The first New Moon of the fall season in the Northern Hemisphere will occur on September 25 at 2:54 p.m. Pacific time. At only 2 degrees of Libra, this conjunction of the Sun and Moon will bring with it an extra initiatory feeling.
That’s because only two days prior, the Sun will have started its one-month stay in the sign of Libra, at the Equinox, when hours of day and night are equal. Also, this year, September 29 marks Rosh Hashanah, the “head” of the Jewish New Year. How fast 2022 has flown, with the onset of winter not far off.
In Libra, the cardinal air sign of aesthetic balance and attention to partnerships, this New Moon coincides with several beautiful symmetries in the sky.
Libra’s glyph, or symbol, is not an animal but an inanimate object, the scales. The Libran glyph also looks like the setting sun. It is time to relax.
Whenever I think of the sign of Libra, I recall one of the first teachings I heard as a teenage disciple of Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan. “Balance is the keynote of spiritual attainment,” he said. “No sooner is the God-ideal brought to life than the worshipper of God turns into truth.” In the quiet state of balance, one can listen—and hear—what is really going on.
The New Moon in Libra may turn our attention toward how to create more balance in daily life. That’s interesting because the tightest aspect to the Sun and Moon at this lunation is an opposition from Jupiter, now in Aries. Jupiter is like a gigantic magnifying glass, and Aries has a focus on the individual self, the big “Me,” as opposed to Libra which is more about “Us.” How does an enlarged Jupiterian focus on “Me,” and on charging full-steam ahead, jive with seeking peace, quiet, and balance, especially in relationships? I don’t know, but balancing these opposites is worth a try!
Libra is the air sign “ruled” or—perhaps more accurately—said to be “guided” by the planet Venus. On September 25 the Sun and Moon will be in an out-of-sign conjunction with Venus and Mercury, both now conjoined in Virgo, which is Mercury’s home earth sign. Mercury is currently in one of its thrice-yearly periods of apparent retrograde motion. Together, Mercury and Venus in Virgo highlight skill and discriminating wisdom—or the need for more of it.
Depending on the house(s) where the Sun, Moon, Mercury, and Venus will lie in anyone’s chart on September 25 and the following few days, that’s where this New Moon action will be. You might feel called to start something fresh in the realms of communication and relating, even while the retrograde motion of Mercury also calls for reconsidering something from the past.
That’s all well and good except that Mercury and Venus are also currently opposed by Neptune in Pisces. Neptune is the outer planetary force of visions, ideals, and dreams (including nightmares). Facing off with Mercury and Venus, Neptune might fog up your rose-colored glasses. When Neptune’s in the picture, it’s good to watch out for blurry lines and porous boundaries. (Apologies for all the mixed metaphors.)
At this New Moon, Neptune is moving, slowly, backward, in a square aspect with Mars, which is spending an unusually long time in Gemini this year (August 20 into March of 2023).
When Mars, the force of initiative, courage, and even aggression, traverses the mercurial air sign of Gemini, the trickster and storyteller—it’s a great time to learn new things, and to speak and write about them. On the unwholesome side, though, it’s also like open season for people inclined toward gossip and verbal abuse, so watch please watch out. During recent days of Mercury in retrograde motion while Mars is in Gemini, I’ve been on the receiving end of some malicious tirades from a few members of the general public. With Mars squaring Neptune, it is hard for some people to just keep their bad vibes to themselves.
The planets furthest out from the Sun have slow and even erratic orbits and spend a large part of each year in retrograde motion. But at this unusual time, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto, and Chiron—all six of them—are in a retrograde period (and Mars will be, too, as of October 30). eplaceThere is nothing “bad” about planets in the retrograde parts of their cycles. There is no cause for alarm. Multiple planets in retrograde motion does mean that things may not move that smoothly, and greater introspection is called for. Outwardly, it may be that less is more.
This brings me back to the Libran imperative for balance, in our bodies, work life, and in all our relations. Libra, the scales, represents diplomacy and justice which are rooted in balance. So many things are out of whack in the world right now. Anything one can do individually to promote Libran manners of fairness is a move toward making balance the key note of one’s own unique song.
Blessings for the Libra New Moon! And Shanah Tova!
~ Sara
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