Libra Equinox 2018: In a World Out of Balance

On September 22nd we come to the Libra Equinox where day and night are equal in length before we gradually descend towards longer and longer nights in the Northern Hemisphere.  Libra is a Cardinal sign which initiates action through relationships.  It is the WE sign seeking equality, balance, and fairness in partnership with others.  We strive for this in our personal lives and I see this striving actualized in a lot of people thankfully.  On the world stage, however, we are facing a collective crisis where nothing seems balanced.  

The symbolism in this Equinox chart shows up in the T-square configuration with Sun/Mercury Libra, square Saturn Capricorn square Chiron Aries, opposite Sun/Mercury Libra.  The missing leg is in the sign of Cancer.  There are so many crises going on it’s difficult to sort them all out, but I find myself ever drawn towards our environmental crisis which keeps accelerating at an alarming speed.  We have probably reached the tipping point like it or not.  As Saturn, now direct, moves irreparably towards Pluto in Capricorn reaching the conjunction orb by early 2019 and exactness by January of 2020 we, as a collective whole, must face grave consequences.  This Equinox chart indicates that Chiron in Aries ACTIVISM is one path towards healing the denial and repression of Pluto in Capricorn’s refusal to relinquish patriarchal control as actualized by the military-industrial-corporate complexes gripping world power today.  

One bright spot in this chart is that Mars/Chiron sextile which helps to mitigate the Chiron/Sun/Mercury opposition.  Chiron is the maverick, but aligned with Mars becomes the ‘sacred warrior’.  Mars in Aquarius is androgynous so all gender identifications are possible here.  Another bit of good news is that trine between Saturn and Uranus in Taurus which is a very earthy combination and also aligns more and more scientific discoveries with authority as evidence that something must be done, and quickly.

Crowds line up in front of the Ferry Building during the “Rise For Climate” march on September 8, 2018 in downtown San Francisco, California. – “Rise For Climate” is a global day of action demanding real climate solutions from local leaders. (Photo by Amy Osborne / AFP)

The Rise For Climate march on September 8th was attended by over 30,000 marchers in San Francisco alone.  This is a good example of that configuration you’re looking at in the Equinox chart.  People coming together and organizing for action around an issue that faces every single living soul on this planet now.  I like their ‘Green Faith’ which they describe as “people of diverse faiths making commitments to live sustainable and protect our common home.”  Please sign up and stay informed!  Each of us must find ways to get involved.  

California Wildfire

Fire and Water Chaos:  Is this symbolized by both Jupiter (a fire planet) in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces?  There isn’t much in Fire signs yet except Chiron.  Neptune in Pisces, however, is both a spiritual symbol as well as a mirror for the chaos swirling everywhere now.

Here in California we are surrounded by fires. Thus far this year 1,485,353 acres have burned.  The air has been so smokey at times that we’ve had to keep our windows shut and not even venture out to walk.  I made the mistake of walking three days in a row in smoke filled air and paid the price with a bad case of bronchitis and a hacking cough that took about 6 weeks to subside finally.  We take a lot of powdered Vitamin C in our morning drink which helps.  

Hurricane Florence

Hurricane season is on for the Atlantic coast and devastation by water and wind is upon those on that side of the continent as well as the Philippines and Hong Kong with their monstrous typhoon.   It’s hard to imagine millions of people needing to be evacuated or relocated.  We know Florence was downgraded to a ‘1’ and then a ‘Tropical Storm’ thank goodness.  I was alarmed to read also that more than two + nuclear power plants, and a major toxic waste site (Hog waste???) were in the path of Hurricane Florence.  I know the media hypes these events up beforehand, but still it was a monstrous storm with all that deluge of rain.

Is any of this normal?  I grew up in the ’40s and ’50s.  I can attest to the fact that I’ve been witnessing global warming since the mid-nineties as weather phenomena became weirder and weirder, and I’ve also witnessed the ever increasing rapaciousness of plain old greed accompanying this human caused deterioration of a planet now entirely out of balance.  Bigger storms, greater draughts, wild fires, and on and on.  Take a look at Ken Rohla’s site which I’ve recently subscribed to:  Fresh and Alive! News   In this site he posts a lot of good ideas for dealing with the growing concern of biowarfare, GMOs and Geoengineering which are real threats we also now face.  So get informed and protect yourself and your families!!

To keep all of this in perspective astrologically I continually go back to that comprehensive book by Richard Tarnas, Cosmos and Psyche, where he explores historically the great revolutionary epochs correlating with Uranus/Pluto alignments, the spiritual awakenings and birth of new religions correlating with Uranus/Neptune alignments, and historical crises and contractions correlating with Saturn/Pluto cycles, such as 9/11 and the Saturn/Pluto opposition.  In an interview in the 2006 Mountain Astrologer journal, when his book was first published, he discusses our ‘age of disenchantment of the universe and a spiritual crisis that takes different forms.’  To quote, “Another enormous consequence of this disenchantment is at the ecological level, the global ecological crisis we see taking place, where the entire planetary biosphere can be viewed by corporations and policymakers as just an exploitable resource rather than something possessing spiritual value, something that has moral value, something to be regarded with a degree of reverence and respect, and even religious awe.”

One other important point he brings out in this interview that I adhere to is this archetypal perspective:  “….the development of the disenchanted world view and the crisis of the modern self are coming to a climax in our moment in history………..it would suggest that the disenchantment of the universe is actually a temporary and local phenomenon………it has had a powerful grip on the modern mind, but it’s not absolute.”  For me, astrology has always enabled me to see ‘the bigger picture’, the more ‘cosmological view’ in the evolution of human consciousness .  Will we, as a species, survive this crisis?  I continue to hope that we will.  And I continue to search for teachings that I resonate with spiritually, such as those of the indigenous people’s who inhabited this continent where I dwell and taught profound ways of walking in balance such as the Lakota Prayer: Walk in Balance

Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery

Teach me how to trust

my heart,

my mind,

my intuition,

my inner knowing,

the senses of my body,

the blessings of my spirit.

Teach me to trust these things

so that I may enter my Sacred Space

and love beyond my fear,

and thus Walk in Balance

with the passing of each glorious Sun.

At this Equinox point of the year it is a good practice to renew ways to live that beautiful prayer.

Now I’d like to celebrate some special Librans that I know:

Tehya Shea

Tehya Shea is a beautiful young woman born with many planets in Libra including Venus.

Tehya weaving

 She is an artist, a spinner and a weaver, a web site designer.  She is also a mother if an equally beautiful daughter!  I’ve known Tehya since she was a very small child and am good friends with her Virgo Mother, Naima Shea.  Tehya epitomizes what I’ve come to love about Librans: her gentle finesse, yet an inner resolve to accomplish something with strength and determination.  She does struggle like all Librans with the effort to make the right decision.  Yet she bravely always tries to do the right thing.  I wish her a balanced journey in this life as she faces a future ahead (that I may never see) with both bravery and grace!

Susan Tonkin Riegel

Susan Tonkin Riegel is another Libran that I enjoy very much.  She, too, has four planets in Libra, only her Venus follows in Scorpio!  The graciousness of this sign comes to mind when I think of Susan.  Whenever she comes to see me she always brings little gifts, almost always made by her own hands.  Susan is an artist and a teacher sharing a life with her metal sculptor husband.  She has traveled widely and taught workshops in Europe.

By Susan Tonkin Riegel

 I can only imagine what a treat it must be to be under her wise and kind tutelage for I suspect that she helps to bring out the inner child in her students as they release their own creative spirits in various mixed media avenues.  

Regina Siembora

Regina Siembora used to live here in Nevada City, but moved to Portland, Oregon where she became much in demand as a true spiritual and energetic healer.  I’ve referred some of my clients to her over the years.  She was a model in her youth which is not surprising.  With her Venus next to Mercury in Virgo, however, her doctoring/mentoring skills won out over being just a pretty woman.  That being said, she still is a very pretty woman!  Her web site describes her healing work and teachings and believe me, she is powerful!

I know a great many other talented Librans who don’t seem to have public web sites or platforms to share with you, but I’ll mention just one more:

Zahra Ortega is a superb body worker, intuitive, and teacher of metaphysics in Yuba City, California. Not surprisingly her Venus combines with Mars in Virgo giving her added strength physically, and skillful diagnostic abilities. Her home is such a delight because, like a good many Librans, she decorates with flair and even whimsy.  For example, she puts river rocks in her bathroom sink!  At Halloween her home is a truly magical realm of goblins, twinkling lights, and spidery webs.  Zahra is a true maven in her community attracting men and women alike to learn about the more hidden realms of the spiritual world.

Kamala Harris

I’ve decided to end this article with a more famous woman, Kamala Harris, whom I admire very much.  She is our junior Senator from California and was the Attorney General in this state from 2011 to 2017.  I see that her mother was a Tamil Indian,and a well known breast cancer researcher; her father, still alive, is a Jamaican Stanford University economics professor.  Here’s her chart for public view:

You see the Full Moon in Aries complementing her Libran Sun.  She’s a fighter!!  She’s another Libran with a great deal of Virgo, in fact she was born with that Uranus/Pluto revolutionary combination conjunct her Venus in Virgo giving her added impetus for women’s rights, racial equality, and worker’s rights.  Quite a chart she has!  That Mars in Leo is unstoppable mobilizing with Jupiter and Neptune (her higher vision).  This woman is still rising I feel, and will give the ‘good ole boys’ quite a run I dare say.  Her questioning of Brett Kavanaugh in his confirmation hearings was impressive.  She is just months older than he, but light years ahead in consciousness.  May the likes of her prevail as it is well known that the Libran woman can make her way in what has hitherto been ‘a man’s world’.  Equality is still hard fought on that front, but she is up to the task both in gender and in race.

So keep practicing your own ‘walking in balance’.  Even a little child can do so!!