New Moon in Libra Starts a New Cycle of Emotional Growth and Integration

We have an astrological active week ahead of us. With the gift of awareness through astrology, we can be better prepared for difficulties and challenges and even turn lemons into lemonade. This weekly forecast is designed to give you deeper understanding of the universal background as well as tools from the world of healing gems to help align and balance yourself with the planetary principles ruling the heavens. The aspect connections we are discussing hold the same basic meaning for you if you have them in your personal horoscope. We are looking at the activities of week 42 from October 12 to 18, 2009.

Mars and Venus are moving into new signs and a New Moon joins Venus, Sun and Mercury in Libra the sign of balance, beauty and relationships.

Venus in Libra

On Wednesday, October 14, the goddess of love, harmony and beauty moves into her own home Libra. Whenever we have several planets visiting one sign, that sign and what it represents gains strong importance for us. We will have 4 planets in Libra by the end of this week. Also by the end of the month Saturn enters Libra, which will cast high waves and marks a significant historical impact onto society. Saturn needs almost 30 years to move through the zodiac and around 2 ½ years to move through on sign.

Libra: The Judge, Lover and Harmonizer

Libra is ruled by Venus and is considered a sign of air. Air is very mental, flexible, between things and connecting different people or points of view.
The symbol for Libra, a scale, indicates Libra’s strong need for balance. Libras are very oriented toward other people and skillfully tuned into their needs and emotions. Their preference in relationships is for harmony and love—they are peacemakers. Their love of harmony and balance draws them to beauty in the arts and wherever else they can indulge their aesthetic sense.
The Opposing Sign of Aries

As I have pointed out before, one sign can only be balanced in its alignment with the opposing sign. That means for a Libra that the ego drive of the Aries needs to be integrated and vice versa.
In Libra it is easily all about relationships and the “other” out there. In Libra we are called to find a balance between our own ego drive for what we need and want (Aries) and the people we are relating to in our lives. If we don’t find that balance we get lost in placating our friends and partners, trying to make them happy and loosing ourselves along the way. Does that sound familiar?

Making somebody else happy is not really possible as many of us can testify to because we have tried. We also wanted our beloved partners to make us happy and maybe tried to do the same for them. Did it ever work?
The responsibility for happiness and joy lies solely on our own shoulders. It is a result of our conditioning, our values, the thoughts we are thinking in a habitual way and the decisions we make. In consciously taking on that responsibility there is freedom! Freedom lies in taking that happiness into our own hands, the possibility of making it a daily practice.

Four Planets in Libra

With Sun, Mercury, Moon and Venus in Libra it is a time for us to gain clarity in that dance between intimacy and autonomy, relating with others from a place of inner strength and clarity, meeting our own inner woman, (yes, even if you are a man you have an inner woman) her needs and finding our own inner truth and expression of it.
Venus Conjunction with Saturn on Tuesday

If you have a stressful Saturn/ Venus connection in your chart relationships will always be an area of challenge and learning. There is the need for autonomy, distance, freedom and independence always struggling with the other need for love and intimacy. The life’s lesson is to find a place in us for both, honoring both as equally important needs. How that will look like will be different for each of us.

Maybe you choose a partner who is much older or younger then you are. Maybe your partner has a different nationality and cultural background. Maybe you live in different cities or keep your own apartment or house.

There is nothing wrong with you needing your own space and independence. Just find somebody who has acceptance for that out of his or her own make up.

The Saturn/Venus conjunction this week will bring up that theme to some extent for everybody. We might be a little bit more inwards oriented or want to stay home at night. We might inquire into our desires and needs in relationship and distinguish between the two. If we do the work Saturn requires of us, the gift is always more clarity and the shining light of awareness. Saturn is a tough teacher who forces us to confront our issues and deepen our insight.

You want to pay attention where this conjunction is taking place in your chart and which aspects it will activate with your personal planets.

The New Moon in Libra on Saturday 17

The New Moon is always in conjunction with the Sun. There is no light reflected and it is a moment of rebirth out of the darkness of the womb into a new cycle of creation. It is a most powerful time of the month. In that moment the dormant forces of creation form the seed of the plant that will evolve out of it, the miracle of life.

 Each month the New Moon is in a different sign representing a different theme. Armed with the astrological wisdom we can consciously set the tone and decide which kind of plant we would like to grow this month. We can set our intentions and goals within the universal flow of the universe and watch the unfolding throughout the month.

The New Moon in Libra gives us the chance to allow and invite changes for the better into our intimate relationship. With her friend Venus, both female planets are in the same sign, working into the same direction.

This week is especially powerful for us women to deepen our self confidence about ourselves as a woman and lover. We have so much to give if we take care for our own needs first. Only if we are full and replenished, we can overflow and share from our bounty. Because of the big emphases of relationship I want to share this exercise with you I have mentioned before.

The Relationship Inquiry

My husband and I are married now for 13 years which has been a record for both of us. We have used one extremely helpful structure which helps us to really listen to the other which I believe has saved our marriage through hard times. We have been doing this for many years as a means to connect on a deeper, non judgmental level. We call it an inquiry. We especially do it if we have trouble in paradise…Here is how it works:

We set a timer for 15 minutes and one of us starts to just talk about where we are in our life and how we feel in our professional life, with friends or with the relationship. The other person just listens, no interruptions or comments are allowed at this stage. After the 15 minutes there can be 5 minutes feedback and then it is the others turn.

This structure is so powerful because it doesn’t allow you to argue or react immediately. It forces you to listen with an open heart and a willingness to perceive the other in his world of thoughts and emotions. Sometimes we don’t do any feedback if we are too charged or upset about something. We just listen to each other and maybe get back together at a later time in the day.

Relationships are like plants! They need attention and proper care according to their needs. Having the monthly Moon visiting Libra always helps us the refocus and make it a special two days, like a mini honeymoon.

Mars Strides into Leo on Friday 16

Mars is the lover to Venus. Mars represents our life force energy, our juice and sexual energy, our potential for aggression and implementation of ideas, and how we do things in life. With Mars in Leo there is abundance of creative energy and self confidence in accomplishing goals we have set for ourselves. There is the potential for joy, generosity and heartfelt enthusiasm. The dark side is an ego which is driven by aggressive control and dominance of others.

I think this Mars position goes well with all the Venus activities this week. Make sure to find time for your lover, do something special, and water your relationship plant with attention, appreciation and love.

Morganite: A Venus and Moon Gemstone

I always suggest gemstones which are appropriate because of their special signature and frequency to help balance and align our flow. They also can become an anchor for the theme they represent. The individual signature and planetary frequency is the result of their color, chemical composition, crystal structure and light reflection. We have discussed the Morganite before but it is the perfect stone for any Moon/Venus activities we want to support.

--Morganite is the pink to violet variety of the Beryl family. This is the Divine Mother, a delight for our heart because it magnifies our ability to feel loved.

In my experience one of the root stressors basic to our human condition is that we don’t allow ourselves to be loved because of deep feelings of unworthiness, pain, and despair. We think, “If God loved me, he would not allow me to experience all this suffering, pain, and disaster. And if God doesn’t love me, how could anyone else love me?” Morganite brings us the message that we long to hear: that indeed God does love us. This message of God’s love becomes a deep inner spark of knowledge that sustains us in our search for a deeper, richer, more meaningful life—the longing for happiness and joy that is our heritage and our way home to our deepest selves.

Morganite is the queen among the heart stones. Its beautiful, noble appearance raises up our spirit so we may start feeling love by sharing our love. We come to understand a simple truth: that whenever we express love by caring for the plants in our garden, our children, our pets, our friends, our neighbors, our fellow humans we are sharing love. Morganite reminds us that we are never truly alone, for we all have the capacity to give love and care. -- (This is taken from my book: Jewelry and Gems for Self-Discovery: Choosing Gemstones That Delight the Eye & Strengthen the Soul, published by Llewellyn)