Negotiations are eclipsed. Harmony is obscured. Partnerships are lost. Welcome to the New Moon Annular Eclipse in Libra, conjunct the South Node. Purging of Venusian themes and things, will be karmic. Change will be imposed upon us. It will come from the outside. The New Moon, which is an annular eclipse, takes place on 14 October, 2023, at 17:54 GMT, and at 21 degrees and 07 minutes of Libra. The new moon’s dispositor, Venus, is in detriment in minimalist and practical outcomes seeking Virgo. Some say, Venus will seek pleasure in thrifting and being efficient. It’s a great time to go shopping for vintage clothing and accessories. But not of the luxury or designer type. It is an even better time to donate what is not needed, cut down on superfluous spending and let go of the largess, the extravagant, the unfit for purpose items.

The Death card is vivid and dramatic. It is dark and mysterious. As if Halloween came early this year. In a way, it has. It is an eclipse after all, with a big circle of fire around it. Events, announcement, departures during this new moon will come to us whether we like them or not. There will be real endings of contract. And they will be karmic, in that there is history to them, in this life or in others. With the Death card we are faced with a finality. Resisting will be futile. Acceptance will be a wiser approach that will help us deal better with the outcome. In time things will make better sense. But that will take quite a bit more of unfolding of news and events. As endings and their irreversibility take hold of us we are becoming – at least for now – very agitated. By the time of the new moon in Libra, Mars has entered Scorpio and is no longer in detriment. Mars now takes on a watery persona. She is a feminine, flowing, changeable, nocturnal and combustible Mars in domicile. She is comfortable at home and can do Mars things with energy and drive. So war and violence is all out in the open. Strategy and negotiation are left behind in favour of taking action towards definite targets with a cutting attitude and precision of movement. Ties to people and situations from the past are severed with force. The past is irretrievable.

And the 7 of Cups tells us to just let it flow in a dreamy state. One door closes and seven others are becoming possible. Options are opening up, space is created for new things to come in. These things are things of imagination, desire and contemplation. They might not be a realistic outcome but they remain open to explore. Keep in mind that in their journey through Scorpio, the sun, moon, Mars and Mercury will all oppose Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus. The complexity of Scorpio will empower combative Mars, and decision making Mercury, to fight off materialistic attachments and will electrify change in simple tangible terms. The sun and moon will drive action and emotion in that direction too. Overinflated values, that are not making sense any more, will have to go. Now that we are not weighed down by the heavy load, now that Mars and the eclipse made us loose some of our possessions, and maybe even what we consider valuable, we are lighter to pursue new dreams and new concepts of sharing and abundance.

Choices about resources are not going to be clear. There might be delusion or even illusion in our pursuit. But, ultimately, time, and its lord Saturn, will bring a new wave of stability. During the solar eclipse events happen from the outside. We can not control everything and the harder we try the more likely it is that we both fail to achieve our purpose, and become demoralised, or suffer greater loss. The cat on the goat couldn’t be more clear in its message. Let others drive you. Sit comfortably and enjoy what comes and goes. The cat is pragmatic and is not rushing or expecting anything. There is a sense of impermanence. The cat knows that the goat will do the work for her and there will be change in time. But the goat too, knows that this is not for ever. The cat will soon jump up and move somewhere else. The goat will continue doing its own thing. It is the Libra way of delegating and managing situations. It is The Knight of Coins practical energy of slowly-does-it.

At this moment all major planets are stationary or hardly moving. So big changes will take time to be felt or materialise at all. Personal planets are all in forward motion and making all sorts of aspects to each other, meaning that we are going through very active and eventful days. But in reality we are at the inception stage with the new moon in Libra. A masculine and cardinal sign. A leader.

But, in the probably apocryphal, and infamous, words of Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin, a French politician of the Revolution of 1848, ‘I am their leader, I must follow them’, we must follow in order to lead.

Ultimately, this is a hard aspect and a difficult solar eclipse but one that brings with it the promise of fundamental change, especially to do with love, partnerships, legal entanglements, contracts and art and design that is inevitable and irreversible. With the south node conjunct the new moon we will have to sacrifice something from the past that we share with others. Something where we have overgrown beyond our perception of value, and where our ego would want to hold on to that idea of self, will be cut off. We are going to be told in no uncertain terms that we can not do it. The new moon in Libra is ruthlessly preparing the ground for the full moon eclipse in Taurus in two weeks time, when much more will be revealed. However, the full force of the new moon, solar eclipse, in Libra will only be understood later in the new year, far beyond the six and eighteen months ahead.

Flavia