If it’s Aries, Taurus, Libra or Scorpio, you’re in luck!

This week, after much ado in my mind, I launched the Zodiac Signs section of my website, with the addition of four complete sign pages. The other eight signs will roll out over the next few weeks.

These pages go beyond the usual textbook descriptions of each zodiac sign, digging deeper into each archetype to get at the psychological dynamics underlying each common trait and behavior. So even if you think you’re all read out on your Sun sign, check it out — you might get new insight after all.

The pages also include some shopping links so you can explore birthday or holiday gifts sign by sign. Currently there are shopping links for all four signs listed above, plus Gemini and Sagittarius. Enjoy!

September 24-October 23

• Cardinal Air, symbolized by strong winds, charm, justice, digestion and décor.
• Music gifts for Libra: Indigo Girls • The White Stripes • Simon & Garfunkel • Tegan & Sara • The Wilshires • Eurythmics
• Movie gifts for Libra: The Princess Bride • Brigadoon • Inherit the Wind • The African Queen • West Side Story • My Fair Lady • Titanic • Romeo and Juliet

Once Virgo has rooted out the imperfections of the self, Libra can take the self out to engage one-to-one with another. Like Virgo, Libra places high expectations on both the self and the other, but in addition to quality, Libra also expects equality: balance, proportion, fairness.

Libra’s opposite sign, Aries, is associated with the physical birth of a child: the initial expression of the self in the world. Libra, then, may be associated with a second kind of initiation: the greater clarity of self one can gain by engaging in committed relationship. In Libra, relationship not merely a social or romantic pursuit (though such situations may be manifestations of Libra energy). It is, rather, the quest for an equal but opposite reaction from the other.

This is why Libra can be not only a lover but also a fighter, not only diplomatic but also argumentative. What’s important is the back-and-forth because only through interaction can Libra palpably feel its vibrant existence and see its very self. On the other hand, Libra people tend to have trouble in the role of judge: Holy indecision is this sign’s testament to the inherent value of both sides of an argument. And for as much as Libra values harmony, love and agreement, she’d rather have a conflicted relationship than none at all.

At the core of the need for relationship is Libra as a metaphor for projection. Projection is the psychological phenomenon of denying and disowning a trait of your own, only to see it (and either despise it or envy it) in other people. For example, a person with a lot of Libra energy might be very beautiful but believe herself to be ugly. Her envy, self-pity or even hatred is evoked when she sees someone else who is beautiful, believing beauty resides only in that far-off other. She cannot, when projecting, believe beauty is in herself. Libran energy gives itself easily to this type of dynamic because it looks to the other for confirmation of the self: How do I look to him or her? Did I laugh too loud? Did I tell the joke well? And so forth.

This is not to say that Libra can never think for itself, or see itself clearly. Relationship is important precisely because it is a medium for the act of projection by which Libra ultimately comes to know herself. In the ancient myth of Venus – goddess of love and beauty, ruler of Libra and Taurus – Venus had an ongoing extramarital affair with the warrior-god Mars, who was handsome, strong and virile. On the other hand, Vulcan, whom Jupiter chose to be Venus’s husband, was ugly, lame and reclusive. Thrown off a cliff by his mother at birth, he lived in bitterness in his underground forge, creating beautiful works of art on which to project his own alienated beauty.

Repulsed by Vulcan’s outward ugliness, Venus preferred the warrior-god Mars. Though Mars is often cast as Venus’s opposite, they were actually very alike in their self-possession, sensuality and extraversion. In a way, it is Venus and Vulcan that are the original Beauty and the Beast. Venus can’t own or abide ugliness in herself or the world, yet she is compelled to marry it. Her own revulsion at ugliness means not that she should flee from it but rather that she needs it in her life, so she can accept it not only in the world but in herself as well.

Venus and Vulcan both resent and despise the other for the things they cannot accept in themselves. Yet each must rub up against the other to produce that equal but opposite reaction so they may know the true balance and proportion that exists in the world: That there is no shadow without light — and vice versa.

Underneath the quest for beauty, love and relationship, it is balance and proportion that Libra truly seeks. The interest in law, fairness and justice often associated with this sign comes from this impulse for balance between oneself and another, the desire to find the “perfect match” – a match that may not be the same as you but, in fact, your very opposite: the shadow you must contend with in yourself. Wise Jupiter knew this well about his beautiful daughter and his ugly stepson.

The connection between justice and fairness, on one hand, and love and beauty on the other, is the idea/ideal of right proportion. Each thing, to exist, must be counterbalanced by its reverse. Whereas brash Aries is like a bottle rocket exploding up vertically into the night sky, Libra is more like its symbol, the horizontal scales, taking the measure of equal parts, shaping and refining, coloring and shading, until justice is served, the relationship feels fair or the room is decorated just right.

The trick is that when the Libra person herself, or himself, is one of the components seeking balance, projected traits must be reclaimed so the balance can exist within. This is the great challenge of the Libran life.

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Libra energy is best balanced by its opposite sign, Aries. Read the description of that sign to understand what “shadow” traits you might need to integrate. Contact us at (310) 592-0435 or kathy@depthastrology.net for a detailed chart reading that reveals the entire scope of your personality, gifts and challenges.

Photo credit

What’s Your Sign?

It’s not as easy to answer that as you might think!

You probably know your Sun sign -– the one indicated by your birthday. But that’s not the whole story.
Though the Sun is important in astrology, a full horoscope chart includes all 12 signs, 10 planets (yes, 10!), 12 houses and a variable number of aspect lines. Astrologers analyze all these elements together to understand the personality and guide clients toward healing, self-understanding and self-realization.

The Sun sign is a good place to start, and it rings true for many people — but not for everyone. For example, you might be an Aries, but if your Moon is in Cancer and much stronger than your Sun, you would probably read descriptions of Aries and think, “That’s not me!” Similarly, you might have five planets in Virgo, or a strong Aquarius, and feel more like those signs than your Sun in Capricorn. Or whatever.

Each planet represents a different way of relating to the world, and not everyone relates primarily from their Sun. A full chart reading can give you more insight and affirm the total you, not just the part of you that aligns with your Sun sign. That said, click on your Sun sign below to get started — and then contact us at (310) 592-0435 or kathy@depthastrology.net to schedule a full reading!

Each sign description also includes links to books, movies and other products that reflect the energies of that sign — great for gift-giving and embracing hidden aspects of yourself. Check them out!

Please note: We are rolling out two signs per week starting October 24, 2008. Check back for your sign on the following schedule:

Friday 10/24: Aries, Taurus, Libra and Scorpio

Friday 10/31: Gemini and Sagittarius

Friday 11/7: Cancer and Capricorn

Friday 11/14: Leo and Aquarius

Friday 11/21: Virgo and Pisces

In the last 24 hours, without even trying, I came across two news stories that caught me up in the Libra energy now swirling around the ether: ideas of love, beauty, partnership, seduction — and power.

Yes, power.

First, our local NPR station featured an interview with two Woodbury University professors: Architecture Department Chair Norman Millar and Architecture Professor Paulette Singley.

The topic, delectably risque, was Architecture and Seduction.

Now, let’s just be up-front about this: Libra, by no means, corners the market on seduction. There are plenty of other signs — Scorpio, for instance, or Leo — with their own unique brands of come-hither. But Libra is the quintessential sign of relationship and art, so it was intriguing to hear the two topics linked up in discussion, with nary a mention of astrology.

The discussion was a preview of a panel held last night at UCLA’s Hammer Museum, which is running an exhibition on John Lautner’s work, “Between Earth and Heaven,” through October 12th. The pair (of course!) exchanged opinions and insights about how a home could be laid out (pun intended) and accessorized to seduce a lover from front porch to kitchen to hallway to bedroom. It was agreed, for instance, that there was something very, very sexy about an open floor plan, about glass.

This struck me as very Libran: A whole environment designed not to bonk a potential bedmate over the head with garish flirtations but, instead, to evoke an atmosphere that slowly draws the lover into your embrace. Venus in Libra might be a little headier than, for example, sensual Venus in Taurus — perhaps engaging in a lively debate that stirs the passions — but it still knows how to evoke an atmosphere. After all, at its best, Libra, ruled by Venus, wants you to agree to follow her lead through the house. Where’s the fun, the challenge, in dragging you?

I drove home slowly, thoughts of a seductive house twirling about in my brain. I parked the car in the driveway, grabbed the mail from the box and slowly opened the door.

There were model train tracks on the floor, a pile of clean diapers on the easy chair and breakfast dishes still strewn on the kitchen table. The lair of a temptress this was not.

I sighed and forgot about the story. I had an evening packed with power struggles with my preschooler. I went to sleep feeling unsettled and pessimistic. When and how would these power struggles ever end? Would we ever just have fun together again? Why can’t he just do what I say?

I didn’t sleep well.

When I logged onto my e-mail this morning, another unwittingly Libran message awaited me. The same message, really, just from a different perspective. It read, in part:

When parents model the “healthy selfishness” of partnership and don’t resist their children’s narcissism, the children eventually learn that it feels good to care for others.

Today, notice all the ways in which *giving* makes you feel good, and how others feel good when you allow them to give to you. Let the line between giving and receiving dissolve. That’s the magic of partnership! (Source)

Hmmmm, indeed.Perhaps I don’t need to seduce my husband as much as I need to charm my child.

Because between the lines of the Libra impulse to compromise, agree and charm is really a question of power. As one of yesterday’s radio panelists put it, a bachelor pad is a place designed to get someone to give up a certain amount of power, to bend that person to your will, to make them want to go to bed with you.

To make them want. There is power there, no matter how much sugar you pour on it.

We often tell our child that hitting us isn’t a good way to get what he wants. Ditto whining, yelling and stomping. So why would I think anger would work well going the other direction? Last night, and many nights before, I tried to force this child to bend to my will and go to sleep before he’s ready. But Louise Huber’s seed thought for Libra goes like this:

I choose the way which leads between two great lines of force. (Source)

What way leads between the two forces, instead of toppling everyone over to one or the other? How can we move beyond either-or into a space where all boats rise, where a third alternative is viable and good? How can we acknowledge the powerful forces that snarl within each of us, but not enable them to dominate? How can we reframe our goal to be not power-over but power-with?

What would happen if we asked questions like this in public life as well as in our private lives?

Photo credits: bachelor pad, messy house, candidates

In psychology and astrology, we like to say, “You marry your shadow.” But Venus wasn’t married to Mars in ancient myth. She was married to Vulcan. And he’s been in the bed ever since.