Welcome to the balance pole of the zodiac, the Libra ingress of the Sun. From here the daylight hours get shorter in the north and longer in the south. It is also a time when life gets weighed in the balance. Are our hearts up to the task? Do we move forward with confidence or shrink from what may seem to be a dark future and seek refuge in the realm of fantasy? To have a heart lighter than a feather can be a challenge in these times, but in the end we are weighed as to our intentions and actions. More to the point, we are weighed as to our ability to show compassion and express love. And sometimes, love means taking a stand, for ourselves, for our communities and for the future good of all. This is what the West is facing now, and our future will depend upon the actions we take in these days in line with the decisions we make about how we want to live.
Libra is the sign most associated with decision-making, more especially as to how we act on those decisions. A decision made but not acted upon is like a feather lost in the wind, a regret that haunts us for the rest of our days. Every little decision sets a train of events into motion, or should. Then again, sometimes a decision not to act can be as important as one to make a bold action, and can be an action in itself. Such is the way of the wise warrior – to act or not, and the wisdom to know when either should be taken.
In the world now, in the past months, we have seen examples of decisions taken to act or not and when, with the most recent example being in Afghanistan by the Taliban. Whether we agree with them or not, they set an example of The Art of War – knowing when to act and when to let the enemy fall on their own sword. We in the West, wanting instant gratification and priding ourselves on instant action, have yet to learn the art of patient waiting. The Taliban just showed us that. The corrupt government fell of its own accord, rotted out from the inside. All the Taliban had to do was to walk into the vacuum. Patience is an act, too, though it may seem like inaction. So, why bring in all this philosophical musing?
Both patience and action are needed as the institutions, policies, economics and the corruption of our own elites and governments in our Western nations, all in varying degrees, show all the signs of bending and breaking. What and who will fill their places as they give way to a new order? What are we doing to create that new order? Revolution? Rebellion? Revolution without a plan only produces more chaos and plays to the lowest denominator.
Having watched as the pandemic has been gamed by the vested interests in each nation, the breaking points for some nations are upon us, as we see especially in the Anglo nations – the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. You may not think so, but stable disequilibrium can be very deceptive, and yet alluring. That is what we have in Anglo-land. We sense it, hence our un-ease, but few people offer any solutions as to what to do about it. And in the EU, the latest game being played is with the energy crisis, largely due to a lack of foresight, planning and to certain interests who stand to make a pile of money off the higher energy prices. What to do, and what does the astrology say? To know that we need to get an idea of the continuum of events by looking at the past.
We had the following as part of the forecast for the Cancer-to-Libra quarter:
“The Cancer-to-Libra quarter will appear to be a smoother ride, but beware the hidden agendas, the big fails and blunders and the tests of nerves. For this quarter, security concerns will see marked and perhaps revolutionary crossroads and turning points.”
The big fail was obvious enough, covered in three parts on this site, which was Afghanistan. As to security concerns there was also the start of the process for the accession of Iran into the SCO, along with Egypt, Qatar and the Saudis joining the SCO as observer states. And that means rapprochement between the latter three and Iran, taking the US somewhat out of the picture. ‘Revolutionary crossroads’ also applies to Afghanistan, which has set that nation on a new course and has been a major turning point, both for that nation and the grand strategy of the Western powers, which must now be reevaluated regarding the latter.
There was also this, from the same post:
“In all, the Cancer-to-Libra quarter for 2021 proves to be a most interesting period, and one that will see some distinct changes in direction, some for the better, some towards a more sober reassessment of realities. Idealism will be running high throughout the quarter (Sun/Jupiter and Venus/Neptune trines), but reality will bite, and bite hard (the squares and opposition to the Moon). This will be especially evident in the US, UK and in West Asia.”
We can add Australia to that mix now, too. The preceding pretty much summarized what happened in the last quarter in terms of the main world events. With those points in mind as background and looking to the present quarter, what is in evidence? The chart for the Libra ingress is below (bigger):
A most interesting thing to note about the Libra ingress each year is that it takes place within just over a degree of the Midheaven of the United States – conjunct, in other words, in the 9th house. The US is increasingly facing what may become severe tests – militarily, economically, culturally, politically – across the board, really. Those will be exacerbated in this quarter.
What we see in the ingress figure is twofold, analogous to the last quarter. There are two main axes of consideration in the chart. Firstly, there is the approaching Sun/Mars conjunction, exact on 7 October. That conjunction is semisquare Venus and sesquisquare to Uranus, again pointing to sudden or unexpected shifts in alliances, partnerships, diplomacy and power bases, much as we saw with the last quarter. At the same time we see that Sun/Mars conjunction trine to Saturn – a wealth-building aspect, which will be in evidence for Asia, but which also points to solidifying of efforts along any line, as we just saw with the AUKUS deal. There are several areas to watch regarding sudden twists of fate.
Iran will soon be a full SCO member. The US is starting to bail out of the Middle East (that will be one to watch over the next year or two). The future of NATO is being seriously called into question now as the EU must choose between trade with the East and fealty to Washington. Australia has chosen sides, but who knows where that will lead. Australia will soon have to make a more existential choice as it has chosen what much of the world sees as an unreliable partner. That will be covered in the next post. The EU faces fracturing within the bloc. And South America is being wooed by China. The bottom line?: Expect the unexpected.
The second feature of the chart is formed by a t-square with the Moon and Mercury as the base and Pluto as the apex planet. The Moon in hard aspect with Mercury is not the best socially and exhibits as a sense of just wanting to be left alone. But Mercury is in a partile square with Pluto, and this points to gaslighting, persuasive speech and writing, a drain on nervous energy through overzealousness, and overall, excessive use of propaganda in a mundane chart, such as this one.
The overall import of the t-square is one of having to adjust one’s thinking to new circumstances, a reorientation of thinking based on surprising turns of events or even destiny, and in the worst case, tragic realizations. Of the latter, there will be plenty to go around as more and more people across the West wake up to the fact that the pandemic has been mishandled by governments and certain people and interests have become much richer at the expense of the general populace. But much deeper than that is the realization that the current situation in the West has been set up over years of neoliberal policy, resulting in globalization, the loss of good jobs and services, stagnant wages and so on. That is too much to cover here, but it goes to the point of ‘tragic realizations’ and having to ‘adjust one’s thinking’.
With all the above in mind, will this be a dark quarter, much as the featured pic might suggest? Or will we see it as an opportunity (which every moment of decision has inherent), one which will bolster our way going forward? Such are the choices Libra represents.
In the months ahead, one thing we may want to engage is to make peace with our neighbors, especially the ones with whom we disagree. It will lighten our hearts and maybe theirs too. Of course, we cannot change people. They have to be ready for it. And maybe it is we who have to change. The point is, we are all in the same boat. And we may need those neighbors at some point, and vice-versa.
A final takeaway for this quarter is to stay as informed as possible, from as many sources as possible and to seek the essence of what is being stated. In that way, perhaps we can see our way clear through the thick clouds of conflicting information to which we are exposed every day. Libra most of all is about relating and partnerships. It is the quality, not the quantity of those relations that matters. Keep an open heart and mind this quarter. The road ahead is not so difficult as we are told, so long as we can travel that road together.
Featured pic by Majenetta at Deviantart