The Cosmic Story: Libra New Moon 2018

The Cosmic Story: Libra New Moon 2018

The Libra New Moon on October 8^th - 9^th sets the stage for a new garden – a community garden that feeds all of us. We are no longer alone in our undertakings and we’ve realized that we have to feed each other to achieve our goals. 

 

Libra knows the art of partnership, the need to relate and have an Other who gives us a new awareness of ourselves. Libra is an air sign, so it’s not about passion – save that for Scorpio! This Libra energy is all about living in ‘right relationship’ with each other and the world.

But love is always a part of our relationships, isn’t it? If love is our ability to connect, then it is present in some form in every one of our relationships. When we’re young, our loves begin with projection – the assumption that the Other has characteristics that, in reality, probably belong to us. Whether it’s love of our parents, our siblings, our friends, our first romantic loves, we often see those we love through the emotional glasses of our own needs and beliefs.

As we grow older, we expect other things from our romantic relationships – shared responsibility, emotional balance, help, acceptance, companionship. And hopefully, there’s still passionate sex involved! Even our disagreements provide energy and passion to the relationship. Opposition doesn’t really call for splitting apart; opposition calls for finding the correct fit, for holding the tension of opposites until the third option appears. Another opportunity for some great make-up sex!

When our partnerships aren’t romantic, we might find ourselves being more courteous, respectful and open to other ways of seeing the world because we feel more objective towards them – not so vulnerable to their emotional demands. We try to love them, seeing the divine spark within them. We learn collaboration and diplomacy from Libra’s partnership energy, knowing that the more perspectives we have on an issue, the more likely we’ll discover the truth of the matter.

So how can we start our community gardens? How do we share ourselves and our gifts with others in our lives?

This summer, my small apartment got inundated by many, many boxes of books that I love and value, finally out of storage after 10 years. And I’m happily re-acquainting myself with them. Many I have to let go of for lack of space (so it you live in Rhode Island, come and get some!). But the important ones, my mentors, I’m keeping. I figure I can re-read them all and be re-inspired. 

Part of my library

 

I also keep thinking of ways to share these treasures with my friends. A lending library? A book club? A bookstore/coffeehouse? And then I remember the Sabian symbol for my Cancer Moon is ‘a beautiful old library that is shared with friends’. I love the synchronicity! I get to share not only my own knowledge, but the vast knowledge of all these teachers.

I stop by the bookshelves every day and when a book catches my eye, I open it (as many of us do). I pulled out an old book from the 80’s I loved and now with the internet, I found this beautiful teacher online. She is Dhyani Ywahoo, a Cherokee Wise Woman and Buddhist Elder, who runs Sunray Meditation Center and Sunray Peace Village.

Nine Precepts in the Code of Right Relationship

1. Speak only words of truth.
2. Speak only of the good qualities of others.
3. Be a confidant and carry no tales.
4. Turn aside the veil of anger to release the beauty inherent in all.
5. Waste not the bounty, and want not.
6. Honor the light in all. Compare nothing; see all for its suchness.
7. Respect all life; cut away the ignorance from one’s own heart.
8. Neither kill nor harbor thoughts of an angry nature, which destroy peace like an arrow.
9. Do it now; if you see what needs doing, do it.

~Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo, Voices of Our Ancestors, pp 20-21~

Let’s remind ourselves daily of these qualities and walk with them so that we learn how to be in right relationship to the Earth and all her other children. That is the Libra blessing!

Another side of Libra is the need for justice, fairness and balance. We’ve seen this ideal upset by the American Senate, caring more for partisan politics than for truth and justice. But if we can’t stop Mr. Kavanaugh from being elected to the Supreme Court, we can deal with our own ‘inner Judge K’. This is the judgemental part of ourselves where our logical mind is split off from our emotional heart. This gives rise to having our emotions overwhelm logic or logic repress our emotions. We have to ask ourselves, where do we do that to ourselves and others? These weeds in our communal garden need to be rooted out.

Once again, I go back to my library. I find some interesting old mystery novels about a Chines Sherlock Holmes, Judge Dee, and find this quote. 

Judge Dee

 

This is the Confucian belief about judges.

Heaven created an immutable pattern for 10,000 ages,

Regulating sun and stars above, mountains and rivers below;

Thereafter the sages of old did model our sacred social order,

Taking Heavenly Justice as warp, and man-made Law as woof.

A wise and honest Judge is Heaven’s unerring instrument,

The people’s father and mother, both compassionate and stern;

In his court the oppressed obtain redress of all their wrongs,

No criminal there escapes, despite base fraud and guile.”

This is what a Judge is supposed to be. Let’s bring back this archetype.

It’s up to us to create the peace and balance, justice and beauty that Libra desires most.

Libra New Moon 2018

The Libra New Moon occurs on October 8^th at 8:47pm PDT/ 11:47pm EDT and on October 9^th at 4:47am GMT.

The Sabian symbol for both the Sun and Moon at 16* Libra is: After a storm a boat landing stands in need of reconstruction. This symbolizes the need to keep the links open between our ego-consciousness and the vast realm of the Collective Unconscious. The Collective Unconscious is stirring up a storm – the forgotten ones will no longer remain silent. We need to make sure we’re open to the revelations we get from the Unconscious Mind, for they can give us new ideas and perspectives on life. That’s why remembering your dreams are so important for a healthy balanced life.

We’ll be helped or hindered by an inconjunct to Neptune in Pisces to this New Moon, depending on how sturdy your ‘boat landing’ is. Neptune can inundate our psyches with images and feelings that belong to the greater Collective Unconscious, especially now with everything going on in our society. We need to make sure that the messages we’re receiving steady our ego while expanding it. We can be deluded and deceived and inflated by the archetype if we’re not rooted in our center.

If we stretch ourselves without losing our sense of Self, Neptune can provide us with the imaginative answer to our needs. Spirit is always standing by to help!

Psyche in the Underworld feeding Cerberus

~Edmund Dulac~

Libra’s ruling planet, Venus, just turned retrograde on October 5^th in Scorpio, beginning her descent into the Underworld, releasing her old forms, embracing her anger and rage over what is happening in the world and letting her death and rebirth as a Morning Star (around Samhain) signal a return to power of the Divine Feminine. You can read about the beauty of Venus’ cycle in the heavens in Part 1 of my series on this Venus retrograde.

The Sabian symbol for Venus retrograde at 11* Scorpio is: A drowning man is being rescued. This symbol speaks to the depth of love for others, that you might lay down your own life to save someone in trouble. This speaks to our inter-relatedness and our responsibility to act for the sake of others. For women and children all over the world who have endured sexual harassment and rape, this is especially poignant as we watch the patriarchs (both men and women – the father’s daughters who stand for the masculine in all things) ignore our pain in their grasping to remain in power.

With Scorpio Venus trining Neptune in Pisces, we have a direct line of communication open between our own unconscious (Scorpio) and the Collective Unconscious (Pisces). This can help us sort through the intense feelings and images arising within us. We are not alone in our suffering and we will help each other survive. We are no longer alone with our pain.

Venus retrograde is challenging Mars in Aquarius, squaring each other on October 10^th, to stand up with her to fight injustice and inequality. This square can also overwhelm us with intense feelings of either love or hate for people in our lives, but we have to resolve these deep emotions within ourselves, as squares indicate inner issues. Scorpio’s energies help us deal with our Shadows, so work on your own darkness before pointing out the darkness in others.

Pluto in Capricorn challenges this Libra New Moon to open to our common humanity, urging us to stand together as we watch patriarchy try to make its last stand against the future. And it personally challenges each of us to look at our relationships and let go of the old collective expectations surrounding love and relationship which often keep us tied down to people and situations that no longer serve us. Open up to possibilities in all your relationships.

Libra loves beauty, harmony and intelligence that brings opposites together rather than pulling them apart. Seek the balance in yourself to bring balance and harmony to all your relationships.

Walk in Beauty!

Cathy

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Tiny Gods

Some gods say, the tiny ones
"I am not here in your vibrant, moist lips
That need to beach themselves upon
the golden shore of a
Naked body."

Some gods say, "I am not
the sacred yearning in the unrequited soul;
I am not the blushing cheek
Of every star and Planet--

I am not the applauding Chef
Of those precious sections that can distill
The whole mind into a perfect wincing jewel, if only
For a moment
Nor do I reside in every pile of sweet warm dung
Born of earth's
Gratuity."

Some gods say, the ones we need to hang,
"your mouth is not designed to know His,
Love was not born to consume
the luminous
realms."

Dear ones,
Beware of the tiny gods frightened men
Create
To bring an anesthetic relief
To their sad
Days.

~ Hafiz ~
(The Gift - versions of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky)