Linda Goodman's Sun Signs

by Linda Goodman

That brings us to another problem. Libra laziness. It isn’t actually laziness at all. He plays hard, for long periods, then he must rest. He isn’t loafing. He’s just gathering himself together. The Libran pattern demands periods of activity—then inactivity. It’s the only way he can manage to stay emotionally and physically healthy. If he’s made to feel guilty about it, he’ll really be lazy, in self-defense. When you see the Libran youngster being idle, don’t fuss. He’ll soon have his inner scales balanced again and be ready for action. He’s just recharging his energy. His planets made him that way. He can’t change it.

  Venus children are experts at softening hard hearts. They have such charming manners, they wheedle so sweetly and who could resist those smiles and dimples? The little Libran’s gentle, endearing ways can turn his parents into two large genies, who grant his every wish and desire (not to mention various assorted magic elves in the form of doting relatives). Consequently, these youngsters often start their school days so spoiled, they’re well nigh impossible to handle. After all, you can’t treat a tot like a prince or princess for years, and then expect him to take orders. Young Librans don’t need discipline as much as they need less coddling.

  The average Libra child, raised with the proper balance, is a delight to his teachers. Their minds are bright and logical, they’re fond of debate and they have a great curiosity that makes them good students. However, once they start to read and learn facts, both you and the teachers may be subjected to constant arguments.

  It never works to make a flat statement to a Libra boy or girl. Always give both sides of any issue, or they’ll think you’re being unjust. When you give the edge to one side, the Libra student will make a big issue out of defending the other side until he forces you to be fair. If you’re partial to the pros, the young Librans will always make a good case for the cons, which can give them a reputation for being rebels, when nothing could be further from the truth. These children will be sticklers for obeying the rules, as long as they’ve convinced themselves the rules aren’t loopy. The scales must always balance, or Libra feels an unpleasant tug. He’ll argue away until he feels things have been faced squarely, and the scales of justice are harmoniously lined up. October-born boys and girls always sharpen the wits of their parents and instructors, because it takes some good, logical thinking to keep up with them. They’ll argue with you about everything from the newspaper headlines to who’s right or wrong in a family disagreement. The Libra child won’t like to hear grownups gossip. To him a confidence is sacred, and he also frowns on hasty judgments of character. He’ll take the side of your worst enemy, if he thinks you are wrong.

  Never invade his privacy. He won’t invade yours. Be sure mealtimes are pleasant. The girls will coax you to use candles and flowers; the boys will want a balanced meal and will probably love sweets. There may be some problems with overweight and the bathroom scales will get a workout.

  One blessing about having Libra children is that, if they haven’t retreated into resentment through harsh handling, they’ll usually be neat and clean without being forced. Most of these boys and girls hate messes and an untidy house so much they’ll help to keep it neat. Since Libra is both musical and artistic, you may have a budding composer or artist in the family, so make sure he has an opportunity to develop any latent talents.

  The tiny Libra girl may dust your expensive powder all over her dress, pour your best perfume over her curly head, and hate to get out of the bathtub. She’s just reacting to Libra’s love of beauty and pleasant things, like scents and warm water. When she’s a teenager, she’ll monopolize the bathroom for hours with her bubble baths and use up all your guest soap. Remember, she seeks harmony; and to her, peace, beauty and comfort equal harmony.

  The Libra boy may drive you to distraction with his snoozes in the hammock, and his irritating way of always knowing more than you do about subjects that should be over his heads. (Yes, sometimes you’ll swear he has two.) But those periodic naps are refreshing his energy. It didn’t die, it’s just replenishing itself. As for his know-it-all attitude, he may be practicing on you for a future career as a lawyer. Take an optimistic view. The jury will someday be his captive audience, but you can always go start dinner or hide behind the evening paper. Encourage both boys and girls to write if they feel an urge. Remember that Libra rules books, too.

  The teenagers of both sexes will keep a constant cloud of romance hanging over the house. There may be so many cases of puppy love, you’ll feel as though you live in a sentimental kennel—but even this shall pass away. Those wedding bells will ring someday, and your Libra offspring will raise a nice, peaceful, balanced, harmonious, argumentative family. Some sunny October morning you may once again stand in front of a hospital nursery, and hear a nurse or visitor coo, “My, what a beautiful baby! So dear and good. So quiet and sweet.” And you’ll say, with all your hard earned wisdom, “Yes, but do you see that dimple in his chin?”

  The LIBRA Boss

  “Unimportant, of course, I meant,” the King hastily said, and went on to himself in an undertone,

  “Important—unimportant—unimportant—important— as if he were trying which word sounded best.

  If you’re a woman, you probably think your Libra boss is one swell lady, always fair and square, always on the level. If you’re a man, you may be a little bit in love with her, whether you realize it or not. Venus vibrations are powerful.

  The Libra executive is normally one half of a partnership since her unconscious desire is always to bring two things or two people together. Emotionally, the urge is consummated through an early marriage or a shockingly early love affair. In business, she satisfies her balancing function by combining her charm and intellect with a partner who complements her own personality, and supplies whatever talents and abilities she lacks. (She won’t lack many.)

  She may not sit behind a desk as often as other bosses. That’s because she likes to sit on the fence. It’s not that she finds it more comfortable. It can be quite painful. Notice her unhappy expression while she’s seated there. It’s a struggle, as she takes two opposing ideas and weighs them, back and forth. Once she’s achieved a fair and impartial decision, she’ll be back at her desk, happily swirling in his contour chair again. But while she’s on the fence she can be mighty hard to fathom.

  The Libra boss is extremely restless and full of outgoing activity, yet she never seems to be in a hurry, a contradiction few people can manage. It’s like watching a skillful juggler. With all that restless activity, you expect her to drop her poise and break into a nervous run at any moment, just as you expect the juggler to drop one of the balls he’s tossing. But neither does. Born with a natural affinity for the element of air, the Libran accomplishes even frenzied action with so much easy grace, this sign almost seems to be standing still. It’s like a movie in slow motion. The activity never stops, but the projector is set at a peculiar speed.

  In spite of an often shy, gentle manner, the Libran boss is not an island. There’s always a need to express herself in some way, to communicate with others. Though most of the communication is done through speech, she can also tell you whole volumes with his smile. She’s sure to be intelligent, but if Mercury was afflicted by adverse aspects at birth, she may still be trying to convince herself that she is. Many Libran bosses are persuasive talkers and great debaters, who can sway a whole roomful of people effortlessly. Even the shy Libran executive who seldom tries to grab attention, can argue logically and convincingly, although this type will probably plan everything in his mind before she speaks. That’s why the Libra is so quiet for such long periods. She’s deciding what she wants to say. It’s usually safer to take her statements straight after she’s passed through one of her silent moods. She’s less likely to change her mind. If she’s rushed into making a decision, she’ll mull it over afterwards, realize her first thoughts were hasty and do a complete turnabout.

  You may find your Libra boss seeking your opinion frequently. Before you decide she thin
ks you’ve got a brilliant brain, remember that there are several motives for her flattering interest in your ideas. First of all, she wants to be fair. This type of boss doesn’t want to make either an unjust or unpopular decision. Another reason a Libran feels compelled to gather up all the pros and cons of an issue is because, without access to all the available facts, she feels incapable of making a wise assessment.

  The typical Libra boss who’s trying to make up her mind whether to say “yes” or “no” to an important deal will take a democratic poll of her husband, the security guard, her assistant, the street vendor and her public relations manager, and it can have some pretty weird results. It’s difficult for the security guard to give a logical opinion on how the proposed split might affect the shareholders of the non-voting stock. He may need some time to ponder it.

  The street vendor may have a little trouble grasping the costs involved in a projected merger of two large corporations. For one thing, $200,000 for attorneys’ fees may seem extravagant to him. He paid his lawyer two hundred dollars one time for legal advice, and he felt like a spendthrift.

  That vice-president who continues to draw his salary while he’s in the hospital with a nervous breakdown will really throw the Libran’s assistant. After all, he’s been on the verge of a mental breakdown for several years, and nobody ever coddled him like that.

  The Starbucks barista finally makes up her mind. Forget the stock split; she’s never trusted that word. It was when her old man split out that she had to start serving coffees to fund her college education.

  The Libran’s husband says, “You know what is best, dear,” but he makes it clear he privately thinks she should take a negative stand because he doesn’t like the husband of one of the major stockholders.

  The public relations manager never changes his opinion: “Damn the torpedos—full speed ahead!”— his advice on all problems.

  Finally, the consensus is complete. Armed with this expert analysis, the Libra boss will still manage to arrive at a more logical, sensible final decision than nine out of ten people would make. It’s amazing, but she does it somehow.

  There could be still another reason this type seeks so many viewpoints when she’s making up her mind. She may be one of those rare Librans who maneuvers to shift the blame for a possible mistake to someone else’s shoulders. When things fall through, she can always shrug and say, “Well, it wasn’t my idea to back away. The street vendor thought it was a bad move.”

  However, a Libra boss who’s managed to achieve harmony and unity of his mind and emotions can be a regular well of wisdom. For all I know, you may work for one. There are lots of them around, and they’re nice bosses to know when you have a problem. They can come up with an answer that no one else could have thought of, taking everything into consideration and giving you an out that’s both fair and smart.

  The chances are that the walls of your Libra boss’s office are not bare—the walls will normally be covered with pictures, diplomas, and good prints, hung in balanced positions, and the filing cabinets will be dusted. You can bet that there’s a radio or CD player somewhere around so she can tune in to melodious sounds when things get too discordant and the nerves get dangerously jingle-jangled from the confusion of daily routine. The colors in her office will seldom be wild. No exotic lime green or brilliant tangerine that hurt her eyes. However, there may be just a touch of the oriental motif. Some Librans seem to lean slightly in that direction. Perhaps it’s because of the legendary quiet, gentle manner of living in the Far East or the peaceful harmony of Eastern philosophy. She may even go so far as to have flowers on her desk, but if your Libran boss is a male, probably not.

  There are more female bosses born under Libra than any other sign, though Aries, Capricorn, Leo and Cancer run a close second. Your female Libran will almost surely have a big potted plant in the office, plus a large mirror. She may not procrastinate quite as much as the men of the sign; since it’s still a challenge for a woman to achieve a high level of command, she had to control her indecision or she wouldn’t have made it to the top of the totem pole. But there’s one area where she won’t take long to make up her mind. Love. She’s either already decided marriage is not for her, or she’s constantly a little dreamy-eyed from a recent romance. It’s a rare Libran female, executive or not, who can live without a valentine in her life. Though she’s an expert at hiding her after-five activities, I can assure you she’s not playing a game of solitaire every night. She may curl up with a good book on a rainy Monday, but most weekends will find her doing the town in a romantic haze. The haze, however, will be temporary. Her mind is too sharply logical to let sentiment completely blind her. Few Librans of either sex let the heart rule the head. Their heads are too hard and too bright to submit to the soft rays of Venus without a fight, another of Libra’s strange inconsistencies.

  In the discipline area female Librans can be somewhat harsher than the male Libran. If you make a mistake, she’ll know it instinctively, and you’ll get a strong message that she doesn’t want to see it multiply into daily errors. Her voice will be soft, or slightly husky, well-modulated and perhaps a little drawling, and she’ll seldom raise it. (With an Aries Gemini or Sagittarius ascendant, the air might get a little blue when she sees red.)

  The Libran boss often looks as if she should be on the list of “Best Dressed Executives.” They have a knack for putting together a well-coordinated outfit and tend to wear expensive clothing. Librans tend to be the ones everyone admires for their poise and polished appearance.

  When you’re tempted to treat you Libran boss like one of the girls, don’t get too chummy. Her friendly attitude may seem to encourage confidences, but she won’t tolerate office gossip, and she’ll stamp out any signs of it at the water cooler. Librans don’t rise to the top by having a loose tongue. Librans of both sexes treat a confidence as a sacred trust. Some of them may talk a lot, and they all adore debating, but they’re not gossips. There’s a difference.

  Both the male and female Libra bosses lean toward long, pleasant lunch hours. If they don’t take them, you should see that they do, because they won’t be their usual, liberal selves when they’re hungry or tired. All Venus executives would be better off if they faced up to their need for periodic rest and snoozed for an hour or so each day. You might get the employees to chip in to buy an attractive sofa for the executive office, if you want to keep your Libra boss balanced. Librans are cat nappers, but they may feel guilty about it. The day your boss comes to work wearing a blue expression and sporting red eyes, with droopy, gray bags under them, is a day you’ll want to avoid the sleep-deprived Libran.

  Unless your Libra boss has a strongly independent ascendant she’ll probably believe in unions. Anything fair is okay with her. Her sense of justice makes her a natural in mediating disputes. The Libran viewpoint on money is seldom neutral. She’ll either be the stingiest executive in town or the most generous. Sometimes, she may take turns: be a tightwad in December and a Ms. Claus in July. There will always be a definite attitude at any given moment. She tips either a nickel or a five spot.

  Sooner or later, you’ll be invited to her home. Almost every Libran executive eventually wants to entertain her employees under her own roof, and she’ll be an impeccably gracious host. But when you attend the party, keep in mind that the sure way to earn her disfavor is to be loud, vulgar and opinionated. Remember that Harmony is her middle name. Create it when you can—never destroy it or disrupt it—and she’ll want you around without knowing exactly why.

  Libra’s occasional indecisiveness may annoy you; your boss may procrastinate and her dreams may need a little push now and then. Still, there’s that smile, the respect you have for her quiet intelligence, and her willingness to meet you halfway. She doesn’t want you to top her, yet she won’t expect you to be her slave. She’s neither a pusher nor a nagger, and she’ll never betray your trust. When you add it all up, the scales balance in her favor. Hers is a blending nature. Your Libra boss real
ly needs your cooperation to be a complete person, and a woman who needs you can get a firm grip on your loyalty, if not on your heart. Haven’t you felt the tug?

  The LIBRA Employee

  “I wish they’d get the trial done …

  And hand round the refreshments!”

  There was once a Libran designer, who was brought to the west coast to do the costumes for a big movie, and he sat in his suite in a posh Beverly Hills hotel for six full weeks without making a single sketch. It wasn’t because he lacked ideas. He was overflowing with them. It was the carpeting—that hideous, shrill, peacock blue carpeting. It gave him migraine nightmares. He couldn’t even think straight, let alone create, and he didn’t want to change his suite because he liked the view of the palm trees.

  For almost two months the film was held up until the producer finally discovered the problem. As soon as he was made aware of the Libran’s aesthetic difficulties, the offensive floor covering was replaced by new, wall-to-wall carpeting in an acceptable, subdued rose shade. If you’re wondering why the producer was so understanding, he was a Gemini. Whether or not the designer’s complaint was reasonable didn’t concern him. The Gemini simply wanted to get things moving as quickly as possible, and he took the speediest way out. Both Aquarian and Gemini bosses are fabulous when it comes to handling the delicate Venus temperament. There’s an intangible empathy between air signs. They’re all floating around on some kind of cloud, but at different altitudes.

  Please don’t get the impression that you should run right out and find a rug salesman if you have a Libra employee. Not all people born in late September or October are irreplaceable artists with such sensitive nerves. But even the average Libra employee will work more happily if his surroundings don’t distract him.

  He’ll also be more efficient if he isn’t offended by the people he works with every day. A rough, sordid, unharmonious atmosphere may depress him, but uncongenial coworkers will really send him into a blue fog. He’s as conscious of the vibrations of personalities as he is of the vibrations of colors, especially in close quarters. If your Libra employee has seemed confused lately, or not himself; if he’s been turning in sloppy work which doesn’t meet his usual standard, he’s not necessarily slipping. Perhaps he’s allergic to the mail boy or the cleaning woman. (I hope it’s not his own personal assistant. The constant, abrasive pain would be unbearable.) It might even be the short, unsharpened pencils. Give him some nice sharp new ones, preferably mechanical pencils, change the cleaning lady’s shift and keep the mail room staff away from him. Notice how his work improves immediately? He was just off balance.