Libra’s Search for Balance
Equal day and night, Libra pulls out the scales to usher in autumn.
On September 23rd, 2:50 am EST, the Sun moves from the maiden Virgo into the scales of Libra. This is marked by the autumnal equinox, equal day and night and marks the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere.
During the dog days of summer, days seem eternal. Dinners are pushed further and further out, mundane chores get shelved for yet another sunset boat ride, dinner out with friends replace the weekly grocery trip. Virgo season, we began to experience the reality of the falling away of summer. Mornings increasingly take longer to gain light, and evening hours quickly slip away to the quickening of dusk. Virgo season makes us face the harsher realities that shorter days bring, we rush hastily to accomplish what seems to be ever building tasks that prep us for the cooler coming months. Schools back in session, lunches are to be made, boats and gardens need to be winterized, spiderwebs to be cleared. We can no longer ignore the tedious tasks of life that as uninteresting and repetitive can seem, they add up to our inner security and calmness. When don’t you feel better when the floors are scrubbed, closets are organized, grass is mown? Mental thoughts and inner voices are calmed when our external world becomes better contained. We cannot run at full speed all of the time. This is what Libra season attempts to teach us.
Libra, the scales, is a zodiacal sign that teaches us about balance, and reminds us quickly when the scales are off kilter. Ruled by Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, cooperation, and creativity. The exalted ruler is Saturn, Saturn has a voice along side of Venus and these are normally two odd bedfellows. Venus is warm, says yes and wishes for things to grow in harmony, and Saturn is cold, enjoys constriction and saying no. Yet can the two exist aside one another? The image of a growing houseplant comes to mind. The perfect container provides optimal growth and life. Too small, the roots have no where to go, and they choke one another out searching for nutrients and water, soil dries out quickly, and growth is stunted. Too big, and really we are not optimizing nutrients to scale, soil takes longer to dry out and roots are susceptible to root rot. It is important to recognized the next container phase for a plant in order to thrive. This is Libra in action, finding that perfect pot for optimal growth. Too much room, too much space with no containment leaves us without clear boundaries of our direction. We need to hit up against walls that tell us no, and yet we still need our creative freedom to roam and grow and suck up the good nutrients. Both are equally important. This is represented by the scales.
When the Sun enters Libra at zero degrees, this marks the Autumn Equinox here in the northern hemisphere. To me, this is a reflection point that asks us to stop and reflect on where we have been growing since Aries season, when the Sun was reaching higher and higher. Where were you investing effort, what have you been feeding, growing and now ready to harvest and weigh? Is there an area in your life that you have devoted immense amount of energy and now it is time to redirect? Maybe you have been saying no to a specific goal or area, and now it is time to say yes and build a space for it.
Even the Sun needs to be contained, it cannot keep reaching up and up, we need it to return to us and then sink below us. This is symbolic for the seasons that live within us. We need our container, and the seasons of autumn and winter provide us with these boundaries. Libra season now weighs out the harvest of the previous months. It is healthy to downshift and redirect. Use the growing darkness to dive deeper within your own mind and heart. If the scales still feel unbalanced, what can we actively place on the other side or remove altogether to seek a better internal balance of our own potential energy. What areas within us are ready to be winterized and put away for the time? This act makes space for something else to awaken and take root.
Happy Fall, enjoy the growing darkness that gestates something richer in our own spiritual soil.