DLTK's Horoscope Activities
Libra: The Scales
Once upon a time in the ancient lands of Greece, long before written laws and courthouse television shows, there lived a young woman named Thalia and her mother, Phaidra. The two women sat at a table together and drank wine.
The people of their Greek village had been suffering much from a recent but violent drought. While each of the women sat—and rested with their drink before taking up work again—they were unexpectedly visited by a local woman, Amarantha. Known nearby, Amarantha was prone to bursting through doors unannounced.
Since it was a day of natural hot sun and hard work, it was surprising to see Amarantha away from her household. Her daily labor was tiring, so the women were not as surprised when she was quick to sit beside them. Just as quickly, Amarantha then took a swig of wine from the amphora (wine vase), and cried, “Themis may predict death for us!”
The usually joyful Thalia looked cautiously at the imposing woman, while her mother sipped her drink. Thalia was weary. “How could you ever know such thing?” she asked back. Talk of prophecies and death was too much for her!
Noticing this, Phaidra stood and walked to the window opening. She looked to Thalia. When all had quieted, Phaidra began to recite a story of Themis, daughter of Ge (Gaia, Earth), for her own daughter to hear.
“In a time, long before our Zeus of the Olympians reigned, Ouranos (Uranus) was the sky and the heavens. Gaia represented the Earth and first prophet of these skies above. Gaia and Uranus were the mother and father of all things. They gave birth to many children, including Kronos (Chronos), god of change and harvest. Chronos, out of his love for conquest, power, and leadership, killed Uranus with his infamous sickle to claim influence over the dear and endowing heavens. Before the violent act of betrayal against-father-by-son, Gaia and Uranus had many children together—many of whom are referred to as the Titans. And from Uranus and Gaia, came Themis, a Titaness.
Of all these original Titans, it was Themis to whom Gaia passed her special future-seeing abilities. With this, Themis became the oracle of Earth. She foresaw the great evil in Chronos and remained vigilant in her holy mission to maintain order, good peace, and balance on Earth. Filled with the mighty power and surroundings of the heavens, Themis’ brother Chronos proved to be violent in a malicious way. Of his seven children, he swallowed up and ate all but one!
With the help of the all-seeing Gaia and Themis, Rhea, Chronos’ wife, goddess of the feminine, was also able to see the venomousness deep in Chronos and agreed to hide her final child Zeus from him. Hidden and protected, Zeus grew to great gift and authority—strong enough to maim the unkind Chronos.
Zeus eventually cut Chronos open with his sickle, and released his six siblings, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Chiron. The death of Chronos, god of change, wreaked havoc amongst the pre-existing godly realm.
Following his demise, an upheaval of the Titans came to be. Thus, Zeus declared war on the Titans in a battle well-known as the Titanomachy. Some of the Titans battled, some died, and some, including Themis, chose to stay amongst the stars and watch with grave concern.
Following the violent and destructive 10-year war of the Titans, Zeus and his Olympian army won. They banished or punished many of the Titans that engaged in the battle. Upon seeing the vast mistreatment of her siblings and in pondering the future of her beloved Earth, Themis ventured to Olympus with the scales of balance and justice (the object of her yearning and a symbol of the soon-to-be constellation, Libra) given to her by Gaia in her left hand. Foreseeing all things, Themis knew this undertaking was her duty.
As she encountered the large gates of Olympus, she met Zeus himself, whose eyes were known to wander from his beloved Hera, the goddess of home and hearth. Upon seeing the beautiful and “bright” Themis, Zeus was instantly fascinated by her clarity, her stability, her goodness, and her vigilance.
But Themis was no fool.
Knowing all the messy ways in which power can take shape, Themis firstly presented her scales to Zeus and, with them, faithfully explained to him the commands of the cunning and the scheming, as opposed to the brutish and the inhuman, for matters of sustainability, balance, and good order on Earth.
After watchfully counseling Zeus on all matters of the earthly, of the human, and explaining the state of the order passed down to her by Gaia, Themis claimed her rightful place in the sky, in the heavens, representing justice overall and holding her iconic scales of balance.”
Thalia and Amarantha sat stunned at the beauty of Phaidra’s memory and oral recitation. Once she let out a sigh of relief, they clapped together. Suddenly, all three women noticed another standing at the door.
“Themis?” Phaidra gasped.
“And Zeus had been observing,” she replied. “His sympathy for me was great, and he saw in my scales a sort of gentle energy that would always be needed. And so, while I have become immortalized in the sky as the constellation Virgo that you each see at night, my scales of justice are uniquely immortal, too! Libra is the only constellation in the sky to represent an object rather than a living being!
Keep living your lives in friendship and conversation. You should see your drops of water soon, as the scales will soon tip in your favor. It has come up to me from the heavens that a water bearer grows restless in Mount Olympus. Have patience."
The End.