Johannes Vermeer “Woman Holding a Balance”

September 22 - October 22, 2020

There is a divine proportion, a golden ratio, that underlies all of nature, from the cosmic to the microscopic. The human psyche recognizes it, in concepts like peace, harmony and justice, and seeks to replicate it, through channels like art, music and relationship—all keywords, as it turns out, for Libra. 

Consider its cognates: Equilibrium. Deliberate. Calibrate. Level. Libra, the sign of the Scales, lives life as if standing on a fulcrum: too much of a tip in one direction brings a jarring discomfort. But the soul breathes a sigh of relief when things are in balance. A cardinal air sign, ruled by Venus, it is attuned to the social, interpersonal and aesthetic, giving birth to the Lovers, the Diplomats, the Peacekeepers and the Artists of the world. Libra’s children also feel at home in the areas of law, justice and commerce, where the scales are employed every day. In this way, and as the sign of Saturn’s exaltation, Libra can be seen as an expression of the Greek Themis, or the Egyptian Maat, goddess of cosmic balance, who weighed the hearts of the deceased against a feather to determine admission into the afterlife. 

The language of Libra is fairness, grace, style, charm and civility. Its natives are generally likable, agreeable, creative and make friends wherever they go. In their shadow, on the other hand, are vanity, flattery, indecisiveness and over-compromise. There can be a tendency to weigh words too carefully for fear of giving offense, or to equate beauty with goodness, which can lead one astray. Such a natural focus on the Other can make it difficult for the Sun to shine as it would like, but Libra is here to learn the art of relating, and for that, the ego must take a back seat. 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “[One] should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” What he was prescribing, in the language of astrology, is Libran medicine, and that innate sense of beauty, that we all possess somewhere in the birth chart, is the Libran gift.