OCTOBER THEME: TRANSCENDENT LOVE
by Simone Butler

Libra is all about connecting. As soon as the Sun entered that most social of signs, I felt inspired to pick up the phone and start calling people to plan events and get-togethers. Now that the intensity of the recent eclipses (and the Mars/Pluto opposition at the Galactic Center!)has abated somewhat, it's time to shift the focus away from our own concerns and connect more deeply with others.

The planetary message this month is that higher love blooms in the soil of selfless service. Most of October, the Libra Sun is in harmonious aspect with Neptune, planet of higher love, in Aquarius, sign of peace and brotherhood. It's possible now to glimpse the Golden Age we're heading into, even as old systems crumble all around us. Meanwhile, after Oct. 7, Libra's ruling planet, Venus, marches through dutiful Virgo. This represents the earthy soil from which something transcendent can blossom.

My favorite recent movie, The Painted Veil, poignantly illustrates this month's message. Based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham, this gorgeous film stars Naomi Watts as Kitty, a spoiled society girl in 1920s London who, to escape her overbearing mother, agrees to marry Walter (Edward Norton), a man she barely knows.

The couple moves to Shanghai, China, where Kitty soon tires of her boring bacteriologist husband and embarks on an affair. When the affair comes to light, she is forced to follow Walter to a remote Chinese province, where he battles a cholera epidemic. Shunned by her jilted husband, Kitty reaches out to the Catholic nuns at a local convent. As she helps with the children and develops compassion for the dying, she awakens from her self-absorbed trance. Walter's heart softens toward her, and a passionate love blossoms between them.

At one point the Mother Superior asks Kitty why she accompanied her husband on such a dangerous errand. "I guess I felt it was my duty," Kitty replies. The nun admonishes the young woman to not live her life based on duty alone, confessing that she had done just that since her once-passionate love for God had cooled. Love alone, she adds, is also insufficient. "When love and duty join," muses the nun, "that's when God is present."

Where do love and duty join in your life? That's where the transcendent lives. Do you have a duty that could benefit from a little love? Putting fresh flowers on your desk might help you get through a difficult assignment. Or, is there something you love that could use a dose of duty? Perhaps that cat you adore could stand to have her teeth cleaned (hint to Simone). Here are some ways to combine love and duty this month: Take pleasure in doing something for your mate just because you know how much he or she appreciates it. Stop overfeeding yourself and volunteer to feed the homeless. When you see a cast-off water bottle at your favorite hiking spot, pick it up without cursing the idiot who threw it there. Don't take it personally when your harried boss snaps at you.

As the Sun and Moon embrace in Libra at the New Moon on Oct. 10, they are elevated by a close trine to Neptune. The planet of cosmic conscious says: Find the place of God (or Goddess) within, and you'll be able to see it in others--even your difficult dad, or that high-ranking politician you've been railing against. So on Wednesday, Oct. 10, find a little soul time to contact the Divine within. Have lunch at the park, or go for a walk on the beach. Just a few days later, on the 13th, Venus unites with reality-based Saturn in Virgo, urging us to make a commitment to who or what we love. Write down 20 things you love, and vow to commit to at least one.

To complicate matters, on Oct. 9, the day before the New Moon, giant Jupiter makes its final square to eccentric Uranus, shaking up the status quo in the interest of awakening and freedom. And, messenger Mercury is stationary--virtually unmoving--as it turns retrograde on the 11th. Perhaps your commitment is to letting go of an old pattern or way of relating. Or, to infusing something you've already set in motion with fresh energy (Mercury retrograde doesn't favor the start of new things). This retrograde happens in Scorpio, indicating that deep feelings, secrets or hidden motivations could come to light during the three-week period that begins on the 11th. It's a good time to let go of old hurts, and use the positive momentum of the New Moon to get on with your life.

Enjoy the new fall season!

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