There are at least two types of Libra. One is decisive and preoccupied with etiquette. The other type is indecisive and has a concern with aesthetics.
The first type of Libra is more influenced by Saturn’s exaltation in this sign. Here we have the natural born judge. This Libra personality is severe and dispassionate, having a preoccupation with what is fair and seeking to make sure the punishment fits the crime.
With Libra it is always the ideal that counts; perfect Justice or perfect Balance. In real life these ideals rarely exist so Libra sees itself as the one that has to right the balance. When the decisive Libra decides to redress an imbalance you better look out because some heads are gonna roll. They have no mercy when it comes to the dispensation of Justice, preserving their precious idea before they spare any one individual they perceive as an offender of that idea.
The second indecisive type of Libra is influenced by the rulership of Venus in this sign. This Libra personality is the archetypal lover and artist. Their province is the liberal or fine arts. This type of Libra excels in the art of relationship and mediating between conflicting parties. Marriage counseling is a profession that suits their talents for relating.
The Venus-ruled Libra tends to be passive-aggressive, disowning their anger. The Libra personality is other-focused seeing the virtues and faults of others over their own psychology. They can be into blaming the Other when things go bad in a relationship because they see themselves as nothing but sweetness and light. This sign has difficulty with the Shadow archetype. They don’t want to look at the dark underpinnings of love or society.
Painting is a form of expression that appeals to many Librans. The sign’s esthetic orientation and its natural need for Balance and Harmony makes this form of artistic expression particularly satisfying, for they can work out on a canvas the internal standards they hold as Platonic ideals. The problems of light, color values, and symmetry of form are healing to resolve for them. Libra pays a particular attention to appearances in the highest sense as an – artistic attention. Libra is an Apollo archetype contrasted with the Dionysian. Their art deals with appearances and surfaces more than the formless chaos of the Dionysian.
The Libra personality is the natural political liberal. They have a “live and let live attitude” toward others. The Saturn- ruled Libra believes in strict codes of conduct to enforce the law. The Libra personality likes bigger government whether it is to protect his rights or to enforce the law.
Libra, being one of the three air signs, is social, and sees too much individualism being destructive to societal peace and harmony. If outside agencies can keep the order, so much the better. They believe in democracy and bureacracy in an attempt to protect the greatest number of people’s rights as possible.
The Libra personality is looking for that significant other to share their life with. They want to have a meeting of the minds more than any other realm of compatibility. Discussing ideas with their mates is essential to the health of the relationship. Also, Libra likes to pair with an independent character, one that can go off and do their own thing, leaving Libra to engage in interests that are exclusive to them.
Libra sees the positive in people and situations. Appreciation, that most basic form of love, is an attitude that Libra adopts in relationships with others. They seek to build others up and can make their mates feel like the most beautiful and perfect object on the face of the earth.
Tolerance and diversity, the twin hallmarks of liberalism are Libran. Librans are naturally leftists…but…they might change their mind (I’m thinking John Lennon in songs like Revolution or Strawberry Fields. But they tend to be naturally thoughtful and intellectual about things, issues, and politics. Libra is naturally a political animal. Or like the Libran musician PJ Harvey, they may consider themselves apolitical. Well, they are one or the other. Libra is sort of a sign of extremes, or better put, going from one end of a duality to another. They may go through phases where they play out one end of the spectrum, but then naturally rebalance to the other end, like a see-saw.
Devil’s advocate. Libra’s are quite intellectual in the sense of debate, playing out both sides of an argument. Dialectics. They take all that stuff seriously. Libra is the sign of the effete intellectual, where everything is sort of seen as an abstraction of real life. It’s really the sign of art par excellence. Libra is notoriously delicate and finely calibrated, it can’t bear disorder and loud noises. Taking out the trash. Anything rough. It shares this quality of just-rightness with Virgo, but it’s not perfectionism so much as things being feng-shui aesthectically. I’d say Libra is most sensitive to spatial and aesthetic imbalance, like if a chair is sitting at a wrong angle. This is interpreted from an NF perspective. But Libras are mighty idealistic in the way that an ENFP might get all uppity about social justice. That’s Libra. Social justice. More so that Aquarius whom is more concerned with a broader overview and intellectually abstract picture. Libra is a cardinal sign. It takes action on shit like that. Lawyers. Libra acts on ideas and ideals.
The sign is also notorious for being unable to take action because it is indecisive. It can’t really act in the real world unless it can take perfect action. Aleister Crowley (a Libra) has an interesting description of Libra rising in the book he coauthored with Evangeline Adams. It seems like they consider all the factors in a situation, strategically, and then have trouble taking action because they can see the cause and effect relationship of all the things under consideration. If not this, then that. They weight the pros and cons and want to act under the most favorable circumstances. It’s a statistical fact that more famous military generals have their Sun in Libra than any other sign. So it is a sign of action, but it is the opposite of the impulsive action taken by Aries. In this sense, Libra would be a good candidate for how introverted intuition is described in some instances, weighing all the different sides (perspectives) of an issue before it can act, and then often not being able to act because it can see all sides of the equation.
Libra is a middling sign, it is not a sign of extremes, another contradiction! It’s like it has a bit of everything in it without going to far to any extreme of a polarity. It’s trying to find that middle ground compromise between warring parties or opposing sides. But I guess on the way to doing that it can go to extremes, like I heard they do in relationships in the earlier parts of their lives before they can settle down and be more agreeable.
Libra is a sign of controversy. It generates conflict and discord. It may have a reputation for trying to find peace and harmony, but Libra can be some of the most fucked up shit on this earth. Just impossible disharmony and discord and jangled nerves. Hint at the planetoid Eris discovered in 2005 being higher ruler of Libra.
But the Venusian side of the sign, the normative side is accord and affinity and all those type of words. It’s sanity and rationalism and probaly positivism. It’s refined life, the higher side of humanity as truly civilized members of a civilization. Law and order. Benign and liberal law and order. Humanistic. Equitable. Tolerant. Beautiful. Symmetrical. In accord with as many people as is possible. Breeding good will among men. There is something very beautiful about Libra such that if we were all like this sign and it’s goal of living civilly with each other in a modern and urbane advanced society, we would live in a Utopia or something.
But similar to positivists and English people and many economists who talk about people acting in their best interests, Libra’s Achilles Heel is that it doesn’t understand the impulses of Scorpio or Pluto. The shit that the underground man was talking about in his book when he was saying that all society could be set up perfectly such that he would never have a need to complain except that for his own bloody will to do any dumb fuck thing he wanted. Because I think Libra is a bit angelic and lacking in free will. It’s like they carry out the order and perfection of Heaven. They could be avenging angels as I heard one of my friends say about the Libran artist PJ Harvey.
It’s interesting to consider the fall of Pluto in this sign and the generation that have this placement in their birth charts. I have a theory that Pluto in Libra is the true placement of the Millennial generation, and that Pluto’s absence from society for about since the millennium (discovery of Eris in 2005) started with my generation – the effetes. Those lacking in intensity. The sudden fall from anything deep into insipidness. I saw this with music perhaps starting around the time of “I love you whoever you are/because you let me change lanes/while I was driving in my car”. That sort of shit. Coldplay. This coldness that became the new hotness. The geeks becoming the new hunks. People becoming so fascinated with smartphones and social media.
Of course, Nietzsche was a Libra, but his Pluto was in Aries opposing, and this is what he was attacking – decadence. Libra. When society becomes too divorced from strength and brutes. Too civilized. Libra is the weak that come in the wake of the strong. But they refine and beautify and culturize. But they go too far away from primal nature. Society becomes too effete and ordered and sick and weakly and….POLITICALLY CORRECT. Now, instead of being able to have vigorous argument and discussion, everyone wants to be NICE. Hit the LIKE button. This is the poisonous shadow side of Libra and it is very dangerous and in play for some time now. This shadow grows more and more and comes out in an utterly fucked up and to me truly scary way because it is all covered up by rhetoric and conventions and politenesses and…I think Libra is the most fucked up sign in some way, for the very reason of the last 20 years.
However, when Nietzsche (a Libra) talks about the wisdom of surfaces and that sort of thing, evaluating the world completely from this POV, he is coming from the Libran POV, and also Se. So, Libra seems Ni and Se. But it is the unvigorous part of both of them. I think you could see in Libra any cognitive function.
Libra is that weak rhetoric of the progressive democrat making all these bland statements and milk and water compromises. Libra is inherently political and interested in political process. Libra is necessary for any society to reach a high level of functioning – diplomatically, bureaucratically, socially. Complex interactions.
If you have any questions about any of the foregoing, feel free to ask in the comments. I know there is a lot of information here and I’m not sure that Libra is coming across in a congruent understandable way. I think there is a lot more to say about Libra than a sign like Aries for example, because of the nature of Libra to consider many different viewpoints.
It’s also hard to describe a sign in isolation because there are so many things you could say about it. Also, I think the question of level comes into the mix; at what level are we describing the sign? It would be fair to say that I’m describing Libra from a mostly introverted intuitive perspective and that all the famous persons I have included as instances of Libra in this article are either introverted intuitive dominant or auxiliary (INFJ/INTJ/ENFJ/ENTJ). Or ENFP with its concern for social justice and activism.
did something happen to the stellar maze forum?
https://forum.stellarmaze.com
I decided to take the forum down recently.
I realize this is off topic, but I just had the urge to ask you Blake what MBTI type you think Morrissey is. I wanted to add something relevant but couldn’t think of interesting to say, despite being a double Libra and huge fan of Nietzsche lol.
Actually I want to say that a lot of this resonated.
“Libra is sort of a sign of extremes, or better put, going from one end of a duality to another. They may go through phases where they play out one end of the spectrum, but then naturally rebalance to the other end, like a see-saw.”
Especially this! Seems to be a less understood aspect of Libra. It’s almost like I get bored of myself and have to do the opposite thing for a little while lol, which mostly happens unconsciously. I think Libras are confusing because they can sort of be everything.
The Dionysian in the shadow perhaps? 🙂
I think Morrissey is INFJ
Thank you Blake!
As a Libra, I would say I can be decisive about important matters. If I’m indecisive it’s about things that don’t matter and not wanting to upset apple carts or, rather, being slow to decide due to the aforementioned process of needing to contemplate to take the best action.
Looking at any important oppositions in a Libra native’s chart would be a starting point to get hints at how the lessons of Libra unfolds in the given person’s life.
Libra can be wishy-washy and do-or-say-nothing, but I say it is a lower manifestation of the sign. The Heavens will teach a Libra native that one cannot be every thing – a choice means a sacrifice in some sort and one must accept the sacrifice. “To have your cake and eat it too”? Absolutely not. Paris tried to wheedle his way out of choosing which of the 3 goddesses he should give the golden apple too – cut it in 3 pieces! To which Zeus said “Haha, no. One intact apple to one goddess.” And so he chose Aphrodite, the goddess of BEAUTY (Venus ruling Libra) who offered a beautiful wife, Helen of Troy. Then look at how strife ensued because Paris made a choice. That’s the mythology behind Libra when he or she needs to choose. You can’t back out of it, but don’t mess up when you choose. And if you negotiate, you need to do it in a way that results in a concrete action that involves some kind of sacrifice on either end of the opposition – whether this involves opposing parties or opposing signs/archetypes within the native. If you attempt to completely be or appease both without anything to give up from either end, guaranteed the Universe will give you a red flag and ask you to try again.
Libra natives should also look to the sign and position of Venus, the ruler of Libra. If it’s fallen and in a house in aversion to the ascendant, expect a more degraded expression of Libra. Look also to the condition, house and sign position of the triplicity ruler of Libra – a daytime chart triplicity ruler is Saturn. If it’s strong and aspecting the Sun in Libra, expect a more Saturnian manifestation of Libra.
It’s also important to note that sun sign Libras may have Mercury and/or Venus in Scorpio due to those two planets never straying too far away from the Sun. So, quite a few Libras may actually have some Scorpionic influence in the chart, especially if such placements are given strength such as angularity or reception with the Moon or a dignified planet or a super-boost with a very tight orb aspect with “The Magnifier” Pluto. When Libra and Scorpio are mixed, the Libra native is far more in tune with the darker impulses of life under the cloak of charisma and light social appeal. They will be especially good at politics, forging relationships with cunning. Or they could be making music covering the dark aspects of life with an exquisite aesthetic sensibility, such as the likes of PJ Harvey.