The Libra New Moon: Life Revealing

 Hebe by Carolus-Duran (19th century)

With Libra being the precept of connecting with others in order to see what they think of us, our situations or what we’re doing with our life, the New Moon which will take place on Monday, October 15th, 2012 at 12:04 in the afternoon UT/+0 time is of interest to us in part because it occurs at 22 Libra.

 The New Moon of October 15, 2012 at 22 Libra

occurs at 12:04 p.m., UT/+0 time

(Aries Wheel - Location Not Specific)

Twenty-two Libra is a degree which asks us to focus on how much we’re trying to do…and where that’s too much, to pare back (carefully) so that we have the mental space in order to do what we do well and to good effect.

That doing this isn’t going to be so easy is well portrayed in this chart by Hebe, Rhadamanthus, and Medea all being clustered at 21 Libra.

Hebe is the servant of Olympus who brings the sacred nectar of life (ambrosia) to the gods. This is a reference to whatever it is you need to survive…and whatever it is you think you need to survive. And yes, they can be two very, very different things!

More on that in a bit.

Rhadamanthus is a judge. A very fair judge. He’s impartial and totally unmoved by pleas or excuses. If you’re looking for a Greek version of the ‘just the facts!’ concept, Rhadamanthus is your man – and symbol.

Okay...so as son of Zeus/Jupiter and Europa, Rhadamanthus was only half-human.

In this painting of Europa by Willy Bosschem (painted in 1994) the quintessential image of Europa getting  'carried away' by Zeus (Jupiter) seems very much in keeping with much else about the current New Moon-lunation. With Rhadamanthus as 'what comes' of this union of Europa and Zeus there's an implied understanding that we can get carried away and that what comes of that can be very good. But is it always? Or maybe more importantly - is 'what has come from' some sort of 'getting carried away' for good or ill good or bad and have you faced the consequences? Especially with a solar eclipse looming, that would seem to be the question!

But he was considered so fair in life that when he died he was then made an ‘eternal judge of consequence.’

More to our point, with Rhadamanthus in this mix, we know what really counts here is what has been already done.

Haumea is a Hawaiian goddess, a shape-shifter whose neediness or greediness (depending on how you interpret it) caused her to keep changing ‘who she was’ (which to us in Libra would be our expressed position on things, our partners, our attempts at building a reputation, our prioritized efforts) in an attempt to feel like she was important.

With Haumea we get a note about ‘stooping to the unimaginable’ too, as in stories about her she goes so far as to shape-shift into a younger form so as to marry her own children.

Plainly with Haumea there are some boundary issues. There’s a note of neediness. And even a few comments about our willingness to acknowledge the passage of time.

Ahead of this 22 Libra New Moon sit fixed stars Arcturus and Spica, the unity of which asks us how brilliant we are, can be or have been.

So maybe it’s for us to ask ourselves. How brilliant have we been of late?

Oh yes…and with Arcturus and Spica is a little ol’ asteroid named Medea, she of famously obsessive character and willingness to use her own powers ostensibly to love someone…but in reality only so that she could get something from them.

Oh yes – and while Medea is at it, she kills her her own children. (Talk about bad judgment…!)

 A poster for the play 'Medea' starring Sarah Bernhardt

(artist, Alfons Mucha - 1898)

As an asteroid, Medea is pretty large (136 km). And though that’s not to be compared with any planet, have you noticed how often we’ve found Medea mixed up in astrological images of late?

That’s an indication that there are obsessions at play. The ‘Medea vibe’ is functional in each of our lives and it’s likely that we’re ‘killing something we love dearly’ because we’re choosing to do something which should just be lower down in our priority list than we’re making it.

Personally, I’m willing to raise my hand on this one. I’ve done it, I’ve recognized what I did, I’m sorry I did it and I’m doubling around to fix the harm I’ve done myself.
And since I don’t have children (never have had children, alas!) the message here is that none of this has to be literal.

With 22 Libra being a 3rd decanate degree (meaning it’s in the last third of the given sign) the ball isn’t in our court. Everything 3rd decanate, in whatever sign is about how others react to us, how others respond to us, what others have to say about the situation we’re in, whether they’re willing/able to support us or whether they even agree with our primal premise.

So…how brilliant have we been of late? That does seem to be the question!

Then again, part of this is all about who you ask, who’s doling out the reactions and by inference, who you’ve been keeping company with.

That’s very Libra too. But more than that, there’s another whole subject to be considered here, namely the fact that the South Node – that thing we all like to do which is so native to us, requiring little-to-no effort or thought – is conjunct Algol at 26 Taurus.

Also at 26 Taurus at the moment: Phaethon, the signature of being too headstrong for your own good.

And right nearby sits our (ouch!) good buddy and maturity-checker supreme, dwarf planet Sedna.

In lore terms, Algol is a tricky star. Often referred to as ‘the power of the feminine,’ the term ‘feminine’ here means ‘receive/respond, ‘ not gender. Algol is thus all about how we tend to receive what happens (or what we are given) and how we tend to respond to that – which pretty obviously refers to our emotional makeup.

Interestingly, as far aback as ancient Egypt there was an understanding that as a star, Algol is ‘variable’ – which is probably a clue as to its metaphysical presence as a ‘fluctuating’ emotional quotient. Today we know that the variance in Algol’s light (an indication of the energy which streams towards Earth over lo, many millions of miles) fluctuates because Algol is not just one star, but three, all circling each other.

In Greek and Medieval astrology, Algol is known as the ‘Gorgon’s head’ and when critically associated with a planet or axis was considered to be a sign that death by decapitation was possible.

Today? With decapitation (thankfully!) not being as frequent an event, having Algol prominently placed in your chart can still mean you tend to ‘lose your head’ emotionally…or that when a situation emblematic of that which Algol is connected to, you stop thinking logically and get overtaken by whatever emotionalism is indicated.

Get the connection?

As part of the constellation Perseus, Algol is generally designated to be the hero’s right foot, important in metaphysical theory because the right side of the body (like the right side of the horoscope) is considered to be about things which have already happened. So they can be a past which haunts us, they can be experience and what we’ve learned along our way through life. Right side images can represent our support system…or all we’ve built.

 Perseus rescuing Andromeda by Paul Veronese (1576-1578)

The right side of the horoscope wheel (and thus the right side of the body, including the foot) are also about where we ‘invest’ ourselves in situations, relationships, agreements and such. This, in air sign Libra points mostly to agreements, things said, promises made, alliances and sources of support…whatever form that support may take.

Considering that Sedna represents tests of emotional maturation which ask us to let go of the old and fend for ourselves, when combined with Algol and the ‘I want to do this the easy way’ South Node you can pretty much see the problem.

Oh yes – and don’t forget Phaethon. Phaethon is a headstrong teen who takes something Apollo (truth in enlightenment) has said and twists it to give himself an advantage which ends up killing him.

Gosh, let’s do the (uh…) head count here: Medea ends up dead, Sedna finds her strength only after getting drowned in a storm, Phaethon dies when he falls from Apollo’s chariot as it gets too close to the Sun and Phaethon gets charred, Algol is about the ‘gorgon’s head’ (the gorgon in question being Medusa – another indication that Algol is about falling prey to our own emotional drives and betrayals of standards, vows, promises, commitments and other responsibilities.

Add in Rhadamanthus and we have a distinct quality of ‘consequences.’ So either you’re about to do something which has ‘deadly consequences’ (again, don’t take that literally), or you’re now dealing with the fact that you have done something which has had deadly consequences.

One more item to discuss here, namely Libra’s rulership by Venus.

Venus, as you recall, is currently in Virgo, a sign about reality. Right away this is another hint that we’re hitting bedrock on something at some level.

 A photograph of Venus over the Pacific. When looking at the night sky,

Venus is always brighter than any star

And remember – to a greater or lesser extent, this is happening in everyone’s life.

At this moment in time, Venus is at 14 Virgo, a degree which says that through communications (i.e., Mercury factors) things get connected. That may mean what you’ve done prior to now connects to now, that may mean that people you have connected to now become connected to each other or to something/someone else you hadn’t thought of/about…in general, this is a ‘how small is my world’ sort of nuance which teaches us that no matter how well we think we ‘compartmentalize’ things (our thoughts, our activities, whatever else) we are not in charge of life and life has more quirks and byways than we’ll imagine in a million-zillion years.

So…considering where you are now and what all is on your table, what are you going to do? How are you going to proceed? What gets priority in your life?
This is where we touch back to Hebe and that ‘cup of ambrosia’ idea. What we want may not be what we really need.

It’s to think about. And because this lunation (lunar cycle) ends at the November (Scorpio) Solar Eclipse, whether we need to face ourselves in the physical, mental, moral, emotional, financial, relationship - whatever mirror you care to name, this would seem to be the moment to do that and get on to doing whatever is possible to do in global terms.

As with all other transiting events, if you stop and think about it (okay, so maybe you don't have to think hard...) you'll know what this New Moon pertains to in your own life. But it's also happening in everybody else's - so how do you think they're going to react to it?

For some people, the answer will be 'with regret.' For others, plainly the answer is that they'll react not all that well. Maybe not at all well!

There are always some who refuse to take responsibility, period. There are also those who refuse to think of others. And some who can't be bothered to deal with the idea that different lives have different parameters and different goals.

Probably most difficult of all...and therefore those who are likely to run into the biggest difficulties (or disappointments) are those who refuse to understand that their life needs to work in tandem with others. We do not exist alone in the universe. Life does not end at our skin, nor at our front door, nor at the boundaries of our kith and kin, our nation - even our species.

The great Einstein equation E=mc2 says we are all connected. Life would be better if we lived like that was a general fact, not just a scientific one.     

In metaphysical terms, probably the thing to do now is to think in 'Rhadamanthus terms.' Dispassionate judgment is a universal function now. In the first couple of days after this New Moon you’re likely to realize – by whatever mans – that life is not poetry.

But it does speak the language of poetic justice. 
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