Healthy self-connection is the foundation for truly connective relationships. Wouldn’t you say that is true? Relationship requires both the polarity of difference and the alchemy of conscious connection to work well. In astrological language, it’s the interplay between the first sign of self, Aries, and the first sign of relating, Libra. Both signs have been receiving strong focus since July 2023 and now reach a dynamic peak of opposition. It’s the challenge of opposing forces that is life’s natural way to make us stretch, grow and integrate a finer life-flow.
The dance of healthy interactive relating always carries a tension between opposing forces – the need to be oneself, independent, free, and authentically individual – and the desire to merge – the longing to love & be loved, feel secure, understood, and to belong.
This tension reflects the upward calling of spirit to freedom & the embodying calling of soul towards connection. It’s the heart’s work to balance these differing pulls in us. For the heart is where we know balance & integration or can at least move towards it. Not only in self-connection: mind & body, spirit & soul, directive & receptive, inspirational & cyclical, but in the flow of freedom & attachment within relationship.
In astrology, the Lunar Nodes point us towards a particular focus of evolution and karma for eighteen months as they move through opposing signs of the zodiac. Lunar South Node, in Libra July 2023 to January 2025, indicates what requires transforming; Lunar North Node in Aries suggests the next healthy focus. The Moon’s North Node always represents the direction of evolutionary growth; the South Node reflects the foundation we’ve created from our experience, including ancestral and soul karma (meaning simply ‘the results of our previous actions’).
A good example of North Node in Aries, current growth focus, is The Fool archetype in the tarot. He represents the adventure of being alive, of innocently acting on our deepest desires and our own behalf. Aries is the sign of the developing ego – not as a problem to be fixed, or an illusion to rise above – but as the vital vehicle of individuality that is here to serve a unique soul purpose. It’s like the operating system of our humanness and includes instinctual aspects of our beingness.
As first sign of the zodiac, Aries is always a starting point. It offers us constant new beginnings, the catalyst for a whole new cycle. This fire sign is the impulse of initiative, self-worth, courage and assertiveness, the bold instinctual action of the warrior archetype. Aries is the immediacy of the spirit of life moving through us, our clear ‘yes’ or assertive ‘no’ of action and reaction. It holds our self-worth or lack of it, how we motivate ourselves and act on our passions, how we fight for what’s right.
Whilst the energy of Aries denotes simplicity of action & response, South Node in Libra reflects the complexity of the world of relating. Libra represents the delicate balance of all polarity. How we must co-operate to fully enjoy our relationships. The symbol of Libra, the scales, reveals, how this is always variable. The scales need to move gently & flexibly to maintain balance. For there to be harmony, we must make a healthy connection, there must be give and take. Yet the price of harmony can be autonomy. With South Node in this airy sign, how we move out of balance in relationships is the karma calling for transformation.
Libra shadows include indirectness, over-compromise, manipulating to please or accommodate others, not being straightforward. These are Libran attempts towards harmony that can misfire. Libra South Node points to our habits & comfort zones that rely on the responses of others rather than authenticity. It’s where we may give away more than is healthy for us as individuals.
Aries energy calls us to cultivate the courage to be real – to simply face ‘what is’, to allow our actions and reactions to have space to move, without deliberation. To do that, there’s a need to explore – who am I now, what do I truly want and given that, how must I live to be an integrated individual in the world of relating. It’s about consciously creating a synergy between me/you/us, knowing the core is always one’s own self-honesty. Honesty that owns ‘I’m being selfish here so letting go of my agenda is needed’, or “I’m compromising because of his/her reactivity’, or ‘There’s a pay-off here from not rocking the boat but I’m not really happy.’ Self-authenticity is always the foundation for conscious relating. It may seem overly self-interested but it’s actually the way of honesty, especially when expressed with heart.
Given this Aries/Libra polarity has been a focus of growth for over year, you may well be aware of its challenge for you and your gravitational pull to express in a more Aries or Libra way. Right now the pressure amps up. Movement to a new integrated balance is needed. We come to the crux of this dynamic interplay between me & you, freedom & attachment, aloneness and connection. It’s heralded by an ultra-strong line-up of Sacred Feminine archetypes in Libra now to 7 September and includes this upcoming New Moon in Virgo. This line-up highlights a deep karmic residue to be faced, embraced & transmuted within relationships & intimacy. You may already see or feel it brewing yet what seem to be purely personal dynamics are the pointer to a much bigger field of karma.
We live in a wounded culture; a fear of difference, and thus conflict, is pervasive. Given this, and the dynamics of ancestral and soul karma in this planetary meet-up, how might we build bridges from Aries individuality to Libra co-operation. How might we transmute power struggles, feelings of isolation, fear of not being heard, self-sabotage, and adaptive behaviours we have learned or inherited? How may we transmute what comes from the depths of our soul journey and ancestry?
As I consider that question, two of Aries predominant qualities stand out – courage & honesty. Whilst Libra ponders (with the best of intentions), Aries simply says or does it. It’s not the most tactful of signs but that’s not its purpose, diplomacy is one of Libra’s gifts. Simply being direct is Aries.
Directness can be uncomfortable, particularly when you’re the one receiving it, or it’s not your naturally expressive style. Honesty is an edge that can shatter the illusion. It’s a gateway into the unknown. Yet, it can be refreshing, especially where there is a ‘going through the motions’ in a particular relationship. When paired with heartfelt intention, directness is the Aries sword of the warrior that cuts through any niceties. If it’s not expressed consciously, it can often simply blow up in unhealthy ways. As you will probably know, life has ways to reveal what is hidden, especially in these current times.
The risk with honesty is always reaction. Perhaps that’s why human beings fear it at times. Yet reaction is the key to alchemy.
Our instinctual reactions are natural. They are the Aries immediacy of fire in our human system and have a purpose. They change things, they open us up. What we do with reactions is where our Libra wisdom comes in – do we respond to our reactions, or those of others, from the heart, from our willingness to stay connected (always with self, sometimes with others) or do we allow them to spiral out of control creating havoc?
Honesty in relationship dynamics, acknowledging that what I see/feel/want and what you see/feel/want, are both valid, is a foundation for Libra’s skilful capacity for negotiation to play. Without the courage of directness, the core of relationship challenges remains untouched. Libra’s calling to connection & co-operation cannot find its roots where the desire for harmony covers over the underlying issues. When we come into deeper connection with our self – the Aries calling – we are resourced to meet another in a truly heartfelt way.
The key understanding right now is not to fear or control the fire of our reactions. But to recognise they are a key to alchemical process. Elias Lonsdale’s Star destiny degree for the North Node in Aries (in part here) cuts to the core of the dilemma: ‘Made to open vulnerably to the outside whilst the inside pulls us apart. Needing to be exposed at this level of intensity, for we must recognise the emergent facet, which only comes when we have exhausted the usual round of explanations, interpretations, and evaluations (Libra). We must again meet directly what is there (Aries).’ Along with: ‘We have a potential here for something far more. We knock at the door of a future worth living.’
Key focus: Where is reactivity showing you there is a deeper issue to explore? What have you been dancing around in relating that you need to meet up-front?
Go to belly wisdom, your deep knowing. Meeting that in yourself first, through honesty, and then with another is the ongoing requirement here. Aries is a truly potent focus in our evolutionary uplift well into 2025 & beyond. This is about owning that you, you alone, are the creative centre of your world. A new human self is being birthed. From that foundation, we may move in truly infinite co-creative possibilities.
See also my blog about Lilith in Libra for nine months – Co-creating Connection
Want to explore this deeply? I invite you to book online immersion ‘Relationship Reality Check‘ Thursday 5 September at 19.00 (attend live or receive the recording) exploring Lilith in Libra and these current dynamics
The Astrology
Venus, Eros, Diana, Black Moon Lilith, Juno, the South Node, Artemis and Makemake in conjunction at 0-9 Libra, opposing the North Node at 6 Aries and square Earth Mother Ceres with Centaur Pholus at 7 Capricorn from 29 August to 9 September.
Pallas Athena at 27 Scorpio opposes Uranus at 27 Taurus, exact on 29th – Uranus station Rx on 1 September
New Moon at 11 Virgo on 2 September with Moon-ruler Mercury at 23 Leo trine to Wounded healer Chiron at 22 Aries conjunct Eris at 25 Aries
