Libra New Moon Meditation for 2003:

The Dawn of a New Day

By Jean Hinson Lall

The Sun, whose life-giving fire dominated the Spring and Summer, now weakens as he descends toward the Winter Solstice. We enter the second half of the Zodiac, where the requirements of society and questions of truth take precedence over the individual's need to shine.

As children we are at the center of our parents' world and radiate our power and vitality like little suns. The solar self-absorption and sense of invulnerability carry us through the challenges of youth, providing the energy and confidence needed for growth and maturation. Then comes the realization that we are not the center of the universe after all, but must live in partnership with others, deferring to their wishes and needs, collaborating, sharing, testing our ideas and measuring our behavior against a collective standard. Fairness and justice now become paramount concerns.

Libra, the scales, is this tipping point at which the individual matures into a social creature. The self-criticism of Virgo ripens into a capacity for reflection on one's own actions in a wider social context. Other people for the first time are fully grasped as having as much reality and importance as oneself. This is, at some level, a shocking and destabilizing experience. As we enter any developmental stage, we are both ready and unready for it. We put on the garment of the new phase - in this case, that of social correctness, adaptation, politeness, fairness, and sensitivity to others' needs - while at the same time inwardly wrestling with feelings of social ineptness and insecurity, anger at others who are not playing by the rules, and resentment at having to be so nice all the time.

Libra is a time of weakness for the Sun, which we sometimes experience as fatigue. The autumn weather may be bracing and there may be lots of excitement about the opening of school or the initiation of other group activities, but we feel unaccountably tired. This is natural. We are stretching ourselves to meet the challenge of successful participation in society. Think of children's anxiety about the social demands of returning to school, which usually far outweigh academic worries. Both they and their parents are often exhausted throughout the first month of classes. The fire on the inner hearth is low, precisely because we are sending so much energy out into the world. Get extra rest during these days, and don't overschedule yourself or your children. Let them express their fears and reassure them as best you can, but realize that their worries are to some degree justified: it's a jungle out there in the schoolyard, there will be social catastrophes and unfairness and even outright cruelty to be faced.

The Moon by nature is responsive and reflective, and when she lands in Libra with its focus on what others think and feel, it can be too much of a good thing. She may have difficulty taking care of herself because she is so focused on the social situation or the needs and perceptions of others.

So both Sun and Moon feel themselves to be at a disadvantage as they meet at the New Moon in Libra. This weakness has its purpose, however. It's the inadequacy we all feel as we set out on a great journey or take up a new study. Libra opens the second half of the Zodiac and the second half of life, in which we become part of a greater whole and make our contribution to society. We are novices, and it's all right to feel inadequate.

The degree symbol for 3 Libra is: "The dawn of a new day reveals everything changed." It implies "the ever-present possibility of beginning again on a new foundation of values."

When we cross over into Libra, we do indeed wake up to find everything changed. The world has turned over. Libra's ruler, Venus, is the guide to the new values that become possible at this time of year and time of life. Venus is the sense of proportion and propriety, the giver of artistic tastes, social graces and social justice. Through her we sense what is fitting, both aesthetically and morally. She is also the goddess of love, presiding over the mysteries of love and the laws of relationship. Sun and Moon now apprentice themselves to her.

At this New Moon, Venus will be in Libra, emerging from a T-square with Saturn and Chiron - a strong test of her civilizing and peace-making powers. Perhaps the natural diffidence we feel in Libra will be tinged with a sense of emotional inadequacy (Saturn in Cancer) and an awareness of the limitations of the institutions we work in (Chiron in Capricorn). Can we really find within our frail selves and within the imperfect structures of the world a way of giving form to those values we care so much about?

Venus shows the way - a way of beauty, which is both lavish and economical. The artist knows how to make a few brush strokes or a few lines of poetry reveal what truckloads of statistical data cannot even hint at. Let your heart conceive the just and decent world you want to help create. Then begin practising those brush strokes. Venus tells us that we need not do or be everything, nor do we need to be perfect; we need only give expression to the precise image that expresses our values. Perform one beautiful gesture each day, and you will change the world.