Sun enters Libra

The Sun enters Libra today, crossing into its first degree. Each sign carries its own demand, and Libra's is the demand to weigh.

Ptolemy held that the Sun "contributes to the regulation of all earthly things," bringing growth to perfection through the turning of the seasons and changing light, heat and moisture through its daily course. A sign change for the Sun is one of those turns. The Sepher Yetzirah, in Westcott's translation, names a Perpetual Intelligence whose work is to keep the Sun and Moon moving "in their proper order, each in an orbit convenient for it." Following the kabbalistic line first, we read the Sun's arrival in Libra as part of an ordered course rather than an event that happens to anyone.

Libra's symbol is unusual. The Pavitts record that the Egyptians may have known the sign as Zugon, the Yoke, drawn as the beam of a scale alone. They tied it to the Nileometer, the instrument that measured the Nile's floods. They also note Akkadian writings that called the seventh month Tul-ku, the Holy Altar. They observe that Libra is the only sign whose symbol is not modelled on a living creature. The Ram, the Bull and the Lion are beings. Libra is an instrument, something built to measure.

That is the reason behind the character the tradition gives the sign. The Pavitts describe Libra's people as remarkable for comparison, able to "weigh and balance all things" as no other type does. They also describe them as quick to sense what others feel and intend before anything is said. In matters of belief, the Pavitts call them the least exclusive of people, a connecting link between factions that would otherwise stay at odds, who never press their own convictions on anyone "unasked." A scale does not argue. It shows the difference between two weights.

The practice follows from the instrument. Today, when you feel certain about a disagreement, put the other side on the scale before you speak. Name to yourself, in one sentence, what the other person is carrying that you are not. Then notice whether your view was actually asked for. If it was not, hold it back and simply listen. Libra's gift, as the tradition describes it, is not a lack of opinion. It is the discipline of measuring before ruling.