When the Full Moon illuminates Libra, on April 6th (12;34 am
EST), it is an opportunity to integrate the qualms or struggles we have with “others,” which always point back to the struggles with self. In traditional Astrology, Libra rules marriages, significant relationships, as well as enemies. As April Elliot Kent puts it in her always insightful blog, enemies are people “whose interests conflict with yours.” The term enemy can make me shudder, so this simple and practical definition appeals to me. When you think of someone sabotaging or hurting you, it is certainly a daunting or threatening thought … but the deeper meaning, and why the word may hold more weight for some, is pointing to the enemy inside oneself.
Relationships, as I think most people would agree, can become a battleground for all our issues and hurts and, so, Libra, the sign of balance, harmony, and I’ll venture to say, integration,
holds us accountable. How do we create balance and harmony in our relationships?
Have you ever been stuck
in a relationship pattern or dead-end job, wondering how you got there and why you can’t move on when the person or situation is clearly not aiding in your growth and happiness? We draw into our lives people and situations who reflect how we feel about and treat ourselves. However cliché it may be, it is truth that if we don’t love ourselves, if we discard and abandon ourselves (a familiar behavior for those who grew up with unavailable people), we will draw in people and situations that do not value us.
How do we abandon ourselves? We do this in subtle ways, for example not saying what we really feel in the moment — pretending, or going along with others at the expense of our own truth. We may want to be agreeable in the name of getting along with others,
or because we don’t want to ruffle feathers, but it winds up being phony, most importantly to ourselves. We abandon ourselves by not aligning our words and actions with our values, and by not being present for ourselves … by checking out. Libra is represented by the scales or the diplomat, and aims to create a balanced state between two sides, or two extremes, represented by Scorpio. It’s important and emotionally mature to hold more than one perspective, to understand that truth usually lies
somewhere in the middle, or that people’s truths may differ.
If you have a tendency to self-sabotage then you
might face in “the other” a person who attempts to sabotage you. I am not saying we need to blame ourselves if we feel sabotaged or hurt by another; they may have in fact done something unkind or untruthful but that is their load to carry. As they say in the 12-step programs, we can "clean up our side of the street." We can only improve our relationships, and our lives, when we shine the light on the relationship we have with ourselves.
