Libra Monthly Horoscope

MONTHLY OVERVIEW
Dust off your little sequined dress! You have million reasons to celebrate during Libra-time, as the Sun moves through your sign until October 22. It’s birthday season, so make a wish, turn the page, and set your sights on a whole new roster of goals for your next sojourn around the Sun.

But the biggest birthday present arrives on October 6, when challenging Saturn leaves your sign after three long years. Since October 2009, Saturn’s turned your life into a personal identity boot camp, pushing you to reinvent from the ground up. Look back to who you were back then: were you a wallflower, a people-pleaser, a fence-sitter? Have you become more bold, decisive and prone to follow your internal compass? Viva la difference! During this period, you’ve added structure, new habits, learned self-reliance—and are far stronger for it. Saturn has been teaching you how to solve your own dilemmas, instead of grabbing your phone and dialing your go-to pal for advice or support. Now, you consult your inner voice first. Please pause to congratulate yourself: this accomplishment is no small feat for your sign, which rules the zodiac’s partnership house. You’re a natural collaborator, most comfortable with “we”-time than “me”-time. Perhaps as the result of some hair-raising, nail-biting or teeth-grinding experiences, Saturn forced you become your own champion. Now that’s some personal growth.

If there were a recovery program for people pleasers, Libras could easily fill the room. The need to be liked is a common ailment for your conflict-averse sign. During these last few years, serious Saturn demanded that you consider just how much of your soul gets compromised in the process. Perhaps you played the role of panderer or politician, telling folks what (you think) they wanted to hear versus how you really feel. Or maybe you were prone to Pinocchio-like exaggerations and investing in ridiculously unrealistic pipe dreams because so-and-so thinks it’s a good idea (and far be it for you hurt anyone’s feelings by crying “scam!”) Well, good luck, Chuck. If you dipped into your smooth-talking Libra charms just a little too much, you might have ended up with your fair share of sleepless nights or worse…avoiding eye contact with your own beauteous reflection (now that’s a when-pigs-fly moment) because you just couldn’t stand to see the truth.

Here’s the good news: Saturn’s laborious three-year visit gave you a chance to trade your silken-voiced seductions and antiquated avoidance tactics for authenticity and hard-won self-awareness. Yep, you got real, with yourself and others. Now you now have buckets of wisdom to share. (See, we told you there were endless reasons to celebrate!) Libra blogger Aidan Donnelly Rowley found that she was over-using wine as a social crutch and bravely documented her cold-turkey process in a series of posts called “My Year Without Wine.” (http://ivyleagueinsecurities.com/category/a-year-without-wine-2/whats-this/) Though this kind of unvarnished public self-“outing” is far from characteristic of Libras, by now “the truth shall set you free” means a lot more than bumper sticker wisdom. Consider yourself liberated.

On October 6, structured Saturn moves into Scorpio, your second house of work, money and self-esteem, for the next three years. Now that you’re now clear on who you are, it’s time to root your new identity into some concrete forms, like, say, a bigger paycheck. The second house and Saturn both help you prioritize (a boon for notoriously indecisive Libras). Between now and September 2015, you’ll gradually pinpoint what’s most important to you: is it rising in your career? Setting the world on fire? Finding your true love? Having a bambino or two? Once your priorities are clear, make decisions accordingly, building your life around these values and priorities. Saturn in Scorpio helps you focus on depth rather than breadth.

Mid-month, these seismic shifts really start to gel. On October 15, the new moon in Libra marks your personal new year. Set a few intentions for the next six months. The seeds you plant now will coalesce beautifully at the Libra full moon next spring. Celebrate this momentous time—you have the promising opportunity to start over, with your newly revamped identity at the helm.

The month closes with an October 29 Taurus full moon in your intimate eighth house. Do we have to mention that a prerequisite for deep, soul-merging love is knowing yourself, inside and out? Well, now that you’ve passed Saturn’s exams with flying colors, get set to intensify your connections in a whole new way. On this day, extreme emotions could bubble up from the depths. If there’s something you’ve been squashing, telling yourself “It’s all good” when really you feel “It’s all crap”….be prepared for a swell of authentic feeling (and dealing). Consider this another moment to ditch your “let’s play nice” mantle and address the issue head-on. Around this date, you could seal the deal on a romantic relationship or business partnership, becoming closer in a whole new way: having a baby, getting engaged, embarking on a joint venture or moving in together.

LOVE & ROMANCE
Ah, relationships. No card-carrying Libra ever feels quite complete without one (no matter what noises you try to make around those independence-prizing friends and family). Yet, the last three years have seriously schooled you in the most important relationship of all: the one with yourself. Sure this platitude might be found on bookmarks and magnets in any strip mall stationery store. But before you sigh, yawn or write this truism off, think about the underlying meaning and just how, well, true it is. Besides, there’s simply no other way to describe the sobering effect of having Saturn, cosmic personal trainer, in your sign.

Saturn entered Libra October 2009, forcing you to face some of the cracks in your own foundation—and repair them at the root, rather than cosmetically. Yes, Libra, you’ve been guilty of “working on yourself” in ways that appear deep but are really superficial—going to every yoga and personal growth workshop in town, but never examining your own motives and shortcomings. But who cares if you can do a headstand at the most elite yoga studio (impressive as that is) if you can’t keep your bank account out of overdraft or sustain a romantic relationship past the third date? With Saturn in Libra, throwing an “om shanti” at your problems boomeranged an “oh ****” right back. It was time to get on the yoga mat of life and build the “core” of your character.

So while you’ve been busy dealing with THAT, your love life may have become a little less of a priority…or even weathered a few difficult patches. As the sign of relationships, learning to be on your own—or to deal with things sans crutch (alcohol, sugar, enabling friends and codependent romantic partners)—was a long-overdue but challenging lesson for you. Your fellow Libra Kim Kardashian was the poster child for this, going from fairy-tale wedding to nightmare divorce—all captured on camera and televised. Humbling indeed, but if you took those lumps like Kim, you could now have your own personal Kanye West in your pocket.

On October 6, Saturn leaves Libra, not to return for another 30 years. Can we get an amen? If you did the hard work, you should feel more secure in your relationships from this day on. And surprise: it’s not just because you landed a dream partner who fulfills your extensive checklist. It’s because YOU became the dream partner, taking responsibility for your half of the equation. Nice work! Still not there yet? Okay, fine. Saturn will spend the next three years in Scorpio, your second house of values, priorities and self-worth. Perhaps there’s still a little more confidence building you need to do. Maybe your lifestyle isn’t quite aligned with what truly matters to you deep down. Saturn’s next cycle gives you a chance to explore.

The second house rules your daily environment: the people, places and objets that you surround yourself with on a day-to-day basis. So expect some reprioritizing on that front, too. Your own confidence may grow during this time, too. If you’re the kind of Libra who won’t let anyone see you in any state less than pret-a-porter (like a Libra friend who, five years into her marriage, used a bathroom in a far corner of the house so that her husband would never hear her pass gas), may we recommend Suzanne Guillette’s humanizing “Much to Your Chagrin: A Memoir of Embarrassment.” Like the author, you may come to realize that enjoying the messy, not-so-polished side of life has its charms, too.

This month, love planet Venus is in Virgo, your 12th house of endings. Is it time to purge some toxic types from your realm? If you’re keeping people (ahem, exes) around out of guilt, codependent obligation, or a fear of hurting their feelings if you dare to move on—well, consider that might be blocking you from truly thriving in love. Or maybe you’re holding on because you can’t deal with the searing sense of loss that this person’s exit will trigger. Remember your high school physics: two objects can’t occupy the same space at the same time. Maybe that can’t-quite-let-go ex is zapping all the boyfriend/girlfriend energy (cooking dinner, comforting you, doing everything except the touchy-feely stuff…and maybe even doing THAT every now and then). If so, now is the time to restructure your life and say a tough farewell—or at least, put up some appropriate boundaries so you can both open up to other, more suitable partners.

If you’re searching for the right moment to have that tough conversation, look to the October 29 Taurus full moon in your intimate eighth house. Go deep or go home, Libra. If you’re not expressing the truth, you might end up ripping your own shiny hair out. So prepare to go there. For happily-paired Libras, this event is perfect for making a leap into the next level of commitment, such as an engagement, pregnancy, vow renewal or making plans that bring you closer, like inviting your sweetie to meet the family.

MONEY & CAREER
Break out that balance sheet, Libra! (Ah, the word “balance”—it never stops pursuing you.) On October 6, structured Saturn begins a three-year visit to Scorpio, your second house of work and money. Get ready to put your money where your morals are—and to use your ethos as the template for your work. Feel passionately about raw food and the benefits of spinning? Maybe it’s time to get certified as an instructor or take a cooking class at a culinary school with a natural foods curriculum. Perhaps you’ll even franchise a trendy cycling studio in your area (a la the now-fashionable Soul Cycle), since Saturn in Scorpio could be a great time to get serious about opening your own business.

With Saturn forming a beneficial trine to dreamy Neptune all month, it’s a great time to start turning your sweet, airy imagination into sweet, airy reality. Yep, this is prime time for merging your dreamy and practical sides. Neptune is in your sixth house of fitness and organization, so keep a journal handy—yes, even at the gym. A relaxing hike to take in the fall foliage could inspire a clear vision of your first workshop, or remind you of a valuable old colleague who would be perfect to take to coffee and “pick her brain.” Or, while you’re decluttering your office for the thousandth time, you could stumble on an old page of notes and half-formed character sketches that turns into a Booker prize-worthy novel. Dream big, Libra. Now is not the time to play small on the stage of your life.

Just don’t forget to pace yourself, Libra. Methodical Saturn is all about doing things step by step. So what if there’s a long road between devising the plot for the next bestselling chick-lit sensation and inking the movie rights with a top film studio? Taking your goals one day (or page) at a time puts you that much closer to success. As you’ve learned from having Saturn in your own sign since 2009, Rome wasn’t built in a day—or even a decade. Still, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. So what are you waiting for? Slip on those stylish fall boots and start walking, being sure to enjoy every inch of this unchartered territory.

Another reason to cruise instead of speed? On October 4, expansive Jupiter goes retrograde (backward) in Gemini, your ninth house of expansion, travel and entrepreneurship. If you’ve gone off the deep end with an idea, it might be time to tap the brakes and revise. You’ve got a million grand ideas and visions, but trying to do them all at once will only drive you (and your colleagues) crazy. So you run a preschool and decide that your young students need a goat in the schoolyard? Guess what? They don’t need them today. Lucky Jupiter stays retrograde until January 30, so maybe tuck your passport away for the time being, opting for local destinations, instead of jetting off to Costa Rica or some other far-flung place. Or, since retrograde periods favor revisiting the past, consider returning to a destination that’s long been in your bones. Another take on the “past”? Schedule a trip to the country or hometown of your ancestors (especially if relatives have been making appearances in your dreams…) or perhaps study the language and then book your trip for next February. If you’re thinking of launching a business, take a class or two to polish up your skills. Need to get recertified in a certain therapy or to get up to speed with the latest trends in your industry? It never hurts to empower yourself with knowledge—and the perfect birthday gift to yourself might well be tuition to a seminar that teaches you some hard skills, like accounting, how to track Google analytics on your site, social media strategies…stuff that can really catapult you to the next level.

HEALTH: MIND, BODY & SOUL
Calling all workout pals! With go-getter Mars racing through Sagittarius, your third house of community, you’re all about the partner activities. Whether it’s racquetball, volleyball, biking or a walk for charity, the key to your wellness lies in companionship. Since the third house rules ideas, spring for some new audio books to get inspired (and educated) while you sweat off the stress.

For the entire month, harmonious Venus is in Virgo, your 12th house of rest and closure, making this a key time to go within. Spend cozy nights at home, listening to dreamy music and relaxing on your comfy couch. Cultivate a meditative state, on leisurely strolls and in your everyday activities. Take a page from Vietnamese Buddhist luminary Thich Nhat Hanh and enjoy washing dishes, just for the sake of washing the dishes. Since this period requires an internal focus, why not treat yourself to a rejuvenating spa experience or some indulgent reflexology?

When Saturn in Scorpio moves into your second house of habits, you’ll be on a three-year mission to cultivate new daily routines. On your agenda? Slowing down, being more conscious and mindful in all interactions. During this period, your new motto is “less is more.” While Libras can be anal about some things, you can also get incredibly scattered. Saturn in your quality-over-quantity second house helps you prioritize, streamlining how you spend your time, money and precious resources. Simplifying is the name of the game, and with your keen editor’s eye, think of yourself as a prop stylist on the set of your own life. Build your schedule as you would one of your tasteful outfits, centering it around one or two starring items, and letting everything else play a supporting role.