On October 10th, 2026, we have a New Moon at 17° Libra.
The New Moon applies a sextile to Jupiter. The universe wants to remind us that in the midst of transformation, there’s still something holding us.
But this shouldn’t detract from the hard work ahead of us.
The New Moon’s ruler, Venus, is exactly square Mars – a reminder that whatever this New Moon is inviting us to begin, we still have to fight for it.
Venus is retrograde, so let’s dive deeper….
At first glance, the New Moon in Libra is sending contradictory messages. Libra, by design, wants harmony, wants relationship, wants collaboration, wants union.
At its core, Libra knows that to fully become itself, it needs the mirror of another human being.
There are parts of ourselves we only discover when someone meets us, challenges us, or sees something in us we cannot yet see. Some transformations can only happen in relationship – we simply cannot get there on our own. We need the Other.
With this deeper knowing, Libra puts so much of her energy into attracting people, building relationships, and keeping these relationships – these containers for transformation – in place.
Because how can Libra fulfill her purpose without someone to relate to? Without a mirror? The Other is essential to what Libra is here to do.
Mars – currently squaring Venus, Libra’s ruler – is in detriment in Libra, because the things that Mars stands for – individuality, boundaries, assertion – seem to be very much at odds with what Libra is trying to achieve. It’s Libra’s We against Mars’ Me.
But that’s the paradox. We cannot have one without the other. We cannot have relationships without 2 individuals.
And individuals on their own cannot fully self-actualize without the container and the exchange of a relationship. The most individualized human simply cannot reach their full potential on their own. We need the Other.
New Moon In Libra – Venus Square Mars
With the ruler of Libra, Venus (now in Scorpio and very much retrograde), square to Mars in Leo, the same question of Me vs. We is asked from a slightly different angle.
When what we want (Venus) is at odds with what we feel we can actually do about it (Mars), the friction can break down our assumptions about what it takes to get what we want – and push us to look for answers in places we wouldn’t normally look:
Mars will sharpen Venus’s teeth – are you going to actually fight for what you love? Or will you just sit there looking pretty, rely on the law of attraction, or send silent signals, expecting that if someone wants you badly enough, they’ll do something?
Mars in Leo’s mandate is bravery – finding the courage to act in alignment with one’s heart, regardless of how likely we are to get the outcome we want.
But if we only ever reach for what we already know we can have, we never give ourselves the chance to discover what else we’re capable of. We’re repeating what we know. We’re looping in circles.
Then there’s Venus challenging Mars. Are the actions (Mars) you feel compelled to take truly aligned with your deepest truth (Venus) – or are they a way to deal with the intensity of the situation?
When we’re activated, when Mars is boiling – and coming out of its opposition to Pluto, Mars is pretty much boiling – our tendency is to just “do something” to escape the intensity of what we’re feeling. To release the pressure.
But releasing the pressure without understanding what’s behind it can leave us acting against the very thing we want.
If you get angry because you feel disrespected – a familiar Mars in Leo trigger – the first impulse may be to lash out at your partner. And with Venus in Scorpio involved, we may know exactly which emotional button to push to make it sting.
But is disrespect the whole story? Or have we reached for a familiar explanation before asking what else is going on?
New Moon In Libra – Truth And Dare
Venus is retrograde. She’s moving slowly. So the invitation now is to stay with that feeling – with the discomfort – long enough to understand where it’s coming from before we react.
This doesn’t mean taking a deep breath, counting to 10, and then saying exactly what we wanted to say when we were first triggered. That’s delaying without processing.
It means allowing for the possibility that our first reaction doesn’t tell the whole story – that it might not be our truth-truth. The aim here is to understand the feeling deeply enough that we no longer need to defend our first interpretation of it.
This requires admitting: maybe I don’t know what I want yet. Maybe what feels so real is not the whole reality.
And most importantly, it requires a willingness to sit with the discomfort long enough, and go deep enough, for the truth to have a chance to emerge.
Thankfully, Jupiter’s sextile to this New Moon in Libra helps us step back from “I’ll default to what I’ve always done” or “This is me – take it or leave it” – and see things from a higher perspective.
At the New Moon in Libra, we’re invited to connect the dots and see the larger story behind how we relate, what triggers us, and how we respond.
How do we express our desires? How do we pursue them? Do we even know what we want? And the most frightening question: Do we even know who we are?
The New Moon in Libra brings us back to the question of relationship (the Libra-Scorpio planets) and how to stay true to ourselves within it (Leo). The invitation is to allow the higher truth of our heart (Jupiter in Leo) to guide us in how we relate to others.
This is such an important lunar cycle. The New Moon in Libra is not just a one-day transit. It begins a full 29.5-day lunar cycle, and the questions we open up now will develop throughout it.
The upcoming Venus-Pluto square, which will challenge our ego defenses, and the upcoming Venus cazimi, when she starts a new cycle, are both rooted in this New Moon in Libra mandate:
→ Allowing the truth of our heart to show us what we need to change inside ourselves – so we can build more honest and more fulfilling relationships with ourselves and others.
So what is this New Moon inviting us to begin?
With Venus retrograde, we’re not in a position to know what we want to build yet – we’re still finding out what’s true.
What we’re planting at this New Moon is a question. One honest question about what we love, what we want, or who we become when someone gets close – and the willingness not to rush the answer.
A willingness to accept that we don’t actually know. Not knowing IS uncomfortable. The mind fills the gap as fast as it can, with the first explanation that makes the discomfort go away.
And that’s where we need to remind ourselves what we’re fighting for. Not an outcome – the truth. Our truth-truth. The one we can only discover once our defenses have collapsed.
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