Welcome to New Millennium Being

Libra and Scorpio - Relationship with Your Truth

by Guru Rattana, Ph.D. - Issue #174, October 27, 2010
Planetary Alignments

There is a lot of Scorpio energy available at this time.

Cosmic Awakenings - Endings, Beginnings and Lessons

The current mandala of universal energies impacting our lives includes several defining forces:

  1. Five Full Moons in the Last Degrees
    The Aries Full Moon October 22nd, was the first of five full moons in a row that occur in the last degree of their respective signs. The last degree of a sign indicates a completion, the learning of major lessons related to that archetype, and the attainment of a new level of maturity, which allows us to transition to another phase of our life.

    These 5 full moons are in the first 5 signs of the Zodiac, which deal with our individual development. We will discuss their lessons, and what we are in the process of learning, in this and subsequent issues of New Millennium Being.
  2. The Aries and Libra Polarity Pair
    This year there were an unusual two full moons in Aries. The first, September 23rd, was at 0° Aries. The second, October 22nd, was at 29° Aries. Full moons highlight the dynamic of polarities. Aries and Libra are polarities. This polarity pair is about the dance of firstly understanding and caring about others, and secondly while being true to our own needs and truth.

    The Libra archetype teaches us about relationships, but not just a relationship with a partner. We are always in relationship with everything and everybody in our lives. Aries reminds us that our first relationship is with ourselves, which determines our relationship with everything and everybody else.
  3. The Cardinal Grand Cross Continues
    The underlying theme of the cardinal grand cross, which has been the dominating planetary alignment in 2010, is one of endings and beginnings. This dynamic is still very much in process. Jupiter and Uranus are still transitioning between the last degrees of Pisces (endings, releasing karmic imprints and the past), into the first degrees of Aries (beginnings, new orientation, new life goals and projects). Because of their retrograde activity, our new beginning in Aries (self) will not fully go into gear until the two planets enter Aries in April and May 2011.

    Saturn has now made its transition from Virgo into Libra. July 22nd Saturn (retrograde) entered Libra and will remain in Libra through October 5th, 2012. As Saturn makes its 2 year tour through each sign, it first forces us to learn the Saturn lessons related to that sign: getting real, honest, responsible, accountable and practical in physical reality. Our maturation process makes it possible to access our strengths and gifts related to this Zodiac energy.
  4. A Special Ride for Libra
    The cardinal T square offers Libra a special ride. Jupiter and Uranus (now in the later degrees of Pisces) will confront Libra in Aries, starting in the spring of 2011. Both are likely to deliver us unexpected surprises. This can be good if we are making efforts to align ourselves with the matrix of love. It could be shocking and initially not what we like, if we are operating out of the matrix of fear. In addition, Pluto in Capricorn forms a wide square with Saturn through the first half of 2011, exposing those deep truths about ourselves, and how we relate, that make our sensitive inner Libra cringe. Don't feel afraid or sorry for yourself Libra. Virgo suffered through the same pressurizing forces, and survived feeling great about her stellar transformation.
  5. 4 planets Go Direct and Mercury Goes Retrograde
    When a planet is retrograde, we often feel like the brakes are on. In a sense they are. We are riding our horse backward, i.e. inward to our heart and soul. This is especially true for the fast moving inner, personal planets - Mercury, Venus and Mars. The Retrograde period gives us time for assessment, evaluation and contemplation. Once the planet moves forward again, we again feel supported to move into action mode.

    Both Venus (in Scorpio) and Jupiter (in Pisces) go direct November 18th. Neptune goes direct November 7th, and Uranus on December 5th.

    Mercury goes retrograde December 10th through 30th. We feel Mercury slowing down up to 2 weeks before it actually makes the directional shift. So despite that fact that no other planets except Mercury are retrograde, we may have to wait until the end of the year to see the green light. Given the holiday season, winter solstice and the end of the year, Mercury retrograde is probably optimally placed to help us slow down, and realign, so we can take off at the beginning of 2011.
Libra-Aries Drama Polarity

The Libra archetype typically evokes the theme of relationships and partnering. At a deeper level, Libra energy must be understood in terms of the inner refinements of consciousness, that make relationships harmonious. The asleep, undeveloped expressions of the Libra archetype, long for the ideal partner (who will conveniently save us from looking at our own issues). However, without doing our inner work, which makes compatible relationships possible, we continue to attract interactions that expose our immaturity and naïveté.

Confrontations with others, who serve as mirrors, eventually lead us to look into the mirror of self, and force us to learn some major life lessons. These lessons include the cultivation of self-love, self-esteem, self-worth, non-judgment, empathetic communication, and a compassionate, heart-centered manner of relating to others - and ourselves! These are all themes of the Aries-Libra polarity dance.

From observing the Aries and Libra polarities played out in 'real life', I have decided to call the immature version of this pair the 'drama polarity'. It is not hard to see the, sometimes embarrassingly, obvious drama played out by Aries. The awkward, naïve, self-centered and over-enthusiastic Ram seems to endlessly get itself into trouble. Sometimes I ask myself - can't this Ram see how it is creating its problems? But that is the Aries path, firstly to become conscious of its personal drama scenario, and secondly to learn how to use its fire energy to create an exciting, purposeful and constructive (not destructive) life.

Ok, Aries is the fool who is about to joyously walk off the cliff, but is gentle Libra a drama king or queen? Behind the cool façade, immature Libra is riddled with inner conflict. This mental machine plays out its quest for balance, by shifting from one extreme to another. I can look into the eyes of certain Libras and witness beams of pure love pouring forth. At the same time, I feel confusing mental and tormenting emotional energies that have nowhere to go, because the mind has forgotten that it has a body. Earthy Saturn in Libra is going to require Libra to cultivate some nonverbal in-the-body experiences. (No talking or analyzing allowed!)

The Balancing Scale

The symbol for Libra is a scale in perfect balance. This gives us the obvious clue, that the Libra archetype is about achieving balance. A scale is an instrument for weighing things. The questions posed are 'What are we weighing?' and 'How to we achieve balance?'

According to Egyptian mythology, Libra's Scale was the sacred domain of the goddess Ma, who used the principles of justice, truth, balance and equilibrium to maintain universal order. At the time of death, Ma used her Scales to assess the state of each human's heart, which was measured against a feather. If, according to her delicate calibration, the individual had lived his or her life in harmony with natural laws, their soul was allowed to move on to the next realm. If not, demons devoured the soul.(1) Yikes! That is serious! No second chance for re-education, forgiveness or working out your bad karma.

Measuring and Connecting through Sensitivity

Libra, like the feather, has the capacity for subtle sensitivity, and is acutely aware of, and affected by, subtle energies. Libra's delicate nature requires a lightness of being, dictates the need for aesthetic harmony, and loves the soothing touch, taste and smell of nature's beauty.

Libra assesses, understands and knows the true nature of things through its acute sensitivity. Once it has achieved this subtle 'measure' of things, it will choose to join, collaborate or merge with the object, situation or person, only if the result will be harmonious, beautiful, feel natural and be in alignment with natural order.

Aesthetic awareness leads us to our soul. It is through the developmental awakening of our refined sensory faculties that we discover the subtle nature of ourselves, others, the world and the Universe. Thus, the deeper expression of the Libra archetype is about achieving a true intimacy with our soul and Divine Love. It is by developing a relationship with our soul, and the Divine, that we overcome the disharmony and pain caused by our apparent (insensitive) separation from our essence and Source.

Libra's ultimate goals of internal harmony, peace and oneness, are finally achieved when we open our hearts and bow our head to our heart. This is no easy task for a mental air sign. The cultivation of in-the-body sensitivity is required. Physical reality specialist - Saturn - has now stepped up to the plate to give this experience to Libra, i.e. obliging all of us to embrace our body, and how it functions as the vehicle of our soul in physical reality.

Saturn in Libra is also going to test our ability to be present in uncomfortable situations with sensitivity, coolness, non-judgment, kindness and grace. We have two years to work on opening and operating from our heart and neutral mind, so that these qualities of interaction are possible. Only in our neutral mind/heart are we able to not tip the scales (and save ourselves from our internal demons! Not to mention Ma's Scales!).

How to Achieve Balance

The existential challenges for Libra (and all air signs) are, firstly to move beyond the dualistic mind into the neutral mind, and secondly to learn to acquire the in-the-body feeling sensitivity required to open, and operate from, our heart. Lost in endless mental analysis, indulging in fabricating abstract ideas and concepts, Libra's dualistic mind can overwhelm its subtle sensitivities. This results in missing out on its aesthetic goal of authentic connection. After all, Libra is about relationship, which requires more than superficial polite interaction and the mental pursuit of ideal fantasies.

The ineffective ways that Libra uses to try to achieve balance include:

  1. indecision,
  2. being non-committal,
  3. trying to hide our vulnerability, and
  4. avoiding confrontation.

Libra fruitlessly tries to achieve balance by matching optimism with pessimism, or by jumping from one extreme to another. Libra must learn, that being agreeable to achieve 'peace at any price' works no better than being resistant, reactive and argumentative.

To achieve the peace and harmony that the Libra soul craves requires:

  1. learning how to maintain inner peace while dealing with discordant life situations,
  2. accepting that all humans (ourselves included) sometimes do stupid things,
  3. compassionately living with the fact that no human is perfect,
  4. being vulnerable and honest,
  5. acknowledging and feeling our wounds,
  6. living life with an attitude of gratitude, and
  7. appreciating the beauty within and around us.
Our Real Tests

We measure our Libra successes by how we respond to offensive and hurtful situations.

  1. Do we get revengeful, harden our hearts, and try to escape the challenge of dealing with harsh and difficult realities?
  2. Can we accept our circumstances without victimhood?
  3. Can we forgive ourselves and others for making mistakes?
  4. Is our capacity to love greater than our fear or desire for revenge?

Our greatest tests concern firstly our willingness to be vulnerable without shame, secondly our ability to transcend our defensiveness, and thirdly our capacity to hold a neutral, compassionate heart space.

  1. Can we face our life challenges without creating violence to ourselves and others?
  2. Can we tame our own aggression and direct our action towards the higher good of all?
  3. Can we see our own weakness, and confront life's tests with an open heart?

When we do, something magical happens. We relax into a state of peace, balance and harmony - Libra's territory of Higher Love!

Four Primary Relationships

For the two years that Saturn is in Libra, the multiple dynamics of relationships will be a featured topic of discussion. We will be confronted with an array of 'relationship' challenges, designed to make our interpersonal interactions more substantive, workable and respectful.

The powerful grand cross formation in the Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn), active most of 2010 and the first half of 2011, reminds us of four primary relationships in our lives:

Scorpio Helps Us Out

Each subsequent Zodiac sign facilitates the task of the former sign. Scorpio helps Libra move out of the mind into a feeling connection with our physical and emotional bodies.

Scorpio obliges us to dig deep into our psyche to uncover sabotaging falsehoods, and to weed out our karmic and childhood programs and wounds. In Scorpio territory, we can't help but feel (and be tormented by) the rumblings of our emotional body, as it rummages through our emotional debris. There is nothing frivolous or superficial about Scorpio, who knows that if we don't get real, we will be consumed by our own demons.

The Scorpio archetype, ruled by Pluto, is serious about exposing our tendencies to dump, to blame and to project outside ourselves, in an attempt to avoid taking responsibility for our thoughts and feelings. Scorpio and Pluto uncover what blocks us from living authentic inner and outer lives. Our Scorpio journey leads us to live our lives from a position of mental, emotional and spiritual empowerment.

The bottom line is that Scorpio keeps us connected to, and acting from, our truth.

I have a Scorpio friend who is a real estate agent and broker. The other day he was explaining to me the various types of spurious loans that were available to finance homes before the market crashed. He told me, "I never got one of those loans for my clients. (He was serious and shook his head.) They just aren't right. I knew they couldn't work. And not one of my clients is in foreclosure". He is at peace with himself, and he is doing quite well in this depressed economy.

Two Years of Relationship Tests

I have already found myself unwittingly involved in the grand cauldron pot, that brews challenges in interpersonal relationships. 'Amazing' I say to myself. I honestly did nothing to stir up the pot between the two people who were both complaining to me about the insensitivity and inappropriate behavior of the other ... and they don't even know each other! And neither of them knew that I knew them both!

What are the chances of this interaction between myself and 2 guys living in different parts of the world, who both know me, but not each other? BTW, although neither have Libra Sun, both have a lot of Libra influence in their charts.

Briefly this story involves the circulation of an 'insensitive, defamatory joke' over the Internet. The cartoon complete with the name of the original sender found its way to a guy who was seriously offended, who started an exchange of offensive accusations.

This story illustrates what is becoming more and more obvious every day - we are all connected through forces that we can't even know. Everything we say and do influences everyone else. Moral of the story - do not send out any negativity whatsoever over the Internet. It will be magnified in ways that you cannot even know. Do not seed anger, hatred or fear through your actions or reactions. What might seem funny to you might be offensive to someone else. Play it safe - seed only love.

Libra invites us to lay down our defensive weapons, whether they are abusive words, hurtful strategies or physical tools of destruction. Arm yourself with your:

  1. ability to say 'no' and 'yes' guided by your own truth,
  2. willingness to set boundaries also based on your truth and needs,
  3. neutral mind,
  4. radiant aura, and
  5. compassionate heart.
A Few Strategies

For starters here are a few strategies I am working with:

  1. I am adopting the advice of a good friend - "If you don't want to get hooked, don't take the bait". Easier said than done, but it is definitely worth cultivating the faculty of detachment, and training ourselves to not take what others say or do personally.
  2. Before making any dubious commitment or comment, I am going to ask myself - 'Do you really want to get involved?' 'All things considered, is it worth getting upset and squandering your emotional, mental and physical energy over this situation?' Before I even ask that question, the answer is NO.
  3. So I am going to hone my ability to say NO. (and YES when appropriate) The ability to say NO and to set boundaries is definitely a Saturn in Libra lesson. Saturn requires us to know and tell our truth. For those who suffer from the debilitating habits of trying to please others to keep the peace, accommodating behavior, and the inability to set limits or make decisions - Saturn's touch is going to feel harsh. But once we learn to live by Saturn's invaluable and effective guidelines, we liberate ourselves from our fear-based, deceptive and manipulative ways. When we quit wavering and take a stand for the truth, everyone feels better.
  4. Acting and communicating from our truth, makes it possible to choose fairness and balance over emotional reaction and drama. Honesty doesn't mean offensive or selfish. Honesty means sincere, authentic, real, alive and making purposeful choices.
  5. I am going to operate from the belief that "There doesn't have to be a problem and indeed there probably isn't a problem". There are simply situations that give me the opportunity to hold, act and speak from the space of love.
  6. I am going to continue to expand my capacity to operate out of my neutral mind/heart channel.
  7. I am going to continue to stay present to what I am feeling in my body, so that I can feel and touch my truth as communicated to me through my emotional body by my soul.
A Feather as My Guide

In addition, I have decided to get myself a feather, to guide me through the next 2 years of Saturn in Libra. I am going to use my feather to help me gauge my internal state of fear, anger or trust and love, and to help me find my own inner balance point.

I have no illusions that my emotional body is not going to sometimes dramatically tip the scales, but this is a game worth paying. It can be fun and the results can be nothing by rewarding.

I am going to use the feather to tickle myself, so that I really feel the status of my emotions in my body - in my gut. I am going to use my feather to remind me to make choices, that create more peace and caring in my own and others' lives. I am going to use this lightweight guide to remind me of the gentle peace and love that lives in my heart.

Venus Retrograde

Venus turned retrograde October 8th, and goes direct November 18th. Because of this retrograde activity, Venus spends 5 months (instead of the usual 2) (August 6th, 2010 through January 7th, 2011), in the energies of Libra and Scorpio. Partnership and power are their major themes.

Venus in Libra seeks peaceful, nonviolent resolution to conflicts, correcting injustices, and promoting equality, cooperation and social reform.

Venus in Scorpio obliges us to face our shadow. We get a chance to recognize our unconscious motives, and means of subtle manipulation, to try to get what we want.

Both Venus and Jupiter in retrograde help us identify and clarify our values, life purpose and what we really want to have and to achieve - what really makes us happy and gives us satisfaction. Both require ethical standards and ways, of doing business and relating.

Get Rid of Excess

I am giving Venus retrograde in Scorpio credit, for my sudden most ardent desire to get rid of things I no longer need in my living and working space. For a Cancer, this desire does not often come far enough to the surface to activate the 'take action now' button. Cancers like to hoard things to feel safe. When this 'get rid of everything you can' urge hit me, two friends showed up to facilitate the process. Then two ladies, who give things to those in need, promised to come by (in 2 days!) with their vans, to pick up the things and to distribute them for Christmas.

I interrupted writing this newsletter to aggressively unload what others can use more than me. I didn't even finish unpacking from my European tour. The suitcases have to wait. I am on a mission to generate Christmas presents for as many people as I can.

The theme of endings and beginnings plays out in so many ways. Making space is required to welcome in the new. Clearing out your closets is like cleaning your subconscious - great Scorpio medicine. Chant your favorite mantra and it will be extra fun and effective.

Guru Rattana Online
Kundalini Yoga Directives - Guru Rattana Online

For over 3 years we have been working on the production and Internet access of Guru Rattana Online, our economical streaming video subscription service. The wide selection of classes features the lessons and Kundalini Yoga and Meditation relating to the 12 Zodiac signs. During the year you can work with the lessons that are designed to access the optimal expression of the Zodiac energy of each of the 12 archetypes.

Currently there are 76 streaming video classes on Guru Rattana Online, with more to come.

Libra and Scorpio Lessons

From now until the end the year we need to cultivate a deep, silent, sensitive relationship with our inner space. It is relatively easy to look and listen to our inner space in our head, but this space must be expanded to contain our heart and our whole body.

This is the topic of the Guru Rattana Online video lesson 'Libra Paradox - Resolution in the Heart'. It features the kriya for 'Preparatory Exercises for Lungs, Magnetic Field and Deep Meditation' on page 122-3 in Transitions to a Heart-Centered World 2nd Edition.

Feeling the sensations at our solar plexus and in our gut bring us into our body. These feelings are often uncomfortable, so we escape back into our minds.

To train yourself to be in feeling awareness in your body, be sure to also 'attend' the 3 part series on Relationships which are listed under 'The Emotions/Water Element':

  1. How to Love,
  2. Observer or Projector?, and
  3. Dealing with Subjective Reality - Our Inner Male Rescues Our Inner Female.

'Forgiveness - A Paradigm Shift' completes this series.

If you haven't already subscribed, you will need to do so to watch the classes recommended. For a low monthly rate you can enjoy unlimited viewing. The links for the Libra classes are listed under 'the Mind/Air Element. The links for the Scorpio classes are listed under 'The Emotions/Water Element'.

References and Footnotes

"Libra New Moon, Aries Full Moon," Austin, Stephanie, The Mountain Astrologer, Issue #153, Oct/Nov 2010, pp. 103-4.

"Libra and the Path of Persuasion," Gerhardt, Dana, The Mountain Astrologer, Issue #153, Oct/Nov 2010, pp. 13-17.

"Saturn in Libra: Acquiring the Art of the Now", Spring, Fern Feto, The Mountain Astrologer, Issue #153, Oct/Nov 2010, pp. 76-7.

1. Gerhardt, p. 14.

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