Libra New Moon: Of Justice, Empowerment & Excrement
(originally published October 7, 2018)
On Monday, October 8 at 8:47pm we have a New Moon right smack dab in the middle of Libra. Libra is the sign that is normally about balance, harmony and beauty. Perhaps this New Moon will offer a chance for some respite, or a coming back to center. The astrological, political and social context, however, speaks to the emergence of something deeper.
This lunation is ruled by Venus, now in the initial stages of her retrograde through Scorpio. Any retrograde invites us to go inside to reexamine our truths, but this one is quite forceful, demanding an honest look at our motivations, manipulations, needs and desires at a soul-level. The New Moon is also squared by Pluto -- the planet with a natural affinity for Scorpio, underscoring and echoing the transformative qualities of the lunation and the moment we are in.
Transformation is a pretty major buzzword these days, but let’s not glamorize. Although it can be helpful to keep the concept of balance in mind through the coming lunar cycle, taking the edge off with the remembrance of and striving for peace and harmony, a bit of distance and seeing-all-sides, we should also remember that Scorpionic transformation is quite literally about shit. Dredging up shit, emotional sewage, compost and anything that the more civilized mechanisms of Libra often strive to avoid.
The shit we hide. The shit we repress. Whether it’s positive or negative, there’s a lot we sweep under the rug as individuals and as a society. Venus in Scorpio commands us to take a look at our own shit.
Libra, then, represents here how we bring that shit into balance (while all the while lamenting the constant use of such an uncivilized word in an article). The Sun and Moon coming together in the sign of Libra is asking us to take stock of the ways we balance our inner and outer selves. It is also about the ways we balance our relationship with other -- but that balance only comes when we are reclaiming our projections.
The Libran function has to do with psychological projection in that Libra is where we learn about ourselves through mirroring and compare/contrast. I am like this, I am not like that. Taking it a step further, it is about the ways we project our own unconscious aspects onto another. Given its inherent association with polarization, we can often idealize or demonize the other based on what we’re avoiding within ourselves.
When something is unconscious, it means that we are not aware of it. We still have to learn about those parts of ourselves, however. The psychological theory of projection speaks to that innate mechanism that allows us to learn through having our own shit mirrored right back to us as if it was something outside of ourselves.
There’s quite a bit of narcissism in the idea of projection. In its more simplistic notions it sounds like a theory in which everyone around us is an extension of us. Of our own shit. That’s an over-simplified understanding, however, because although we do tend to relate to others through the function of projection -- through interpreting them and everything they do through the lense of our own bias and context -- that does not mean that others exist as we see them. They are not actually who we think they are.
This is why doing the work of reclaiming our projections -- through diving deep into our own unconscious contents and accepting the herculean task of figuring out what is mine and what is yours -- is an absolutely necessary and vital part of allowing each person to be who they really are. Cuz that projective shit gets heavy, yo. It’s difficult to dance through life under the weight of projection.
Under the weight of an unconscious assumption that those with a feminine identity are less than or too much or weak or irrational or meant to be seen and not heart -- just as one example of many.
Because assumptions such as this are unconscious, that means we don’t see the ways they’re built into the very infrastructure that makes up our society.
This projection stuff works on the collective level as well. Any time a public figure comes forward, they become a magnet for individual projections of unconscious material. All the stuff we don’t like about ourselves, and have therefore repressed, gets flung right onto this new scapegoat. There’s a lot going on in the world right now that incentivizes and sometimes even requires unconscious behavior. The Capricornian function of repression, which belongs to the cardinal cross along with Libra, is vital in helping a child repress overwhelming emotions. In adult life, however, the maturation process requires we take steps to deal with what was once repressed. The Libran function of therapy -- finding trained professionals who can hold space for all sides -- is a helpful guide there.
With so much going on in the world, it’s easy to feel powerless. In these times of powerlessness, when we feel like there’s nothing we can do… well, deep diving psychological work is one tool that is available. It allows us to discover what we’re repressing and make it conscious so that we don’t fling it out onto others.
The Capricornian function of repression also places the notion of civility on a pedestal in order to maintain power and keep the empowering function of anger in the shadows.
The repression of anger -- or shall I say it’s healthy re-empowerment -- is being supported by this New Moon. This lunation takes place during a time when its ruler -- that’s Venus -- is also squaring Mars, Black Moon Lilith and the South Node of the Moon. We’re in a karmic emptying moment. And that emptying is specifically related to the ways the anger of Mars, anger that rises up in the face of injustice, combines with the wrathful, vengeful and shrieking anger of Lilith.
Lilithian anger also stems from injustice. She was, after all, the figure that was cast out of the garden for refusing to be placed in a permanently subservient position (detailed further in the piece I wrote for the 2017 Libra New Moon: Rebelling Against Subservience). Lilith was kinda like “hey, yo. We can totally do this missionary-style thing sometimes, but it can’t be the go-to. I want equality in this relationship, and that means we’ve gotta switch.” The quest for equality didn’t fly with the way Adam and his delusion of the God-force imagined power, and so… Lilith, the part of the life force tapped into the natural, swirling and switching nature of power in its true form, was demonized.
Come on, folks. Being cast out of like, all that IS, just because you made a request for equality? That doesn’t just make a being angry, that makes them pretty insanely full of rage, which just kinda builds and boils over time. Repression can only keep that kind of anger in for so long.
Have you felt that lately? Hm? I have. Pushed to the max, really. And made blatantly aware that it will eat my insides if I don’t figure out how to deal with it.
Black Moon Lilith in Aquarius is about rebellion against social norms around sex and power. With the South Node and Mars in the mix, it’s giving us the drive to clear out old, worn out patterns related to these themes.
This New Moon, then, gives us the opportunity to rebalance -- but for the sake of seeking justice. As always, with Libra, we have to remember that balance is not a static state, but one that is constantly shifting and changing and requiring that we pay attention to our surroundings and adapt - but not lose ourselves.
There are many difficulties in this clearing and balancing that require a level of discernment that can be difficult in the midst of rage and anger. We have to use the capacity of the mind (Libra and Aquarius are air signs) to take a step back, take a deep breath and see the bigger picture.
We also have to be aware of Libra’s shadow, which is that of placation and adaptation for the sake of keeping the balance -- a loss of self for the sake of avoiding conflict. Or just avoidance and denial. Libra loves lala land.
This lunation, with its involvement of the empowering energy of Mars, also begs another question: at what point do we just stop trying to see the other point of view and draw a line in the sand?
Harmony arises through personal responsibility. Equilibrium arrives when justice is enabled and taken out of entrenched, distorted power structures. Checks and balances cannot occur in systems rooted in power structures such as the ones we have, where The Other has been demonized simply for seeking equality.
So, for this New Moon, take stock. Take a moment for peace, and then move forward through this Venus Retrograde phase to get real...about your own shit, the shit you’re not facing about the world and your place in it, and whatever other kinds of shit emerge.
New Moon Exact on:
October 8, 2018; 8:47pm PDT
15 degrees Libra
