Peacemaking doesn’t mean passivity. It is the act
of interrupting injustice without mirroring injustice, the act
of disarming evil without destroying the evildoer, the act
of finding a third way that is neither fight nor flight
but the careful, arduous pursuit of reconciliation and justice.
It is about a revolution of love that is big enough
to set both the oppressed and the oppressors free. Shane Claiborne
The New Moon on October 6, at 13 degrees Libra, inspires us to take initiative to address areas of imbalance in our relationships.
Libra is the sign relationship, the dynamic between us and an other. The scales of Libra show the degree of balance or imbalance when we put ourselves on one scale and the named other on the other scale.
Libra strives for peace and seeks justice, fairness and equality. Librans have a reputation for being people pleasers, but in their role as peacemakers, they can show great strength and fortitude in actions waged to balance the scales.
The Mirror is another symbol of Libra, conveying the illusory nature of polarity. What we see outside of us is simply a reflection of ourselves. Whether we want to address a relationship with someone we love, with an authority, or the world at large, we can ponder the symbol of the Mirror, and recognize that when we try to change something outside us, it is the disquiet we feel within that is wanting to be changed. We need to work with creating balance within ourselves before we can successfully address the imbalance we experience around us.
Warrior Mars conjoined with Peacemaking Libra
Mars, the planet of boldness, heroic action, and trusting one’s instincts, is masculine in nature. Libra, ruled by Venus, is the lover and is feminine in nature. As Mars rides with the New Moon, we are fired up to take action to restore the balance between the masculine and feminine within ourselves and in our world.
We are ready to fight – fight for the values we cherish, for the harmony we yearn for, and for what we want to see happen in our lives and world. At best we are inspired to be spiritual warriors, using diplomacy and consideration for all to address disempowerment and oppression. At worst, we are impatient with the lack of harmony we are experiencing, and may feel justified to express anger, rebel, or strike out with vehemence. Ultimately Mars conjoined the New Moon energizes us with the potential to create significant shifts and generative strides forward in our desire for peace and harmony.
Mars conjoined the Libran New Moon amplifies our primal sexual urges. Romance may spark. On the shadow side, if our anger is stirred, we may feel violent towards another. In addition to passionate lovemaking, energy can also be channeled through physical activities or exercise. This energy needs an outlet and it happens through engaging our body and in feeling the physicality of our beingness.
The Libran Energy Focus is on Relationships
The New Moon has us focus on how we show up in relationships. We are encouraged to seek resolution in the spirit of negotiation, collaboration and consideration of others along with ourselves. Especially when we feel passionate about the topic being discussed, we can remember the image of the mirror and consider how we can shift our approach, so resolution is achieved.
With Warrior Mars in the mix, we need to slow ourselves down if we are getting overheated. If we are not mindful of building anger or impatience, our words and actions may only undermine what we are wanting to achieve in partnership.
If we have no peace
It is because we have forgotten
We belong to each other.
Mother Theresa of Calcutta
Feeling Charged Up
Uranus Quincunx The Moon, Sun and Mars
Uranus adds an element of urgency and surprise to the big energy of the New Moon. Something may be introduced that is unexpected and seems to come out of left field. We may have to change course, change a plan or routine and roll with what has suddenly appeared.
Uranus seeks radical change and can inspire brilliant innovation or violent rebellion. We may feel anxious as Uranus fuels the restlessness and impatience of Mars. It may be difficult to relax with the buildup of electrical energy moving through us. It is beneficial to actively pace ourselves and not rush to combine the discussion, the decision, and the initiating action into one continuous movement.
Wanting to relieve the energy building within us, we may feel the drawn to downplay the Libran qualities of negotiation and diplomacy in favor of rash and impulsive action. There is a bit of Catch-22 in that we yearn to remove unhealthy restrictions and limitations from our lives, and yet to navigate circumstance and relationship we need to exercise self-restraint and self-control. It is beneficial to question the urgency we are feeling and not give in to a ‘it’s now or never’ attitude.
Healing Relationship Dynamics
Chiron opposes the New Moon
We are in a process of healing our ability to take initiative, trust our gut, and confidently speak to be heard (Chiron, the Wounded Healer is in Aries). In dynamic tension with the New Moon, Chiron’s presence helps us move deeper into relationship without losing ourselves or overly compromising in the name of keeping the peace. Old wounds may surface where feel an old injury that resulted from taking a risk, speaking out, or from trusting another. We can recognize how we were once hurt, affirm that we have moved passed this, and open to a new way of engaging relationship without the fear that we will be hurt again.
Moving through Fear, Longing and Compulsion
Venus in Scorpio
Venus, as ruler of the Libran Moon, plays a key role in understanding the invitation of the New Moon. She is at the last degree of Scorpio. When a planet is in the last degree of a sign, the qualities of that sign are amplified. Scorpio, as a deep-water sign, connects us with our feeling nature and the feelings that lie deep within us.
Venus is also not making any aspects to other planets and so our feelings and desires can be purely felt. Primal feelings around loving and being loved, around power and powerlessness, can put us in touch with irrational urges in order to protect, control, and satisfy unmet desires. We can find ourselves feeling jealous, possessive, wanting to control, or grasping for the love. What we have repressed, surfaces. We are encouraged to embrace what we have minimized or squirreled away in ourselves and give love to all that surfaces as an action of self-love. As we transform our relationship with our shadow self, our relationships can be transformed.
As the Libran Moon encourages us to engage our relationships with courage to see and speak truthfully, we simultaneously have the opportunity to encounter the shadow nature within ourselves that needs to be felt and owned in order to be healed.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
only love can do that.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mercury Retrograde (September 26 – October 19)
Mercury is also in Libra and will be in Libra for an extended period of time this Fall. Mercury, planet of the rational mind, is contemplating relationship. We are evaluating and rethinking our relationships. We are asking ourselves deep questions around fairness and equality and how these values can be better expressed in our relationships. The New Moon overall is compelling us to take initiative to address issues in relationship and yet Mercury is counseling us to be open-minded, stay listening, and to keep investigating what can help make a shift in how we experience ourselves in relationship to others and our world.
The New Moon encourages dynamic action and yet with Mercury Retrograde, we are counseled to refrain from taking action from a sense of urgency or to make quick, impulsive decisions. We are to continue exploring options and to give ourselves time to be introspective so that we can best discern how to move forward in a good way. We are encouraged to take action, but from an centered, calm, and informed place.
Our minds are more active with Mercury Retrograde and the added mental energy supports ongoing conversation and ongoing discussions. We can approach relationships with a spirit of wanting to discover a new way rather than asserting the correctness of what we have already concluded is the right way. We are to engage in the back and forth dialogue of collaboration. It can be beneficial to revisit topics, decisions, and past events in our conversations. Taking time to talk things through, we can arrive at new solutions and new shared understandings with each other.
Mercury is moving closer and closer to the Sun and will be in Cazimi, meaning conjoined with the Sun, on October 9. As Mercury moves into the heart of the sun, our mind is illuminated by the sun’s light and a new perspective, a new thought can enter our consciousness around the nature of our relationships and shifts we wish to make.
No one is born hating another person
because of the color of his skin,
or his background, or his religion.
People must learn to hate, and if they can learn
to hate, they can be taught to love,
for love comes more naturally
to the human heart than its opposite.
Nelson Mandela
October: The River of Life Picks up Speed
Big shifts and adjustments will carry us towards and prepare us for what will come in 2022
Four planets that have been traveling Retrograde will station and change direction in the next weeks. Retrograde energy impedes forward movement in favor of taking time to deeply consider, evaluate, and integrate the wisdom that has been learned. As planets come out of Retrograde and move forward again, our lives become more active as we are called to put our newfound wisdom into the play of our lives.
October 6: Pluto stations direct at 24 Capricorn. We have been looking at how to transform areas where we experience powerlessness and a desire to control. As Pluto moves direct, there may be a shift in how we create and experience empowerment in our lives.
October 10: Saturn stations direct at 6 Aquarius. We have been been restrained from moving forward as we contemplate the structure of our life and how we wish to restructure it. As Saturn moves forward, we may feel a readiness to make structural changes to our lives (ie change of job, home, relationship…)
October 17: Jupiter stations direct at 22 Aquarius. We have been given added time, with Jupiter Retrograde, to see the big picture and expand the vision we have of our future. As Jupiter moves direct, we may feel a readiness to begin to give legs to our vision.
October 18 – Mercury stations direct at 10 Libra. As stated, we are contemplating our relationships with an eye to fairness and equality and how to collaborate with others towards resolution. Once Mercury moves direct, which encourages us to make decisions and take what we learned and put it into action, we may find lives and plans moving forward at a fast pace.
We can anticipate that the world stage will continue to express the unconscious and shadow side of human nature in relationship, diplomacy, collaboration and the addressing of imbalance. Rather than seeking balance, there are many with power who simply wish to load up their side of the Scale. In a culture that often values action over introspection, productivity over consideration, a retrograde planet simply occurs as inhibitive and unduly holding us back. As several planets move out of retrograde, leaders and high level executives may exert power and increased control because there is an opening now for them to move their agenda forward. In the end, we all move together, and all each of us can do is our part to bring love to the world. When we engage with anger, reaction, and hate, we only add to the imbalance. I am reminded of something Gandhi once said, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." The movement of the planets over this last decade and in the near future point to the current world order breaking down, and those attached to keeping the current one intact are going to great lengths to secure their own power and wealth at all costs. Astrological dynamics point to this as being a necessary phase, and the role that the 'old guard' is to play in this time of great change is to try and prevent the change.
With the Libra New Moon, may we each set an intention to recognize and embrace the deep feelings within us, engage ourselves and others with love, and believe that through collaboration and conversation a resolution of differences can be found, and that our combined efforts lead to a rebalancing of the Scales so greater harmony is created for all.