Issue Number 1: Independence versus partnership

June 17, 9:50 AMAstrology ExaminerMaria Barron

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The need for independence versus the need for partnership is the first of six major life issues highlighted on the astrological wheel of life. Issue Number 1 is posed through the opposition of Aries and Libra. 

The Aries archetype is the powerful “I Am” energy of self-discovery. With the springtime sign of Aries at its beginning, the wheel of the zodiac starts where we start our lives as infants. Aries represents a quest to delight in every new experience and eventually gain independence through the very personal, self-directed quality of will. Aries will fight for the right to “be myself.”

The Libra archetype is all about equal partnership and the fine art of balancing the needs of the self and the other, of engaging in give and take, and, in a way, of taking advantage of the economies of scale involved in sharing resources and dividing labor. The love enshrined in Libra is not selfless but egalitarian. It’s about forming a perfect whole from two complementary halves. Libra will fight for the right to be together.

Ruled by Venus and Mars

Aries and Libra are the home signs of Mars and Venus, planets that are symbolized as the gods of war and love but are also seen as the Romeo and Juliet of the zodiac. These signs put a premium on honesty and would reject the cliché that all’s fair in love and war. As the signs most associated with war and love, they are actually very idealistic in their ancient symbolism, suggesting that either activity should be engaged in only for the purest of reasons. Those would be reasons of independence, when it comes to war, and when it comes to love the purpose would be equal partnership. With ideas as radical as that, perhaps it’s no wonder that astrology became at times an “occult art,” which is to say a hidden art.

In our modern lives, we all still deal with the questions this axis raises – the questions of independence versus partnership. It is important for each of us to understand how far we’ll go in either direction on this axis and to understand the same about a would-be partner. (These questions are also known as first- and seventh-house issues, because those are the houses ruled by Aries and Libra in the natural chart.) For people born under the signs of Aries and Libra, these issues are frequently emphasized. This is even truer if the Aries-Libra axis is highlighted by natal planets in opposition.

Where are your sun and moon?

The sun stands for the conscious self and the moon for the subconscious ways of a person. So if, for instance, your sun is in Aries and your moon in Libra or vice versa, then you have an internal opposition and can be your own worst enemy. Your conscious drives and your subconscious habits can set you up for self-sabotage of a perplexing sort. You could be tripping yourself up when it comes to achieving individual goals on the one hand or, on the other, sabotaging yourself in romance, marriage and even business partnerships. (If you don’t know your moon sign, you can find it here.)

To get out of the soup, you’ll need to get clear about which side of yourself you want to give the upper hand to in your particular phase of life. Then consciously engage that side when it’s important. Indulge your other side and let it have its way when the situation permits, so that you’re not repressing yourself and turning phony. But knowing that you have an internal conflict and accepting those different facets of yourself helps promote your own serenity. It also gives you a chance to redirect your energy when you catch yourself sliding into a habit or willfully taking an action that undoes what you just did. Redirecting your energy is a whole lot better than wanting to kick your own butt all the time, yes?

What about that person you’re crushing on?

Opposites attract in natural astrology because they’re chewing on opposite ends of the same spaghetti noodle. Independence and partnership are the yang and yin of the same issue. Also, every opposition involves compatible “elements.” For Aries and Libra, it’s fire and air. It’s also fire and air for the Sagittarius-Gemini opposition and the Leo-Aquarius opposition. The other three oppositions are made of compatible water and earth.

So the attraction is there and the fire is there for couples on the axis of an opposition, but an oppositional relationship is risky business, especially when both sides are signs of leadership, which is true of Aries and Libra. More than once I have seen intense Aries-Libra relationships where first one pulls for the strong independence of both while the other pushes for each to lose him or herself in the other. And then suddenly they switch sides and they each are advocating for the opposite pole. They can both end up thinking they’ve lost their minds.

I went looking for famous Aries-Libra pairings, and the first two that popped up didn’t end well. There were the famous outlaws Bonnie and Clyde, who were Libra and Aries respectively and who egged each other on to their inevitable violent end, together, at a young age. And there was Brynn Hartman (Aries) who apparently killed her husband, comedian Phil Hartman (Libra), and then herself. Come to think of it, Romeo and Juliet didn’t end well either. I’m sure there must be some highly evolved and deeply devoted Aries-Libra marriages, but it’s a hard axis to navigate.

Societal issues on the Aries-Libra axis

In a general sense, matters of war and peace fall on the Aries-Libra axis. So do matters involving individual rights as balanced against a sense of fairness to others. Contracts and treaties are Aries-Libra issues and so are civil lawsuits. You can strip away some of the spin on all of these issues when you boil them down to questions of independence and partnership.

Deadly sins on the Aries-Libra axis

I thought it would be interesting to compare the six major issues of the zodiac against another famous list, such as the Seven Deadly Sins. Intriguingly, the Taurus-Scorpio axis seems to me to be home to more of the mortal sins than any other axis is, but the deadly sin of wrath pretty clearly belongs in Aries’ realm. Wrath is the “I Am” energy taken to extreme, as in “I am going to clobber you.” Tomorrow we’ll look at the Taurus-Scorpio axis, which pits our personal stuff against the stuff of generations.