Libra - Your Partner and the Sake Cup

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I'm told of a Japanese custom that sums up the spirit of Libra: If you are dining with a partner in a Japanese restaurant, you are not to fill your sake cup. Instead, your partner fills it for you when it is empty. In turn, you fill his.

You work with the cooperation of others to accomplish your goals. And likewise, you cooperate with others to help them accomplish their goals. And if we all did that there would be no room for aggression and strife: Libra's utopia.

We use Virgo's energy to polish and refine our raw creativity. But then our skills must find an application. We need other people to work with and to work for.

The Sun enters Libra at the autumn equinox, a time when daylight and darkness are perfectly balanced. Balance is the purpose of Libra's symbol, the scales; grace and balance are the goals of Libran people. We keep adding and subtracting from both sides until both sides are equally balanced.

And so, Libra is associated with justice, mediation, and judges who balance the competing claims of both parties in a legal proceeding.

Balance is critical in our healthy functioning. We do not function well when our bodies are out of balance. We suffer when our lives are out of balance.

When energy is in balance, there is an easy flow. The Tarot is a big fan of balance. There are many cards that speak to the desirability of balance: Temperance, The Lovers, and all of the cards with the numeral two, for examples.

Harmony is the byproduct of balance. And with harmony comes beauty. A fine sense of style, taste, and design is a gift for those in whom Libra's energy is strong. And so you find many Libran designers of all types.

Beauty is nothing more than the harmonious placement of shapes, color, and texture. When we call a person's face beautiful we mean that the face's shape and its features are classical. They blend together. Features are even, neither too large nor too small. Balanced. Beautiful.

Likewise a beautifully decorated room has a pleasing mix of shape and color.

While balance, or more specifically, inner harmony is important for all of us, it is critical to the proper functioning of Libra. Librans use the refinement of outer harmony as a way to generate inner harmony, their ultimate goal.

Libra is a cardinal sign. It initiates action. Like the partner in the Japanese restaurant it does so working through and with others. And so it excels in areas that require excellent people skills such as counseling, teaching, mediation and diplomacy.

Libra often sees itself as one half of the scales, needing another half to give it completion. People with a great deal of Libran energy put a particular value on one-to-one partnerships of all kinds, particularly marriage.

Too often, Libra is so concerned about keeping the peace that it doesn't properly take care of its own needs. The charming Japanese custom doesn't work unless your guest keeps your sake cup full, also.

If a Libran has too much difficulty getting his own needs met, he may resort to less than pleasing, indirect means. The term passive-aggression was created to describe frustrated Librans.

Sometimes a beautiful façade masks a rotten interior. And, too often, Librans think appearances are everything. But there is a remedy for this. It is called Scorpio.