☾ slow dancing into libra season☽
The new moon in Libra arrives September 25, 2022 at 5:54 pm.
(scroll a little farther down for the full forecast!)
Libra things.
On the heels of the seasonal shift into fall in the Northern Hemisphere, this new moon arrives with a gentle pull inward, towards the ways in which we hold ourself in relationships. How we communicate & how/what we carry into our connections with others become the centerfold of this moments potential.
This can show up in more than just personal relationships. This can be social dynamics, relating to nature or where you live, & even the relationship you have with your sense of self. There is a lean towards what we share when we are in relationship with someone, something, somewhere, and how to stay in balance with that shared experience of self and other.
There is an opportunity to shift the scales a bit, intiating a dance with the energy you bring to the room… and the ‘room’ you find yourself in at this moment. the stars hint towards needing to refine how you show up in these ways… to uncover something that may be in need of integration… to clear away the mess of anything that no longer represents who you are… and to find a little message of support through friends and partnerships towards the parts of you that may have been rejected or cast aside (by your own insecurities or the projected fears of others.)
The invisible stuff that comes with being human is part of what holds us in the dynamic of relating. Sometimes the things between self and other are heavy… emotional, financial, and even the shared experience of loss and suffering can bring closeness or create division. I think this is part of the reason need each other, so that whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’, we share the weight and celebrate the wonders with those who move through life with us. We gravitate towards those who are similar to us. Who expand our awareness of what is real and what is valued through what we share. A shoulder to lean on & a friend to laugh with. A room full of people who gather to celebrate, to grieve, to inspire, to expand.
It is in this nature of togetherness that we pick up on the gentle queues, the glances, the niceties, the ways of being… and we mirror those experiences to flow within the culture/communities that we live in. It is these group dynamics we find ourselves welcomed or become aware of our differences. Sometimes that gives a glimmer of potential, knowing we are supported by the resonance of individuals beating to the same drum. And other times, it confirms that we are out of alignment within those groups.
Libra, ruled by Venus, is a sign that knows how to harmonize. Have you ever heard of Limbic Synchrony?
“From an evolutionary perspective, being in-sync with members of your group was vital for survival. Imitation is present before we are even born; babies heartbeats take on the same rhythm as their mothers.” (1)
Also known as mirroring, human beings have adapted to create harmony & peace in their environment through the act of imitation. Through the activation of ‘mirror neurons’, a set of specific nerve cells in the brain, we (mostly unconsciously) mimic the gestures and tone of the people we are around as a way to show empathy and create trust. To physically signal to others, ‘I am safe, you are safe sharing space with me, we belong here.’
With this new moon, a few questions arise…
Are you conscious of the influence you have on those around you & the influence that others have on you?
Are you aware of the subtleties of communication… body posture, gestures, eye contact, the power of what you speak about and how you say it? Are you sending a clear message?
Are you relating to your groups, your communities, your family dynamics, your friends… or are you finding a gentle tug that there is a need to harmonize your needs within the group dynamics you relate to?
do you need to establish some new boundaries of who you are/could you be more open and vulnerable about who are you are in those space?
By taking account for your own actions and being intentional about how you communicate, what you like, what you care about… you have the potential to shift relationships in your life with awareness.
You could begin now to plant the seeds of confidence in the part you play with others by believing that what you have to offer is valuable.
Instead of letting the room influence you… what would happen if you were to influence the room?
With Venus ruling over this lunation, sitting pretty with a Mercury Retrograde in Virgo, and the Sun & Moon opposite Jupiter Retrograde in Aries… this New Moon asks for you to look within first. To take account for your own internal systems that keep you integrated. To sense what feels right for you and to gently edit what might no longer be a necessary coping mechanism for how you act in relationship. Maybe you feel just right… maybe your life is in harmony and this moment is a moment to simply be in gratitude. If you sense there is some disharmony, you might reflect whether you have become complacent… or have you become defensive? Are you fighting with your environment… or are you blending in to stay small? Have you outgrown the room you’re in? Is there something within you waiting to be accepted so that you can begin to attract like minded folks? Where is the balance…. and where are you?
Staying small, or being so bombastic that you find yourself on the fray of it all, both have a sense of separation… and Libra is about connection. When the pendulum swings between extremes… the only way to reconnect is to find the center again. To let the energy become still… still enough to feel the subtle pull of what is true for you. When we move beyond our ego, (ego = the container that we have been shown by our caretakers and early environments that is acceptable & necessary for our evolution) the nature of your unique expression can reveal parts of who you are that don’t always fit the mold society gives us.
“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”
Maya Angelou (sun in Aries, Moon in libra)
This new moon has a little extra influence from the asteroid Eros, which has been moving through the sign of Virgo alongside Venus most of September. Where Eros is involved, we learn about the things in life that spark passion & the erotic pleasure and joy of being alive. Eros, an expression of the higher octave of Mars (the planet of desire, will, drive, and masculine expression… depicted as cupid except not the cherub baby that might come to mind… but the grown son of Aphrodite, goddess of love), pierces life with the arrow of what it feels like to feel deeply, passionately, and to summon that into all that we do with delight and curiosity. (2)
With Eros, Venus & Mercury having an influence over this new moon, in the quiet dark of the sky, something seems to settle like a seed folding into the soil.
Look back over the past year, make note of the moments you have felt the most alive. What has been sensational? What has brought you to the fullness of what it means to feel passionate, brimming with potential? Do any of those moments seem a little out there for what you were told is acceptable? Do any of those desires reveal a side of yourself that you had forgotten about… or maybe never fully realized… or maybe rejected?
a closer look at planetary cycles highlighted in this new moon moment…
New Moon 2° Libra September 25, 2022 at 5:54 pm est.
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New Moon 2° Libra September 25, 2022 at 5:54 pm est. 〰️
Below is the forecast for those subscribed to my newsletter. If you would like to receive astrological updates through the month for new/full moons, and notable transits, sign up here.
A little note before you read the forecast
If love hasn’t been on your mind through this time… consider other Venusian themes: values, money, finances, possessions, appearance, art, design, aesthetic, how you relate, ’feminine’ influences, fashion, style, and what brings you pleasure. We all want something… what is it for you?
☾ New moon in libra ☽
The new moon arrives Sunday evening, turning the page towards fall and tuning into the heart of the matter: the power of love, core values & what transformation looks like on the surface vs. what it feels like within. How might there be a need to adjust the inner and outer aesthetics in your life to reflect a clear message of who you are to the world and what matters most? It’s a form follows function quip.
Often, breakdown leads to breakthrough. Sometimes… what looks like poised perfection is really a mask of deeper struggle. Every now & then, we may find our self balanced in just the right spot… Are you keeping it real? It’s time to clean up the act… to harmonize the disparate parts of yourself so you may radiate a clear portrayal of who you are and what you stand for. That way, the fire that lights your soul can shine brighter, with more clarity, magnetizing people & experiences that are meant for you as you evolve towards your most fulfilled expression. As Tom Petty (sun/venus/mercury/neptune in libra) would say it… ‘Honey, put on that party dress’ … If you wanna dance.
When you look into your heart… what desires have crystalized? There is a call to connect to what makes you feel alive & begin to transform on this axis. Can aligning to the power of love, pleasure, & what you value have an effect on the way others see you… the way you enter a room… the way you dress… the way you harmonize with the world. How can you begin to radiate the transformational power of aligning to love from the anchor of what feels charged from within, the thing that your mind keeps returning to ~ intensely inspired? How might the seeds planted now, in the new moon phase, find their nutrients sourced from the most intimate and soul felt depths? And if you want something very different than what you were told you should want… this is a call to ask yourself what it’s worth for you.
There is power in knowing what you desire, and letting it generate a field of energy around you. There is a sense of expansion to what is brought into this moon phase. Growing awareness of what it feels like be in love with life… letting pleasure & joy be the thing that you (consciously, or unconsciously) organize your life around now. It may be a gentle knowing… and there does seem to be some tenderness to what emerges. You are being asked to pioneer through pain/grief/repressed fears… blazing towards uncharted territory in your own way. In love & in style, with permission for the mystery of who you are to reveal itself. Not necessarily all at once, not without a few fumbles out the gate, but with a mischievous sparkle that moves playfully through each moment. Allowing room for chance & surprise, that it may all work out better than you hoped if you don’t try to force it.
Romance is in the air & it manifests through the way you set the table, the kindness of a stranger, the gentle opening of a new season. Sometimes, it’s what you don’t say that says it all. It‘s what you leave out of the frame that pulls one in for a closer look. It can be the way you say it that makes all the difference... and realizing that when you know you’re worth it, it’s already yours. So why not fall in love with the moments between wanting something and having it? Buy yourself the flowers. Take yourself to dinner. Don’t hold off living waiting for it all to be just right, discover yourself through falling in love with each moment.
At the end of 2021, Venus and Pluto met up in Capricorn a few times while retrograde, moving on to dance in the sky with Mars for an extended trek… opening into a new cycle with the late April conjunction of Jupiter/Neptune/Venus in Pisces. This year began with that Venus retrograde/Pluto energy, and the cycle between Venus & Pluto peaked at the end of summer as Venus travelled through Cancer on August 8, 2022.
Topics of love, power struggles, dreams, passions, fantasies, shadow, desire, repression, grief, possession, visions of what could be/what could have been and the faith we must have to move through life in love… have been important this year so far. Maybe it was the love you already have. Maybe it was realizing what you don’t have and wishing for something more. Maybe it was about how you love yourself. Esther Perel claims, “Everyone should fall in love at least once.” When love called, did you answer it? Was it the realization that you deserve something better, or possibly an invitation to go deeper. To strike the cord of what it means to look at at our own heartache… and allow it to transform into a source of power through awareness & catharsis.
This new moon, ruled by Venus in Virgo, is flavored by the Venus & Pluto energy as they made their closing trine aspect early Sunday morning. All this to say… although this new moon arrives in the breezy air sign of Libra known for its heightened aesthetics, social suave, harmonizing qualities… this moon goes deeper than what meets the eye, and calls for a tasteful critique & a side of justice served. A moment to take a look at what you’ve been through, and notice how the threshold of what you can bare through challenging moments often prepares us for bigger transitions. You’re a little bit stronger, now… but can you let it go and flow?
Libra seeks balance, it is the ultimate diplomat, with the ability to bridge polarities and make connections between seemingly opposite perspectives. As a cardinal sign, the spark between relating initiates, becoming a conduit for energy to flow. Libra finds the middle ground, weaving a spell of beauty and charm with style and social acuity. Delivering differences with receptive aesthetic, making it all a bit more palatable, softening the blow and sweeting in the connections.
Venus & Pluto go the deepest. The underworld deep. The shadows, grief of heartache, the taboos, the hidden desires, the power struggles that emerge from entangled love. In a natal chart, it can be a signature of a passionate and even obsessive love, a compulsion to be loved or to make sure others feel loved. As they danced through the sky, the closing trine marks a moment of flow, a pressure release on the tension that has built over the year. A trine between Earth Signs, it seems that something may have materialized from this metaphorical passage. What you value, who/how you love, the unspoken desires… have dipped into the shadows and emerged with a token or treasure. It is what you carry with you now that marks the journey. You may feel changed, but this moment now asks… how will you allow this change to express through you? How do you flirt with life, revealing parts of yourself that are transformed to the parts of your life that may not have caught up with the shift just yet?
Venus in Virgo, closely situated with Mercury & the asteroid Eros, suggests it’s time to make some edits around how you’ve changed, around new layers that you’ve discovered, new depths & desires. What’s the story you tell? What’s the message you live with now, and how do you deliver it? Can you bridge the gap between who you were & who you are becoming? Can you symbolically sweeten how this may effect all areas of your life… noticing how the relationship you have with yourself reflects through partners, friends, family, and your community. Can you move through this moment with grace, knowing that inner transformation may require time for translation… in other words: how you communicate now needs tact. Integration requires making adjustments, balancing our self in relationship with others, as we grow towards living a life that supports our most authentic expression.
There’s another cycle at play here with the planet ruling over this new moon, as mentioned before, between Venus & Neptune. April 27, 2022 Venus and Neptune started a new cycle together meeting in the late degrees of Pisces. On Saturday (the day before this new moon) Venus in Virgo made an opposition to Neptune, revealing (in the psychedelic haze that Neptune exudes) the full expression the story that began this past spring.
The Venus/Neptune conjunction of April happened days before the first full eclipse series along the Taurus and Scorpio axis (late April through the first two weeks of May 2022) and the opposition that flavors the current sky pulls us closer into the next eclipse series that will begin at the end of October. Eclipses shake things up, realigning our lives with jolting revelations towards evolution. What happened for you at the end of April 2022? Notice any themes that may feel connected to April and this current moment.
When Neptune is involved -on a positive note- things can feel transcendent, glamorized, prismatic even. Where Neptune touches is like a psychedelic wave, bringing forth layers of reality that may appear holographic and dazzling, but not always real. Interestingly, the visions that blurred through April may have materialized in some way this week leading up to the Libra new moon. A sense that with some skill, finesse, devotion and focus… there is a way to bring that dream down to earth. It just might not look exactly as you had imagined it.
It has been said that astronomical discoveries of planets/stellar objects mark the readiness for what those astrological symbols hold to be received through the collective. In perfect timing, the image that Nasa released this week of Neptune & the clearest picture of it’s rings, seems to ring true to this new moon message. Even your fantasies & deepest desires need boundaries.
Neptune & its rings, NASA
It’s time to adjust the scales. To look around you now and begin to see what is worth carrying onward… and what needs to fall away in order to bring balance to your life. Did the journey bring forth a realization of how you love/who you love/what you love/what you value? What in your life right now could you not live without, (or no longer live with) & where is the edge for you of how far you are willing to go for it. There’s a need to look at where you may be clinging… to a fever dream or a comfort zone, and the power it holds. What holds your attention now will find roots as the Moon moves through Libra. What you bring through the new moon portal will continue to grow over the next 2 weeks towards the Full Moon in Aries, and the next 6 months to the Full Moon in Libra of 2023.
With Jupiter moving back into Pisces soon, Mars gearing up to station retrograde square Neptune, and a flurry of change ahead as the Libra New Moon & Aries Full Moon this month transitions us into the next eclipse series… the time has come to reflect through the depths of how we harmonize the light & the shadow in order to show up fully. Take a moment to sift through the details and untangle any knots. Notice where you can release the need to make things perfect, and remind yourself that knowing when to put down the brush and let it breathe is a vital part of any creative act.
Move into nature and the shift of the season to soothe your senses, and if you’re up early in the morning, take a look out towards the western sky to glimpse the red glimmer of Mars on the horizon. It is the pull between what we are in relationship with that creates the spark of connection. How will you carry yourself forward, in relationship to this new moon moment?
To be in love means to be in relationship with the mystery of life revealing itself through you. To live passionately, desire must be summoned, but never forced. Allow yourself the space you need, the boundaries you need to protect what shimmers for you… & allow yourself to not need to know how it will all work out, but instead… invoke a sense of freedom to let love grow anchored in aliveness. In true Libra fashion, let your heart feel featherlight, knowing that to be in love means to dance with each moment. All you desire is already dancing with you now.
In the words of Carry Bradshaw (sex & the city),
“If you find someone to love the you, you love, well that’s just fabulous.”
