Sylvan E Thorncraft © August 2003

     Libra teaches the beauty of bringing things into balance, into relationship (I Relate).  She understands a wide variety of points of view.  Her symbol is traditionally the scales.

     In tarot her card is Adjustment/Justice (8) which represents the principles of alignment and balance, negotiation and truth.  Libra shares her ability to bring different elements into relationship so we may all share our gifts more effectively.

     In the wheel of the year Libra time is the autumnal equinox.  Here light and dark are balanced but slipping towards darkness, the energy returning to its source.  The harvest is in and winter is gaining.

     Libra is the full moon, brilliant and ripe.  The bud has opened into a beautiful flower.  This is the time of illumination, the truth can be seen, but the light may also reveal structures that need to be reformed to fit this new understanding.

     When I started thinking about Libra I went right to Maat.  She is the Egyptian goddess of law, truth, and justice.  She was the one who would weigh the heart of the dead against a feather to measure how true the person’s heart was.  She is one of the many ladies of the scales, Astrae of Lybia, Minerva, and Athena where also manifestations of the Goddess as dispenser of fate. 

     The wisdom here keeps coming back to natural law.  The laws of nature always lead to balance, the predator/prey relationship of fox and rabbit populations, volcanoes building up land while water and wind wear it away, rivers filling their flood plains, renewing the soil and bringing lush vegetation once the water recedes.  Being able to open our awareness to natures laws and move with her currents will bring us into relationship with all things, reweaving us into the web of life.