The astrological symbol for Libra is, as most of you know, the Scales. And these are nothing less than the scales of Justice, nearly always typified as a woman – Lady Justice.
Her ‘real’ name is Themis and she is a goddess, one of the Titans aka the early, primordial Greek deities. You know her because she’s everywhere, at courthouses, lawyer’s firms and law schools from Tennessee to Tehran.
You cannot, apparently, buy justice but there are millions of Lady Justice replica statuettes mass-manufactured a year. She is on Etsy, Amazon, tea towels and Metallica merch.
She’s the blindfolded woman with the sword and the scales. But guess what? She is not supposed to be blindfolded. I was taught at school, as you probably were, that the blindfold symbolized the impartiality of justice. But that’s incorrect!
Firstly, the original Themis and her many namesakes were renowned for clear sight. In some cases they were aligned with ‘the Eye’ aka an all-seeing supernatural vision that allowed them to see through all the layers of lies and complexity.
Secondly, the blindfold was only added to Lady Justice in 1494. In the context of a female figure who has been iconic for millennia, that is recent. The first time Themis appeared sans blindfold was in a book called Ship of Fools, a collection of satirical poetry by a Taurean (Sun + Uranus) lawyer Sebastian Brant.
Lady Justice Was Never Meant To Be Blindfolded
Captioned “The Fool blindfolds Lady Justice,” the image and accompanying words have nothing to do with impartialty. In some versions of the book, which was a massive bestseller btw, the image shows this former goddess of truth and divine order being blindfolded and pushed off her throne.
Brant campaigned, as much as you could in those days, against the Inquisition and abuses of justice by the church. His work inspired a spate of protests against the era’s injustice, all featuring the blindfolded Lady Justice. The best known is probably Pieter Bruegel’s disturbing 16th Century artwork that shows Lady Justice on a pedastal, blind to the atrocities being committed all around her and in her name.
So is it time to unblindfold the Lady of Justice aka Themis, Justitia and Maat? Yes! The blindfold was a protest – not a suggestion or a great idea.
Libra Is Aligned With Venus, Themis & Maat
And where does this leave our Libra? Well, to me it is a reminder that Libra is aligned with not only Venus but Themis, the embodiment of divine order, good counsel, fairness and genuine justice.
The historian Barbara Walker says ‘Libra’ comes from the goddess Libera, whom she calls “the astrological Lady of the Scales.”
“Like the Egyptian Maat , she represented the balancing process of karmic law. Her figure-eight glyph of “equilibrium” (now the mathematical symbol of infinity) signified action and reaction under the rule of Fate.
In astrology, Libra is still “ruled by Venus,” because she was identified with the Roman Venus-Aphrodite of the ius naturale — natural law, matriarchal justice. The blindfold on today’s Goddess of Justice was unknown in antiquity. She not only held the scales of every man’s fate; she also had the All-Seeing Eye.”
The more you think about this, the more striking it seems. Thoughts?
Fascinating! Explains why i’ve never been drawn to this image of Justice (even as a Libran).
It wouldn’t be the first time in history that satire has been mistaken for, and co-opted as, the truth. The game Monopoly springs to mind. It was intended as a satirical game to prove the inevitable failure of capitalism (in the sense of failing humankind), but the ironic zero-sum game, winner-takes-all playbook somehow became taken for an instruction manual for real life. Good grief. And now look where we are…
This also brings a new perspective on the term “woke”. Interesting stuff MM, thanks! 😊
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot_of_Marseilles
Motivation from antiquity can be murky or maybe I dont tend to trust it always – regardless of how factual an account of anything is there can be hidden bias or blindless embedded.
What if the blindfold simply says one does not need to literally see that which is so obviously out of balance to know it is?
What if she is a reflection of the collective in this image?
What if removing of the blindfold is symbolic of a bigger trend toward collective willingness to (literally) see injustice now?
Does this signal we are collectively willing to take action on injustice?
Is this an age of Aquarius marker?
There are indications, or at least these themes are currently in play with most things that are going on. I wouldnt let the polarising presentations get in the way of the bigger picture but hey, just another view and not writing history.
I donk know….
Thinking out loud….
Just saw that Putin’s a LIbran! WTF.
So was Thatcher. Both Scorpio Ascendants too… (I know this because i am a Libran with Scorpio Ascendant and looked on astrotheme for other people with this combo. Needless to say i was not impressed with my ‘twins’!).
In my experience (and only my experience, not an absolute), Libran men tend to manifest the Libran energy quite…..badly. Unless they are willing to step into their feminine energy to balance it up. That’s not something many will do because of cultural ideas about masculinity and power. No excuses for Thatcher tho.
That ending.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Do you have a photo/pic of the Lady sans the blindfold? Curious…
Yes, time to rip off the blindfold. And seriously “they” may have tried to weaken her eyesight but I will bet my bottom dollar on “Our Lady” just strengthening her inner sight.
Silly, silly people.
Correction “Our Lady Justice”
Love it.
That’s probably why they blindfolded her in the first place…..
Possibly, but I am inclined to doubt it. I have encountered powerful women whose sight both outer and inner is extraordinary and who have to fly under the radar as they unnerve people. One of my teachers,a Buddhist Medicine Lama who was the real deal said to us with all of his training, he could not hold a candle to his mother with her natural abilities. 🌞
Oh I am in total agreement with you how powerful women throughout history and even to this day, can be perceived as a threat due to their immense levels of sight. The historical binding of women is a theme that has run through the ages, but I LOVE hearing about women being revered and celebrated, because it’s a position we have always had a place in! ✨
🌞
Panofsky writes about this muddling of classical themes in the masterful Studies in Iconology (2018). Other female personifications who were represented with the blindfold in medieval works include Synagogue, Night, Death, Infidelity and Fortune. As Panofsky says “Not only as personifications of unenlightened state of mind, or of a lightless form of existence, but also as personifications of an active force behaving like an eyeless person, they would hit or miss at random, utterly regardless of age, social position and individual merit.”
Yes, it does stronger and stronger the more you think about it Mystic
1494 ..well just another way of disempowering women and trying to stamp out their knowing at that time , right through ‘ The Dark Ages’and allow the male competitive and eye for an eye systems dominate..aargh!!
There is so much to restore of the divine feminine whose power has been suppressed and denounced for hundreds of years.
Our knowing is our strength and power…rip off that blindfold!
I concur. Rip off the blindfold!!!
Libra here 👋🏼 Well that explains a metric fuq tonne. The blindfold ‘impartiality’ thing never felt right, and now it’s clear why. That Libra ability always felt more like a super precise scientific lense; cold, objective, no blind spots. It’s like you can unplug your emotions and just perceive. So maybe the All Seeing Eye is more appropriate after all.
I kinda feel like Libra being an object rather than a person is indicative of the erasure of feminine power. That justice is a construct rather than an inherent wisdom force…
Now I’m thinking of the progression of Virgo Libra Scorpio more as the Moirai, aka The Fates: Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos…She spins, She weaves, She cuts
Lachesis measures, i.e. determines the length of one’s destiny (aka life), which does correlate with the Libra/Justice/Maat archetypes to an extent.
Libra was also not a sign in itself originally, it was the claws of the Scorpion.
It is an interesting and, i believe, misunderstood sign. It’s an air sign – so masculine in polarity – but it’s more often associated with feminine iconography and feminine traits, like charm, beauty, the arts etc. It is in fall tho, and opposite alpha-male Aries, and in 7th is seen as a “consort” rather than the “protagonist” – that secondary role is typically attributed to women rather than men in our current patriarchal society.
I have found that in men it manifests in musicality – especially those with Venus in Libra. Perfect ear for music, often sound engineer/producing capabilities, and extensive tastes and collections of music. Generally not the attention-seeking Rock God performer tho. And they need someone with a bit of Scorpio in them to get them into bed or they’ll just talk you to sleep..! It’s like “Oh, so when you invited me back to your place to see your vinyl collection, that’s actually what you meant…” 😆. (I mean, not speaking from experience or anything…😏)
Women Librans are my favourites (& not just because i am one!). They have an easier time balancing the masculine-feminine traits, because it’s a ‘masculine’ sign that is also Venusian. Think of the beauty & charm of Venus with the intellect of air – justice, politics, and/or business oriented, tho possibly concealed to the casual observer. That is, when they allow themselves to be themselves, by overcoming the conditioning of patriarchal expectations of women.
For me, it is Persephone that is the mythological and planetary correlation for Libra. She splits her time between her mother Demeter/Ceres (Virgo/6th house) and Hades/Pluto (Scorpio/8th). The 10th planet was initially going to be called Persephone, and was discovered during Libra, but as there was already an asteroid called Persephone she became Eris – tho some refer to it as X or simply ‘Transpluto’.
But back to The Fates. They are also the procession of the modalities: Cardinal (Initiate, spin) > Mutable (how long..?) > Fixed (cut! The end), and as such can be seen repeating in each quadrant of the zodiac wheel… 😊💫🦋
The eyes are the portal to the soul, I know they said Justice should be impartial and was thus blind folded symbolically but I agree she becomes an object acted upon, perhaps a victim herself of some horrific crime like a Minority Report pre-cog, and also a cog in the justice machine.
Off topic: Mille grazie for the Daily Mystic for the next 48 hours, Mystic!
Dealing with rising tensions in my neighborhood again and your analysis of the effects of the peak Saturn-Uranus square – in effect as of now – serve as a welcome explanation and as a precious warning!
I’m thinking about the Libra’s in my life. They possess a critical eye but, unlike my Virgo acquaintances, they have a sense of humor about it. Humor, feels like compassion and empathy sometimes. ( to me ) They seem to accept our shortcomings as business as usual and nothing so serious as to get excited about. Unable to sit silent and watch unfair behavior, as it is their duty to spread the word but, not interested in participating in a public stoning.
How true…I see this my adult son very clearly, Cap sun Libra rising.
Forgiving and tolerant, except in areas of selfishness, greed, taking advantage and irresponsibility.
Seems true, have never known any Libran friends to be critical of anyone or anything, the exception being of politics and the law.
So my first reaction to the blindfold on Themis when I first saw her was weird and mysoginistic. Like some people couldn’t handle her power so they blind folded her. And it was a visceral feeling.
And then I read this. Thanks Mystic.
This resonates with my Libra moon + rising greatly, especially with the balancing of the ‘karmic law’…. I actually with certain people have this instant karma situation, where if anyone would hurt me they would hurt themselves almost instantly (which was hilarious to watch growing up lol), and that worked in return in my life.
When I was a wild voodoo child, I went through a period were all my naughty lil deeds were repaid straight back to me. Again with the theme of equilibrium.
Everything in my life centers on the balance of mind, body and spirit. I find even my posture is visibly changed if I’m not centered lol.
This is taken to another level with my moon being in the 12th too,
And then there’s the Mumbai courthouse, with a stone carving of a one eyed, blindfolded monkey judge.
Oh my….
as a libran, I really resonate with the all-seeing eye concept, meaning that librans see ALL possible options/possibilites, and that I find overwhelming sometimes. also, now that I think of it I’ve always been fascinated by the eye of horus and by the eye within the pyramid/triangle. yes, this type of vision does give you a sort of eagle’s view on the situation, but it needs to be trained imho, otherwise it will never, ever stop pondering possibilities, future scenarios, what-ifs, etc. personally I find that with time and effort I’ve improved massively, so I take risks much more willingly and recognize and tame the so-called ‘analysis paralysis’ before it becomes stifling. luckily (from this point of view) I only have the sun in libra, and nothing in the 7th house.
Makes sense not to be blind–wouldn’t you want to “see” the evidence? Exhibit A etc.