So we finally reached cardinal air. The beginning of ideas, the beginning of relating.
Libra is ruled by Venus, the same as Taurus, but where Taurus is a nice picnic in the park, Libra is the art gallery and everything in it. Including the small talk, the artsy opinions, the neatly dressed people.
Air is all about the intellect and the importance of intelligence, and thus Libra is in a way conceptual aesthetics – the beauty of symmetry, and finding balance in asymmetry.

The beginning of Libra season in the Northern Hemisphere is marked by the Autumn Equinox – when night and day are equal, but day starts diminishing while the night establishes its dominion. Like the scales which it is symbolized by, Libra deals with balance. If in the other equinoxial sign – Aries, we deal with the coming of spring and beginning of fire, here we deal with the coming of autumn and the beginning of air.
If fire deals with the self and its expression, air deals with the intellect and information, and most importantly it deals with relating and relationships. And we relate more than we realize. We relate to thoughts, we relate to ideas, we relate to emotions. But most importantly, we relate to one another.

The stoics categorized air as cold and moist, which we wouldn’t immediately associate with Venus. However this is not only the sign of Venus’ rulership, it is also the sign of Saturn’s exaltation, meaning the cold and dry Father of Time does not lose any face here, his abilities are not hindered in any way by the filter of Libra. This pairing is very suggestive of the famous “Love is the law, love under will” – every action must be directed with integrity.

In the tarot we will find Libra in the Justice or Adjustment card. Sometimes the woman is enthroned, sometimes she is dancing with a sword, evocative of the balance of the scales. Historically, the scales are not only a symbol of commerce but also of justice. They are a tool for measuring the fair value of something. Does this weigh in favour of the stereotype of Libras having law degrees? Absolutely, but you know what else falls under the charm, graces and fairness of Venus? Politics. Ideally anyway, the making of laws and creating of consequences come under the jurisdiction of Libra.

And of course, someone able to lead the people should be charming and have a lot of social consciousness. Sometimes overly so, as is the case with Bill Clinton, a Libra stellium par excellence.

And Libra is nothing if not able to read the room, to make space and know when it’s someone else’s turn to speak.
Perhaps most notoriously, Libras are known for being superficial, which is true only to the extent that air is superficial because it wants to cover as much ground as possible. When you want to go over everything, you spread yourself thin, you lose substance, you lose the youness.

This is why the Sun has its fall in Libra, meaning its powers are diminished. The Sun wants to shine with the full force of the ego, whereas Libra wants to shine a light on “what do you want to do?” It’s not that Libra doesn’t want to do something, but the something Venus wants is harmony and pleasing everyone. Does this sometimes lead to being nice to the point of seeming fake? Yes it does. Does it often lead to people mistaking said niceness for flirting? Also yes. Libra might be trying to get on your good side, but it’s not out of selfish interest, it’s out of genuine social consciousness, the same politeness which breeds diplomats.

Sometimes Libra gets accused of being indecisive. And of course they would be, taking a decision would be unfair to the other option. This is also where the Contrarian or Devil’s Advocate archetypes come from. Libra is argumentative because it wants all sides to be heard, so it will sometimes present an opinion it doesn’t necessarily personally agree with just for the sake of justice.

And speaking of hearing, the Venusian realm is that of art. Art as music, art as words, art as cohesion and conceptual expression of emotion. Music and instruments are inherently harmonious, but the creation of this harmony hangs on mathematics – a system of timing, and of rhythm, adding just the smallest pinch of Saturn to the melody of Venus, to create the perfect Libra song, or dance.

Because Libra is a dancer. Might be a dancer with words, a dancer with people, or a dancer with laws, but it’s definitely the initiator of some sort of balance demanding movement – even if it’s just intellectual.