This is not to say that all Librans are stuffy or reserved. Far from it. The roster of highly sexually attractive people under this sign is a very long list indeed. My list includes Rita Hayworth, Heather Locklear, Suzanne Somers, Cheryl Tiegs, Naomi Watts, Kate Winslet, Angela Lansbury, Julie Andrews, Susan Sarandon, Gwen Stafani,
Gwyneth Paltrow, Kelly Preston, Karen Allen, Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Kim Kardashian, Catherine Deneuve, and Marion Cotillard in the actress category. If you think about all these women a certain image of style emerges that has aesthetic appeal to millions. Many were or are trend setters. In the male category we have Matt Damon, Montgomery Clift, Eminem, Scott Bakula, Yo-Yo Ma, John Lennon, Christopher Reeve, Sting, Michael Douglas, Will Smith, Luciano Pavarotti, Yves Montand, Charlton Heston, and Roger Moore. Again, we see style and a certain social finesse in all of them even if some play highly macho and very sexy roles.
Because this is a sign which seeks relationship as an ideal, the actual arrival of that state of perfection is often a path littered with trial and error failures, for it is a mental sign more than an emotional one; thus it is the principle of love that is sought after more than an actual emotional bond which can get messy. When you start studying the lives of the famous in this sign, be prepared to read over and over again just how many of them have been married several times. Even the politicians and heads of state may break the public ideal by having multiple partners such as Benjamin Netanyahu with his three marriages, and Dennis Kucinich with his three.
Speaking of heads of state, statesmanship, and politics; here is a sign which produces its considerable share of well known public leaders: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Mohandas Gandhi, Lech Walesa, Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Thatcher, John Marshall, William Rehnquist, Pierre Trudeau, Ehud Olmert, and Benjamin Netanyahu to name a few. Libra seeks a more socially correct and acceptable route towards relationship which includes public roles which are often held for long periods of time especially in the media world of today. Ed Sullivan started it with his long running television show where he brought to the world a number of talented people. Then there was Johnny Carson with his highly popular late-night interview show of the famous and notorious which seemed to be a staple on TV forever.
This is a human oriented sign and the art of relating socially is a huge part of what many natives in this sign pursue, though many also pursue this art of relating through the actual arts where creating patterns, balancing one element against another, blending contrasting elements, and refining crude or rough elements shows up in the world of choreography, interior design, painting, and writing. Another way this art of relating shows up is in the world of law where the balancing of the scales of justice is pursued through codifying what is considered to be equal and fair in matters of human relationships.
In fact, this sign seems to be engaged in a great effort to ritualize so much in life that is imperfect and rough into ‘the Good, the True, and the Beautiful’. It really is the place where frogs must become princes again, and beasts of prey must be enchanted into elegant and charming kings and queens. It’s the most fairy tale-like sign I know of!
Libra Women
I’d rather look at the real life people I have known, enjoyed, and even loved, including my own mother who was graced with a Moon/Jupiter conjunction in Libra in her 10th house of public life. She was kind, gracious, and definitely ‘socially correct’. She loved social events actually and wouldn’t miss a political campaign, the pomp and pageantry of a graduation, the beauty and ritual of a wedding. She excelled in diplomacy with her colleagues and tried her best to smooth the edges of controversy which arose quite often in the academic world she worked in. It was only after her death that I learned of another side to her nature while reading her letters to her mother where she expressed her gall and disdain for some of the political skullduggery that especially the men in her world indulged in. This ‘other side’ was her Sun in Aries asserting righteous indignation, but it was well hidden in her 4th house of home and family. The world saw her as cooperative and diplomatic and she was amply rewarded for this behavior in that sphere.
A lot of Libra women I’ve known have worked in the world of male dominated culture quite well. This is an assertive sign remember. And it is also a sign where the ‘marriage of the male and female’ takes place inside to a great extent. Libra women enjoy making inroads in mainstream culture as teachers, business savvy women, leaders, and professionals of all stripes. These women often wield their ‘iron fist inside the velvet glove’ quite easily to achieve their goals. They may enjoy all the beauty and grace of a swan, but inside is the mind of a bird of prey. They are strategic and able to zero in at will when necessary.
Yes, they are a romantic group! They like all those clichés of how to be courted properly with flowers, wine, and candle-lit dinners for two. They are the queens of good taste and desire love to be elevated to an art form. They are also in need of intellectual stimulation through conversation. Yes, the art of good old-fashioned conversation. Social skills men! Sometimes, sadly, it’s a lost art and Libra women don’t exactly enjoy boorish men.
In this journey towards equality, Libran women have made huge inroads into patriarchal territory since the early ‘60s. Doris Lessing,the author, championed women through her many writings and novels but Mary Daly fought hard as author, professor, and theologian starting with her first book, ‘The Church and the Second Sex’ (1968), and moving on to ‘Beyond God the Father’ (1973), Gyn/Ecology (1978), Pure Lust (1984) to her final ‘Amazon Grace’(2006). How’s that for a female Libran slogan? I like it. Amazon Grace. These new Libra women are not the white gloved breed of the ‘50s. That’s for sure!
Libra Men
My personal experience doesn’t jive with some of what I’ve read about Libra men, such as ‘they’re hung up on their looks’, they are ‘Don Juans’, and love to play ‘hard to get’. I also never found them to be too abstract or tending to retreat up into their heads. I actually had three boyfriends born under this sign when I was younger and they were certainly all of them romantic. One was a fabulous pianist who used to play rhapsodies for me in the dark, another was a poet, but the one I still can smile inwardly about was a surfer boy from Hermosa Beach who favored candle light, and wrote me the most beautiful love letters stained with candle wax drippings—–yes, incurably romantic. Yet I don’t remember any of these men being ‘stuck on themselves’.
Libra men seek artistry and/or statesmanship in various forms I’ve found. One man I know works with sacred geometry and designs energy tools that are both beautiful and functional. Another is a designer of homes which are also imbued with grace yet meant to be lived in.
There are so many Libran men of letters who write and speak well. I’ve always admired Gore Vidal for both his style and eloquence. Even Frank Herbert created the most mysterious and magical science fiction worlds at the same time grappling with issues of social justice. In another article on Libra I wrote about both John Lennon and Mohandas Gandhi, two great visionaries for peace and justice. John was a romantic at heart and Yoko brought it out into the open for the world to see.
I feel that, like Libra women, the men are trying to harmonize their inner female with their outer male within themselves. When they achieve this balance they are truly masculine with a gentility that is both gracious and pleasant. You can see this in Dennis Kucinich who is an astute politician, often critical of current policies, but ever the gentleman in style. There is nothing vulgar or coarse about this man. Of course we could contrast him with someone like Vladimir Putin who obviously has a long way to go in integrating his inner feminine, and he does seem to be ‘hung up on his looks’ which is categorically absurd if you have eyes to see.
Let’s end by saluting Libra men like Desmond Tutu who valiantly and eloquently continue to champion human rights and equality for all. These are the men who deeply appreciate the feminine side of life and try to protect and preserve it.
Libra as Lover
I think I’ve covered the romantic element quite enough already in this article. In terms of a deeper intimacy it’s probably necessary for Libra to have some Scorpio somewhere in their make-up. Often they do. The two signs straddling Libra are earthy Virgo and watery Scorpio. Either helps to bring Libra out of their theoretical airy spaces, but Scorpio imbues them with just enough passion to really qualify as lovers with a capital L. Virgo may keep them too reasonable to let go and get swept away.
Women, however, after the honeymoon phase has worn off in a marriage, often seek some Libran romance to bring the spice back into the bedroom. This human art, therefore, never will go out of style, because Libra truly bridges from the self-sufficiency of Virgo to the passionate desire to merge in Scorpio with that graceful pas de deux which keeps the dream of love alive.
Libra as Parent
This is not a Mommy or Daddy sign. It’s really a sign designed to partner. So in parenting there is a need to reason things through, talk about things, find the common ground where fair is fair. I actually have a lot of Libra clients who chose not to have children or couldn’t have them. Many of the women I know have sons. I think they make good mothers because Libran women can get inside a male head more easily. This doesn’t mean they don’t go through their trials with acting out teenagers. They do. Yet in the long run they have the opportunity to cultivate a truly harmonious relationship with their children where a sense of give and take, fairness, and communication rule the day.
The Libra Shadow
I always like to read Liz Greene’s analysis of shadow material. When it comes to Libra she calls it the ‘Coy Maiden’ syndrome of playing hard to get. She chastises Librans for not feeling enough, for craving approval and playing games of flirtation and competition with sexual partners, friends, business partners, and even parents to get their needs for affection and acceptance. That certainly wasn’t my experience with Libra men, and I haven’t seen it in the Libran women I have known either.
Here’s what I see as possible shadow material: it’s the actual uncertainty of whether they are truly male or female. In water signs, the gender issue is much more easily defined. In an air sign which has everything to do with balance and equality it gets pretty confusing knowing whether you’re one or the other! You look at someone like Kim Kardashian, or Brigitte Bardot and you wonder why they don’t exactly fit into the slot of traditional womanhood in real life, even though publicly they are ‘and God Created Woman’ personified.
The other shadow is what I call the ‘War and Peace’ syndrome. So many politicians possess this to a remarkable degree in giving lip service to public displays of peaceful diplomacy while waging vicious wars and intrigues behind the scenes or below the surface. If the ugly and bestial side of our human nature isn’t acknowledged it goes underground and creates mayhem and wars while polite protocols continue on the surface amongst ‘civilized society’. Our modern world is full of this shadow material and we are all suspect in some sense when we consume or use products that were created either through acts of violence, such as the meat industry, or even the clothing industry with its degrading sweat shops and violations of child labor laws in third world countries. The Bad, the False, and the Ugly lie somewhere in the shadow land of Libra.
Most Librans that I know, however, really do strive to work towards the ideal of a better, more fair and just world where kindness and reciprocity are exercised consciously and application of beauty makes for all of us a more enjoyable world to live in.
Now it’s time to look at Libra in relationship to each of the other eleven signs.
Libra with Aries
We start with the polarity of Libra with its opposite Aries. This polarization is so completely classic since Libra appears to be everything that Aries is not. Libra thinks ‘We’ rather than Aries, who thinks ‘I’. Libra is other-oriented, partnership-oriented, and always motivated by a drive to connect, balance, and harmonize with other things or people, while Aries seeks authenticity of self and being true to self irregardless of relationships. This awareness of the Self and the Not Self is part of both signs and to heal chasms between these two signs both must learn to love themselves. Libra certainly needs a sense of their true Self so that they won’t become lost in the energy of others around them.
Gandhi had an incredibly strong chart with Moon in Leo at the apex of a fixed T-square. This strength of the feminine was mirrored in Kastuba with her amazing stellium of 7 bodies in Aries including a Sun/Jupiter heroic conjunction which mirrored her husband. She had a Grand Trine in fire and her Mars/North Node in Leo conjoined his Moon. It should also be noted that both had North Node in Leo reinforcing their great spiritual work of love for their people in a united path.
Libra with Taurus
While these two signs are inconjunct each other meaning enormous differences between the two for Libra is Cardinal Air while Taurus is Fixed Earth, they both share in common the same ruler, Venus. Both could share a natural love of art and beauty. The desire of Taurus for sexual satisfaction and progeny is legally sanctioned through a Libran marital relationship. Taurus lends a hand at acquiring money and property in supporting a socially sanctioned union.
Libra with Gemini
Air with Air should be an easy, sociable, and highly communicative coupling. These two potentially could thrive together by pursuing all the social and communication arts.
Libra with Cancer
Cardinal Air with Cardinal Water can actually work even though there is a decided conflict here between an emotionally oriented sign and a mentally oriented one. Yet creating a home life together where the one builds for a safe haven and the other for a beautiful sanctuary might just be a place where many would feel welcome.
It’s interesting to note that both nations are under the upheavals of transiting Uranus square Pluto for some time to come. Right now China has transit Pluto in Capricorn squaring its Sun and Uranus in Aries opposite. The retrograde phases were exact in August. What is going on with their heads of state, with their purpose as a Libran nation? Stay tuned and keep your eye on the money! This is a nation who is going to be raising the ante soon in wielding their power around the globe.
Libra with LeoCardinal Air with Fixed Fire should be a wonderful blend of style and flair enjoying life.
Julie has both Venus in Virgo and Moon/Jupiter in Scorpio on either side of her Libra Sun. She has a wide range of avenues available to her in expressing the polarity of her Sun sign. Blake’s Sun in Leo was sextile to her Sun; their Venus’ were conjunct as were their Mars in Sagittarius. A well matched pair, they were.
Libra with Virgo
This has been called ‘the Harmonizing of Diverse Paths’ and rightfully so. In a couple we would assume that Libra leads Virgo on into the social realm and encourages greater expression of what has been mastered.
Libra with Libra
My goodness, this is a popular blend!! Peas in the pod signatures abound in most interesting examples. I actually have four to share.
Barbara’s Sun is at 1 degree of Libra indicating a life of learning about Libra, while Merv’s Sun was at 29 degrees, the degree of expiation, implying his need to move on to Scorpio where his Mars is. They had a number of really good energetic connections, but her Moon/Jupiter in Gemini simply needs a lot of variety. With nothing in water, she probably doesn’t bond strongly enough with anyone, and Merv had Moon in Cancer which she simply couldn’t feed.
Libra with Scorpio
Now its Scorpios turn to lead Libra into deeper waters of emotional commitment. We all know that feeling, here in the northern hemisphere, of the golden days of autumn on the edge of the darkening time in Scorpio. Libra eventually takes that plunge when coupling with Scorpio for emotional life is full of storms and swampy places as well as cascading water falls and moonlit lakes.
Libra with Sagittarius
We have two signs which should energize each other since air and fire here create a nice Venus/Jupiter kind of connection. Principles of cooperation with principles of justice should do well together, yet I couldn’t find a solid example in a famous couple.
Libra with Capricorn
Both are Cardinal in nature and have a desire for societal law and order, however there is a conflict between Libras need for free-swinging interaction and Capricorns need to structure every situation. Capricorn will restrict Libras motion and desire for equality, yet together they can achieve much that is concrete by structuring their ideas into enduring forms.
Both are Air signs and would refuel each other energetically. Love and friendship could be blended really well. Both do their best work in groups and can be remarkably altruistic. Both require freedom, but especially Aquarius. This is a friendly, agreeable, and urbane combination.
Three outstanding examples are Eleanor Roosevelt and FDR, Kelly Preston and John Travolta, and John Lennon and Yoko Ono. I’ll cover the first two in my article on Aquarius.
Libra with Pisces
Here is another combination that seems strange in that a Cardinal Air sign with a Mutable Water sign feels rather mystifying. Yet together they can spell ‘Union’ due to each being romantic and able to look to each other for fulfillment. Venus, after all, is exalted in Pisces helping to create an artistic and sensitive connection.
She was probably more of a horse lover than Christopher and told Larry King, “I rode my whole life, and after Chris had his accident, I stopped riding, primarily because he loved it so much, and I think it really would have been painful for him if I was going off riding and he wasn’t able to. And it didn’t mean that much to me to drop.” Spoken like a true Pisces! Her Moon in Aries was in trine to his Moon in Sagittarius. Her Mercury in Aquarius conjoined his North Node and was in sextile to his Venus in Libra. Her Jupiter in Aquarius was in trine to his Sun/Mercury. Communication was good here which enabled them to survive together his loss of all physical function. Something transcendent occurred between them as suggested by their Uranus/Pluto conjunction and her Venus in Aries trine his Pluto while opposing his Venus in Libra.
Sometimes the journey of Libra into relationship brings out the highest forms of being human. It would seem the above example illustrates this well.
Genevieve A. Vierling C.A.P.
Astrologer
www.bluelightlady.com