the new moon in libra is exact at 5:05pm PDT on monday october 12th, 2015- closing out the eclipse portal lunar cycle that preceded it and initiating us into another month of shifts, changes, endings and new beginnings. typically the new moon in libra is a great time to plant seeds and set intentions about what we are calling in in terms of partnership, relationship, balance of give and take, self and other. this is still the case at this new moon in libra, but because the new moon is opposite uranus and quincunx chiron there is a deeper energy to be aware of in the coming month. our task is not to seek for love (as rumi says) but merely to seek and find all the barriers within ourselves that we have built against it. with uranus the rebel and revolutionary and chiron the Wounded Healer teaming up with this new moon- we may be initiating ourselves into a month long process of truly feeling all our wounds and pain, anger and rage that keep us from experiencing the deeper Love we seek- both within and without. you cannot heal what you cannot feel- so the coming month brings with it deep opportunities to get deeply in touch with that which runs you Unconsciously so that you can integrate it, heal it and take conscious creative control of your life back!
right on the heels of the eclipse portal and a 2 year period of time where we had four total eclipses back to back (termed a tetrad)- the way we do relationship with ourselves and others has been in breakdown and breakthrough territory. wherever imbalances have been playing out in our inner and outer lives- we have been forced to face them and take full responsibility for them if we want to be able to have any chance at transforming or healing them. i read an article the other day that made a joke that this past year has seen more celebrity breaks up than other years previous- and this is in part due to the shifting/changing nature of role based dynamics in relationships. when we first get into relationships with people we consciously or Unconsciously make agreements about what roles we are going to play. for example let’s imagine a young woman who wants a strong, older, financial secure man who can take care of her. she meets just such a man and he is looking for a younger, beautiful, youthful and fun loving woman to inspire him- and she fits this description. initially their romance can seem like it was written in the stars- as they are precisely what the other was looking for! yet in order to maintain this level of perfection they both need to stay in their respective roles. if he loses money in the stock market or if she starts to get older and have wrinkles- both of their ideal images of projection will shatter. yet on a deeper level if either (or both) of these individuals wakes up one day and realizes they want to live the unlived part of themself that they project onto the other (i.e. the man wants to stay at home with the kids or follow his heart career wise which means letting go of his lucrative career- or the woman wants to get a career and make her own money and step fully into her power)- then something will have to shift and change. this is normal and actually necessary for growth- as staying in role based relationships that we agreed to play out 5 or 15 or 25 years ago keep us stuck and parked on the side of the road of evolution and growth (on the road to enlightenment there are many tempting parking spaces).
so the last 2 years of eclipses have turned a lot of these role based relationships upside down. if cannot own my anger i will attract an angry partner/neighbor/boss. but once i get in touch with my anger we will start having issues as previously i played the placater but now i am standing up for myself and the partnership feels like a battlefield. or another person who is out of touch with his or her own power and authority will attract a powerful, authority figure into their life- but once he or she starts to own this for him/herself they may find themselves in power struggles with this person who preferred when he/she was complacent and easy going. ultimately we are all seeking to become whole- whether that takes years or lifetimes. and the libra scales of balance remind us that when we don’t own something in ourselves we will project it out onto others. and in order to do the inner work required of us we have to be willing to take back that projection and become conscious of that energy within ourselves- which will necessarily change the dynamic in relationships. the change could seem to be for the better or it could seem to be for the worse- but change is definitely the constant on the evolutionary path. there is no escaping it!
this new moon in libra also activates the venus/saturn square- a square that has happened twice over the summer due to venus’ retrograde journey, so think back to july 13th and august 5th for the last two squares. this month’s square is the 3rd and final one and it is exact on october 10th- just two days before the new moon and during the dark of the moon to boot. venus square saturn tests the foundations in relationships and financial situations. saturn’s harsh Light shows us very clearly what is working and what is not. with this insight we can work to making something more stable OR we could realize that we have come to the expiration date and it’s time to let go. it’s definitely a heavy energy but when used consciously it can help us cut away the superfluous and get to the Truth. this particular square is in virgo and sagittarius- whereas the others were in leo and scorpio- so there is an element of discernment (virgo) and honest to God Truth (sadge) that is being demanded of us. the new moon semisquares both venus and saturn- meaning that the new moon is at the exact midpoint of these two bodies. because venus actually rules this lunation (venus rules libra)- we again get this message (and it will keep coming until we listen to it) about what is done and needs to be released, what is not working and needs to be fixed, and what is still growth producing and can stick around. venus rules relationships and romance but she also rules self-value, self-worth and self-Love. this new moon can bring us opportunities to see where we are not being self-Loving in the choices we make and things we do and what shifts or changes we need to make in our lives so we can align with and truly embody the Love we seek outside of ourselves.
the new moon is also widely square pluto- which is a reminder of the sun/pluto square aspect that was exact a week before the new moon (on tuesday october 6th). so think back to then and see what was showing itself for what it is in reality. pluto squares confront us with the shadow and shit. all that is toxic, not working, stuck or stagnant is up for being cleared out when pluto is involved. this can play out externally in situations in our lives- but it can also (and more importantly) play out internally. releasing control and surrendering your will to a Higher Power may be the best advice i can give you in the coming month. if you truly trust that the Universe has got your back- then you can relax and the birthing contractions won’t feel so intense (take it from me and any woman who has ever given birth to a child). transformation and surrender are synonymous- yet when we are under hard pluto aspects we often feel like we have to control the outcome. and this is a big no-no right now. we cannot control anything or anyone outside of ourselves and even if we could- we would be interfering with the karmic journey that others are navigating. the best thing we can do is control ourselves and make conscious choices about what we want out of life and what we do not want. we each are walking this path in the way we are choosing to- and surrendering what is right now is actually the precursor of discovering how to manifest what is possible in your life.
one of the best pieces of news in this new moon chart is venus’ trajectory. she is in virgo now and past her shadow- so she is done with her retrograde/underworld journey. she heads into her 3rd conjunction with jupiter (october 25th) and also a conjunction with mars (november 2nd). amazing new things are set to open up for us- but the clearing out work we do right now will set the stage for how much space we truly have to allow the new to come in. in addition a day before the new moon jupiter trines pluto (october 11th). since jupiter and pluto are trine- both venus and mars will link up with both of them. mars trines pluto on october 15th and cojoins jupiter on october 17th. both venus and mars- the Divine Lovers, feminine and masculine- are heading into an expansive, transformative, rebirthing phase. out of the ashes of death the phoenix arises! so whatever it is you have to let go of- within and without- you can be sure it’s creating space and clearing you out for some new delight. of course with both jupiter and pluto involved there’s also the potential for amazing transformation to happen in existing situations and relationships that look like they are completely done. this will only occur if all parties involved are willing to take 100% responsibility and step up their game (not the game of playing people but the game of mastering the Self).
the sabian symbol for the new moon degree of 20 libra is ‘a jewish rabbi in a tiny room full of manuscripts and books, performing his duty’. lynda hill says that this degree is about initiations and ancient Sources of Truth and understanding. dane rudhyar says this degree is about ‘inherited wisdom (that) can be focused through a person who accepts its limitations’. this is interesting to me as libra can represent the sociocultural ideas of partnership, marriage and relationship. with the tetrad of eclipses now past us- the sociocultural idea of what is normal is changing. this degree can speak to our ability to accept the limitations of the past and understand their necessity but also realize that a whole new world is opening up to us that is not what our parents accepted, our religion accepted or even our culture accepted. initiations into a new awareness of what relationship and partnership means and is can ensue during this lunar cycle if we work with it as such. if you read this blog regularly you know i am a big proponent of inner work and inner union. i personally feel that you cannot have a true, balanced, whole partnership with someone else until you have done the inner work to find balance and wholeness within yourself. this is not to say you cannot have relationships until you come to this place within yourself- and this is also not to say that this place within the self is a static and unmoving. i personally feel evolution is circular not linear- and there are times we loop back over lessons we learned previously so we can take our mastery of them deeper. yet until we have really committed to this inner process and inner work- all our outer reflections and relationships are going to be attracted into our lives to help us see what is not working inside. this can manifest as intense, karmic and at times traumatic relationships that are in our lives to solely wake us up. but when we are already on the path of waking ourselves up we don’t need to attract someone to play that role for us- and that changes the dynamic in all of our relationships (again this is about shifting out of role based relationships that keep us stuck in karmic patterns of the past).
blaine bovee has some very insightful things to say about this degree as well “Imagine a conflict between two parties. It may be a long standing bitter stand-off. Only when one or both parties take their own relationship to the divine, can the conflict die. So, what does ‘playing dead’ mean? How do we use it? When embroiled in a difficult situation where tensions are high, one’s way to an authentic resolution is to imagine one’s own death. What would it be like to die with the bitterness and misunderstandings still outstanding? “If I died today, would all my relations be in right order?” No? Then find where in your heart you would like to come from, how you would want to leave your loved ones. Resolving an issue with another individual is effected when one’s personal stake in the matter is allowed to die. What counts? What is worthwhile? The Rabbi points us in this direction… to G-d, to the divine, to a third transcendent factor that resolves internal struggle.” so again this degree mirrors relationship struggles- within and without- and the key to resolving the struggle is to come from the Higher Self, surrender to the Divine and get the ego out of the way. if you find yourself embroiled in any inner or outer struggles in your life- meditating on the sabian symbol for this degree and imagining your own death could help you to see what the path of resolution requires. if you were going to die today- what would your Highest Self do in order to find balance, harmony, peace and understanding in the most intense situations in your life? the key to this is in realizing that libra is ultimately about finding the middle point between yin and yang, masculine and feminine, assertion and surrender. too much of either creates conflict and struggle- but the right recipe of both helps us to find our center (in the heart) and then take conscious, clear action from that place within.
i also see in this sabian symbol a call to seclude ourselves, like the hermit in the tarot deck, so that we can study, become aware of and know ourselves and the Truth of our life more deeply. taking time in this coming month to turn within is highly recommended. with the libra new moon the mirror reflections are likely to be loud and captivating- but the whole point of them is to remind us of something going on inside. ‘if the outer reflects the inner, you may as well start at the Source’.
i wish you a transformational lunar cycle full of much grace and ease!
blessings…
~divine harmony