By Brandon Alter:
Our lives are composed of relationships. The people, places, and things we choose to align ourselves with define the very fabric of our lives. In Astrology, the planet Venus helps us understand how we relate from our heart to the hearts of all other living things. And as a Venus-ruled sign, Libra is consumed with understanding its relationships. It’s a sign that craves connection, equality, and beauty.
Libra is a gateway to intimacy; it prepares us for Scorpio Season, where we take these relationships to the next level. Remembering that we have power to renew and release our relationships to all things is important, or else we may find we are taking the wrong relationships into the boardroom or even the bedroom—or dare I say, the dungeon.
What I’m trying to remind you of is that we are in relationship to everything, and it’s vital to not lose sight of this.
We are well aware of the relationships we have with our friends and family, yes, but what about the land on which you live? What about your relationship to money, work, your own body? When looked at this way, Libra Season wants to help us restore balance in all our relationships—including the relationships we have with ourselves, our own heart, and the stories we let clutter up our lives.
The New Moon in Libra is a dark, sparkling lunation that occurs in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday.
Sitting with Mars and answering to Venus in Scorpio, this moon offers us a chance to claim ourselves fully in relationship to the world at large. It’s a slightly off-brand Libra New Moon, not quite so concerned with keeping the peace and more interested in achieving inner satisfaction. Mars helps us take action, and so this New Moon is slightly less concerned with what others want from you and more concerned with what you really want from others.
In some ways, this New Moon is the inciting incident for the rest of the year. You may have noticed all the outer planets (plus Mercury) are currently in retrograde, which is why forward motion has been so hard to come by. But just moments before this New Moon in Libra occurs, Pluto stations direct. Think of this as the first domino. Four days later, Saturn stations direct. A week after that, Jupiter and Mercury stop moving backward in the sky. This New Moon captures the beginning of a cosmic momentum—so there’s no time like the present to get clear on what you are setting into motion.
If you will indulge me, a little story to help illustrate some of these Libra themes at play. You may know that I used to teach Pilates, for about fifteen years actually. And while I love Pilates, towards the end, I didn’t really love teaching. I was burnt out, working for other people, forced to teach within a rather rigid framework and, frankly, just over it. When the pandemic hit, I was thrilled to be liberated from this role. But a year and a half later, I find myself missing it deeply. So much so that I’ve been recently scouring the Internet for a Pilates reformer to call my own. You see, even before I was teaching Pilates, I was practicing it. My body has been on a reformer at least twice a week since I was twenty-one years old. And even if my mind didn’t miss being in the Pilates studio, my body was missing that machine. The slow, fluid movements one can only make supported by springs and strings. As it turns out, my relationship with fitness, my body, and, yes, even Pilates has all come up for review during this Mercury retrograde through Libra.
I mention all this because you may find there are relationships you are ready to resurrect in a new way. Mercury retrograde is notorious for dredging up our ghosts, and maybe some of those ghosts are friendly, maybe some of them want to be made flesh again. The ghost of Pilates has returned, and I am here to bring it back to life—I may even start teaching some again. Just yesterday I rented a U-Haul cargo van and drove out to the desert to pick up a gently used reformer to call my own. I have a little vision of turning my garage into a private Pilates studio and teaching a few private sessions each week. Stay tuned!
If you’re interested in renewing or deepening your relationship with Astrology, you should consider signing up for our upcoming course: Astrology for Seekers. It’s our follow up to Chart + Soul, but you can still join us even without having taken that course. This course is our answer to students who’ve learned the basics of the Zodiac—planets, signs, and aspects—and are wondering NOW WHAT?
We want to invite you into the complexity and mystery of the Cosmos by delving into different techniques that will empower you to use Astrology in your daily life. Whether it’s exploring compatibility through Synastry and Composite charts or predicting your year ahead with a Solar return chart, there’s so much to learn and explore.
Why learn with the Spiritual Gayz? Not only are we professional astrologers, but we pride ourselves on unpacking difficult concepts in down-to-earth ways. Our goal is to make the esoteric accessible and super practical. And since we teach our classes live, you can be sure that we won't move on until your comprehension is gained.
For those who can’t join us live on Tuesday evenings, don’t panic! All classes are recorded and sent out within 24 hours so that way you can stay with the class and ask us your questions to be answered in our subsequent live class. The community that emerges is always beautiful, supportive, and fun. So invest in yourself, your heart, and your chart and JOIN US as Astrology for Seekers launches on October 26th.
You’ll find your Tarotscopes below.
In the interest of Mercury retrograde, they are concise and targeted. Knowing what part of your chart Libra occupies may illuminate which relationships need re-evaluating at this time. So I’ve done you the favor of composing your Tarotscopes to reflect that.
If you read for your Rising Sign, you should get a good sense of where to look!
LIBRA
Two of Cups
Your relationship to yourself is up for renewal.
The Two of Cups invites us to explore our edges and bring all of ourselves to the party.
Stop judging yourself and start loving yourself, maybe even making love to yourself. The sooner you make your relationship with yourself a priority, the more balanced all your other relationships will feel.
Take yourself out on several dates this month, make sure to let yourself reintroduce yourself to yourself.
SCORPIO
Strength (Reversed)
Your relationship to spirit is up for renewal.
The Strength card asks us to dig deep and explore our inner yearnings.
Perhaps your spirituality has become divorced from your own sense of yourself as divine. God/Goddess/Goddex isn't outside of ourselves, they are in our deepest hearts.
If you are yearning for deeper connection with the numinous, start with yourself, you're a numinous being, too.
SAGITTARIUS
Nine of Wands (Reversed)
Your relationship to your dreams, aspirations, and groups is up for renewal.
The Nine of Wands, even when upside down, asks us to consider the long road of achievement.
What is your relationship like with where you are headed, with long-range plans, with slow progress?
Perhaps it's time to question the hidden motivations behind your goals. If you don't enjoy the journey, you may not enjoy where it takes you.
CAPRICORN
Ace of Swords
Your relationship to your career is up for renewal.
The Ace of Swords comes in like a crystal singing bowl, strong and clear, cleansing out everything around it.
Are you fully engaged in your work or are you grinding for no good reason?
Let yourself begin to write a new story around your role in the world and your workplace. There is a re-balancing needed in how you relate to productivity and legacy.
AQUARIUS
Knight of Pentacles
Your relationship to teaching, learning, travel, and philosophy is up for renewal.
The Knight of Pentacles wants to help you ground your desires for adventure in these realms.
Time to make some physical commitments to the subjects you want to learn and those you're willing to teach.
When you take action, your thoughts get to move out into the world. Consider your relationship with your beliefs and see if there are any clogging up the system
PISCES
Knight of Swords
Your relationship to sex, death, other people's money, and deep transformation is up for renewal.
The Knight of Swords wants to give you permission to change your mind.
Perhaps you're ready to level up your relationships with some of these taboo subjects.
Just because your family or your society wasn't in right relationship with sex and death and cold, hard cash,
doesn't mean you have to be held down by their beliefs.
ARIES
Nine of Cups
Your relationship to romance and intimacy is up for renewal.
This New Moon wants to help transform your relations with those nearest and dearest in your life.
The Nine of Cups suggests that the first step in cultivating healthy relationships is getting clear on what you really want. There are so many cultural myths about romance; are you just regurgitating those ideals blindly?
Take some time to meditate on what an ideal relationship would really feel like for you, outside of what's expected.
TAURUS
Justice (Reversed)
Your relationship to routine, your body, and the great outdoors is up for renewal.
Justice comes in to help us gain clarity on why certain parts of our life have unfolded as they have.
There's a blossoming of perspective and understanding that can help you renegotiate your habits and your daily work. They say your spiritual practice is what you do every day; is that a scary thought or an uplifting one?
Renegotiate your relationship to the little rituals in your life.
GEMINI
Six of Wands (Reversed)
Your relationship to creativity and pleasure is up for renewal.
The Six of Wands shows us where we might try to rise above the rabble of the crowd.
But maybe, when it comes in upside down, there's a certain invitation to get messy. Your creativity doesn't need to be some perfect altar to honor the goddess.
Maybe it's time to let the finger-painting approach to art back in. Bless this mess!
CANCER
King of Swords (Reversed)
Your relationship to home, family, and your past is up for renewal.
The King of Swords wants you to feel rooted in your authority.
Your relationship to your own story is something to be proud of, and it empowers the gifts that pour forth from you. This New Moon wants to expose where you let imposter syndrome take over.
You've earned your expertise, don't apologize for it or minimize it.
LEO
Four of Cups (Reversed)
Your relationship to your own mind is up for renewal.
Have you been running away from yourself only to scare yourself in the middle of the night?
The Four of Cups would suggest the time for retreat is over; time to re-engage with your life.
No more hiding from what you want, it's time to partner with your desires. Even more vital is to partner with your mind so it can help you in making those desires a reality.
VIRGO
Page of Pentacles
Your relationship to money, time, and resources is up for renewal.
The Page of Pentacles wants to empower you to explore what is actually meaningful to you.
We inherit our relationships to finance and possessions, but they aren't always authentically our own.
A dollar only has power because we agree to its value—the same with a diamond—but what is the true value of an hour?
Use this month to explore what really matters to you and what really holds supreme value in your heart.
THE SPIRITUAL GAYZ are Brandon Alter and Angel Lopez, healers, husbands, teachers, and mystics for a modern age. With their combined experience of over forty years of Tarot and Astrology expertise, they aim to demystify the mystical and make spiritual practice accessible and effective. Through their podcast and their Spirit School, their goal is to create safe spaces for queer people of all kinds to gather together in spirit.
BRANDON ALTER is a spiritual healer, Tarot reader, Astrologer, mystic and writer living in Los Angeles. He is passionate about sharing spiritual tools that have helped him reconnect to the wisdom of his heart. Brandon is a thoroughly trained healer and teacher who co-hosts The Spiritual Gayz with his husband, a twice-monthly podcast dedicated to exploring the wide reaches of spirituality, without pretending that it all makes sense. Brandon’s mom took him to his very first psychic when he was seven and gave him his first Tarot deck when he was eleven. Since then he has devoted himself to the study of Tarot, Yoga, Pilates, Reiki, Astrology and the myriad ways one can work, heal and grow with the help of the spirits.
Visit www.thespiritualgayz.com to learn more. To sign up for The Spiritual Gayz newsletter and get these Tarotscopes delivered to your inbox, click here.