Libra: the art of weighing both sides

Libra is the seventh sign of the zodiac: the Sun is in Libra from around September 23 to around October 22 or 23. It is an air sign, a cardinal sign, and it is ruled by Venus. At its core, Libra describes a way of thinking in pairs: it looks for what is fair between two sides and for a form that both can live with.

"Being a Libra" means that the Sun stood in Libra on the day you were born. This Sun sign is one part of a birth chart, the map of the whole sky at that moment, and it never speaks alone. Read what follows as tendencies, to be weighed against the rest of your chart.

Libra traits: strengths and growth edges

Its element is air: air signs live in ideas, words and exchange. Its mode is cardinal: cardinal signs start things. Its ruler, the planet linked to the sign, is Venus, which stands for what you like, what you value and how you relate.

In the tropical zodiac, which most Western astrology uses, Libra begins at the September equinox, when day and night are about equally long. Its symbol, the Scales, is the only one of the twelve that is an object, not an animal or a human figure.

Here is the idea worth keeping: a pair of scales in balance is not at rest. Look closely: it is adjusting all the time. The famous indecision is only half the story: as a cardinal sign, Libra starts a great deal, but through other people, with an invitation, an introduction, a "shall we?".

Libra at its best

• Fair. Libra wants to hear the other side before it judges. It is the colleague who asks: "And what did she say?"
• Tactful. It finds the sentence that is true and still lets the other person keep their dignity.
• Connecting. Libra introduces people, seats the right two next to each other and eases the first five minutes.
• An eye for proportion. A room, a slide, an outfit, a sentence: Libra senses when something is out of balance.

Where Libra struggles

• A yes that means maybe. Libra agrees to keep the peace and resents it later.
• Deciding alone. Choosing a restaurant for a guest takes a minute. The same menu, for itself, takes ten.
• Mirroring. Libra takes in the other person's view so well that "what do you want?" can be the hardest question of the evening.
• Keeping score. A sense of fairness can turn into a silent ledger of who did what.

A pair of scales in balance is not at rest, it is adjusting all the time: Libra's calm is work.

Libra in love

Libra is the sign most closely linked with partnership. Many Libras think more clearly with someone across the table. Their courtship is attentive and well-mannered: the well-chosen restaurant, the gift that proves they listened.

What Libra tends to need is reciprocity, conversation and a partner who can raise a disagreement in a calm voice. A partner who shouts is hard for this sign, and so is one who sulks. Its own growth edge is adapting for too long and then presenting the whole bill at once. An early, friendly "no" is one of the kindest things a Libra can learn.

Astrologers read some combinations as easier than others:

• What tends to feel easy: the other air signs, Gemini and Aquarius, keep the conversation going. The fire signs Leo and Sagittarius bring warmth and quick decisions, and Libra adds the finesse.
• What takes more translation: earth and water signs often prefer to do something or to feel it through, where Libra wants to talk it over. With Cancer and Capricorn, also cardinal signs, each likes to set the direction.
• The opposite sign: Aries says "I", Libra says "we". Each has what the other is still practicing.

None of this is a verdict. How you love is described more closely by your Venus sign, which for a Libra can be anything from Leo to Sagittarius.

Libra at work

Libra does well wherever interests have to be balanced or things have to look right: mediation, law, human resources, client relations, design. It is often the person both sides of a conflict still talk to.

This sign tends to work best in pairs or small teams, and it makes decisions others can live with, because it asked them first. Harder for Libra: a harsh tone, ugly surroundings, delivering bad news, and fast decisions made alone. One pattern is worth watching. A Libra can mediate so often that nobody knows its own opinion, Libra included.

Libra at a glance

The Sun changes signs at a specific minute, not at midnight, and the exact day shifts by a day from year to year. Dates are given in Universal Time and can differ by a day depending on where you live. If you were born on September 22 or 23, or on October 22 or 23, your birth time decides whether your Sun is in Libra. More in zodiac sign dates and what a cusp birthday really means.

Why two Libras can be so different

The Sun spends about 30 days in Libra. On each of those days the Rising sign passes through all twelve signs, about one every two hours, and the Moon moves on to the next sign about every two and a half days.

• The Moon sign describes your feelings and what you need to feel safe. What your Moon sign means
• The Rising sign, also called the Ascendant, is the sign that was rising on the eastern horizon when you were born. It describes how you come across. How to find your Rising sign

Take a Libra with the Moon in Scorpio and Aries rising. This person comes across as direct and quick, feels things intensely and is anything but mild. The Libra part shows in a sharp sense of what is fair, and in how hard an unresolved quarrel is to bear.

That is how a Libra can be the bluntest person in the meeting and still the one who makes sure everyone has shaken hands before going home.

What to do next with your Libra Sun

1. Find your Moon sign and your Rising sign. For the Rising sign you need your birth time and place.
2. Go back to the two lists above and mark what fits and what does not. The lines that do not fit usually point to another part of your chart.

For the whole picture in one place, a Birth Chart Reading is written for your chart and calculated from your exact birth data, with Libra as one voice among several.