THE LIBRA NEW MOON

THE LIBRA NEW MOON

Monday, October 15, 2012 at 5:03 am PDT

The Moon and Sun Conjoined at 22.32 degrees Libra

Posted Monday, October 15, 2012

It's the Libra New Moon, the beginning of a brand new lunar cycle governed by this Venus-ruled sign of harmony, balance and relationship. Along with Gemini and Aquarius, Libra is one of three air signs, associated with the "mental plane." All highly sociable and relationship-oriented, the air signs are the supreme information and knowledge gatherers of the zodiac, they carry a strong mercurial signature.

So the "Queen" of today's Libra New Moon, the planetary ruler of this lunation, is Venus, the Goddess of Love. Astrological significator of what we cherish and value, and the ways in which we form important bonds of affection, our Lunation Queen is currently traveling through Virgo, a practical, reasonable earth sign ruled by cognitive agent Mercury. At the same time, Mercury, currently moving through Mars- and Pluto-ruled Scorpio, forms a favorable aspect back to Venus. This thrice-stated Mercury-Venus signature, occurring at this critical stage in the monthly cycle, implies that over this next month opportunity may arise only when we are courageous enough to open the heart and put the mind where it belongs: in a subordinate role to the heart.



"The heart has its reasons which reason knows not."

— Blaise Pascal


Mercury-Venus, when combined in happy aspect, also suggests a lovely combination of creativity and intellect. Associated with social grace, easy creative flow, and heightened aesthetic response to life, Mercury in harmony with Venus indicates the ability to experience and express love, and to appreciate beauty in all its forms: visual art, poetry, music, and dance. Connecting with the inner muse should be much easier over the next few weeks.

Yet this Mercury-Venus message in this New Moon chart is certainly not all champagne and roses, for when Venus falls in Virgo, "heart and mind disorder" can be itself a central problem — the ability to express affection, to support and empower those we love can become distorted by our own critical processes. When minds meet, how often they forget to invite the heart! Esoteric astrologer Isabel Hickey felt Venus in Virgo to be the sign of someone who had been unloving and superficial in past lifetimes, an individual who hadn't yet learned the basic lesson that love withers in a critical environment. "Virgo may make an excellent housewife," Hickey noted, "but doesn't always remember that it is love and warmth that make a house a home."

This heart-over-mind message is further supported in the New Moon chart through Venus's quintile to the North Node of the Moon, significator of soul growth and evolution. Associated with life events that propel us forward, the North Node is currently traversing, along with Mercury and Saturn, investigative, depth-of-feeling, Pluto- and Mars-ruled Scorpio. The quintile is itself a Venusian aspect. A 72° geometric measure, it represents the division of the zodiac wheel by five, a Venus number. Venus, whose orbiting cycle itself inscribes the pentagram: the five-pointed star, a geometric shape that is shaped by this same quintile aspect, Robert Hand noted that the quintile seems to possess qualities we usually associate with Pluto, with overtones of Venus and Mars. They seem to "link planets in such a way," Hand wrote, "that some kind of concrete creation or destruction is brought about." This message of creation and destruction is also carried and amplified by this late degree Libra New Moon that falls just one week before the Sun shifts into Scorpio and one month before the New Moon and Solar eclipse in this sign associated the task of releasing what is dead and dying in our own lives. Scorpio works much like a composter, transforming the discarded, stale contents of our lives. Under cover of winter, what we release is transformed into gold: rich black earth for the seeds of spring. It's the necessary counterpart to vernal gestation, this Scorpionic creation of a fertile ground that supports new life. Persephone goes to the Underworld for six months of the year, embracing her darkness, but she reemerges, transformed and renewed as the May Queen, the Goddess of Spring, every year.

Grand Trine in Sensitive Water

This New Moon also forms a wide, out of element conjunction to Saturn in early Scorpio, which is, in turn, part of a dissolving but still potent grand trine in the water element that includes Ceres in early Cancer (archetype of Mother Nature falling in the sign ruled by the Moon), and Neptune strong in the sign it rules. Grand trines in water are emotional-psychic channels of energy flow, inscribing a beautiful, perfectly balanced, equilateral triangle on the zodiac wheel, and connecting the three signs that fall in this same element.

In sacred geometry the triangle represents the holy trinity: spirit into matter, and biological synthesis: father, mother, child. With this particular tri-combination of celestial Neptune with terrestrial Saturn and Ceres, it is in particular a strong message of channeling and manifesting spirit and soul. This special grand trine suggests that throughout this next Libra lunar cycle, we may very well be able to utilize divine inspiration in a much more effective, practical, and realistic way. Avenues that open up for us over this next month may provide us with better ways in which we can sustain and nurture ourselves and our loved ones. Unusual opportunities, surprising portals can open up with this kind of linkage, but as is the case with all trines, we must be vigilant and observant — the motivation to do something with these cosmic goodies must come from us. As is always the case with easy trines, we have to supply the initiative.

New Moon Opposite "Monkey-Wrench Goddess" Eris

There is an entirely different, highly contrasting message in the New Moon chart which suggests we may be required to upset the apple cart in some way over this next month. Eris, a brand new astrological archetype in the early stages of delineation, a dwarf planet just discovered in 2005, forms a powerful aspect to the Libra New Moon.

Pulling information from classical sources, Eris, seems to represent action that goes against the grain of convention — having the courage to rock the boat when rocking the boat, making waves, is necessary and justified. In particular, it seems with Eris, it is agitation that expresses personal ethics or values that are centrally important, yet not recognized by society in general, not embraced by the dominant culture.

Eris will form a hot-blooded, almost exact opposition to the Libra New Moon, and moreover comes at the same time that Mars forms an exact trine to freedom-loving, rebel planet Uranus (3:34am PDT). Perfecting just 90 minutes prior to the New Moon conjunction, this Mars-Uranus plus "Eris-opposition-New-Moon" synchrony is a second strong theme that will play out for the duration of the lunar month.

Eris falling in opposition to the New Moon in polite, diplomatic Libra, seems to be asking us to contemplate the extent to which we sacrifice personal integrity for peace and harmony. In what ways do we censor ourselves too much, hide in the shadows? Do we worry too much about losing approval, of being shunned? What is happening in your world that goes against the grain of your own personal ethics and values? What influences are undermining these same values and what do you need to do about it? In what ways do you need to stem the tide of external pressure to conform in favor of expressing your own internal truth? These are the kinds of questions we may be asked to evaluate over this next month.

So Eris is quite active right now and will be over the duration of this entire lunar month. Look for her in issues that arise relative to self-determination, dissent, independent action, critical thinking and the courage to act outside of cultural mores. Scapegoating and shunning due to clashes in values and opinion between yourself and the community in which you live may become evident, and may draw you into conflict. Eris is not a "team player" and for GOOD REASON. Flowing passively with the "local drift" is not always a good idea, especially when we are not paying attention to where that tide is leading us. We need our agitators, people who are brave enough to operate outside of the safe enclosure of community, people who function as our truth-tellers, yanking those ostrich heads out of the sand and warning us about what's coming down the pike.



The Sabian symbol* for the degree of this Libra New Moon underscores the need to acknowledge and deal with what's on the horizon:

CHANTICLEER'S VOICE HERALDS SUNRISE — Keynote: A creative and joyous response to life processes.

The cock's crow heralding the dawn, astrologer Dane Rudhyar notes in his book on the Sabian symbols, represents the ability to recognize what is coming, to "give voice to what is, as yet, unmanifested, but is clearly on its way. On the flipside, as Rudhyar points out, one of the ego-traps this symbol also alludes to is that all too human tendency to think WE make the sun rise in our lives, when in fact any creative act is merely a revelation and recognition of what essentially, already is. The cock's crow is a symbol of our role as channel for creative flow. We are not the source, only its humble messenger.