The Cosmic Story: Libra New Moon 2017

The Cosmic Story: The Libra New Moon

Imagining a Balanced World

Susan Seddon Boulet

The chaos and disruption of ‘regular’ life in America has never been so great in my lifetime. Even the 60s didn’t feel this tumultuous, but then again, I was in my teens and I can’t vouch for how my parents experienced it. What I felt was excitement from the music, the culture, the protests. It was our first wakeup call to an exciting new vision of unity and love (the very promise of Christianity), Now as an elder, I see what makes this chaos different – it’s the despair in people’s heart and minds about surviving and thriving. But that earlier vision of living an awakened life has also taken root in places all over the world and now it’s time to strengthen that vision deep within our collective psyche. Our whole culture – our whole world – has to unite and heal Mother Earth. Until we do unite, our leaders will continue to play at war and power and greed. 

 

We unite by stepping forward.

The hippies grew up in a time of peace and prosperity after WWII and stepped into an adventure as they went out into the world and found their new tribes. This was the birth phase of the Uranus-Pluto cycle that began in 1965-66. We’ve just undergone 3 years (2012-2015) and 7 squares between these planets of awakening and transformation and our journey is different. Our task is to make those ideals that our country was founded on a reality. The only way to do it is through an awakened citizenry. Perhaps if Americans actually work together on our problems, coming from opposite sides but willing to negotiate, the US would make more progress with its diplomacy. How can we tell other countries how to behave if we do not live up to our own ideals?

 

We can’t until we ARE a true example of democracy and peace. And that’s where an engaged and enlightened citizenry comes in. Each of us has to engage in our world. Wherever we see a need, if we’re balanced we can step in and help re-assert the proper balance. 

 

“As Above, So Below. As Within, So Without.” Come into balance yourself and that vibration will extend out into your family, work and community.

Libra New Moon 2017

This Libra New Moon occurs on October 19, 2017 at 12:11pm PDT/ 3:11pm EDT/ 7:11pm GMT.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Moon at 27* Libra is: An airplane sails, high in the clear sky. Dane Rudhyar¹ states that this symbolizes “a consciousness able to transcend the conflicts and pressures of the personal life.” This symbol evokes our ability to take an objective view of ourselves and the world, looking at our lives from a higher perspective, creating unity within the polarity. This is the alchemical ‘union of opposites’ which gives rise to the Self.  

 

The original union of opposites was and still is the union of feminine and masculine energies. We need and deserve equality between the sexes, but we also have to learn to give equal value to both types of consciousness – our feminine imaginal brain and our masculine rational brain. They each have a different function, and when they work together, they create brilliance! This is what has put our culture out of balance – the fact that our feminine wisdom is disregarded, used and abused. But this New Moon in Libra can change all of that. 

 

While the Libra New Moon makes contact with Saturn, the Nodes and Chiron, (as well as Jupiter and Mercury in early Scorpio), the most important connection it makes is to Uranus and Eris, exactly opposing it from Aries. Aries and Libra are concerned with Self/Aries and Other/Libra, one of our primary oppositions. Jung felt that our whole world is built on the energy of opposites. But remember, opposing doesn’t necessarily mean fighting and refusing the connection. Opposing means to complement each other, to share our talents in a synergistic way, just as women and men, night and day, heaven and Earth compliment each other and make life more interesting, fruitful and fulfilling. It is good to remember that these planetary energies will work best when working together.  

Uranus and Eris have been working together for a while now. Eris symbolizes the Goddess of Discord and we’re certainly experiencing that. But discord means against (dis) the heart (cour). We are in the midst of discord because we are going against our own hearts. Uranus in Aries has been waking us up to our destiny, which is Aries’ special task. Who am I? Once I know who I am, I’ll also know what I’m here on Earth to do. Together, their energies will shake up our world, entwined to keep us centered in our hearts as we awaken.

Uranus symbolizes the higher mind, one that is shaped by the archetypal powers of life, the cosmic laws of life and death and rebirth. Uranus breaks us out of patriarchal thinking, out of our collection sleepwalk through our corporate culture. Uranus can inspire us to brilliance or when we ignore him, shake us out of complacency by big surprises. What Uranus contributes to this Libra New Moon is fresh ideas, the breakdown of habitual patterns of relationship and the courage to face the truth in our relationships.

 

So what energies do they bring to this New Moon birth? 

 

The Sabian symbol for Eris at 24* Aries is: Blown inward by the wind, the curtains of an open window take the shape of a cornucopia.

The Sabian symbol for Uranus at 27* Aries is: Through imagination, a lost opportunity is regained.

 

Both symbols speak to the magic ingredient of this powerful New Moon—the creative imagination. In the first symbol, our imagination ‘sees’ abundance in the shape of the wind’s dance with a curtain. How do we value abundance? In the second symbol, the creative imagination has become a tool for self-growth and spiritual enlightenment. What possibility are you called to?

I’ve worked with the imagination for over 30 years and know its power to create positive change in life. Yes, it can be used as the patriarchy uses it for personal profit. But its true purpose is to help us understand and live life fully, as both spirit and matter. It is our connection to Wisdom, the wisdom of the Heart. This is the purpose of Jungian active imagination, creative visualizations and shamanic journeying – accessing our own wisdom. 

 

We have to learn how to consciously connect to the creative imagination to ask for wisdom and guidance, until we re-member our instincts and know their purpose. Patriarchal religions shame our bodies and our instincts, devalues the body and its needs as sinful, and demand that we reach for some heavenly perfection. Since we never will, it keeps us constant sinners. It turned our imaginations to negative thinking: to worry rather than creativity, to fear rather than hope, to confusion rather than vision. Uranus will shock us to wake us up if need be. It’s up to you how you meet him.

Imagination is how we connect to the quantum field. 

 

This is what three lovers of Wisdom say about the Imagination.

I do not know what bounds may be placed on the power of the imagination. It can heal the body, reveal the secrets of divine truth, transform the personality, incarnate God, and open up worlds of infinite diversity and potential. Jeffrey Raff, Jung and the Alchemical Imagination

The imagination is, therefore, not a source of deception and delusion, but a capacity to sense what you do not know, to intuit what you cannot understand, to be more than you can know. William Irwin Thompson, Gaia, A Way of Knowing

Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” 

 

With the return of the Goddess, women are remembering our direct connection to spirit through the body and through the imagination, for the Goddess’ purpose is to incarnate Spirit – to know the spirit in matter. And that’s women’s gift to the world. Our Wisdom and Vision. Just as we need and have developed masculine traits such as rationality, focus, discipline, will. 

 

Balance is THE keyword for the sign of Libra, whose symbol is a Scale. A scale measures and weighs things and is one important tool of exchange, for how can we truly know how to balance things out? Whether we speak of human partnerships or human/animal partnerships or human/Earth partnerships, what is the correct balance? 

 

One thing is sure. The Scales demand our whole weight—our truth—to balance out. In ancient Egypt, the Scales were sacred to Ma’at, the Goddess of Truth. After death, Egyptians believed that we are judged—by ourselves. The heart of the deceased is placed on the Scale of Ma’at and the balance is a feather. The only thing that will balance that feather is the Truth, the truth of who we are. 

 

America is a nation of laws, a system of checks and balances. We as a people have to own up to some discipline and find our own inner checks and balances. Yes, a person of a particular faith can believe that life begins at conception, but that is only his belief. Shouldn’t we, as a nation, create laws that allow for other people their beliefs? Isn’t that what freedom means? Pro-lifers don’t have to use contraception or get abortions – nobody is forcing them too. Why do they need to enforce their beliefs on others? That is imbalanced. 

 

Don’t we need laws that are wide enough to accommodate many beliefs without hurting the common good (which we don’t have now with our crazy gun laws), and let our free will choose which course to take? If pro-lifers think early abortions or even using contraception is murder, why do they send their sons and daughters off to war to kill and be killed? Killing is murder, however you want to spin it. If they lived their beliefs, they would be pro-peace and life. This is the self-discipline and awareness we have to bring to bare on our beliefs. Many people are hypocrites, living contradictions, because they don’t live the beliefs that they want others to follow.

 Now that Jupiter is in Scorpio, we’ll get to the bottom of that religious contradiction. With Jupiter and Mercury close to this New Moon in the sign of secrets, diving deep and psychological renewal, don’t be afraid to look at some hard and fast truths about yourself and others. What you do with these truths is up to you.

Uranus and Eris want this new balance to include individual freedom, both in our communities and in our partnerships. We don’t own each other – we’re not possessions. We are free to follow our convictions – or we should be. But we’re still at the very bottom of the barrel of patriarchy, so we’re seeing the worst, and yet, once the wound is lanced, we have a chance to heal. While we have a President who has molested women, it wasn’t until last week’s Harvey Weinstein revelations (reported on the day that Jupiter went into Scorpio, the sign of sex, secrets and scandals), that women are taking a united public stand against these kinds of male predators. Women are and have been raped and pillaged right along with Mother Earth and have been second class citizens for thousands of years. It is time to balance the scales. Especially if we’re going to deal with our environmental and social crisis. We need both types of knowledge and wisdom to heal our world. If we listened to the grandmothers and water protectors, if we listen to the women peacemakers, if we listened. If we listen…

To avoid unconscious hypocrisy, we need to develop the self-discipline to use this New Moon’s objective perspective to live out our beliefs. That’s where Saturn in Sagittarius comes in, forming a waning sextile with this New Moon, opening up opportunities to exercise that discipline. Along with Black Moon Lilith, Saturn is moving over the Galactic Center. As the base note of our chakra system, this signals a time when we complete the shift to a higher vibration. Aligned with the Leo North Node and Uranus and Eris in Aries, Saturn can focus the fire energies generated by this grand trine into cosmic creativity. 

 

In personal relationships, be true to yourself! State your desires so that you and your partner can have different opinions and yet create win-win situations. That’s what makes partnerships vibrant and exciting. The Scale is always in movement, striving to create that one perfect moment of balance. So ride the wind with wings outspread: balance yourself and you can create that balance with anyone else.

Libra being an air sign, it’s associated with thinking, socializing, communicating, as well as justice, beauty and the arts. Venus, the ruler of Libra, is in Libra, drawing our thoughts down into our heart chakras to see if we are being true to ourselves and open to the other person. Venus wants to bring harmony and balance, beauty and fairness to relationships. Meanwhile, she’s dancing with Ceres in Leo, Pallas in Taurus, and Juno/Pluto in Capricorn, making it a fruitful time to begin creating and embodying the changes that you want to bring to the culture. We need you!

So open up to your feminine wisdom and ask how to do it! You’ll be surprised at what you learn. The truth will set you free.

Walk in the Light and Dark,

Cathy

1. Dane Rudhyar, An Astrological Mandala, Vintage Books, 1973.

Burnt Norton (excerpt) -- T.S. Eliot

At the still point of the turning world.
Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards;
at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement.
And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered.
Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline.
Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance,
and there is only the dance.

~ T.S. Eliot ~

(excerpt from Burnt Norton, The Four Quartets)