The word ‘zodiac’, means roughly ‘a circle of living beings’, comes to an interesting quandary with the sign of Libra.  Libra is neither animal or man; it is an inanimate object, a set of scales.  

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Like Virgo, Libra represents a form of judgment or discrimination, but not so much as a sorting and weighing of accounts as with Virgo (although the symbol of the scales would seem to indicate that type of judgment), but Libra represents a sane or balanced state of mind with which to make judgments with.

According to esoteric sources, Libra represents the quality of God-Reality, or a true perception of events and situations.  So also in esoteric parlance to SEE something is also to BE that very thing; and therefore the perception of reality is a priori just the same as being in a state of reality.

In Egyptian myth, the souls of the dead were taken to the underworld by Anubis to the Great Hall of Judgment to come before Osirus.  A great scale would be erected which Maat, the goddess of truth, stood by, as well as a monstrous lion/crocodile/hippopotamus combination to devour the souls of sinners.  The heart of the deceased was put on one pan of the scale, and Maat herself (or a feather which was her symbol) on the other pan.  If the sins of the deceased did not outweigh Maat herself, and in fact the two pans were in a state of equilibrium; then Osirus pronounced a favorable judgment.

In the Egyptian myth above you can see the idea of balance and equipoise was equated with truth by the Ancients, and a prerequisite to judgment.  In society, judges are given great honor because of their supposed balance of reason and judgment, and their ability to dispense true justice is recognized therefrom.  Justice, according to the Ancients is a sacred power that emanates from the quality of reason that is found in a good man’s heart.

Saturn, the great tester and refiner of man’s character, which brings all to an eminent sort of reality; is exalted in Libra.  Venus, as a calming and harmonizing influence in itself, is the planetary ruler of Libra.   Mars, ruler of the Aries, the sign opposite to Libra, is debilitated in Libra; Mars just is too impetuous to take the time out to achieve Libra’s balanced perspective.  The Sun, exaltation ruler of Aries, is also in its fall in Libra; the Sun, you see, is just too overpowering in its fire and presence to get that objective and detached Libran outlook.