The Boss, Balance, and Twilight Blues

Here we are once again folks, on the cusp of the chilly autumnal season and if you are alive at this moment in the Northeast, then you are without a doubt experiencing the autumnal equinox coming on and introducing the beginning of fall and no matter how you slice it, yet another season of death and decay will soon be under way. Things be moving on as they often say … year after year for that is the cycle of life on the mothership earth. Even as an October Libran native myself, I always find this time to be overwhelmingly serious and depressing. It is a period of time in the calendar that signals perhaps the most pronounced shift from one condition to another. This might be broken down best as a sudden shift from hot to cold! And, indeed, this is a shocking time for all of us humans, animals and plants alike! We sort of all go Libran for a month as we try to find some equilibrium between body temperature and home thermostat. The skin gets dry and the outdoor winds blow cold, yet the sun shines brightly.

Although the beginning of cool weather ushers in the very best air quality (even for this particular air connoisseur), there remains a permanent fright (read: frost!) in place of the upcoming overly cold winter and the shortening days that include significantly less sunlight than existed in excess only a few months before. Suddenly everything has “moved on”! And indeed, during this seasonal change it is difficult for me to release my powerful memories of waiting for the upcoming summer because actually I waited a long time for summer and it already came and went! Wow! Where did it go? Time does indeed begin to move more rapidly as we age. This October I will be 44 and am trying to figure out what that means exactly.

During this particular autumnal equinox of ’08, I am especially drawn to thinking about my father who is in the last stages of Alzheimer’s disease. It is easy to see plenty of metaphorical material around me that now speaks about my own shorter days on this planet: my graying hair, increasing jowls and now my completely bedridden father who no longer possesses thoughts of any coherence. Autumn signals a kind of twilight of the soul and this often results in a heavy heart. I believe it was Duke Ellington who said that twilight is the saddest time of day.

Another topic that connects with all this for me has to do with how we can all learn to relish this time of year just as the Libran is forced to do so if he or she is to survive another birthday, the dropping of the leaves, and the slow but steady change to a landscape of grays has to be felt and understood; it is nature’s way. Libra understands this. Suddenly we have all arrived at melancholia and there is no choice in the matter. You can’t fight what is happening in the outside environment no matter how hard you try. A tropical screensaver just won’t cut it when the outside landscape is gray.

After 44 years of living in this sign of cold balance and analysis, it would seem that by now that I would have developed a technique for staying grounded and content as a “triple” Libra (natal sun, moon and Mercury are all in scales – Mercury to me is huge!) as I move through the inevitable seasons. Nevertheless, I continue to struggle and know that I am not alone. Bruce Springsteen aka “The Boss” seems to have this same planetary composition of “triple Libra” as I do and I believe that he stays grounded through the pursuit of hectic musical undertakings and various political projects which keep his air moving (a definite necessity for Libra!). Of course this is all completely conjecture on my part since I don’t know the Boss personally.

As a general rule, Libra tends to stay healthy through intellectual communication and any communication cessation or breakdown tends to drive this masculine and cardinal air sign crazy. Yet, here is a slightly contradictory point! Libra also enjoys a certain amount of stasis in order to realign the energies, but if it is completely imposed upon the Libran native, then the particular stasis in question is absolutely not desireable! Forced stasis and a lack of intellectual and artistic communication for the Libran are akin to a slow and steady death. The daily routine and the work day have to be allowed to move around somewhat. Even though Libra yearns for a perfect continuing homeostasis of its own, when the outside world gets stuck in its own stasis then look out world, gentle Libra gets pissed off! Libra is that impossible sign that wants matter to move in addition to staying the same. As we are all just entering into a difficult Mercury retrograde period this week, it is becoming especially painful for Librans to see virtually all technology and relating and communication breaking down. Little positive movement is going on as can be evidenced in the financial markets.

Libra is of course a cardinal air sign and it wants to be able to initiate projects. The sign may be viewed as lazy, but often there is activity brewing under the surface and it will indeed be exposed with quick enthusiasm in due time. Unfortunately, as a cardinal sign, Libra may gloss over many of the details and timetables necessary for carrying out a particular venture. They sort of want to be the idea people. Hopefully there is a Virgo around who can lend assistance with the actual detailed nuances of an undertaking. Libra will want to blow into a room with a pure idea that often can be quite a good one, yet the reality is that some earth signs could really help with doing the actual hard work with some water signs putting some human feeling into the undertaking and the fire signs burning the midnight oil of enthusiasm and initiation.

The Libran is a good thinker, but she needs other signs to support her with particular tasks and directions that involve actual hard day to day work. Perhaps a final wisdom that can be attached to the sun sign of Libra is that although Libra detests large crowds, the sign does work well with other astrological energies in smaller groups and perhaps only then is when the Libran finds true harmony. Libra can then become the fresh air that everyone needs.