Libra Birthday Reports 2005

Sept. 23, 2005
Happy Birthday, Libra!
There can be no doubt that you're looking ahead at a year of highly unusual changes. At such times, many people are inclined to fear; change is one of those things that human beings think they don't do well, but in fact do very well. The presence of Jupiter in your birth sign at the time of your solar return is an indicator of protection and of better things to come — and bigger. It's just that you may need to face quite a bit of mystery on the way to getting there. But it's the kind of mystery that will feed your imagination and longing to express the deeper aspects of yourself.

Monday, September 26, 2005
Happy Birthday, Libra!

This report covers Libra birthdays through Oct. 2. However, I suggest that everyone born under a particular sign follow their birthday reports through the Sun's passage through that time, as I'll cover some things each week that apply to everyone. I also write them with the corresponding Moon sign and the rising sign in mind as well.

GIVEN THAT THE CURRENT PLANETARY PICTURE seems to be turning the world on its ear and spinning it on its nose, you may be wondering how this could play out in your personal world if your birthday occurs in the midst of it all. With a solar eclipse on the 3rd arriving just after Mars turns retrograde, there are certainly some unusual developments unfolding — Mars, in particular, suggests that certain personal or financial arrangements are up for review, and the eclipse says you're ready for many more significant changes than that.

And the eclipse of the Moon in your opposite sign, Aries, suggests that certain individuals close to you are only letting on to part of their desire for change — probably out of fear, and probably because they have not figured out how fast you are changing. As a Libra, you are excellent at maintaining appearances, often admirably so. However, this is a good time to play your cards face up and to encourage others close to you to do the same.

Yet whatever else may be happening, Jupiter is in your sign. Libra and Jupiter are good for one another — very good — and this placement represents a field of protection, stability and encouraging energy that will be with you no matter how momentous, intense or downright weird things may get. Weird will amount to interesting, anyway, and you will always be living within a safe limit. I can promise this much: you won't be bored for more than five or 10 minutes. You will have, as a result, many opportunities to take the inevitable changes on the most creative level; you can afford to be an optimist.

More than that, you can afford to be enterprising, because it's in unusual times of change such as our own that enterprise can thrive, and that real progress is possible, particularly if it's in tune with the times. What you will not get to be is lazy, and what I highly recommend against is taking a passive approach to anything. Yours is a cardinal sign, meaning that action is its first keynote. Stay proactive, particularly where relationship and partnership matters are concerned. Pay attention to the vibes, and keep the discussion going. Be a leader. People are counting on you.

The world has been in a gridlocked state for quite a while. That state of energetic overload is finally coming unstuck. The result will be a bit of chaos as the mightily adaptable human race finds its way in the new environment. In the swirling midst of these changes, you will have the opportunity to make a move; to both shift your relationship with the world and to actually be a different person. I know that every self-help and diet book in the world has promised you this two or three times, but Monday's eclipse means nothing if it does not suggest these two things.

However, being a different person and playing a different role are factors that require attention every day. While the world is changing and certain people in your world are definitely making some progress, they are not changing as fast as you. Leadership and self-discipline will be your two best friends, and allow you to make the most of Jupiter, a planet which often functions more like potential than it does like cash in hand.

There will be great rewards for experimentation, and for seeking experience. Indeed, you can consider yourself entering a phase where life is a grand and daring experiment. For inspiration, I suggest you read the biography of at least one great inventor, to see how it's done and what the task requires.

Chiron making its way into your 5th solar house, Aquarius, suggests an extended phase where you finally get the idea that experience counts for more than ideas. Like the other air signs, Libra can get hung up in theory. Beautiful theory, worth-while theory, but theory no less.

Chiron in Aquarius says dare to try, and more than that, dare to get groups involved in your highest ideals. If you want to be in tune with the times, consider that the age of "Every Man For Himself" is drawing to a rapid close. Well, at least it is for some people — there will always be holdouts, but let's say that a newborn version of the old idea that humans are tribal animals is making its appearance in the form of Chiron in Aquarius. There is a quality of social engineering indicated, as well as a degree of healing and reconciliation on the group level.

You will probably not go skating into this sphere of life without some challenge; prior experiences of working with groups, and offering your creativity to them, may not have worked out as well as you've wanted. And in recent years, your ideas have seemed more idealistic than even some of the most raging idealists you know, which does not always garner one popularity points. However, here's what I can offer you. Yes, you have not exactly had your feet on the ground where some of your more creative aspirations are concerned, and some people just don't get it.

But everything starts with an idea, and the brilliant ideas of tomorrow are widely held to be the stupid ideas of today. So, persist. Soon enough, you will have the grounding, the practical means, and the daring to turn at least some of them into actual progress.

Just make sure you don't spend too much time, or indeed, any time, getting permission from others to do what is right for you. When in doubt, come up with your own means of support. Come up with new partners if the old ones don't want to cooperate. Use your wit and charm to find out what people are thinking, and to make the deal attractive enough to get them to at least stand out of your way, and at best offer their support and encouragement.

One last note. This year bears a peculiar resemblance to 1986. Assuming you were not being pushed around in a stroller then, you would make some interesting discoveries if you studied the correspondences between then and now, and revisited some seemingly old ideas whose time has come.

Happy birthday Libra. Pass it on!

Monday, October 03, 2005
Libra Birthdays, Act ii

A SOLAR ECLIPSE so close to your solar return is perhaps the most succinct way for the universe to say, "New Beginning." Now this is a musical phrase that's in the air, and not just for Libra, but to experience an eclipse on or near your Sun is one of the more direct ways the cosmic forces imprint something of a renaissance onto your soul.

[This also counts for the Libra Moon and ascendant, though the feeling is different for each, and in each chart. And anyone with anything big in Aries is in for a similar journey.]

First, I would like to speak to those for whom this process is not necessarily coming out in ways that make you want to dress up like Ronald McDonald and juggle Egg McMuffins; I will try to refrain from the idea that "you need to keep a good attitude," even though Libras are not usually the bottle-throwing types. For sure, eclipses can SUCK. They can be wrenching, they can derail us, they can induce amnesia, they can portend locusts and pestilences. And this can be fabulous, too: they are, very consistently, those times in which we put the past behind us, as Sting said: Sooner or later, just like the world's first day, sooner or later, we learn to throw the past away.*

Rarely is this simple, or one-dimensional: Ah, how nice, the past is over. Time to move on. It can be...! Truly.

But not always. Sometimes all the agonizing on the way to getting to the point of letting go can leave us with some post traumatic stress. But not always; not even usually; we are living in the times of It Is Time, and that's what an eclipse says. Andiamo, allons-y, on with the show, or, in the immortal words of my brother, broadcast authoritatively from the roof-mounted loudspeaker of his van (generally reserved for traffic jams), "Move your fuckin' parade!"

Yes, it is time to move the parade of life along.

It is time to get on a side road, get a smaller car, park the car and jog, rollerblade, take up Tantra, do something you've long known is necessary and/or, generally make real moves toward actually living your life, and soon. I am not saying you're not doing these things. Maybe you're rocking your own world. I'm just reading the charts and being appropriately philosophical.

Mars retrograde in Taurus, also quite exact in your solar return chart, conjunct the mysterious non-planet of stuckness/unstuckness Admetus, is playing interstellar Roto-Rooter. It is time not only to budge, but to get to the bottom of something. And that may be the first matter at hand.

How does a Libra get stuck?

I can think of three ways. One is they fail to make up their mind. This is because all the alternatives are so fabulous, or so putrid. The grass may simultaneously look greener and browner in the next yard. It's hard to tell. If this is the case, use photographs for comparison. When in doubt, manipulate the pictures using Photoshop.

Two is they don't deal with certain facts, and this can be paralyzing. If this is the case, make a list of the facts, and recite them out loud. "There is a hole in the roof." "I am in love with this person." "It is time for me to paint full time." "If I move to ____ [pick place] I am afraid I cannot take my cat." "I need more excitement in my life." "I am bisexual and need both a boyfriend and a girlfriend."

These kinds of facts. Go on, use your imagination!

Three is, given the Libran talent for improving things, hope. How does the situation size up with no improvements at all, and if nothing ever gets better? In other words, subtract potential from the equation, subtract fairness, giving the benefit of the doubt, your plans to redecorate the living room, and your new red shoes. Is this a life you can really live with now?

That is a yes or no question.

But there is one last factor — the deep psychological stuff that may be too deep to talk to anyone about. But at least you can do your best to get clear and to learn and understand yourself better, a process for which the stars have rarely ever been more perfectly aligned. Self-understanding, for you, equals freedom.

I think that this process will clarify any lingering doubts you may have about whether it is time to do something or not; and even clarify how you actually feel about it, just below the veneer of your misgivings.

And how does a Libra get unstuck? Let's take Patric Walker's advice, "It's all about the houses." The opposite sign of Libra is Aries, making it the 7th sign; the 8th is therefore Taurus. So, Mars, the ruler of your 7th sign, Aries, is retrograde in your 8th house. Conjunct the bizarre, little stuck/unstuck non-planet Admetus. What is the 8th house? Simple.

Sex, death, money, power, jealousy, secrets, control, surrender. Did I say sex? The sex you really, really want and need (so much of both, you can't necessarily tell the difference)? Did I say money, particularly the kind that comes through investors, agreements, marriage partners, inheritances and people, places and things related to these? Hmmm. The 8th being the house of secrets means that I don't know what's up, you're probably not telling anyone, and you may not be telling yourself.

This is always an interesting, intriguing house to make assessments of. It can feel like being in a floatation tank for too long, then being expected to play a good game of poker.

Now, Taurus in the 8th house is interesting. The 8th is usually the house given more to the properties of Scorpio, which is opposite Taurus. So there is a kind of reversal in your life; you do a lot of things "the other way" and this is no exception. Here is the question. Is there some way you're putting someone else's needs above your own?

Here is the next question: Is this okay with you? It may be. It may not be. You may be confused. You may be in a phase of investigation. That would be cool. If so, as an astrologer, I suggest that you set a time limit on the investigation: Capricorn [formerly known as winter] solstice. I say this because Mars stations direct Dec. 11, and then the Sun crosses an angle in your chart on the solstice, exiting a mutable sign and reaching the point of action.

So in a sense there is no rush. I realize with all this 8th house/Taurus/retrograde kind of stuff, there may be complex commitments involved, and you may never feel like you've got to the bottom of any of it. But you need to stick to the basic facts of how you feel, even as it changes daily, and mainly set about the task of noticing what binds you, what helps you feel and even be free, the extent to which freedom is an illusion, the extent to which it's an outright necessity and, last and certainly not least, determining what you want irrespectively of what someone or something involved in the situation wants or needs. Especially that.

This is not necessarily easy, and it's not always easy facing basic facts when those facts have implications. "If I decide I want to go back to school, my boyfriend will feel betrayed and he won't trust me, which is ridiculous but that is how he feels." "I want that new job, but I think I need to get paid more. But if I admit that I will get mad."

Just remember, we are using astrology. And astrology has a certain quality of seeing through human nature; a quality of having had enough of the typical moves and nominal reality that so often passes for life; and astrology sees the higher potential. Or the deeper potential. And the chess game of astrology is to use those planets and houses to help us move around the board with some sense of where everything is and what it means — to the extent that this is possible.

So give yourself time to work it out. That much is indicated, no matter how amazing, tricky or whatever your life is right now. If a partner (business or personal, or both) is involved (and here, I speak to Libra Sun and rising only, we need to be precise about the houses here), they may actually need time to work something out, and you may not actually have a clue or an insight as to what it is or what that process entails (probably something in their deep past, which conveniently parallels something in your deep past). And if perchance they need time, give them time, a measured phase of time, so that you don't lose control of your life if they decide it's time to lose control of theirs. Giving them time and setting a limit is really doing the same for yourself.

In any event, it is safe enough to say that Mars retrograde for you represents a profound reassessment of your relationship values, your commitments, what you share and what is shared with you.

The chances are very good that by the time the solstice rolls around with all its might and wonder, everyone will have everything sorted and you will know what to do and when to do it. And it will clearly feel like the right thing to do. And if it works out that this moment now is your moment of hitting the old hyperspace button, and you know you must, then go for it. Just be ready to make a visit back to any unresolved issues, or to any people who matter to you, in about nine weeks time.

More next week...

But first a PS, there is an implication that, if you are involved in working out something that seems complicated, you can take a shortcut to the truth with this question. "What would I feel/how would I respond to this [etc.] if religion had no effect on me, my family or someone close to me?" To use this method you really need to understand the many hidden, subtle, insidious aspects of religion. And there is a part two. "What exactly is my higher self calling me to do?" The two sides of this question will probably have very different feelings.

Oct. 7, 2005
Happy Birthday Libra! [Print edition!]

One or two intelligent financial deals is all it will take to assure at least your medium-range future. And you have it in you to think like a banker while acting like your usual well-poised and magnanimous self. Keep your focus on an international situation, particularly one involving a younger woman who needs your support and guidance. This person could turn out to be an influential and indeed very helpful person in your life, and she will not forget your kindness and generosity. Your association will remind you of a time when you were younger and somewhat more idealistic — traits you can afford to put back into your personal repertoire.

Monday, October 10, 2005
Libra Birthdays, p. iii.

YOUR LIFE does not need to be so complicated, if indeed it is so — though it's rare enough to have any semblance of simplicity at all in the 21st century. And if you do, you're one of the fortunate ones. Take your space and keep it clear, because clarity is a gift too precious to squander. And at the same time, you are likely to be serving as an inspiration, safe haven or sounding board for someone close to you.

But as the layers descend, you may see that your personal material seems to be more complex, and more difficult to sort out. If you go there, proceed with patience.

Discovering what is influencing your decisions and your feelings, and understanding where the lines of power are drawn, is a personal project that will arrive with great benefits. The question is where, in previous years and prior encounters, you made the choices that led you to where you are today. Many of those choices involved your assessment of people, their motives and their influence. Somewhere along the line, you learned to do that; you did not make it all up, and so, the material came from someone or somewhere.

In many respects, the mot pressing question in your life involves your definition of commitment. This is a big subject, and a significant one because it involves the way in which you have tended to seek your self-worth through being worthy to others. It is true that very nearly everyone works out some equation along these lines, and that we don't need others to feel good about ourselves.

Yet worth, in and of itself, is always a matter of exchange or potential exchange. It cannot exist otherwise.

The question for you is, what is your equation for worth or value, and how did it get that way? These are questions that are rarely asked, much less answered.

The more you can put this subject face up in your life, the more deftly you will be able to navigate your emotional world. In doing so, remember that people certainly have their ways of being insensitive at times, and all the time they also have to negotiate their own lives in ways that may brush, bump or bang into yours. And you are feeling particularly sensitive: to loss, to your needs, to the potential for abandonment, to the state of the world — to all the basic human stuff.

It is true that some significant aspect of your nature, life plans, or process of growth is now intimately connected with the changes another person is going through, and with their inner reassessment. Over this process you have very little influence and no power. But you are, in a way, subject to what they are doing and feeling. This may be frustrating but at the same time I could see this working for you because the experience, whatever the details, may be serving to deepen your commitment and your sense of devotion.

To the extent you are proceeding purely on faith, to that extent you are strengthening yourself. There will arrive, soon enough, a time when you get to make up your mind in a more conscious way. But right now I am sure you have some hint that there are some layers of knowledge to which you don't have access. You may be aware of a whole database to which you don't have access. Or you may be clueless regarding the existence, shape or size of what you don't know.

If you're conscious, eager and curious, it may seem like it's going to take forever to acquire that knowledge — but I really doubt it. Indeed, an eclipse of the Moon one week from today, in your opposite sign Aries, will pull back a few veils, and reveal something that you were not quite expecting. I think that anyone you're involved with, be it personally or in a significant business arrangement, will be surprised at their own level of emotional self-disclosure, because this is not necessarily anything they were planning.

What I suggest you remember, for the foreseeable future, is this. It's important not to judge what you do not know. It's true enough that we do this all the time. It's true that people do it to us. But for now, you need to know when you are making decisions, assessments or even having an opinion when you don't have the full information to back it up, and the chances are, at this point, that such is true more than you may care to admit.

What you need to know, you will find out soon enough. But until that time comes, apply the common sense to know your limits where information is concerned.

Given what your astrology is showing, there is one last point that I feel it's important to touch upon. This is the possibility that what you are working through may, in part at least, involve a person who is no longer on the planet in physical form. There may be some question as to their 'will' — what they wanted or would have wanted. There may be an aspect to the relationship that is unresolved and that will not be resolved through any conventional means.

This may also involve a past partner who is, for whatever reason, no longer available, yet who may be influencing your life.

The question may seem, at this point, one of whether to attempt to continue gaining an understanding, working for a breakthrough or to do the right thing, or to just let it go. Whatever you choose, I suggest you set the issue aside for a week or two, and remember that much has yet to be revealed. We are in a season of great change, and there are wheels turning that are so large, nobody can see them going around. But turning they are, so maintain your awareness, look and listen, and see what the next week and indeed the next year reveals to your mind and senses.

Oct. 14, 2005
Happy Birthday Libra! [Print Edition!]

Inevitable changes in one deeply personal relationship will help you and your loved one find your way into the present, where it's always a good idea to spend most of your time. But it happens rarely enough. You both need to clear away the cobwebs of past karma and old ideals, and live in your current moment fully. Events may seem to move quickly and to an extent exceed your ability to control or predict what will happen next. But this is a time in life to live the day, an opportunity to get real, and to feel how precious existence really is. Trust that the right thing will happen, and the chances are it will.