Libra Season: The Fall Equinox
Returning to balance and tracing the breath
The mornings are starting to get chilly here in my home in the Hudson Valley. We have entered the season of Libra, a cardinal air sign that signifies a major seasonal shift. In my backyard, the leaves that unfurled from spring buds to a summer canopy are already tinged with autumn hues of red and orange. This weekend the branches of the Maple reaching over my deck began dropping their crisp brown leaves. Fall has arrived.
The beginning of Libra season coincides with the Fall Equinox, one of only two days a year when day and night are exactly equal in length. The other was the Spring Equinox, when we began this journey together. There is no better encapsulation of Libra energy than that moment when the light of the sun and the moon are in perfect balance. Represented by the symbol of the scales, Libra is associated with harmony and equilibrium.
I snapped this picture of an early fall leaf caught in a spider web on my deck the other day. The fragile tableau seemed to convey some sense of Libra energy: a gossamer structure suspended in the air, capturing a leaf in the middle of its passage from life to death. At the Plants Speak Gathering I attended recently in Walton, NY, one theme that emerged was the importance of holding "joy in one hand and grief in the other,” allowing neither to take precedence. This too is Libra energy. In Living Astrology, Britten LaRue writes, “In Libra season, there are green leaves next to red ones. The shift is startling, and there is often a degree of grief that goes with it.” At this moment of transition from the light half of the year to the dark months of fall and winter, consider what you are holding in the balance and what is ready to be released.
Libra season is also an invitation to attune to the alignment of the body. Notice how your spine, shoulders, and hips hold you as you move through your day. Where do things feel off balance? Are any parts of your body taking on more or less than their fair share of the work? As an air sign, Libra especially calls us to attend to our breath. Try matching the length of your inhales and your exhales, cultivating balance in the exchange of air with the world around you. Can you find the exact moment when inhale becomes exhale and vice versa? That is Libra energy, or as LaRue names it, “the space between.”
There is another profound exchange of inhalation and exhalation which feels relevant to this season of balance and reciprocity. The green pigment which will soon be replaced in many leaves by reds, oranges, and yellows, enables the process of photosynthesis, chemical alchemy by which plants transform sunlight, carbon, and oxygen into the compounds that nourish all of life. As we breathe out carbon dioxide, plants breathe it in. In return, they exhale the oxygen that we need to survive. In the spirit of Libra season, consider the profound balancing act that exists here on Earth: An exchange of a breath for a breath; A bounty of food and medicine in return for our stewardship; Countless scales poised just so as all of life dances in dynamic equilibrium, breathing together, feeding and being fed, dying, decaying and being born.
As you walk forward into Libra season, you may wish to follow a single current of exchange in your own life: maybe the flow of currency, or food, or information. Pay attention to what you take in and what you give back, and to whom. Notice any hidden sources of support that you depend on and how you can offer support in return. Maybe there is an area where you are giving too much, or taking more than you need. Without shame, let things settle into greater balance where you can and take notice of where you feel stuck in disequilibrium. Another lesson of Libra season is that there is always another moment, another breath, and another opportunity to return to harmony. Libra is ruled by Venus, who reminds us that tending to ourselves and our networks with love can transform the struggle for balance into a dance.
Returning once more to the scales of Libra, this month’s collage is a nod to the ancient Egyptian vision of the afterlife. It was believed that at the time of death, the deceased’s heart would be placed by the gods on a scale with a feather of winged Ma’at, daughter of the sun and goddess of truth, justice, and cosmic order. If the heart was lighter or equal in weight to the feather, then the deceased was judged to have lived a life of virtue and they could pass on to the afterlife. As we are currently in the Jewish season of Teshuvah, Hebrew for "return" or "repentance", a time to reckon with one's spiritual progress over the past year, these themes resonate particularly strongly with me.
As a final note this month, I wanted to let you know about two upcoming opportunities to connect with me and my work:
Beginning on Sunday, October 6th I will be co-facilitating a series of three in person workshops entitled “Discovering the Muse” at Moss and Moonlight in Hopewell Junction, NY. Together we will explore different techniques for communing with the inner creative voice including intuitive collage, storytelling with archetypes, and dreamwork. Learn more and register here.
On October 12th and 13th I will be showing some of my collages (including some available for purchase) alongside the wonderful work of several of my relatives at Old Town Hall Theater in Brewster, NY. I will be there on the 13th for the artist meet and greet and would love to connect. Details can be found here.
yes beautiful, I love knowing libra is ruled by Venus, "who reminds us that tending to ourselves and our networks with love can transform the struggle for balance into a dance."