Inviolate

Maya Angelou was an American memoirist, poet, civil rights activist, and performer

New Moon | October 10, 2026 | 17 Libra 22’

I always hated the part in the movie where the female was threatened by a monster or a man, and her response was to lift her hands and open her eyes and mouth in fear. I thought, even as a child that the woman should hold herself, in a stance that conveyed it was not going to be worth it for the perpetrator to take her on. She was not going to be easy. She was not afraid. She lived in an impenetrable egg. She would not be saying this in so many words, but she would feel this.

When we lament about the Epstein sufferers, how sourly and sorely they were treated, and we say, “poor, poor defenseless” we are suggesting that these young people are in no way responsible for their situation. We don’t factor in that their experience was the result of their ways of being and behaving and choosing beginning way before they wound up in Jeffrey Epsteins’s bedroom.

I don’t want us to teach our daughters and granddaughters that they are defenseless in this world. They can be unarmed, but “dangerous” when their boundaries are broached. I think there had to be young women who said, “Flick this. I just ain’t going to do this” And how early do they say it? Early enough to not find themselves on an island, isolated from a regular support system.

Let’s teach our daughters and granddaughters that a woman must “carry” herself. Let’s teach our girls to be self-aware. Let us teach all our children to be inviolate. 

“There's a place in you that you must keep inviolate. You must keep it pristine. Clean. So that nobody has a right to curse you or treat you badly. Nobody. No mother, father, no wife, no husband, no-nobody. You have to have a place where you say: 'Stop it. Back up. Don't you know I'm a child of God?'” —Maya Angelou

 You must keep that place inviolate. According to the New York Times, Jane Doe of the Cornell story had ten drinks in three hours before going to the college frat party. I would call that not a little reckless of one’s own body, mind, and emotions. Nobody has the right to curse you or treat you badly. Nobody. Ever. This is as true for a man as it is a woman. Maya, in fact, is quoting what she told her son.

Maybe the hint we get at this New Moon in Libra is that our relationships are equal, meaning that we have equivalent ability, or that we are equal to our responsibility.

Libra is an air sign, meaning that it is mental. Libra is also ruled by Venus, the image-making faculty. Libra is associated with justice and equilibrium and the law by which every action produces a corresponding consequence. It is the continual balancing and correction of life.

As human beings, our aim is to become conscious. Woke. Aim to be alert and aware so that you know what’s going on and can follow your own light.

“The devil did it or made me do it,” is not going to cut it unless you don’t mean to rise.

But if you do not rise, do you blame it on someone else? We are seeking to empower our daughters and granddaughters, sons and grandsons so that they might stand fiercely in the face of men and monsters. With Venus retrograde in Scorpio, we have an opportunity to examine patterns that place our self-worth in others’ hands and lead us to hide our power in the effort to please. Uh-uh. This is not about blaming the victim. Perpetrators remain responsible for the harm they cause, including exploiting vulnerabilities we may not recognize.

Practicum

Pause and name what feels out of balance. Breathe slowly, then choose one corrective action:

• accept responsibility

• set a boundary

• repair a harm

• ask for support

At day’s end, review the consequence without blame. Keep what restores equilibrium; release what weakens your clarity, dignity, and inner authority. Do this whenever you feel the need for balance.