So let’s see: what is our Sabian Symbol at this premier Pisces degree, hmm. In A Crowded Marketplace Farmers and Middlemen Display A Great Variety Of Products carries the keynote of the process of commingling and interchange which at all levels demonstrates the health of a community. Okay. This symbol would be ruled by Libra in a twelve-fold sequence and, if you’ve been paying attention, you might recall that Libra-ruled symbols almost invariably deal with community or, moreover, society. Just as Pisces, the final twelfth sign, is the culmination of the Zodiac, so too can we interpret the marketplace to be the end result of the farmers work, the reaping of what was sown, and, as a nod to Libra, there would be a great many Scales present in this scene, weighing and measuring as farmers and their middlemen bargain with buyers. What also will be measured are not just the actual goods themselves but the quality of this year’s crop; we will be judging the outcome of a yearly event, weighing all the variables and conditions, comparing it with previous times of harvest and coming together. We might also be judging the social aspect, the quality of the gathering in so far as it reflects the behaviors and attitudes of all gathered there in society. Irregardless we “come together” as Libran John Lennon would demand.

Should this particular degree be highlighted in a person’s chart or transits I would venture to say that it would be a good time for that individual to do some bargaining or trading, to take advantage of some marketplace or social milieu. The Libran mottos, both, “I balance” and “We are” come into play here because striking a bargain is akin to striking a balance; it’s what constitutes a fair deal. Fairness, in all senses of that word, is one word that Libra owns. Ruled by Venus on the astral plane, whose female symbol recalls a hand mirror and, indeed is named “the looking glass of Aphrodite” seems to almost beg the question: Who is the fairest of them all, not in the physical sense (as it does in the other Venus-ruled sign of Taurus), but in the abstract-real sign of Libra with it’s emphasis on beautiful ideas of balance and fairness such as equality or, as the French might have it, liberté, égalité, fraternité and so forth.

We think of commerce and the marketplace to be the realm of Gemini and its god Mercury, from whom we get the world market and merchants. But, in the less literal sign of Libra, we are looking at the broader sense of the word: commerce; that is to say social dealings between people. Libra and the seventh house rule one-one-one relationships and our ability to negotiate them. Let’s face it, all relationships are ongoing bargains. And we are making deals and contracts and pacts all of the time. We are constantly weighing ourselves, our worth, our necessity, or influence against that of others trying to find a harmonious dynamic of give and take. That would only be fair. No lopsided bonds for me, no sir. This better be even Steven or I’m packing up all my dolls and dishes and doing a disappearing act, make no mistake. Peace be with you. And also with you.

Copyright 2015 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.