The Dance of the Warrior & the Lover with the Continued Eclipse Cycle

On April 19th & 20th, 2023, we began an eclipse cycle on the Aries-Libra Axis, one that will be active until March 29th, 2025 — which means that this cycle draws to a close in the Spring, with October 2nd, 2024’s Libra New Moon Eclipse as the penultimate event on the axis of the warrior and the lover.

Generally when we think about these archetypes, we consider them to be opposites — and in this case they are — with one representing the part of us that will put ourselves in harm’s way, over and again if necessary, to defend or protect what is valuable to us, and at all costs. This is opposed by an energy that seeks connection and exists to come close to another, thereby deepening relationship, necessarily attempting to see and understand a different viewpoint, even if it means letting go of one’s own momentarily, or for longer. Yet in astrology, as in most other frameworks, both sides of the coin have something significant to offer the other, and being able to understand and healthily embody them together, especially when there is natal symbolism in these signs, is an imperative if we are to live on this planet as clearly and skillfully as we’re capable of.

There is always more nuance than our minds might like to let on, and the evolved part of our humanity doesn’t shy away from this aspect of things, but rather, delights in its existence, knowing we’re adept enough to hold many facets simultaneously in order to find the healthiest attributes of both extremes. And one of these things is the following: Aries is associated with passion and intensity and carries a soul need to develop courage by meeting what is uncomfortable and makes us bristle, yet it also represents Śṛṅgāra or Sringara, a Sanskrit word that is often translated as, “erotic love,” “romantic love,” or “passionate love,” therefore bridging the gap between fervent conflict, reaching to the side of the spectrum that is able to see itself in the other, bringing together passionate desire with the love that is available when we open ourselves to it. Of course, this isn’t always possible, but even if intense love isn’t that which is shared between lovers, there is still a way to come together with someone else in a non-romantic way that sees and gracefully honors the humanity in them. More on this shortly. Just as similarly, Freyja, one of the primary deities in the Nordic tradition, is the goddess of both love and war, and Athena in the Greek tradition is associated with both justice and carrying it out within society (very Libran virtues), and War and its strategy on the ground, obviously a very Aryan (of Aries) quality.

On its own, Aries always wants us to courageously claim a boundary within ourselves and our lives, and one that is hard-won, for if it were easy, we would miss the point entirely. Like the goddess Durga of the Hindu pantheon, who stands up and fights when the dharma of life is being threatened, when those who are already downtrodden are further victimized, or when we or someone we love is being bullied for no good reason at all (the phrase comes to mind, ‘hurt people hurt people’), Aries energy wants us to stand in the midst of what is terrible, fiercely facing a reality that is so one-sided no good could ever come of it. Yet in humans, when this energy goes into its shadow mode, it is filled with rage and rampage, drunk with a berserkness that thrusts it violently into the world, tearing across anything and everything in its way. It most definitely goes into ‘fight’ mode, its eyes turning red in an inability to separate one thing from another, constantly wreaking havoc on whatever is in its path.

Libra always wants us to make space within ourselves to see, feel, and understand another being’s perspective, and to put ourselves in their shoes in order to do so in all the ways that we possibly can. It craves the soul connection that comes from sitting receptively with another, yet it also needs reciprocity and to be truly seen by this other, understood in ways that might seem impossible to it until the deep connection actually takes place. When this happens, Libra’s nervous system responds accordingly, the Vagus nerve working to help create a feeling of overall ease in the body, mind, and spirit, a calmness permeating the whole being so that equanimity is present as a result of this process. Libra can be connected to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, the deity of abundance and wealth in our lives, and certainly in our relationships. She knows the value that each being holds within, as well as the connections that are possible when we know and honor the value of who we are. She brings unconditional love and what is endlessly auspicious to every aspect of our lives, mending what is broken, healing what is fractured. Yet when Libra goes into shadow, it moves into ‘fawn’ mode to please the perceived aggressor, giving itself and its needs away in order to “fix” the issue in the moment; yet it ultimately gives away too much, forgetting that it is meant to be an equal half in the totality of the relationship, and to take up just as much space as the other.

Right now in very clear and pointed situations in the world, and perhaps just as readily within ourselves, we’re in the midst of this type of conflict: one that is marked by an incapability of seeing someone else’s perspective, even if given the opportunity, which throws most involved so readily onto one side of the Aries-Libra axis that those involved seem doomed to be there forever, constantly choosing a battle that seems neverending and will be if the same approach continues. Though the type of astrology that I practice is personal, looking to each individual and the relationships they’re involved in to do real and deep work in order to evolve and transform, I, probably like you, cannot help but see these dynamics playing out on the world stage in very obvious ways right about now. And though they have been for quite some time, in one form or another, the current dynamics might feel louder and more intense, if only because we’ve become more conscious through the eons and know that different choices can always be made in any moment. When sitting within all of this, as we all are in our own ways, what I come to over and again is actually a quote from one of the planet’s more recent greats: “We must be the change we wish to see in the world” (italics are mine). Gandhi knew there was a way to do things differently than the norm, standing resolutely behind this so fully that the mark he left has forever changed the fabric of our world, the one that we live in together and the one that we will always share, no matter how much animosity we might have toward one another. The same goes for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and many others whose names may not be as familiar, but whose contributions to the whole of society are no less important. And all of this brings us back to the personal, for one person’s story can and does make a difference everyday, shifting the collective in ways that are meaningful and powerful.

One of the interesting things about this eclipse is that it is closely conjunct Mercury, who is known as the oft silver-tongued god of communication, but who, more importantly, governs our perception of reality and our ability to see it clearly. Wherever he shows up, we are invited to look at things from a more astute viewpoint, opening ourselves to a perceptual shift that has profound repercussions, if only we allow this to be true. He is sitting right beside the Libra Sun and Moon (a New Moon happens when the Sun & Moon line up at the exact degree of one another), only 1.5° away, and his message is clear: it’s never to late to begin again, to move into a receptive place within ourselves so that we can see, hear, understand, and empathize with another, no matter how many times we’ve entered a similar conversation. How easy is it to hear your partner or your best friend, your parent or your child, begin a sentence that you think you’ve heard a hundred times, tuning them out instead of listening for the key that has actually shifted? Or perhaps they know you haven’t ever really heard them, your defenses raising as soon as a certain word comes out of their mouths, so they try over and again to press their point, just so you can get it this time around, but because you generally never do, the conversation stays at one level without opening up other possibilities? This New Moon Eclipse wants us to be receptive and so cognizant of our own being that we can listen and actually hear, see and actually sense, what is coming up for another, not just so they can do the same for us, but so we exercise the ‘muscle’ within ourselves that softens its edges and feels another person’s perspective, trusting that the process itself has value. It invites us to put down all of our arms, especially the ones we didn’t even know we were carrying, in order to find value in the viewpoint and the person sitting right in front of us, especially when it’s hard. It encourages us to practice ‘active listening,’ not just going over in our heads what we’re going to say as the other is speaking, but to be truly present for the conversation. It wants us to stop defending ourselves and our standpoint so that we can actually understand someone else’s, for the ego is quite quick and quite good at going into protection mode rather than being present for an experience that it doesn’t yet know or get. In allowing for this possibility, true Libran connection becomes available, as does a different outcome that has the capacity to bring both sides into a more harmonious place within themselves and with each other, shifting something big that at first seemed impossible to change.

As always, with any and all moments in time, the choice is our own. Though Libra carries the wisdom of knowing how to see the divine in another without judging or labelling it as something else, the yogis have long held that we must first see and know this part of ourselves in order to recognize it in the world around us. When we do, we will truly be practicing what this Libra New Moon Eclipse holds as possible. May we show up for it in all the ways that we can, opening to the deep awareness that each and every one of us truly holds in the depths of our hearts.