If you are going to spend your life with the kind of acute awareness of everybody else that Libra’s got, you don’t have a chance very often to express your own emotions honestly. And this is Libra’s biggest problem. He often finds his own emotions very painful to deal with, because they so frequently contradict his ideal of the Good, the True and the Beautiful. Libra likes to think that emotion should always be pleasant, agreeable, loving and harmonious. When he feels things like anger, jealousy, intense desire, it frightens him. One shouldn’t feel such things. He often carries a pretty sizeable guilt complex around with him, over all those nasty things that churn around in his secret soul. Like the fact that he really doesn’t like everybody after all. In a nutshell, Libra often represses his own emotions mercilessly. Astrology for Lovers
Librans concerned with the weight of their souls. The constant balancing acts they involve themselves in for the sake of partnership, however, may ultimately weigh them down. Libra’s scales are constantly weighing and measuring the quality of fairness, or justice of their ongoing relationships. As the sign of the autumnal equinox, Libra represents a transitional moment in the cycle of the seasons. The days and nights are of equal length, so that the energies of the self (day) and the consciousness of “other” or collective humanity (night) stand balanced. This same situation, of course, occurs during the vernal equinox at the beginning of Aries, but with a vital difference. During Aries, it is the Day-force which is growing stronger. Hence Aries represents an emergent individuality detaching itself from collective humanity. In Libra, the Nightforce is increasing, so that the symbolism here depicts the individual beginning to recognize the needs of others, of the collective. Thus Libra’s scales are usually tipped away from the self and toward others. And though the scales may seem a rather impersonal symbol for the sign which we associate with marriage and partnership, they do symbolize the balance of forces which occurs at the equinox. Mythic Astrology: Internalizing the Planetary Powers
Because the Seventh House is, for Libra, life’s major issue, Librans will remark in the course of the reading “I have a prosperous law practice” or “I have a successful decorating business” but “life is empty. There is no relationship right now. I am out of balance. If I were married and living with someone, then my whole life would be back in equilibrium.” The scales (equilibrium) seem intrinsically connected with the partner. Eros (relating), Aphrodite’s child with bow and arrows, seems to follow Libra about the same way he did Aphrodite myths. If the astrologer says to a disillusioned Libran emerging from a relationship, “But you are so attractive and popular. You’ll find someone else very soon,” the response is almost always, “Yes, but when will I meet the “right” one?” In looking at these charming people, one thinks, Aphrodite herself, admired by so many and adored by Pygmalion, pining away for the impossible love, Adonis the mortal, unhappy because he couldn’t keep the right love forever – for all mortals are destined to die. Archetypes of the Zodiac (Llewellyn Modern Astrology Library)
The landscape of Libra is clean and precise, for raw nature is not welcome here. Ancient instinctual claims give way to reasoned outlook, where experiences are measured against general principles rather than interpreted according to emotional need. The concept of fairness is a creation of the human mind; cheetahs do not meet in committee to discuss whether a particular antelope deserves to be eaten. Libra sets itself against the necessity of natural law, striving to create an ideal world in which reason takes precedence over simple survival. Those with the sign prominent in the birth chart also set high ideals for themselves, and although they may suffer for their principles, they wish to be – and be seen as – civilized human beings. Mythic Astrology: Internalizing the Planetary Powers
The symbol of the scales also reveals a major concern of Libra: that of weighing things up. Justice belongs here, as a just decision can only be arrived at when the viewpoints of opposing factions have been carefully weighed. An ability to compromise is also part of Libra’s armory, as a conciliation. Perhaps no other sign has such good potential for helping parties in a dispute reach an agreement, a particularly useful skill not only in diplomatic fields but also for helping to separate or divorcing couples. Virgo, in its orientation towards service and humility, tends towards the servile and therefore can create relationships with a servant/served feeling to them. Libra rectifies this imbalance by being concerned with equality and partnership where, at best, no one holds the upper hand. Libra meets the ‘other’ as an equal and is the first sign to do so. The Contemporary Astrologer’s Handbook (Astrology Now)
