The symbol for Libra, 7th sign of the zodiac, is that of two parallel and horizontal lines. The top one curving upwards in the centre. This represents a pair of scales. It also represents the Sun slipping below the horizon. The Sun moves into Libra on the autumn equinox when the Sun sinks lower and the days shorten. Ruling planet: Venus

Libra Star Sign – Cosmic Angels

You’ve got a little Cosmic Angel here, one of the most angelic of all the signs. This is a loving and peaceful sign, that requires and strives for balance and harmony in their lives. Because this is a Venus ruled sign, your Cosmic Angel is a lover and pursuer or beauty.

Libra is the newest of all the signs and before Roman times, didn’t exist as a separate Constellation. It was the Romans and their love of balance and harmony, that couldn’t abide a solar system of 11, unequal signs. To bring things together and have everything balanced, they created Libra, out of Scorpio.

This embodies the whole energy of Libra, where everything must be in harmony. In the nursery, your little Cosmic Angel will be more content if their toys are neatly arranged and everything is symmetrical. They prefer a home that is peaceful and harmonious and deliberately shrink from disharmony in their lives.

But don’t think you’ve got a mamby pamby here, this little Angel can stick up for themselves, in fact, because they have a lot of catching up to do as a sign, they have a sense of ‘look at me, notice me, I’ve been hiding behind my cosmic mates for too long’.

Not only is Libran energy ruled by Venus, planet of love, Libra itself, as the 7th Sign, rules relationships. This is a sign that is very focused on relationships and in adult years, relationships will be a central theme in their lives. This makes it so important when they are little, both in the relationship that they form with their opposite sex parent, but also the relationship between their parents. This little angel needs to see more than harmony between his or her parents, they want to see love and affection. They’ll be learning, right from day one, more than any other sign, how relationships work.

As they get older, the relationships they form with friends and brothers and sisters will be important. These are people people and it’s human connecting that will make this little Angel happy.

You’ve got one of the most mild mannered and easy going of all the signs and so long as everything is in balance and harmony in their world, you’ll have a dream baby and tot.

Libra Star Sign – The Constellation

Libra is distinct amongst the signs for two reasons. The first, is that it is the only ‘man made’ or ‘inanimate’ object or zodiac symbol. Secondly, in the ancient world, Libra did not appear as a separate sign until very late. The word ‘zodiac’ means ‘circle of animals and souls’, so quite clearly when the very name ‘zodiac’ was born, the ‘Scales’ were not included.

In ancient astrology the 30 degrees that now Libra’s domain, belonged to Scorpio. In ancient times there were only 11 signs in the zodiac, 10 covering 30 degrees (as all signs do now) and Scorpio covering 60 degrees – twice as many as it does today.

When the ancients looked up into the sky they saw the ‘Scales’. However, they were seen as either ‘the claws’ of the Scorpion, or else the ‘scales’ of Astrea, Goddess Justice, part of the constellation of Virgo. It wasn’t until later that Libra became a Constellation in its own right. Thus, Librans to this day are said to be able to lose themselves into other’s lives or relationships.

In old star maps, the ‘Scales’ are depicted as Astrea, Goddess of Justice. She is depicted holding a sword in one hand, scales in the other. This is a symbol that is well known and associated with most judicial systems around the western world. It’s her figure that is seen outside ‘court’ buildings. The Constellation of Libra (the ‘Scales’) lies very close to Virgo. But it is as the Goddess of agriculture, grain and harvest that Astrea is best known, so it is to Virgo that she belongs. As Goddess of Justice she was said to weigh the souls of men after death to determine their moral worth. It was she who determined whether they should go to the Elysian Fields, where they could enjoy eternal happiness, or be sent to the Underworld for redemption.

Libra was seen as the ‘Chelae’ or ‘claws’ long before they were identified as the ‘Scales’, representing balance. Libra didn’t become a constellation in its own right until Roman times. Then the ‘claws’ were referred to as ‘Jugum’, ‘the Voke’ or ‘beam of balance’. The most accepted theory is that she was transformed into the ‘Scales’ because the Sun goes into the Constellation of Libra on the autumn equinox, a time when day and night are balanced. The first time history records the mention of Libra is when Caesar (Pontifex Maximus) instigated the Julian calendar. Thus, the Romans claim to have created Libra.

The Romans liked the notion of balance implied by the ‘Scales’. In fact, they believed that Rome was founded when the Moon was in the Constellation of Libra. They thought that the balance and order that Libra brought, represented their idea of how society should be. They didn’t think that Libra belonged with the dangerous energy of Scorpio, rather the gentle energy of Virgo and Astrea.

In 43 BC a comet appeared in the Constellation of Libra. Shortly after, in September, Caesar was assassinated and it was said that the comet carried his soul to heaven.

Whichever Constellation Libra is now associated with, the group of stars that form Libra have been associated with the judgement of the living and dead as far back as 2,000 BC in Babylonia. There they were seen as Zabanitu, who weighed the souls of the deceased.

The name Libra comes from the Libyan Goddess of Holy Law who carried the scales of judgement. In Egypt she was Maat, the spirit of equilibrium, justice and truth. The Egyptians saw in Libra a set of scales they called ‘the Scales of Maat’. It was said that she weighed each human heart after death. A feather was put onto one side of the scales and the human heart on the other. If the heart was too heavy, the soul would return to earth and reincarnate until it was ‘light’ enough for final liberation.

The Greeks mingled the stars of Libra and Scorpio together and the ‘Scales’ were not recorded again until Roman times.

The stars of Libra have also been associated with an alter on a mound and with the Tower of Babel in the distant past. Also, as the lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and appeared as a great lamp between the Scorpion’s claws.

Throughout the Mediterranean, the birthplace of Astrology, the time of year ruled by Libra is harvest time, when the weighing of the crops was performed. In fact, it was a ritual in many cultures to weigh the crops under the Full Moon that fell while the Sun was in Libra.

The ancient Chinese called this constellation ‘Show Sing’ (or star of longevity), later to be changed to ‘Tien Ching’ (the Celestial Balance). The appearance of the Constellation of Libra happened at a time of year when the annual regulation of weights was made by Chinese law.

In ancient India, they called the Constellation of Libra ‘Tula’ (balance) and they depicted the constellation as a man bent on one knee holding a set of scales aloft.

Libra is the Constellation of the ‘Scales’. They are a symbol of harmony, balance, rights and justice. Libra lies between The Virgin and the Scorpion. The Sun passes into Libra around 23rd September each year, a date when the days and nights are of equal length.

h2.Libra Star Sign – The Planet

Venus has been associated with Libra since ancient times. In fact, according to Macrobius, Venus appeared in this constellation at the time of Creation (you can’t go any further back than that). He also said that the goddess bound human couples together under the yoke of matrimony.

Venus is a planet of exquisite beauty. The third brightest object in the skies (behind the Sun and Moon), it was once thought of as two separate planets as it rises at both Sunset and Sunrise. The ancients knew, however, that the morning star, Eosphorus, and the evening star, Hesperus, were one in the same, but to this day Venus rules two signs – Taurus and Libra.

Venus is the second planet from the Sun and the sixth largest. Because it’s closer to earth than any other planet, to us it appears the largest.

Libra Star Sign – The God

Aphrodite rules Venus, ruling planet of both Taurus and Libra. In Taurus we meet the earthy sensuality of Venus. Taurean energy is very old, dating back to the beginnings of time when matriarchal society ruled. It was a time of fertility rites. Motherhood was revered and statues of well endowered feminine forms have been found by archaeologists world wide (all aspects of Aphrodite). In Taurus, Aphrodite is associated with the earth.

In Libra we see the more intellectual side of Venus and one of more modern times. Venus was a complex goddess. She represents love and harmony and it was said that wherever she walked, flowers grew in her footsteps. Yet she could be vengeful and vain.

The ‘Judgement of Paris’ is one of the stories that illustrate this aspect of Aphrodite. In Greek mythology there was a lot of vying for power amongst the goddesses, although Aphrodite proclaimed herself ‘No. 1’ (as Venus energy does). Out of spite for not being invited to a wedding banquet, a ‘miffed’ goddess threw a golden apple into the Hall, written upon it were the words ‘To the loveliest goddess’. A squabble broke out between Aphrodite, Hera and Athene as to who should get the prize. So Zeus commanded Paris (Prince of Troy) to judge the contest. Paris was an impressionable and hormone filled youth. He quickly realised he was in a ‘no win’ situation, as you don’t make enemies of any one of those girls. In fear he offered to cut the apple in three. No way! Hera offered Paris rulership of all the lands of the earth, Athene offered to make him the mightiest and most just of warriors. Aphrodite, clothed in garb that left little to the imagination, opened her robes to reveal her naked body. She offered Paris love and the heart of the most beautiful woman in the world. Well, it was a foregone conclusion that Paris would pick Aphrodite. While Aphrodite set about to give Paris, Helen (most beautiful women in the world) the other two goddesses, although proclaiming no hard feelings, walked off quietly plotting Paris’s downfall. The events of that scene held tragic reverberations. Helen was ‘very’ married and when Paris took her back to Troy, an event happened that comes down to this day as ‘The face that launched a thousand ships’. Helen and the ‘thousand ships’ belonged to her very disgruntled husband. What followed was the Trojan War and the downfall of Troy.

Thus, Aphrodite also rules the consequences of inappropriate choices that come from the heart.

Libra Star Sign – The Season

Libra is the first sign of the Autumn triad. The Sun moves into Libra on the autumn equinox, a time when the days and nights are of equal length.

At the autumn equinox the earth is going through a gentle transformation. It’s halfway between the searing hot days of summer and the water heavy days of winter. The summer crops have been harvested and the earth itself is resting. Through the last two seasons it has been planted, given birth to new growth and ploughed in readiness for the new season. It’s a time when the crops are being distributed and a careful balance is needed between what is kept for food and seed and what is given back to the earth, to regenerate new life for the coming year.

The right balance and choices would mean the difference between life and death in ancient times.

As the first sign of the autumn triad, it’s a cardinal sign. It is also an Air sign. There is no work to be done now in the fields. The work that needs to be done is of an intellectual nature. Discussions and choices need to be made, long and deliberate. It’s the ideas and choices made in Libra that carried the ancients safely through the harsh winter yet to come.