The South node purges us of material world matters, which has helped us towards Spiritual wisdom in themes associated with Libra/Venus the past couple of years.
Athene, Goddess of Justice, symbolises Venus’ sign of Libra. She is the objective and impartial analysis and judge of ‘right and wrong’ in relation to societal morals and ethical considerations. Moral perfectionism is something that comes to mind, and this matches well with Archetype Saturn exalted in the sign of Libra.
The owl (on Athene’s shoulder in the tarot) symbolises the clarity and intelligence of this yang/masculine air sign, which aims towards the spiritual/yang ideal of perfection and balance/equanimity, and thus Saturn (gateway to the Heavens) is exalted here in Libra, giving Libra the detached, cool, serious and authoritarian abilities to hold positions in the field of Justice, laws/rules, and teachers who work to uphold the status quo.
Objectivity, judgment, rules and right/wrong has its role and place in society, however when we misplace or overuse this cool, objective approach in our personal lives, especially in matters of the heart, we limit our ability to connect deeply at the emotional level and to share a more personal, soulful side of ourselves, a soul that is unique, deeply feeling, and has clear preferences around its own subjective desires and individual values (which can often be different to that of outward societal expectations).
So the soul of Libra/Venus is learning that they must make clear and subjective choices in the realm of their own personal lives, if they wish to feel fulfilled and autonomous as a human soul, honouring their own feelings, heart, instincts and desires. They can’t continue to ‘have their cake and eat it too’! This has been a big learning curve over the past couple of years for Libra, and with eclipses for all of us in our house ruled by Libra. Many commitments were either ended, or new ones entered into (divorce and marriage for example).
Our personal choices and decisions lead to consequences where we are all judged, rejected and disapproved of by others at times, by those who don’t understand our unique desires or needs. We will end up disappointing others at times, we can’t keep everyone happy all the time, and its not our job to do so (we are entitled to a ‘messy’, full experience of life like everyone else, one where whole-hearted, passionate, subjective decisions are made, where we go all in, jumping in feet first, and where our ‘mistakes’ lead to helpful lessons and soul growth along the way). We come to understand ourselves, what makes us unique, different, and that our feelings are an important and useful guidance system in our own life.
We can’t learn for ourselves intuitively and spiritually, what (and who) best aligns with us individually, on the personal, heart level, unless we learn through experiencing things for ourselves, experimenting, trying things, making ‘mistakes’, and through listening and tuning in to OUR own feelings, our body, learning what truly makes us truly, deeply, happy and fulfilled, regardless of our rational mind, other’s opinions, ideas, or other’s advice on what we ‘should’ want. Only we can discover our true desires for ourselves when we let go of the learned, conditioned, thinking mind, which has its place in the appropriate contexts, such as law or government, but causes suffering and unhappiness in the realm of our personal lives, where the heart needs to lead the way.
We only betray ourselves, fail to know/understand our deeper self, lack in a strong personal identity (necessary for true and deep emotional connection with others), and come to lose ourselves when we always consider and prioritise everyone else’s opinions and feelings equally, all the time.
Many of us (especially women/Venus) had come to feel lost, confused, anxious, drained and unhappy, because we had neglected and ignored own truest, personal, feelings and deepest desires of our feelings, body and soul. We learned to let our head lead, and were encouraged to suppress, self abandon, and self sacrifice, for the benefit of others (and through trying to avoid any disapproval, or upsetting anyone else).
We may have realised this leads to making no-one happy, by trying to keep everyone happy! Our closest loved ones need our full devotion, heart, support, and loyalty at times, and they wish to be a main priority in our lives most of the time. This can’t occur when we are concerned with being ‘fair’, ‘nice’ and pleasing to everyone, maintaining a ‘perfect’ social image all the time.
The north node in the opposite sign Aries, has been teaching us to be more subjective, self focused, passionate and bold with our own feelings, desires and preferences (even though it rocks the boat at times).
We are allowed to have our own individual preferences, feelings, needs, opinions, flaws, imperfections, and human desires, just like everyone else, regardless of whether or not others approve, agree or understand our personal choices. The human soul and heart loves what it loves, beyond logic and reasoning, and this will be different for us all as to what feels good and fulfilling to us. We are feeling, subjective beings too, and that is perfectly ok, and is also what brings the beautiful, deep, colourful, varied, rich, soul and yin/feminine experience of living life as a human. A life that makes us feel truly alive, one that opens and warms our hearts, and connects us deeply to others through the developing of empathy and compassion though shared, lived experiences of personal pain, loss and heartache. When we feel confident to express all part of us freely and fully, we won’t always be ‘on trend’, ‘popular’ and our choices and what and who we love won’t always make sense to those around us, but we will feel happy, whole and fulfilled by bravely following our heart, which is what truly matters.
Life isn’t perfect or fair, all we can do is live our own lives true to ourselves. God doesn’t ask us to be ‘good’, and there is no universal ‘right and wrong’ when it comes to the individual human soul experience at a heart level. We have no experience of warmth or empathetic support if we live a life leading with intellectual detachment, logical judgment and are overly self controlled.
For our heart to be weighed metaphorically against a feather, judged at death before we pass into the afterlife, we have to set down the baggage of other’s opinions in how we personally choose to live our own lives. We must not always try to control our own messy, yin, animalistic and chaotic emotional parts of ourselves, to remain structured, ordered, rational, ‘balanced’, competent, and ‘put together’ in front of others. Without showing our vulnerabilities, authentic feelings and true passions, we deny ourselves the beautiful human experience of deep intimacy, sensitivity and nourishing emotional connection, where we are nurtured and deeply bonded to a special one/few, who enrich and nourish our lives at the deepest level. A private world where we get to exist as a special and imperfectly perfect human soul, living a rich experience of life, rather than just a distant, cold, neutral observer watching from the sideline.