"All we are saying is give peace a chance."
~~~ John Lennon

This month the Sun slides down sooner each evening as we celebrate Libra, the sign of dusk and sunset. The astrological glyph for Libra looks like an underlined Omega, but is in fact a symbol for the setting Sun. Just as Aries, Libra’s opposite sign, presides over the start of spring and Sunrise, Libra presides over the start of fall and Sunset.

These two signs begin with an equinox, the balancing point between the extreme high and low tides of light that are the summer and winter solstice. At either equinox, a day of perfect balance between the yang day force and the yin night force occurs. From the autumn equinox on, ( which occurred on September 23rd this year), we will lose 2 minutes of light a day until the winter solstice, which marks the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the tide changes again and daylight slowly sneaks back into ascendancy.

Each day there are two mini equinoxes, which literally means equal night, at the moments of dawn and dusk. Aries, the sign of war and action rules dawn, a daily moment balance just as the starting gun of the day goes off, and the world awakens to its busy daily activities. Libra, the sign of Peace and Balance rules dusk, an exquisite moment of balance as the world begins to still itself in the gathering twilight.

Libra, the sign of the scales represents on all levels, this moment of Peace and Balance and all that it represents. Libra is the only sign of the zodiac, whose symbol, the scales is an inanimate object, symbolizing an abstract and even mathematical concept of balanced symmetry. This is the sign of Justice, Beauty and Relationship (especially marriage and partnership), and Libra reminds us that without balance, none of these can exist.

The Scales point the way to Peace and remind us that Peace is actually a dynamic state of poised balance and fairness between two opposing forces. When we hear the word peace we often think of some passive, nondescript state where nothing much happens, but as anyone who has studied yoga, an intensely Librean practice will tell you, finding and keeping balance in both standing and sitting postures requires tremendous core strength and muscle. The yogic goal, once in the difficult posture, is to find the inner peace once there.

Libra, ruled by Venus, the Goddess of Love and Beauty, rules Beauty, and moreover points the way to achieving this State. Beauty, both inner and outer depends on symmetry and balance. In a recent study people from every culture shown hundreds of different photographs of multicultural faces, all found the symmetrical ones the most beautiful. Nature, the great architect of our bodies and the natural world has seen fit to build just about everything, from atoms, to our bodies to the solar system with mathematical symmetry in mind.

Our Inner beauty also, depends upon balance. Too angry, too sad, too manic, too anything keeps us from our inner bliss and creates mental and physical distortion. Too much balance, can also be a problem, nature seems to require a whopping great storm from time to time to clean out the atmosphere.

Libra rules relationship and reminds us that any healthy relationship requires balance, reciprocity and fair give and take. Libra also reminds us that the occasional gorgeous gesture of love wouldn’t hurt either. Flowers, silky lingerie, chocolates, a bed strewn with rose petals all set the mood in which the erotic and romantic can thrive.

Libra rules Justice, and in fact our legal system also uses the scales as well as blindfolded justice holding the scales as its symbol. This is supposed to mean that Justice is carried out impartially with disregard for all potentially influential externals like race, status gender and the like.

This month it was painfully obvious that the Justice system needs major chiropractic adjustments. The execution of Troy Davis united people on the right and left in an impassioned plea to stay the execution of this man, all to no avail. Spokesmen from The Peace Project, an organization of Librean scope at its best, devoted to using new DNA evidence to exonerate convicts who have been falsely accused, imprisoned or in many cases executed for crimes they didn’t commit, weighed in on the the sad but unavoidable facts that point to a justice system in which A) There is a massive amount of error and B) where capital punishment has been unmistakably and disproportionately used on black men. Organizations like the Peace Project are seeking to square the workings of Justice with the facts, rather than allow the heat of the moment and overly zealous prosecution to win the day.

Finally Libra is the sign of Peace as opposed to war and reminds us that when grotesque imbalance and injustice exists, Venus’s ultra macho boyfriend, Mars the God of War wades into the fray, and War and violence tend to break out. It is literally often the case as the protest slogan goes" No Justice, No Peace"

One of the greatest Libras’s of all time Mahatma Gandhi taught us the way out of even this predicament. Through the astonishing and breathtaking courage of the non violent approach, which sounds wimpy but is anything but, he demonstrated a way of maintaining Inner and outer Peace even in the face of open artillery and extreme and violent brutality

The Civil Rights movement adopted this approach while the world watched in horror as peaceful protesters where set upon by dogs and fire hoses. In both cases peace won the day. Libra the sign of relationship reminds us it takes two to Tango and in the case of confrontation he or she who reacts is lost. In interviews I have always found riveting, members of the Civil Rights Movement talk about the training they received and how they first had to quell their own inner violence before facing what was sure to come.

While looking at the scales it is usually the two sides that we notice, but it is the central axis between the two extremes that holds the key to our personal and collective salvation. The central point is the Place of Peace. This place exists within us as the stillness deep within. It exists as the still point between our inhalation and exhalation. It is the place that reconciles all opposites and finding it is the goal of all spiritual practice. It is ultimately only in this Peace and Stillness that we can know the Divine. Or as the bible puts it "Be Still and Know That I am God"

Libra rules beauty, fashion, weddings, emeralds, roses, romance, relationships, partnerships, balance, proportion, and art, especially the decorative arts, the law, justice, lawyers, diplomacy, twilight, sunset, evenings, refinement, negotiations, non violence, doves, and Peace.

To make maximum use of the Libra energy this month spend time cultivating your relationships. Actively listen to an opposing viewpoint peacefully or at least without snarling. Create beauty in your environment, especially your bedroom. Make Love not war. Adorn your body as a temple of beauty. Wear exquisite lingerie or buy some. Go to an art museum. Host a beautiful gathering. Work for Justice. Take some yoga. Meditate. Find a quiet place. Watch the Sunset. Be Still. Be at Peace

For at the end of the day it is only peaceful conscious people who can create a beautiful and peaceful world. May you be filled with this peace and transcendental bliss this month. May it extend outward from you to the lives you touch and the beauty you create. Amen

This month the Sun entered Libra on September 23rd the day this year of the autumn equinox. It will remain in Libra till October 23rd when it will enter Scorpio. We begin the month with the growing Libra Moon, the New Moon having occurred on September 27th.

This New Moon chart here on the East Coast was a Libra rising chart making this a month intensely about relationships, justice and beauty. Venus, the ruler of Libra was conjunct Saturn the Lord of Karma and the law so we can expect a very serious focus on the Justice system, as well as a serious testing of all our relationships. Libra rules marriage and with Saturn conjunct Libra partnerships are being tested, some to the breaking point this month, conversely others will be putting on the ring with the ring planet conjunct the marriage planet and legalizing their bond.

The month begins with the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Saturn all in Libra giving us a focus that gently demands that we bring balance, justice and beauty into our lives and relationships. It is a great month for the arts as well as for networking and finding the people you long to socialize with in the coming winter months. Saturn asks us to both give and receive respect in all our relationships and to maintain healthy boundaries while engaged in relationships. On October 10th Venus heads into Scorpio and on the 14th Mercury the planet of thought joins her bringing our focus to intimacy and the financial sector as well as issues of collective wealth.( More about this next month).

Mars is still in Leo giving us tons of creative, artistic energy as well as added leadership and backbone. Create, perform and lead. Mars stays in Leo all month giving us solar power and playful creativity. Jupiter is retrograde in Taurus as of October second, asking us to review our finances and reconsider ideas around income. This is also a great month to recover financially and review our values and ideas around money.

Saturn the Titan of form, structure and responsibility is in Libra for the next year testing our relationships and putting pressure on all inherently unfair relationships, personal and global. Uranus in Aries encourages action and uprising where this injustice exists. It also heralds a technological revolution that will change all technology as we know it beginning with military technology. Neptune back in Aquarius asks us to find our spiritually like-minded people and organize, organize, organize! Pluto in Capricorn continues to rock and roll us into a whole new age as the infrastructure and all our systems based on organized selfishness and greed come tumbling down.

Namaste,
Demitra