New Moon Solar Eclipse in Libra: Making Peace in Dark Times
As I consider the meaning and symbolism of the Libran new moon solar eclipse (exact on 14 Oct 2023, 6.55pm), I find myself in a deep contemplation on the nature and process of peace, given what has occurred, and is occurring now, so tragically in the Middle East. In the midst of such a heart-breaking conflict flaring up again, with all the complex history that contextualises it, we are inevitably thrown back upon ourselves to address the source of conflict within our own hearts and minds.
The Libran practice is one of balance, poise and equanimity, of suspending judgment, of walking a middle path. How difficult that is at a time such as this, how hard it is to remain conscious of our inevitable biases, and stay in touch with our humanness, with our compassion. I notice how quick I am to judge what is happening, to want to take sides, and polarise the good actors from the bad. This is so very hard, nee impossible, to do of course, in a conflict that is so complex and deep rooted as that between the Israelis and the Palestinians. And while we might understandably be incensed, consumed with strong feelings about what is happening on either and/or both sides of the divide, it strikes me that we must also reach beyond the polarisation of judgment for there to be any hope of peace.
Of all the signs, Libra exposes the duality of otherness most apparently, persuading us of our differences, drawing us into strong attraction, unveiling the conflicts that arise with that, and insisting that we find a way of making peace. And it is, ultimately, through the working out of our differences that we are bound in relationship to one another. The Libran path challenges us to recognise the ways in which we are wedded, one to another, through our opposed perspectives, and to realise that the more intense the opposition, the more tightly bound that wedding is. That is the karma that we carry both individually and as collective groupings.
Eclipse seasons intensify the themes of the signs involved, and confront us with the distorted shadow themes of the sign. Libra is ruled by Venus, goddess of love and beauty. It is through her that we are attracted to each other, and through her that we negotiate agreements. Yet Libra's shadow aspect is to brush conflict under the carpet, to deny the deeper truths that bind us karmically for the sake of a compromise position that can never run deep enough to secure a lasting peace.
In my book, Your Zodiac Soul, I talk about this shadow though the Greek story of the beauty contest at the wedding of Thetis & Peleus. It is initiated by Eris (aka Discordia), following her exclusion from that wedding. Eris, 'the uninvited guest', gatecrashes the party and brings a golden apple as a 'gift', inscribed with the words: "To the Fairest", and she places this before Aphrodite, Hera and Athene, who each claim it. The young Trojan prince, Paris, is called in to judge the contest, and the result is calamitous. Aphrodite is chosen, having promised Paris the hand of Helen, wife of the Greek king Menelaus. And the two are subsequently united, as Aphrodite assists Paris in stealing her away from her husband. This becomes the cause of the greatest war in antiquity, at Troy. Helen, thereafter, is known as 'the face that launched a thousand ships'.
Eris is an expression of the dark feminine, the shadow aspect of love and beauty that insists upon the darkness being made conscious. And it is her exclusion from the negotiations around love that renders the peace accord impotent. She is ever-present, whether we like or not, lurking under the surface in all our dealings around relationship, and her justifiable resentment at having been excluded from the party always incurs a heavy price, while it remains unacknowledged.
We can rightfully consider that the themes of this eclipse season actually began just over a week ago as Mars came into conjunction with the south node in Libra, opposed the dwarf planet Eris in Aries, and formed a square aspect to Pluto in Capricorn between 5th-8th October. Could there be a more apt astrological signature for what is now occurring?
Transiting Pluto is currently occuping the IC (homeland point) of Israel's chart, which is closely conjunct the degree of the Capricorn Moon for the chart of the 1988 declaration of the Palestinian state, emphasising the strength of the attachment to the land that they are each compelled to share. In addition, Israel's Taurus Sun exactly opposes Palestine's Scorpio Sun, with Uranus currently transting that degree of Taurus that both occupy, radicalising both sides to want to break free of their enslavement. From this perspective, it may not surprise us that the situation has come to a head now in the way that it has.
The eclipse chart shows an inconjunct aspect between Sun/Moon in Libra, and Uranus in Taurus. This suggests that the way to peace, whether in the Middle East conflict, or any other conflict, at a global or personal level, comes out of left field - from us having to take a radical persepctive on the nature of conflict, and the process of reconciliation. It suggests that we must adopt such a radical commitment to peace that we must be willing to surrender all those parts of us that demand justification, retribution and revenge, for this simply continues the cycle of war. It can never bring peace. Mercury is also in Libra, sitting exactly opposite Chiron in Aries, indicating just how painful it is to communicate across the lines, when those lines are drawn so definitively to re-enforce the hurt. Yet it also opens the way for the medicine of vulnerability to come through in our communications, and for us to heal from those fragile places where we experience ourselves most broken.
These are strong times, but in times of escalating conflict, there is also a heightened possibility to find new ways toward peace. We can't hide from it. When it is in our face, we simply have to face it.
My Libran mantra runs:
"I come in peace, I walk in beauty, and I choose the middle path."
Blessings to all.
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