Cosmic Order
Detail from Still life with flowers in a glass vase. Jan Davidsz. de Heem.
This essay came with this month’s horoscopes on 1 October. I’ve adjusted it slightly because — events, darling. This month’s illustrations were details of roses, which in themselves combine perfect order and disorder.
A pair of scales, the symbol for Libra, has also been a symbol for justice for millenia. In ancient Egypt, your heart was weighed against the feather of truth on a giant pair of scales to see if you were worthy of moving on to paradise, or ought to be fed to the hippo-lion-crocodile goddess-monster Ammit.
The feather of truth represented a set of ideas personified by Maat, goddess of cosmic order. The principles themselves were also called Maat, and essentially they were truth and harmony in the environment and society, including the movements of the stars and planets, the cycle of the season, and the right relationships between people.
When the world is in balance, this is Maat. But the great enemy of Maat is Isfet, the goddess of chaos and violence. The world we live in is a struggle between these two forces.
I think we know just what the ancient Egyptians were getting at. And we can also see that the concepts of Maat are associated with the sign Libra. Indeed, you may know someone born under a Libran Sun who is attracted to chaos in the hope that she can fix it. Hello, bad boyfriend.
We are in this season of justice, order and balance now — at a time when much of the world has tipped into chaos. Some of us have had our own smaller versions of chaos in our personal lives too in 2025, whether through illness, family breakdown, politics or war.
Across the Sinai Desert, in a neighbouring part of the Near East, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, generally happens around the start of Libra season. It’s followed by the Days of Awe, then by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which this year was on 1 October. Every year, the book of fate is open, and during the 10 Days of Awe you may actually be able to mitigate your destiny by doing good deeds, asking for forgiveness and prayer. On Yom Kippur, the book is shut, and your fate is sealed for the year ahead.
Here is also the moment of balance, and like the Ancient Egyptians, a belief in both destiny and personal choice. Every day, we choose between Maat and Isfet.
Cosmic Balance
During this era of Isfet, it’s important to actively seek the ideas represented by Maat, and that is, perhaps, more available to us during Libra season.
Clearly, much is badly out of whack — MAGA, Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, the climate, the billionaires, the cost of living, housing. So we need to look for the helpers. And I wondered what was going right, and how we can carry on hoping and pushing for balance.
Clearly also, like the ancient Egyptians, we need to strive for truth and honour in our everyday affairs. But also like them we should be trying to create harmony with nature in our environment too. This is within our power. These small matters of civility, truth and harmony can be in our dealings with the shop assistant, the spider plant, the other drivers. It does not always have to be the big things. This is also a lesson of Libra.
And then, as I was pondering civility, there were voices — loud, articulate, intelligent — which came out of the meeting for the UN’s 80th birthday. It was founded as a talking shop for nations, the last time Uranus was in Gemini (24 October 1945). I recommend the speeches by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, a Libran whose birthday it is on 1 October, the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, an Aries born on 1 April, the Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the President of Slovenia Nataša Pirc Musar, a Taurus born on 9 May. There were many other excellent speeches, all calling for peace, a balanced relationship with mother earth, and a reboot of the United Nations on this 80th anniversary.
This is another manifestation of the Big Pattern, a trine between Uranus and Pluto with Neptune exactly on the halfway mark. Pluto is in Aquarius, the sign of big man-made organisations like the UN. And he is here to burn down and reform, but harmoniously with Uranus in Gemini, the sign of talking, words, ideas and Neptune in Aries, the sign of the new. Neptune is, of course, the planet of idealism and dreaming. Can we all dream a new future?
This Big Pattern sits directly opposite Libra, and every time a planet crosses into Libra, the pattern turns into a Kite. This is what will fly us into the future. Co-operation, vision, innovation, married to justice. But that is admittedly a way off.
What is definitely shifting is American global hegemony. It’s lasted one Saturn cycle, since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The position of the US in the world is never going to be the same. It was already weakening, but the current president has really put the kibosh on America’s status and perceived reliability. However, there is one big fact to be reckoned with globally: the United States has the biggest arsenal in the world by far, so if it is run by an agent of chaotic Isfet, it’s serious for everyone.
The situation in the United States is dire. Authoritarianism is not on its way. It is there right now. Currently, the likelihood of fair elections is zero. Furthermore, the MAGA plan this time is unfolding in a disciplined order. From this side of the pond, it looks exactly like Latin America really has come to the United States — not in the form of immigrants looking for work, but in the form of authoritarian methodology — corruption, kidnapping, cruelty, lies, greed. You might argue this was a manifestation of Neptune (chaos) and Saturn (order) working in lockstep over the summer.
There is going to be a fight and ICE is already better funded than most national armies. However, there is no certainty what the outcome will be, or exactly how the fight will manifest. Let’s hope it stays more in the realm of words than last time Neptune moved into Aries, when the Civil War broke out. Mind you, all the other outer planets were in quite different positions back in 1861 — including a harsh opposition between Chiron and Saturn — and this time Neptune gets support from Uranus and Pluto.
The future is not The Hunger Games: that is a picture of now. It might be The Handmaid’s Tale: but that is also a picture of now in some parts of the world. The future is coming down the track fast — and with this Big Pattern, it becomes unpredictable. Uranus is a maverick. He will retreat back into Taurus for the winter months, but when he comes back in April, anything may happen.
And then there is a particular Libra, Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, born with Pluto on his ascendant, and Uranus rising behind, and speaking the bold truth right now, which is, among other things, that Trump and his friends are not only liars, if it weren’t for the fact that their actions are literally killing people, they would be laughable villians. Mind you, so was Mussolini. Newsom is using humour — Uranus in Gemini, Jupiter currently in Cancer — to highlight the idiocy. Governor Pritzker of Illinois, Ascendant at 0° Gemini, is doing the same. Pritzker holds some kind of key.
There is a portion of every population that is going to be fascist, more or less. In a democracy; it’s a matter of keeping them contained. Like Maat the Just and Isfet the Chaotic, you have to keep the balance. Well, there’s been a big fail on that point — because people forgot to take Isfet seriously. But that does not mean it’s all over.
Here in Europe, we have our own far right problems, and again, it would be stupid to think that Maat is going to win easily. The forces of chaos are at our gates — in the form of actual Russian troops, billionaires who want to break Europe and devour the spoils, a supine Fourth Estate, and greedy braying thugs who just like breaking things..
Gaza
There is nothing positive to spin about the genocide in Gaza or the brutal military occupation of the West Bank, except that it has united most of the world in grief and outrage. We know that might be us, those children in Gaza are our children, those mothers are our sisters.
However, the hostages are due to be released tomorrow. It’s on the monthly conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter, and the day Venus moves to 0° Libra snapping into the Big Pattern.
Appropriately for this Libra season, a peace deal has been announced. The ceasefire seems to be holding until today at least (12 October). We’ll see if Maat can push the plan through, but as usual in the Middle East, the people at the negotiating table hardly fill one with a sense of hope and optimism. Netanyahu is another Libra, of course. Fingers crossed.
Then there was the Sumud Flotilla, the largest humanitarian effort by civilians to break a siege — ever. The only equivalent that comes to mind is the Miracle at Dunkirk when 338,000 troops were evacuated across the Channel in 1940 by a flotilla of small and large boats. The Sumud Flotilla was made up of around 50 boats, so far, with civilians from 44 countries bringing food and medical supplies to the people of Gaza. This is also a manifestation of Pluto in Aquarius, humanitarian (Aquarius) breakthrough (Pluto). They did not break the blockade but I have no doubt they will be back again. Persistence is also Pluto.
Climate
Climate change is here. The natural order is out of balance. Isfet is winning this struggle too, and currently the people in power seem bent on destroying Mother Earth. But there is also hope amidst the cracking icebergs and crackling wildfires.
I listened to this podcast with environmentalist Bill McKibben about solar energy, and we should remind ourselves that California, the world’s fifth biggest economy and the most populous state, was powered this year by 2/3 clean energy, while Europe’s biggest economy Germany is on a similar pathway, and China made an important clean energy pledge last month. Those are just a few examples. There are many other ways in which the green agenda is inching forward — electric cars, Vinted, organic veg, the incredible European train network that I’ve just enjoyed. They just don’t make the headlines.
No matter how much the deniers deny, most of the world sees and feels what is happening to our planet — every summer is hotter. Every one of those speakers I listed at the UN talked about a greener world. Maybe the plutocrats currently running things are behaving so badly because they know that, in reality, their time is running out. It’s up to the rest of us to maintain Maat in the face of chaos.
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It’s a bit soon to say we won’t have fair elections in 2026. The authoritarian trends are sloppy and chaotic. The trains are not running on time. Freedom of speech is bruised but far from gone. The economy is stalling, and people always vote their pocketbooks. There are real victims for sure, but it’s not all over.
I didn’t mean there won’t be a fair election in 2026 but that something needs to change from the current trajectory for that to happen. If things carry on in the way they are going right now, I think it looks very unlikely — and it’s important to get real about that now when there is still time. For example, California has been redistricting. There’s an interesting episode of the Grey Area podcast about the dangers of weakening democracy. They are talking about the US but it applies to all democracies. https://link.chtbl.com/thegrayareapod
On my birthday (yes guilty of being a multiple Libra, not only my sun) I really enjoyed reading this. Yes it is about balance, let’s give Maat a hand. Cheers!
Many happy returns!
This Libra rising greatly enjoyed reading your perspective, dear Christina. My Capricorn sun, Aries moon and Venus in Aquarius desperately long for action towards benevolent cooperation, solutions and structures, so we all can thrive in peace and balance with Mother Earth.
Reading your piece it occurred to me that the agents of chaos are cracking open the layers of habit and comfort and prompt people to make their choice and take a stand. US Historian Heather Cox Richardson (her Letter from an American and weekly Youtube are highly recommended!) keeps reminding her audience, that it’s always been the American people who brought about positive change and that times like these bring forth the leaders they need (my eyes are on James Talarico from Texas and Mallory McMorrow from Michigan).
And at some point Mother Earth herself may crack open stuff which surely will get our attention.
Heather Cox Richardson is an incredible stalwart in these times — both as a witness and a light. I note that she is a Libra Sun, born on 8 October. I think she probably also has Moon in Aquarius close to a conjunction with Saturn and the South Node. I love Saturn and South Node for a public historian!
I also think that the American people are being underestimated in multiple ways and it’s important that they are awake to the reality that democracy is being stolen. Owning a gun is not freedom, being able to speak your mind without fear is.