LIBRA NEW MOON - 8 / 9 October 2018

Tuesday 9 October, exact at 4.46am BST, Monday 10 Oct, exact at 11.46pm EDT

This New Moon brings our relationships into focus. It is an ideal time to set some positive intentions around how we relate to our loved ones and what we want to give and receive within our relationships. It might be helpful to give some thought to what unhelpful patterns of relating we want to leave behind in the dark of the Moon and what healthier patterns we want to cultivate as the Moon waxes towards the Full Moon.  New Moons are an incredibly potent time energetically, when whatever is bubbling away in our consciousness has the capacity to blossom and grow over the course of the month ahead. As such, if we choose to actually harness the energies and set conscious intentions then amazing things can happen! We just need to watch out what we ask for because we can be taken quite literally!

Do we need to improve the way we listen to our loved ones? It is so easy to hear others through the filter of our own needs and expectations and not objectively hear what they are actually asking of us. Are we guilty of projecting our needs onto our loved ones and expecting them to be something they are not? Do we need to learn to meet our own needs rather than expecting others to meet them? Are we guilty of conditional giving and withholding affection when our projected needs aren’t met by our loved ones? Or do we love unconditionally? Likewise, do we tend to give too much in our relationships, to the detriment of our own needs? Does our need to be needed lead to subservience or allowing ourselves to be dominated? Do our relationships involve an equal balance between give and take? Are we dependent on others to validate our own sense of self-worth? What disowned parts of ourselves do we project onto others?

So often what we dislike about another person is something that remains unhealed and unrecognised in ourselves. Our relationships truly are amazing mirrors, allowing us to learn and understand so much about ourselves if we are willing to be honest and objective about ourselves. Libra represents a need within us to find balance rather than going too far in one direction or another. Where in our life to we need to find balance? Where to we tend to go to extremes? Do we have a habit of holding back our true feelings out of a need to keep the peace? Similarly, is there a relationship or situation in our lives that is in need of some peaceful resolution? Libra is very adept at the art of diplomacy and compromise. As long as it doesn’t go too far and merely lead to people pleasing. The art of healthy relating involves such a delicate balancing act!

Venus is the ruler of this New Moon and has literally just gone retrograde in the intensely emotional sign of Scorpio. As such, we should not be surprised if people from our past pop up in the next few weeks! Any unfinished or unresolved relationships may reveal themselves as we have the  retrospective action of Venus to review, repair and reflect on our past relationships. Venus will move back through Scorpio until October 31, when it will cross back over into Libra. While Venus is in Scorpio we may have to confront issues such as trust, loss, power/powerlessness, abandonment and intimacy, and could be called to expose our darkest secrets and the parts of ourselves that we would normally prefer to keep hidden from view. Indeed, we may find ourselves drawn to reflecting upon our past relationships, remembering things that have long since been brushed under the proverbial carpet, deep within our subconscious!  

Venus will be retrograde from the 5th until 17^th of November, when the planet of relationships will turn around and start going forwards again. This could be an incredibly profound time for our relationships and has the potential to bring the past back to meet the future, with memories of love long since forgotten coming back into our consciousness. It’s a great time to reflect upon and transform the way we relate to ourselves and others, and we may find ourselves thinking about people we haven’t thought about for a very long time. The connections we have with people transcend time and space, and those we were once close to are always in our hearts even if we haven’t physically seen them for years. It is also possible that old grievances and resentments could come to the fore during this period, especially while Venus is still in Scorpio. This intense sign asks us to be emotionally honest with ourselves and our loved ones and to allow the vulnerability that comes from showing someone the more raw, “unattractive”, shadowy parts of ourselves. This is what allows true intimacy. We all have our flaws and darker aspects; and only showing the more “civilized” parts of ourselves does not allow people to see all of who we are.

Speaking of Scorpio, Pluto is forming a challenging square aspect to the Sun and Moon during this New Moon. This brings the potential for a bit of a cosmic kick up the bum, whereby some kind of power struggle is a potential within our relationships, as well as  some rather profound shift or transformation. We could become all too aware of how our old, engrained patterns of relating are running the show and sabotaging our adult relationships. These kind or realisations can be painful, but it is so powerful to actually be able to see how our old conditioning is affecting our present day reality. Venus and Mars, the cosmic lovers, are also squaring off against each other during this Moon, causing friction in our relationships and the potential for sexual frustration or urgent, powerful attractions. Our passions could be running rather high with the divine masculine and divine feminine in different camps! However, this could be exactly what we need to bring things out into the open and resolve whatever issues we may be facing in the realm of our relationships.

The Sabian symbol for the New Moon, at 16° Libra, is:  “After a storm a boat landing stands in need of reconstruction”, which brings the sense of a storm having swept through and left a considerable amount of emotional damage that is now in need of repair. The boat landing could be seen as our foundation and sense of security, while the storm could be a torrent of emotions, as water represents our emotional life.  The Sabian symbol for Venus, at 11° Scorpio, is: “A drowning man is being rescued”. Dane Rudyar says of this symbol: “A man risks his life to save another: this is love, based on a sense of responsibility produced by the vivid sense of interrelatedness”.  This symbol brings a sense of us being out of our depth somehow, at the mercy of forces larger than ourselves, unable to cope on an emotional level. Sometimes we have to admit to ourselves that we can’t manage something alone before we can allow ourselves to be saved or rescued. This symbol evokes a feeling of true vulnerability and the power of love to save us in times of need.

The spotlight is definitely on our relationships during this New Moon! Parts of ourselves that we prefer not to face could come rising to the surface, demanding attention. Long kept secrets could be revealed, hidden resentments and unexpressed feelings brought out into the open. People could resurface from our past, reminding us of parts of ourselves we might have forgotten or left behind. This Moon gives us an opportunity to transform the way we relate, and to set some powerful intentions that could make a big difference when it comes to the future of our relationships. Libra’s ultimate aim is balance and equality, and so this Moon could help us to move towards a greater sense of harmony in our lives.   

Much Love

Amy

xoxo

Painting: Libra by Julia Ismambetova

My website: www.amybirdartandastrology.co.uk