Time to Turn Within at Libra Equinox
Photo by Iva Rajović on Unsplash
Dear Reader,
As fall is about to awaken, I'm acutely aware of summer's end and the dark time of the year that's to come. The air is cooling down, making me reach for warm socks and cozy sweaters for the first time in a long time. The skies are growing cloudier. The light is softening. And the mornings and evenings are surely slipping into darkness.
I feel the impulse to slow down and turn inward while other parts of me are still in disbelief, trying to hold on to the warm support of summer.
What says “fall” to you?
How are you experiencing this time of year?
A moment of perfect balance
The end of September features a major seasonal turning point in the yearly cycle of the Sun. At Fall Equinox, the Sun enters the sign of Libra in the tropical zodiac, marking the exact midpoint between June Solstice and December Solstice and the beginning of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. This year, the precise moment of the Sun's ingress into Libra falls on September 22, 2:44 p.m. Central European Time (convert to your local time).
The word equinox is derived from Latin and means “equal night.” On the day of an equinox, the Sun stands exactly above the Earth's equator, resulting in equal lengths of day and night across the planet. As the Sun crosses the celestial equator from north to south at September Equinox, we're tipping over into the dark half of the year when the nights are longer than the days.
Fall Equinox is the “Waning Half Moon” and “sunset” of the year, when there is half light, half dark, with light retreating and darkness gaining. This is the beginning of the end of the year, when we enter its last quarter. Each day, the Sun keeps rising later and setting earlier, building toward the longest night of the year and the return of the light at Winter Solstice.
The waning days of fall
Come Fall Equinox, gone are the long, hot days of summer, full of activity and growth. As the days grow shorter and the weather grows colder, wildflowers are fading, leaves are falling, and birds are flying south to their wintering grounds. The Earth is beginning to exhale, and we would be wise to start preparing for winter, when nature rests and we're invited to rest as well.
This is the time of the harvest, when we're reaping the fruits of what we've sown at the beginning of the year and tended during the growing season. Grateful for the gifts of the harvest, we might decorate our home altars with seasonal offerings such as apples, pears, ivy vines, and rose hips, and leave grapes and nuts on our outdoor shrines.
As nature is starting to slow down and go inward, we're asked to gently guide ourselves away from the intensity of summer into deeper levels of wisdom and connection. To allow our bodies and lives to let out a big sigh and surrender to the healing light of dusk, trusting that we've done enough.
Over the course of the summer, we might have forgotten the rituals and routines that ground and nourish us, perhaps leaving us feeling tired or uninspired. To bring back balance to our bodies, minds, and lives, we might need to reconnect with some of those practices that help us soften and unwind, especially in the evenings when we transition from day to night, and this is the time to do that.
Thank heaven there's a zodiac sign that's not afraid to see both sides!
The beginning of fall coincides with Libra season, when the Sun is moving through the sign of the scales. Libra is a cardinal air sign, ruled by Venus, and signifies a season of initiating relationships. It gives us permission to be responsive to the needs of others and reminds us of the beauty and joy of meeting each other halfway.
Libra is the sign of interbeing, a term coined by Thich Nhat Hanh, who was born with the Sun and Venus in Libra. It helps us to understand that nothing in the world can be by itself alone, and invites us to expand ourselves to include the other in the circle of our love. Because their happiness is our happiness, their suffering our suffering.
As the peace-maker of the zodiac, Libra desires to create balance and harmony in our lives. It teaches us how to be truly present with one another and helps us to build two-way communication with those we love, including ourselves and the parts we hold within.
Are you a child of early fall, having been born during Libra season?
If so, how does it inform you?
Line engraving by Sidney Hall from "Urania's Mirror," London, 1825.
Deepening desires of peace with the Sun, Venus, and Pluto
At the Sun's ingress into Libra, both the Sun and Venus, the presiding deity of this equinox, are drawing attention to Pluto, the planet of transformation. The Sun is forming a close separating trine across sign boundaries with Pluto retrograde at 29 degrees of Capricorn, and Venus, herself at 29 degrees of Libra, is forming an exact applying square with Pluto.
As god of the underworld, Pluto has the power to unearth what's been unconscious or hidden from the depths of our being and bring it into our conscious awareness. The Sun-Pluto and Venus-Pluto fields help us reveal and contact our deepest intentions and desires, and let everything else fall away. In Libra and Capricorn, they help us heal and transform ourselves and our world by deepening our commitment to what we love and value.
Pluto has been in Capricorn since January 2008 and moving back and forth between Capricorn and Aquarius since March 2023. On September 2, Pluto regressed into Capricorn for its final stay in the sign of the sea goat (in our lifetime, that is), where it will be until November 19.
Until then, we're closing out a Capricorn chapter that began in 2008, and as we do so, the Sun and Venus in Libra are giving us a helping hand. Whatever house in our birth chart Capricorn is landing is where we're asked to bring Pluto's process of excavation and regeneration to completion. We can do this by being present with whatever is arising from the depths of the unconscious and turning towards it to use it to deepen the desire for peace in us and the world at large.
If you have a planet or angle at or near 29 degrees of Capricorn or any of the cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), Pluto's last dip into Capricorn will be far more significant for you. Whatever Pluto is touching in your birth chart (its natural significations and the topics of life it signifies for you personally) is undergoing a profound and permanent change designed to return long forgotten treasures of the soul.
Finding balance in relationships with a Solar Eclipse in Libra
The Sun is conjunct the South Node of the Moon, signifying that we're in eclipse season, a window of accelerated growth that opened on September 3 and will close on October 17. It features a Lunar (Full Moon) Eclipse at 25 degrees of Pisces that already happened (on September 18) and a Solar (New Moon) Eclipse at 10 degrees of Libra on October 2.
Since April 2023, we've had eclipses in Aries and Libra. October's eclipse will be the last eclipse in Libra in this cycle, closing out a series of eclipses that have been waking up the areas of life signified by the Libra house in our birth chart over the past year. (We'll get one more eclipse in Aries next spring before fully switching into a cycle of eclipses in Virgo and Pisces, activating new areas of our lives.)
At a Solar Eclipse, the Moon stands between the Earth and the Sun and temporarily blocks the full expression of the Sun's light, allowing for a resetting of our consciousness. What's usually visible is obscured, while what was hidden is revealed. At a South Node Eclipse, growth might come from acknowledging, releasing, or resolving something from our past that we hadn't been previously aware of and integrating it into our present day awareness.
We might be confronted with shadow expressions of Libra, where our focus on pleasing the other diminishes our genuine expression of ourselves. The Sun is considered to be in fall in Libra, where it needs to express itself through the art of relating without losing itself in the other. Instead, we're asked to find our center in and through relationships, weaving back and forth between self and other and shining our light in a way that's relatable and creates connection.
If you have a planet or angle at or near 10 degrees of Libra or any of the cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), this eclipse will be far more personal for you. Whatever in your birth chart is being touched by the eclipse (its natural significations and the topics of life it signifies for you personally) will be affected by your new awareness.
Horoscope for Libra Equinox on September 22, 2024 at 2:44 p.m. CET
Overall, there's a strong theme of closure and harvest. Fall Equinox is the heart of the harvest and the beginning of the end of the year. Venus, the presiding deity of the equinox, is in the last degree of Libra, bringing a sense of urgency to the matters of Libra. We're approaching the last eclipse in Libra, wrapping up a period of change in the Libra house of our birth chart. The equinox is highlighting Pluto's last stretch in Capricorn, bringing to a close a period of transformation in the Capricorn house of our birth chart. And the Disseminating Moon brings an energy of gratitude and sharing what's already been gathered.
Are you ready to enter the portal of fall?
How are you arriving in the fall?
What has fruited over the summer or is fruiting now?
What are you harvesting from your work this year?
How have you grown?
What have you outgrown?
How wide is your circle of compassion?
What is asking to be included in your love?
I invite you to take these questions on your walk or into your journal, your dreamtime, or any other kind of creative or contemplative practice, either solo or with others. I hope they tickle you and help you weave yourself into the mysteries of fall.
Until next time...
I very much look forward to writing you again at the time of Scorpio Cross-Quarter, which marks the height of fall in the Northern Hemisphere and heralds a time of rest and release. It falls on November 6, 11:21 p.m. Central European Time this year (convert to your local time).
In the meantime, I'm wishing you a beautiful beginning of fall wherever you are!