Libra Rising – Joan Porte

Libran Lessons of Balancing the Self During the April Full Moon

I had a very interesting dream the other night. It started with me entertaining three close friends for breakfast. Unfortunately, I hadn’t realized I had schedule+6d a meeting of a civic group one hour later and then my book club was coming just minutes later. As these three events converged I found myself sort of spinning around trying to please every group and failing miserably with each. I woke up laughing at myself and thinking what a perfect dream for a Libra rising person at the height of the full Libran Moon!

The full Moon this month, a Moon in Libra, peaked on April 11. It occurred when Jupiter and the Moon were in conjunction and opposing both the Sun and Uranus. Jupiter makes everything more grandiose. Our largest planet hates boundaries. Libra, being an air sign also prefers total free range and is our most social of signs. Libra loves to get into the business of others and can go to the extreme of total co-dependence. These two coming together just want nothing more than for us to lose all sense of self and blend with and get the acceptance and approval of others.

Someone like myself with a Libra ascendant (having Libra on the cusp of the first, eastern most, house that of personality hence our rising sign) can relate to this never ending need to merge with others. It is so easy for someone with a strong Libran chart to lose themselves totally. For that reason I knew that my dream was a message from Libra to pull back, slow down, and come back to myself.

With the Sun opposing the Moon (which is why the Moon is full at this time because we can see it without the interference of the Sun) – we feel the disconnect between our inner selves – the Sun – and our emotions – the Moon. This is a perfect time to ask where you are either blocking or allowing your emotions to take over.

When you throw Uranus, the rebel, into the mix you get the desire to break free – to be follow your own drummer. It was the part of the dream asking me to find my own desires in this mix of doing for others. He was asking me to break from my self-imposed social demands and do what I needed and wanted to do for me again.

When I looked at that Libran Moon this week, I kept the dream in mind as I tried to remember to reign in the negative aspects of Libra – and maintain that Uranus spark of myself in my hectic socialized life.

Others with a strong Libra influence in their chart should take a moment to reflect on that balance we children of the scales must maintain.

Where is Nine Degrees of Libra in Your Chart?

Finally! Mars will come out of his long retrograde! On May 19, Mars will find his way forward and will assist you in putting new plans and ideas into motion. I have one caveat here – the retrograded Mars was part of the fabled “grand cross” of April. Anyone plotting malevolent deeds, not using the energies of the cross to advance themselves spiritually, will use this time to put their deeds into actions.

However, I am sure all of my readers are the most enlightened of creatures so this will not be an issue with you– right, right???

This will be a very slow movement forward for Mars, which is rare, because he is usually pretty speedy. However, this has been a year for weird occurrences. Mars stations at 9 degrees of Libra and will sit there for three weeks, from May 7 to June 1. Libra is a cardinal sign – a sign of action. My next question to you is where is 9 degrees Libra in your chart?

For me, it is going to be a humdinger of a time! As you can see from my chart below, my natal Mars is at 8 degrees Libra. Therefore, for three weeks I will have transiting Mars sitting on my natal Mars giving me a double dose of Mars energy. With natal Mars in my 12^th house, the house that is our connection to the universe, this is a perfect time for me to sharpen my spiritual skills.

Don’t waste this time! Find 9 degrees Libra in your chart and discover how are you going to use the Mars power!

April Lunar Eclipse – One of Many

There will be four almost total eclipses of the Moon in 2014- 2015 and all will be visible from almost every place in the Northern Hemisphere. That is an amazing occurrence. The first will be on April 15, 2014, another on Oct. 8, 2014, the third on April 4, 2015, and finally on Sept. 28 2015.

In Astrology and eclipse is a wonderfully energetic time – it is a time to use that energy in the sky to start something new. Think of the movement of the eclipse – the Moon disappears and then returns anew. A Lunar Eclipse can only happen when the Moon is “full.” The Moon passes behind the Earth thus allowing the Earth to block the Sun’s rays. All three bodies, Earth, Sun, and Moon are in close alignment. It is a time to question alignments – and balance in your life.

The April 15, 2014 eclipse will be a part of this much talked about grand cross happening in the sky. It will be a cardinal eclipse, in the cardinal signs of Libra and Aries. Cardinal signs are energetic –they want to take action. The Aries Libra axis is known as the me to we axis. The question to be asked during this alignment is, am I in balance – am I giving enough to myself and to others – am I giving too much in either of these areas?

This is a general graph of the eclipse over the Washington, D.C. area. Notice the cross made to the opposing Pluto – Jupiter. This is a time of tension between old and new spiritual beliefs. However, it is more important to look to the house the eclipse falls in your natal chart… Does the eclipse fall on a planet in your natal chart? This is the best way to use the energy of the eclipse.

Some people fear eclipses but I have to tell you I am so tired of fear driven Astrology. Yes, the grand cross will bring issues (Malaysia 370 for one.) Yes, eclipses are a time of shift and change – but we need change or we become stuck. Take the benefits of all of that cardinal energy to make real changes in your life.

It could be a Griswald Christmas

I will keep this brief because no one has excess minutes this time of year – which is so odd because this is the time of year when we should be nesting and go within. When it is darker and colder we are programmed to be inward and more reflective. Oh well, another way we are out of sync with nature!

Venus went into retrograde on the Solstice – bringing her creative and loving energies inward. At the same time, Mars moved into the cardinal (action) sign of Libra. With Venus being less than forceful and Mars in full tilt – let’s just say keep crabby Uncle Sam away from the rest of the family. There is too much energy out there that is unbridled and angry.

I hope the world keeps a lid on the anger through the new year.

Happy Holidays all!

The Tale of Two Leo Presidents

Two recent Presidents were born under the Sun Sign of Leo. But just to show you how little the Sun Sign means to a full chart analysis let’s look at these two men, President Clinton and President Obama to see how that Leo energy manifests in their chart.

First, President Clinton whose birthday is later this week. His Leo Sun is in the eleventh house, the house of group and social interactions – well yes, he does excel at that, don’t you think? However, look at his first house, the house of personality. It is opened by Libra – the sign that demands interaction with other people – it is a people sign and Libra rising people can even exhibit co-dependent traits. Libra loves human interaction! Mars right on the ascendant! Holy Cow – the god of war – the raw energy of Mars also in the sign of “other” – and one degree away from his rising sign. I have to make myself heard and seen not only in a crowd but to everyone. Love me please, love me! (Chiron also in the first, the wounded warrior shows how much he really needs to be love and accepted by others.)

Neptune sits on Mars – well you know Neptune – the obfuscater – that helps that President well shall we say distort his version of things from time to time! Adding Venus to the mix – the goddess of love and romance – oh let’s not rehash that. You get the picture.

All in all he has a stellium – more than 5 planets and asteroids in Libra in or bordering the first house. Even if his talent was in shoe sales and not politics he would be the town’s best known, most affable and most avuncular show salesman. He can’t help it. Is a a person who needs people.

President Obama, also a Leo Sun, has a vastly different first house. His rising sign is not people loving, people needing Libra, but aloof and cool Aquarius. Aquarius loves all Mankind but he isn’t too interested in getting down and dirty with people every day – he feels your pain but doesn’t want to learn too much about it. Where Libra is all about other – Aquarius is a very cerebral, very detached sign – they are smarter than the average bear – know what needs to be done and expect everyone to just do it without any fuss or muss.

His Sun is in the 6th house the house of work and service. So he firmly believes if he keeps his head down and keeps working the noise will dissipate. Unfortunately, the noise of opposition is too determined to just go away but since they are illogical to the Aquarius mind he just doesn’t imagine that he has to address them as serious.

President Obama’s South Node is in the first house – and like Clinton, the Chiron, wound issue. (I wonder how many people who carry a deep wound in the first turn to politics for acceptance?) So he is carrying a lot of deep issues inside him that are just below the surface – which again translate to caution.

To Leo’s – two Presidents – vastly different men!

Hello Mars!

Mars is in the news today and for good reason! Curiosity made a picture perfect landing early this morning – congrats to NASA and Yankee technology.

So what is old Mars doing today? Well it is hanging out in the sky in the constellation of Libra conjuncting Saturn. You know I am sometimes a critic of Saturn – wrongly so I admit – but I am very glad he was visiting Mars during this critical landing. Saturn governs time, space, form and structure. It is the master of precision and doing things by the book – which is what NASA had to do to nail this landing. Saturn had a lot to do with making everything work according to rules and like clock work.

It is also funny that both planets are in the sign of Libra – the sign of cooperation and sharing with others. All of that hard work had to be well coordinated between divisions. A great deal of sharing of knowledge had to be perfected. Libra is a big on sharing!

So congratulations NASA and thanks Libra for helping them keep the flow of information going and a special thanks to Saturn for keeping that somewhat rambunctious Mars from potentially kicking off the lander as it had done before. 🙂

Hello Mars.

Feeling Goofy???

Finding the Path, Arlenew.com

Are you feeling a little wacky, a little off-balance? Blame it on the Libra stellium now sitting over us. If you are on the East Coast of the U.S it is in the 8th house, if in Western Europe on the 7th and if on the West Coast it hovers somewhere between the two.

Libra is and air sign depicted by the Scales – Libra tries to seek balance but often it swings wildly. Libra is very concerned with the other person – not self and it’s biggest shadow is co-dependence. Libra also deploys her planet Venus to help us create things of beauty.

Right now we have the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Juno, Saturn and the Moon all hanging out together having a good old time in Libra. In a nut shell, this means we are looking for something to attach to, something or someone to join. Of course, if in the 7th house, the house ruled by Libra – this could be a wild time of people looking to resolve issues, please the other people in their life, forge new alliances. However, this is also a harbinger of a time of great creative expression – someone with well aspected Libra in their chart could find themselves finishing that scrapbook, working on that painting again or even finally cleaning up the bedroom and hanging the pictures!

The eighth house is a bit more tricky – this is the house of death and rebirth, it is also the house of insurance and goods of the dead. Feeling the need to literally shed old skin and do some heavy internal work – figure out where we are going – what we are doing with ourselves; these are all in the eighth house arena. This is a time of intense soul searching to say the least.

If this were all loopy enough those retrogrades that I spoke of last week have now crept up to first house – our house of personal expression. So on one hand we have this need to deal with this huge issues, what do I believe in, who should I commit to and on the other our personal energy and power are being dragged down by the retrogrades. How Libran! One side up – the other side down.

My suggestion – think about this big issue items but don’t try to act on them until the retros get moving out of 1 – better yet wait until they go away completely in the early New Year. Think, ponder, delve – then act in January!

The confusion of Libra

It is no wonder why my astrology teacher pounded into my head that I should try to forget at least 70 percent of what I learned of “boxy Western astrology.” Keep the basics but leave the silly interpretations behind, he would say. It took me a while to figure out what he was saying but it became very clear when we dealt with a sign near and dear to my heart…..Libra. And happy birthday Libra Sun people!

I have Libra rising. Remember, your rising sign or ascendant is the sign on the Eastern horizon at birth and it really dictates our outward persona – how we express ourselves to the world. Every analysis I read when I started out insisted that a Libra rising person likes to bring order and balance and is a born diplomat and is all about being the epitome of balance and harmony. Huh? Me? It drove me loopy until the universe sent me into the wonderful world of evolutionary astrology.

Libra is about trying to FIND balance not being balance. Libra rising and to a lesser extent Libra Sun people go to extremes in their quest to seek balance. We often have co-dependence issues because we are so attuned to “the other.” Many Libra risings spend a good chunk of time running around saying in essence, do you like me now, well, if I do that will you like me then? Yes, the answer to your question is yes. Sally Field is a Libra rising person. (“You like me. You really like me.)

Venus Libra people use their romantic entanglements to search for self as well. They literally learn who they are through the other person. Well, so and so liked it better when I responded this -so that must be right. However, I got a negative reaction from so and so, therefore, maybe I need to work on it more. It is all through the eyes of other with Libra. We have a really hard time coming from a point of ME.

Libra rules the 7th house – the house of close personal relationships with other people.

The shadow comes into play when we continue to seek approval — and never feel satisfied with our own views and beliefs. Be careful Libras! At some point we have to stop with worrying about everyone else. It is one thing to learn from others it is another to spend life without any self awareness.