Libra, the sign of the balance, signifies the Place of Choice. The celestial scales hang between Virgo (purity) and Scorpio (the senses). "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve" is the command of Libra.
Although the sign Libra was known at an early date to the Chaldeans, the earlier star lists of the Greeks do not show it. With the influx of Chaldean learning into Greece the constellation Libra was differentiated from Virgo and Scorpio, having previously been known as The Claws of the Scorpion (Scorpio) or The Scales of Astrea (Virgo).
The chapter on Choice does not follow in astrological succession at this point; we turn back to the second chapter for the Libra discourse. The keynote of this entire chapter is the victory attained through wise choice. In balancing the things of the spirit against the things of the flesh the soul is not found wanting: "Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly as far as light excelleth darkness." (Ecclesiastes 2:13) "For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God." (Ecclesiastes 2:26)
The planetary ruler of Libra is Venus. As previously noted, Taurus holds the feminine aspect of Venus. Libra reflects the masculine aspect. In the ancient Greek pantheon, Libra's god would correspond to the white-winged Eros who was depicted as a youth with beautiful shining wings like an Angel. (Orthodox church people consistently overlook the fact that many of the Greek gods were winged, like Angels. The esotericist declares that the Hebrew Angels were, and are, in no wise different from the gods of the pagans.) The story of Psyche and Eros has preserved this early concept, although the myth in its present form is of very late date and does not belong to the mythological era proper. Psyche means soul, and the Greek myth presents the whole theme of spiritual regeneration through renunciation of the petty elements of the personal love which always defile the soul. The great sin against love must be renounced under Libra when the personal is sacrificed in favor of the love of soul for soul. One of Eros' titles was "Lover of Souls," holding the same connotation as in our modern hymn, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul."
The Lords of Individuality are the Libra Hierarchy. Their work now is with the universal Life Spirit, the Christ Love used as a regenerating channel for the purification of desire.
Scorpio is the sign of degeneration and regeneration, depending on the use that is made of its power, whether destructive or constructive. Response to its negative aspects leads to the way of the flesh, symbolized in the scorpion, with its sting of death. Obedience to its higher, positive aspects leads to the mountain fastnesses of Spirit, where the divine Eagle has his eye. So long as man follows the way of the flesh, this mystic eighth house sign will usher him from death to death, but if he chooses the way of Spirit, from life to life, even to the ultimate Liberation: "And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy." (Ecclesiastes 8:10)
Scorpio is a martial sign, although feminine, and courage characterizes the angelic Hierarchy which is most active in the soul world when the Sun passes through Scorpio. The divine Hierarchy of the Lords of Form, powerful spirits who create eternal beauty, flood the Earth at this time in the wake of the Sun. Mars, the ruler of Scorpio, is the astrological inspirer of many arts and crafts, particularly those involving the use of metals and fire: "Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the Sun; because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea, farther, though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it." (Ecclesiastes 8:17) The secret labor of creation is known to the Initiate in the astral or soul world, yet it cannot be defined in ordinary terms when he returns to the body consciousness.
Scorpio, like Virgo, is often identified with Wisdom; its wisdom, however, is of a different sort than Virgo's, which is mental in nature, correlating to Mercury, or Hermes. The Scorpio wisdom is the wisdom of the serpent, and refers to the Mystery Schools in which the martial discipline is applied to the mind and soul to produce certain foreknown and definitely planned-for results. When the heart is thus applied to wisdom (Ecclesiastes 8:16), and when spiritual consciousness and extended vision are evolved through regeneration (which is the highest aspect of Scorpio), the Invisible Helper is "born" who is able to labor when out of the body in sleep in ways the worldly know not of. They also develop unusual skills and genius in the pursuit of their work in the world, thus making the wilderness blossom as the rose. The keynote of this chapter is found in the words: "Where the word of a king is, there is power. And who may say unto him, What doest thou?" (Ecclesiastes 8:4)
— Corinne Heline
