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Listen for Libra and Libra Rising

2013 Annual Horoscope by Eric Francis

Sign art by Debra Cortese.

Sign art by Debra Cortese.

Libra Part One
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Libra Part Two
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Music for Libra – How Will I Know by Blue O’Connell
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Listen for Libra and Libra Rising | 2013 Annual Reading by Eric Francis
Full minor planet list for the day that the Sun arrives in your sign.

Let’s face it, 2012 might have been a wild ride, and your motto may have been, “If you’re going through hell, keep on going.” In any event, 2012 was a challenging year, particularly on the emotional level, though one thing is for sure: you are beginning 2013 in a very different place from where you were just one year ago.

You have, in a real sense, been transported to another place or space or both. I suggest you take some time to relax; yes, there is still work to be done, though the storm has passed.

During the past four seasons, it seems like you questioned every assumption you ever had. You seem to have had the rug pulled out from under you more than once; more like five or six times. I suggest, however, that you notice what was stable through all of this. What made it through this series of transitions and tests is built to last, as are you.

One thing that the combination of Saturn in your sign (now over), along with Venus and Mars retrogrades (now over) and a rare transit of Venus (long since done) did was to shake you out of some form of codependency. That’s another way of saying nudged, pushed or shocked you into a state of emotional independence that you may have wanted to reach for a long time but had no idea quite how to go about it.

You have a powerful tropism for relationships, and (like many) you’re inclined toward them even when they are less than healthy, though it’s particularly risky for you, as one who needs balance in your life more than you need anyone else.

One result of your wild ride has been to plant you firmly in relationship to yourself: as your primary partnership. Said another way, this is the time in your life when you really, really, really must learn about self-esteem — and you’re in the perfect position to do so. Far from being an intellectual concept, for you self-esteem is an emotional state. Your self-acceptance is based on a visceral sense of self-acceptance. You can, at times, have a stormy, shadowy relationship with yourself — until you surrender into self-acceptance.

In your tendency to weigh and balance, you may think of this as being more like a negotiation or deliberation process. The thing about self-acceptance is that it must happen despite any misgivings that come up in the accounting. You don’t clean up and clear up and resolve everything, then get to the spot where you love yourself — though many try.

I suggest you take a different approach, a more direct one. You don’t have the ability to work through all your karma at once, not without some serious spiritual intervention — which is possible — though you do have the power to embrace who you are, which also means accepting your potential to change and grow, and putting your faith in that. Part of your self-embrace means making friends with being a person of deep passions who doesn’t always like to be perceived that way.

As for karma: what we’re talking about is not so serious. It seems, more than anything, like a lot of old ideas from the past that no longer work and are getting in the way. Yes, it may feel like a big deal — elements of your family history are coming up for review and you are discovering a lot of things you would change if you could. There seem to be a lot of conditions built around the relatively simple experience of how you feel, as if everyone else has the right to decide that for you. This is the main belief, or really conditioning, that you’re overcoming, and along the way it’s as if you’re digging a well within yourself to reach the deeper aquifers within you.

I have written many times about my observation that self-esteem, or the lack thereof, is the most serious problem in Western society. It has many causes and in turn lends itself to many other issues; it’s fair to say we’re a society of people who are being taught regularly to hate ourselves, mainly by the images that we see in advertising and the reinforcement of ideas about relationships that are coming from the minds of TV and movie script writers, who have everything going for them except sensitivity and imagination.

Self-esteem problems take many different forms, for example, not being sure you’re allowed to feel what you feel. There are more obvious forms, such as not recognizing one’s true value to others; feeling worthless; instability in how one feels about oneself; the sensation of guilt or shame intermingled with the feeling of existing; obsession with others as a way of seeking one’s value; obsession with image as a way of seeking one’s value; persistent self-doubt; or the feeling of not understanding oneself to the point where it becomes a debility.

In extreme cases, low self-esteem can manifest as questions about whether you exist, or deserve to exist. But mostly it’s the nagging feeling that you’re selling yourself short in some way, such as by repeatedly finding yourself in experiences where you are not appreciated for who you are. If you find yourself surrounded by others who you know don’t value you, I would say that’s a good advantage — you can do something about it.

I’ll move on to other topics in this reading in a moment, though the thing to remember, the one very important thing to remember, is that for the next four seasons, everything comes back to self-esteem. The astrology here is that Saturn, a planet closely associated with Libra, has moved from your sign (your 1st solar house if you are Libra Sun) to Scorpio, your 2nd solar house. If you have Libra rising, I’m describing your rising sign and your 2nd house by whole-sign houses, which is all of Scorpio.

The 2nd house is the seat of how we feel about ourselves. It represents personal resources, such as available cash and talents. Scorpio is sexual regardless of where it is; aligned this way in your chart, the theme is the sex you have with yourself, and also the emotional content of the sexual relationship you have with yourself. All masturbation is not equal. It can be more or less loving, more or less conscious, more or less sincere. It also has a relationship to what we normally think of as sex; as in all areas of your life, you will benefit greatly from having a connection to yourself in the first instance, and then sharing that connection with others in the second.

Saturn takes the ‘coming to terms’ process that you experienced during its Libra transit to a deeper level, to an emotional level. It’s designed to put you in contact with the layer of feelings deeper than the one you usually acknowledge, and in the process set you free. These will be feelings about yourself, and about everyone and everything.

You may decide that you need to drain the pool if it’s become stagnant, thaw it out if it’s frozen, or merely admit that how you feel is how you feel, and this is the most influential element in your relationship to existence.

Deepening Your Security Base

For reasons that I’ll get into in a moment — associated with Uranus in Aries, your relationship house — it’s a good thing that you’re deepening your foundations through this new Saturn transit. It’s related directly to another transit, which is Pluto in Capricorn in your 4th house. These have nearly identical themes, stated in different ways.

The 4th house is where we seek security and shelter. It’s the seat of the emotions, and it’s related to early childhood conditions that set you up for how you feel, and feel about yourself and your environment, as an adult. You have Capricorn on this house, which is a bit chilly here, and given to caution. Capricorn on the 4th is going to seek stability at nearly any cost, though now you have a rather destabilizing influence here: Pluto is passing through, which is having the effect of getting you to question everything that you ever thought made you safe. What you may notice is that you’re doing a lot of questioning of the assumptions of your ancestors. Many of us are still under the influence of values that were developed during a horrific time in world history, the Great Depression. I know, this was a long time ago. But we are still living with its effects, mainly passed down through families.

It’s not possible to put into words — pictures are necessary — the agony of both total economic collapse combined with ecological collapse that was the Depression. Part of our reckless addiction to abundance here in the 21st century, and which has run wild for many years, is a reaction to what the human family went through during the Depression, and while we could use some moderation (understatement) we also need to update our files.

One thing that would help here is moving toward the center away from economic extremes. We need to recognize, simply, that in addition to there being such a thing as ‘not enough’, there is such a thing as ‘enough’. There’s even such a thing as ‘too much’. Getting these balances right is an important part of self-esteem for you, since so much of it, in your situation, involves resources and how you exchange them with others.

Yet some of this has nothing to do with you directly; it’s as if you’ve inherited all these emotional relics and heirlooms and you have to figure out what to do with them. The material you’re digging through goes back a long way; you’re seeing the influences of people who have long since departed from the lives they knew. Some are still around to reinforce their viewpoints.

Now, though, the question is: what is the real source of your security? The one clue I can give you is that it’s located deeper than all of the clutter that you were told keeps you safe, and Pluto is doing its best to clear that out of the way and help you get there. Along the way, you may go through moments of feeling extremely vulnerable, and in a way that you cannot conceal. I would count that as progress. Your ability to conceal your feelings, from others and from yourself, is on the list of things that you think makes you safe but clearly does not. Indeed, you are far safer being known for who you are and how you feel, though this may take some practice to get accustomed to.

This Pluto transit may have you feeling unstable where your home base is concerned. I suggest for a while you make peace with the fact that life is a camping trip. Humans are migratory and it’s only relatively recently that we have been able to settle into any one place for a while. I suggest that you not seek a sense of permanence but rather the ability to take your home with you where you go.

The ground beneath you is shifting, and the more at peace you can be with that, the easier a time you will have. After a while you’ll find yourself in a place that is a match for where you are emotionally as well as in your process of finding grounding in the external world.

Meanwhile, any vulnerability that you come across is a good opportunity to make contact with your own fears and with the rather challenged state of affairs that we call the human condition. Then, it’s an opportunity to express yourself in a new way. You will indeed make contact with a sense of safety and belonging that has nothing to do with the past or how you were conditioned.

Uranus in the 7th House: Relationships on the Move

Among the many factors reminding you that life is a work in progress is Uranus in your 7th house. This is the planet of revolution and surprises in your house of relationships. If you’ve been feeling like your relationships are either a candle in the wind, or like a thunderstorm going by, this is the astrology to consider. This is astrology that can shake up any relationship or relationship environment. There can be the sense of constant change and instability.

Sincerely, I might say that this is a Libra’s worst anxiety coming true, except for one thing — you have a taste for the unusual, and this is going to feed you. What it’s unlikely to give you are conventional relationships that are stable in a conventional way. This is a time to relax any value you have on what a relationship is supposed to be. You will have a lot more fun if you take it as it comes.

Uranus in one’s 7th house puts you in contact with interesting, eccentric and weird people. Relational situations can come into your life on no notice. With Uranus there is no ‘phase-in’ period. People just show up, seemingly out of the ether, the clear blue sky or like they got beamed into your life one day. They can disappear just as quickly: some circumstance might require that they relocate, or there may be no explanation.

It’s vital that you not take this personally. Others are waltzing to their own orchestra these days, and the moment that your lives intersect is the time to share. When they no longer do, let them go, remain open and something interesting will happen soon enough.

As this rhythm develops, you may notice that there is a theme: not building your sense of security and stability in life on relationships. If, like most people, this has been your method of cultivating stability, this may be challenging for you, though Uranus in the 7th house is consistent with several other of your transits, all of which are calling on you to make your own stability. Your primary function in life right now is doing that, along with the work of cleaning out your root system and flushing your emotional drains so that you’re a happier, better-adapted person.

The kind of person you want to be in your relationships is a whole one, and your current astrology is designed to help you do just that. There is a sexual dimension to this, which I mention because ‘sex’ and ‘relationships’ have a few things in common. You will be able to go as deeply with others as you can go with yourself. Usually, we count on others for the part about helping us go deeper. Part of what you’re doing now is leading the way in your own emotional life, which includes your sexual life. The dependable ground that you stand on will, in large part, be composed of your sexual independence: that is to say, from separating your need for sex from your need for relationships.

I know that nearly every force in society is pushing everyone to conflate these two topics; to fully merge sexual sharing and deep relationships. I don’t see how this is productive, particularly if these psychic/emotional elements have not been considered separately. You will experience less confusion when you count yourself as the primary source of your sexual pleasure, as you get the hang of exchanging in close emotional relationships where sex is not necessarily part of the exchange.

With that clarity, when they arrive in the same person and the same situation it will be a lot easier for you to be present in that relationship without losing yourself. Have I mentioned this before? This is really what I’m talking about: not losing yourself in your relationships, which means keeping clear about who you are, which in part means having a sexual boundary that works, that opens and closes, that moves and that you understand.

Moving Deeper In the World

I’ve described all manner of inner work in this reading, including taking your relationships from an inner dimension. There will be plenty going on in the outer world, particularly some opportunity for professional success. This is less about moving up than it is about moving deeper. Most people think of career advancement as ‘promotion’. I think of it as being happier with the work that you do, as well as an increase in your pay.

Later in the year, Jupiter moves across your solar 10th house (or 10th by whole-sign houses). This is an opportunity to connect with what you’ve been doing for a while, which is building a foundation of some kind; establishing a reputation; learning a work pattern and figuring out that you have to do work that is creative and emotionally fulfilling. You have Cancer on this house; your work has to involve actually participating in the human experience on a human level. What becomes clear is the way you need to do this, how good you are at it, and how everyone benefits.

The real variable here may be the fulfillment factor: that seems to emerge as a dominant detail in the scene. This would include being at home with where you work and what you do, including the aspect that’s about taking care of people in a way that matters. This also means being in a creative environment rather than merely a mechanical one.

Creative means you get to make decisions, and it means that you’re in some way working with your own aesthetic senses. This is the thing to emphasize. If you’re looking for new work, pick the place with an environment where your body feels safe and comfortable, where the emphasis is on nourishment and where there is a focus on beauty. You need an influence over where you work; if you feel you have none, that is something to put on your list of things that need to change.

A sense of family is also essential. Many workplaces develop this, taking advantage of a natural tribal quality in humanity. It’s particularly important for you to have this and to have it in a real way. Moreover, you tend to emerge on the level of family leadership. This is not necessarily power in the formal sense of what happens in a top-down organization but rather informal influence that can be truly significant in how things go, and whether a business or organization is successful.

You have a lot of influence in this aspect of life, and in a direct way, your own success is linked to the success of those around you. Your creative talent, emotional grounding and positive influence become a force that helps create the kind of positive progress that you thrive on, and that you know our culture needs more of.

Humanity needs more compassionate business models that are driven by a relationship to people as well as by financial success and profits. Far from being mutually exclusive concepts, you know that it’s possible to put them in the same place and time, and this is much of the leadership you offer.

There’s a direct connection point between the inner work you’re doing, your commitment to building and deepening your self-esteem and your understanding that we are all in this together. That connection point is a nexus that is helping open up a new way of life whose time is long overdue.

Your commitment, ethics and talent will help lead the way, to everyone’s mutual benefit. You can remember that, and feed yourself on that truth — it’s wholesome nourishment for your own self-esteem and for those of the people around you.

Eric also offers birthday readings and other audio reports here.

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Libra chart.

Chart for the Sun’s ingress of Libra.

Handwritten chart for the Sun’s ingress of Libra.

Libra minor planets.

90 degree sort of all planets in early and mid cardinal signs at the Sun’s ingress of Libra.

Libra minor planets.

List of planets in Aries, opposite Libra (and in Taurus, ruled by Venus) at the Sun’s ingress.

Libra minor planets.

List of planets in Libra at the Sun’s ingress.

 

One Response to Listen for Libra and Libra Rising

  1. voejoworkin says:

    My how I chortled and smiled to myself through this reading, from the first sentence with its motto “If your going through hell, just keep going” – to its last musings on the nature of professional paths and realtionships it has been bang on. 2012 was one of the personally challenging in my entire life, it was in all a weird cataclysmic mixture of joy, fear, hell, happiness, pain, sadness, pride, hope and every other word you can think of to describe feelings and actions.

    I loved how a large part of the 2013 Listen segment settled its focus on my realtionship to myself, I can honestly say at times last year I felt as if the world, and everyone I had known in it, had abandoned me at a time when I felt I NEEDED them most.

    However, reflection, what this experience has taught me, in the most direct and full on manner, is that I have a great deal of ability to manage by myself and for myself. I don’t mean this in a “I don’t need anybody” way, because I like people, hell I love people, I find them endlessly fascinating.

    I mean 2012 taught me the true meaning of a healthy, balanced form of self-relience which has put me firmly on the path of not only knowing myself more, but trusting myself more. I say on the path, because I truly believe we will be discovering things about ourselves when we pass into the next realm.

    Thanks to you, oh cousin Eric, for a truly wonderful message which has given me plenty to chew over and ponder on. I love a good ponder!

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