“I’m just a picky Virgo” my own Virgo Mother would smile, as she asked me quietly how many scoops of coffee did I happen to put in the coffee maker, and was this in line with the amount of water added? She had 4 planets in Virgo, including the Sun and Mars. Every time I moved house over the years, My Mom came to manage the move in process, to carefully hang the art on my walls, or organize my utility drawer. She knew the "right" ways to do things- as opposed to the “inefficient” ones.
I’ve found that there is often a bit of a fault-finding mechanism to Virgo’s energetic expression, as it automatically scans for inefficiencies or imperfections in life’s many daily duties, or in their own or others’ behaviors and actions too!
I imagine Virgos as having an almost constant mental checklist handy for any task. They think a lot, being ruled by Mercury. Mom laughingly confessed she thought Rodin’s famous sculpture “The Thinker” must be a Virgo. She herself thought and “fretted” about the best ways to live life, and created rituals around these, from monthly bill paying to weekly bed changing (she even had a LIST for what sheets and bedding were to be rotated on each of the beds in her home).
Mom got ever more ritualized as she aged, and it bothered her if she deterred from her schedule. When I was sorting through her things after she passed away, I found 30 years of daily journals, neatly organized by year and month in binders with front pieces of her Tarot and Rune pulls, astrology datebooks and daily entries. Carefully recorded yearly, monthly and weekly divinations focused on best practices for daily life, were notated. My Mom was a practical mystic, and was concerned with the integration of mind, body and spirit, all of which first needed to be discerned.
Virgo is the second Earth element and Mutable mode sign of the Zodiac and has long been associated with grains and the discriminatory focus necessary in the processes of harvest, food preparation, health and wellness, service and crafts.
Centered around the time of agricultural harvest in the Northern Hemisphere, Virgo’s symbol is a young woman holding a shaft of wheat.
There is an association with all the world’s Maiden or “Virgin” Goddesses here, an aspect of the divine feminine that gives birth to itself, an archetype that may not be “sexually” pure but that needs no opposing or complementary nature to complete its creative process.
Many folks with strong Virgo planets in their natal Astrology are deeply interested in health, wellness and service, and all are Mercury ruled, so like Gemini, there is interest and ability in communication, and its processes. Virgos take pride in what they do too, and are interested in the craftsmanship aspect of work, this is the art of perfecting something, making it both beautiful, and useful.
Service, duty, health and wellness, cleanliness, modesty, discrimination or discernment, daily tasks and rituals, health food, natural medicine and healing, hygiene, recycling and sorting, writing and editing, these are all keywords for Virgo and the 6th house of the Zodiac, the natural house of Virgo.
In Medical Astrology, Virgo has bodily rulership over the organs of assimilation such as the intestinal system. Many Virgos have sensitive nervous systems due to Mercury’s influence, which can sometimes affect their digestive process. Under stress, they often have to be careful with food. Working on wellness strategies that include less worry and over thinking, combined with whole, nutritious food is key to their health.
Esoteric healers have communicated that imbalance and disease in the body starts in the mind. It's important within the context of our awareness of the archetype of Virgo that we do not unduly criticize ourselves or others for the myriad imperfections that are always present in human experience.
When we have strong Virgo energy in our lives, this orientation may be instinctive. But we can develop this into the best or worst of the archetype, being exacting and critical or healthily discerning . Awareness of our instinctual tendencies is always key to developing our best selves.
Look to your own Chart for where you have Virgo. Is it your First House/Ascendant? Moon? Ask yourself some of these questions to dig deeper into the living archetype. Enjoy the harvest season!
Exercises/Journal Prompts for Virgo
1. Find Virgo in your Chart by House, are you discerning or critical in this area of life? Interested in service, health or wellness?
2. Virgo loves a Checklist! What Planets do you have in Virgo? Are you expressing them in critical ways? Create a checklist of all your personal planets and evaluate their energy.
3. Mercury ruled Virgo can have a sensitive digestive system. Where you have Virgo or Virgo planets you may experience tension of sensitivity. Checking in with your mind body connection or developing a Meditation practice can help many issues here.
4. Find the 6th house of your chart and look at any planets placed here as well as the planetary ruler of the sign on the cusp. The placement of this planet in the chart and its aspects can give you an indication of the importance of health and wellness, service and ritual in your life.
Excerpted from my book “ Capricorn Rising- An Astrological Life”
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