosity of spirit. First, we can connect with what we love and examine the traumas, patterns, conditioning that support us in protecting and not fully express that love. The impulse to love is connected to the best part of us. Perhaps the next step in our journey to love is not about giving less but looking at what would motivate us to give more!
Truths will be revealed about what prevents us from giving more - patterns of burnout, of giving from a need to please or gain approval, of family patterns around relationships that are self-protective or controlling. We can look at what motivates us to give. Often times, the love and desire to care for another has given way giving from obligation, codependency or some habitual pattern of relating. We can recognize how the exhaustion or frustration in relationships has come from the motivating or conditioned factors, and that we need to return to our heart and restore our faith in our love and what it calls from us.
Shakespeare’s Juliet said, “My love as deep; the more I give...the more I have, both are infinite” Chances are we feel the ring of truth in this, and we can remember a time when we felt tapped into the experience of this as a reality. At the Libra New Moon, let us feel the longing, the desire to access and move through life with this kind of love, a love that has limit and no need to for boundaries.
There are those whose whole natal chart is wired for a life of service. On the path to discover the true joy of service, they usually must first encounter the unhealthy or imbalanced ways to serve. They discover through experience that service is not subservience, or saying yes to every request, or being self-effacing. The joy of serve is found when we are generous with our love and in how we care for and make a difference in the lives of others. In order for humanity to move forward and move away from its current self-destructive path, we need to be less self-oriented and more community oriented. Taking care of each other brings out the best of humanity, and may in the end be the only thing that can save it.
How to love is not clean cut. It calls us to go beyond our boundaries and go beyond what feels safe. Yet we often find our sense of purpose, our place in this world, when we serve something larger than ourselves. Love grows when we overextend for the sake of another. And yes, we walk a fine line when we extend. There is the rick that we will end up burnt out and bitter, and not exalted. We learn how to love only through practice, self awareness and taking the risk to love.
Following her heart, Ariadne took a leap towards love. It led to abandonment and disillusionment. But this was not the end of her journey. When we are in the middle of our journey towards love, we do not see the full picture or why we are needing to go through what we are going through and what we are learning in the process. In the middle of Ariadne's journey, we may have said her story was about an empath who had fallen in love with a narcissist who only was interested in her as long as she could give him what he needed. We might have said she was taking too big a risk to give over her life to a man she had just met. There are many things we may have thought about her and her actions, but the gods saw something different. Dionysus, god of ecstasy, saw a woman who had tapped into her infinite capacity to love and so offered himself to her, recognizing he could be loved in the same way as he could offer love - holding nothing back.
If Ariadne had not risked, she would never have found a love to match her own. Sometimes we do not know why we love, or why we give, or why we take the risk. We just do.
Always give
without remembering
and always receive
without forgetting
Brian Tracy
Considering one or more relationships, ask:
Why do I want from this relationship?
What is it asking of me?
Why has this relationship entered my life?
How can I better love and express this love with the other person?
What do I need to tend to or be aware of with myself so I can do this?
Upholding Commitments to Others
New Moon oppose Saturn
We have responsibilities within relationships in our life. There are agreements, spoken and unspoken. It is not necessarily about unhooking ourself from commitments or obligations that tire or cause us stress. It is about embracing what we have signed up for and not struggling against it. With Venus Retrograde, we may explore how we can be more true or more loving within our agreements. We may wish to make some changes, so we are free to love more. For some of us, we may decide a relationship is too much a burden or no longer a match and set it down at the end of the Retrograde. But during the next weeks, it is valuable to explore why we are engaged in the relationships we are and what they are giving us. We are to look at what they require of us, draw from us, what we are learning from them, and what we are receiving in return. And, of course, look at what is the most loving action we can take towards the other.
Maturation in Love
Venus conjunct Mercury at Apex of Fixed T Square with Pluto and Mars
Relationships may be challenging during the coming weeks. We may find we are not on the same page with someone about what the relationship is about, what we are working towards. There may not be agreement on what we expect from each other in a partnership, collaboration or friendship, and the spirit of compromise may seem absent all together.
Part of us is frustrated, simply wanting to assert our wishes, confidently make agreements, and get on with it (Mars in Leo) but we are being thwarted (Pluto square Mars). As the world changes, so must we. We are connected to a collective future that is taking shape; to effectively meet it our consciousness and our way of relating need to evolve. As we change and grow, we each change in different ways. What we see is the way forward for ourself may not be what another sees for themselves. Relationships must grapple with how to encounter the changes as they forge new agreements and shared understandings to successfully engage a future that is a marked departure from how we have been living.
We are all moving towards a future that is unprecedented in human experience as the world becomes smaller; we wrestle with how limited resources can meet the needs of 9 billion people; effectively address how climate change has disrupted our fragile ecosystem; and face how AI is on the precipice of massively impacting how society functions. Pluto’s square to Mercury, Venus and Mars is challenging us to examine our motivations, our behavior patterns, and our values around money, possessions, what we own and our relationships. We need to realign ourselves with future potentials, even though they are not clear to us yet.
The Venus Retrograde helps us to trust the process, to slow down and let ourselves review what we are feeling and wanting and to pay attention to what is folding within us. Life is to happen from the inside out…meaning that the change first happens within us and we see it ripple out into our life. Waiting for the future to dictate the changes we will make, our capacity to listen to and respond to what is emerging from deep within us will inform the future that is taking shape.
There can be great resistance within us to making the needed changes that have us evolve and open to new ways of thinking, living, relating. We may experience ourselves digging in our heels, refusing to budge (Pluto square Venus, Mercury, Mars). If we are on the receiving end of another’s stubbornness, we can identify what they are mirroring about ourself.
And, in this deep dive exploration of the next weeks, let us each identify what we love and commit ourselves to loving what we love as never before. If love is what makes the world go 'round, let's prove it.
Mercury Retrograde (October 24 – November 13) will only heighten the truths we are seeing and what is being revealed to us. It is time to make a new choice about how to handle matters of the heart and love. A conversation is needed. We are to put our cards on the table for the sake of what matters most. This will lead to a new approach, solution or option not previously considered. There will be more than one conversation. There may be friction. But we are to stick with it.
Relationships require work and often ask more of us than we directly receive. But like with Ariadne, their is a universal presence that is witness to our love and we will be rewarded in some unforeseen way in our commitment to love.
In the currency of the universe,
you only keep what you give away.
Anthony De Mello
In Conclusion...
As truths are revealed around the ways we experience and don't experience love during the Libra New Moon and in the coming weeks with the Venus Retrograde, let us contemplate the relationships that matter most to us and how much we are willing to give to those relationships. Let us see the truths around inherited beliefs and learned patterns for what they are and release what does not serve us so we are free to fully share our love.
As the old adage goes, love isn’t always a bed roses; it often involves some thorns. We can ask ourselves what are we willing to sacrifice, or risk for the sake of love? Initially, what is experienced as sacrifice may come back to us with blessings we could not have imagined, and in ways we do not expect.
May we all foster greater intimacy by a renewed commitment act from love. Let the care of ourselves be the springboard, the means to increasing our desire to generously give to another. May we each make the change that is needed to bring more love into the world.
I slept and dreamt
that life was joy.
I awoke and saw
that life was service.
I acted and behold,
service was joy.
Rabindranath Tagore
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Beautiful Liv. Thank you. ~Kristen