With Autumn, so shifts the Sun from Virgo, to Libra. Did you feel the way the air became crisper, cooler? The Sun’s move from an earthy sign to an airy sign is felt in the air. As us warm weather folks mourn yearly summer’s passing and put away our tank tops and bikinis till next year (or a mid-winter getaway to warmer climes), our cool weathered friends rejoice: its sweater season! Sweaters are a comfy, cozy way to take the chill off. Warm, comfy and fabulous, I love long sweater coats, wraps and a more recently discovery – shrugs – just a few discovery for Sun in Libra’s style hunting days.

Among many other things, Libra is “make-me-over-for-another” season. Libra knows intelligent style, skilled in the panache of talking smart and looking good while doing it. As the Sun moves from Virgo into Libra, we’ve healed the discrepancy between who we see our self as, and who we are really. Armed with a sense of self-awareness and self-acceptance (Virgo), we’re ready to prepare to meet the world in style.

I see Virgo as the dressing room, the place we hang out in (or hide) before we step out into the Libran mirror. During Virgo Sun we’re under those hideous fluorescent lights trying on bikinis. Ooh, where did that lump and bump come from? I really have no color on my skin. It really is time for that personal trainer/raw chef. It’s slightly terrifying. Primarily because we’re suffering from the Virgo conundrum: I’m not good enough. But is our vision accurate? It’s hard to know…and we often forget to ask. We’re missing another’s perspective under those harsh lights and a too close mirror. We probably have an image in our minds of who were once, and measuring it against who we’ve become is a huge reality check – unfortunately this keeps us from opening up to another, too. We think: The last time I looked, it wasn’t this bad… In our mind’s eye, and by our own high standards, we’ve failed our selves.

Enter: Libra. If we’re going to step into the world of the ‘other’ (Libra) this is the point where we roll up our sleeves and do something. We order a treadmill, take our vitamins, make a commitment to healthy living, pump up our immune system…or get online and find Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style.

You know Tim Gunn, the compassionate tailor of our internal/external self-image. Tim Gunn fits the Virgo/Libra symbolism beautifully. We all want a personal makeover from an expert, but the reality is we have to face everything about ourselves in the process: our resistance to change, the humiliation of having bad taste, our own lack of body-awareness, low self-esteem, guilt, shame, self-neglect etc. etc.. There are so many components of making our self presentable to another, most largely internal. Only a piece of that is fashion. Even Armani can’t make the woman. It comes down to how we feel about our self on the inside. A quote has stuck with me for years, a fashion photographer, I once read, said the most beautiful quality a woman can wear is confidence. In an age where fashion is reproduced and knocked-off, there’s no facsimile for confidence. You can always spot a fake.

So Sun enters Libra and the style guy answers. We step out of the too tight room, with our newly properly fitted, proportional clothes, and an accurate appraisal of who we are now…and into the three paneled mirror. If you can step out of Virgo’s fitting room with grounded self-acceptance (sometimes it takes an expert counselor or advisor to get there!) your eyes meet Libra Sun’s mirror – an adoring audience of one – with delight.

And the unveiling is an absolutely joyful occasion. When you meet the other as the mirror, you exhale, they inhale…your beauty. You’re finally seeing your self with clear vision. In that pregnant pause, a sharp intake of breath is heard collectively. Spouses and family members shriek. Veronica Webb nods approvingly. Tim Gunn’s eyes grow misty and warm. It’s an incredible thing, having your blinders removed, being seen – being seen as though for the first time. Grounded in authenticity, self-acceptance and embellished by beauty, you’re ready for real relationship. Now you’ve moved with the Sun, from Virgo into Libra.