The Sign of the Star Maiden
The Virgo constellation represents the fertility of the earth, and its harvest. Virgos are prudent, analytical, and detail-oriented. If they can avoid fickle gossip, they tend to become awakened guides.
The 20 Days of Virgo range from Labor Day thru most of September.
Earth Sign
Virgo, the 2nd Earth sign in the Zodiac, embodies the essence of evergreen meadows and fertile landscapes, grounding its energy in the realm of growth and harvest. Virgo resonates with fertile soils and the lush greens that carpet the land. Their keen eye for detail allows them to tend and nurture even the smallest blade of grass.
Their practical and methodical nature grounds any situation, like roots which allow plants to grow taller and reach farther. They thrive in environments where they can organize, categorize, and optimize.
Just as plants provide sustenance and shelter to creatures big and small, Virgos are a reliable source of support for others. Their ability to separate the wheat from the chaff also makes them valuable guides for others, as well as excellent judges of character. They tend to weed out the unnecessary and focus on what really matters.
Wisdom Sign
The juxtaposition between intense selectivity, and desire for opulence manifests in Virgo as a result of their Wisdom motivation in the element of Earth. In physics this is Ampere's law, the continuity of a circuit. Paradoxically, when you prune a plant and get rid of dead or underperforming leaves, it can focus its resources and energy on producing fruit, resulting in a more abundant harvest. Editing is crucial for a quality product, and one that can reap dividends in the long run, even if it seems destructive in the short term. Their good taste comes from a keen disgust mechanism, which has evolved over generations to reject things that can make them sick. A great many of our ancestors died trying to eat things that weren’t good for them, so we would do well to cherish the refined palate we have acquired at their expense. While this seems cruel and discriminatory, there is a reason that we have these preferences and respect for them is of vital importance to our continued survival, and dare I say, flourishing.
Infinite growth is a delusion, and Virgo recognizes that you can’t say yes to everything. Their ability to discern and set healthy boundaries may come across as elite and standoffish, but it is an important skill to cultivate. The instinct to keep a safe distance and figure out what they are dealing with rather than take a gamble allows them to be great lore keepers, and safeguard knowledge for the rest of us who run headlong into harm's way without a second thought! Self-preservation, conservation of energy, and diligent inquiry are the hallmarks of this sign.
Wisdom isn’t the same as pure knowledge, however, it is coupled with a nuanced understanding of the appropriate usage. Without this, it becomes a toxic point of authority which is lorded over others, and fuels the fire of a ‘know it all’ attitude. It is important to bring this back down to earth, and embrace practicality of usage rather than just academic superiority. Information is meant to enhance our lives, not control them, and in the wrong hands, it can put a lot of distance between the wielder and being present in the moment.
Personality
Personal Life / Personality
Those born under the Virgo constellation or with a Virgo influence in their Star Chart tend to have an aura of pragmatism about them. They approach life with a serious and grounded demeanor, demonstrating a willingness to dig into almost anything. They have a natural inclination towards organization and efficiency, often seeking practical solutions to problems. Their analytical minds and attention to detail allow them to excel in tasks that require thorough precision.
Even in youth, they quickly become diligent students of the world, constantly seeking to expand their understanding of its mechanics. This inquisitive nature leads them to explore a wide range of fields, often becoming expert practitioners. Their quest for the fruits of knowledge may also turn picky and perfectionistic, leading to frustration when things do not always work out to their liking.
Virgos are quite introspective and value moments of quiet reflection, though this might also lead them to become reserved. Nonetheless, they tend to gain a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them, like natural Druids. While they may appear overserious at times, they also have a playful and witty side that emerges in the right circumstances. Virgos have a natural inclination towards self-improvement and are constantly striving to become the best version of themselves.
Interpersonal Life / Relationships
Despite their introspective tendencies, Virgos are far from antisocial. They enjoy connecting with people on multiple levels, from more casual joking and playing around to more deeply meaningful conversations and nuanced debates. They strive for fairness and honesty in their various relations, and tend to communicate directly and transparently, leaving very little out of their holistic worldview. They may reserve many of their authentic emotions for a select few, but this doesn’t mean they harbor any ill will toward others.
Their keen observations lead them to a have reputation for cleverness and wit, or, conversely, a reputation for gossip and scrutiny. When this power is used for good, they can read people and modulate themselves to better understand others’ needs and emotions. Overall, this relatability allows them to form valuable connections with those around them.
Despite their ability to get along with almost anyone, they actually tend to prioritize a few long-lasting and stable relationships over all others. For those lucky few who get to spend the most time with them, they are dedicated partners who are eager to support and encourage their loved ones. Their practical nature enables them to provide practical solutions and guidance when their partners are facing challenges.
However, their persnickety, indulgent, and insistent behavior can sometimes be too much for those closest to them. Their critical mind can also be too much to bear for many, especially when and if it is directed at them. And their sarcastic tone at times may come across as mean or cruel, if not carefully balanced with kindness and understanding. They can’t always help but be honest and open about what they think, but they can practice at least voicing their criticisms after first establishing good will.
Overall, Virgos are willing and able to put in the work necessary to build a fertile ground for long-term growth with their friends and partners, creating a lasting impression on those they care for.
Social Life / Society
Virgo individuals are known for their strong work ethic and conscientiousness. They approach their social and professional lives with a sense of responsibility and dedication. They are highly organized and thrive in structured environments. Their attention to detail, analytical thinking, and methodical approach enables them to excel in various professions that require precision and accuracy.
They tend to develop a strong egalitarian and humanitarian morality, with deep empathy for fellow human beings, striving to provide basic needs for everyone. Thus, they’re often drawn to social causes and actively engage in efforts to improve the well-being of those around them. Their humility and sympathy make them approachable and understanding, allowing them to connect with people of all kinds.
Their critical nature can sometimes make them overly fussy and judgmental when working with others. It may be difficult for them not to focus on the flaws and imperfections of others, especially when they hold themselves to such a high standard. They must learn, sometimes the hard way, that criticism, far from being a motivator, is often counter-productive in the long run. And, by extension, they must come to realize that there is more to life and work than what is practical and what is efficient. More often than not, their holistic worldview will lead them to uncover the reality of apparent failures, and the lessons that they should takeaway from them.
With their prudent and wholesome outlook, Virgos offer wisdom and guidance that comes from real-world experience. Their practical and pragmatic mindset allows them to find constructive solutions to most challenges.
They may tend to focus on the flaws and imperfections of others, which can strain their relationships. Additionally, their materialistic tendencies may lead them to be condescending toward those who do not share their values of practicality and efficiency.
Archetypal Story of Virgo
Mary is an insufferable child. After her father was stationed in India, her parents left her to the care of native servants and had little to do with her. As a result, she became emotionally maladapted, dependent on and abusive of the help, vulnerable to changes which came at her fast at age 10. Her mother died during a cholera outbreak and her father soon after. The servants fled, leaving her to fend for herself, which she was inept to do.
When she was finally discovered, she was sent to live with her uncle Archibald Craven back in England, at the family manor of her mother’s twin sister. He is a depressed recluse, and with all fancy mansion stories, the orphan is banned from poking around in neglected areas of the house and uncovering family secrets, but that very activity accounts for most of the plot. Mary discovers that the estate was not alway so dreary and overgrown, but its current state is summed up in her discovery of a private walled garden almost entirely reclaimed by nature.
It is wild and difficult to enter, so she initially does so by climbing a tree, but a friendly robin leads her to a key which opens the gate and makes subsequent visits much easier. She befriends the groundskeeper, brother of her chambermaid, and they work together to give first aid to a wounded dog whose owner didn’t come back from the war. They leave him in the garden and he is miraculously healed overnight, leading them to conclude that the house is cursed and the garden is magic. She is somewhat skeptical and not completely taken in, pursuing more evidence to verify her findings. Ever curious, she uncovers her aunt’s room and unravels more of the mystery of how things came to such a state of decay.
When Mary later meets Mr. Craven’s son, her cousin Colin, he reports that he is crippled and unable to walk. Further investigation reveals this to be untrue, as she finds old photos of them together and letters exchanged between their mothers. Connecting the dots that Mr. Craven’s suffering is taking Colin down with him, much in the way her mother’s depression led Mary to believe she wasn’t loved, she decides to take drastic action and sneak Colin into the garden to be healed.
He initially resists all of her outreach, as she pushes him hard, believing their time together to be limited, since she will soon be sent off to school. But the evidence compels him to dig further for the truth, and he spends time near the tree in the garden where his mother died. Just as this is happening, his father has set fire to the manor in a drunken state, and Mary goes back for him. Father and son are reunited, and Colin is able to walk, demonstrating the healing power of the garden.
The theme is one of a spring thaw after a harsh winter, where loss has frozen over the heart of her uncle and any reminder of the happiness he once had is too painful to bear. He projects this onto his son and almost kills him through a cruel mix of overprotection and neglect. Genetics, curses, and all manner of self-fulfilling prophecies come to be embodied in reality through the emotional states of their subscribers.
Mary’s Prudent, practical approach to experimenting with the possibilities offered to them through the garden are exemplified by her patient willingness to try them herself. She doesn’t claim to have it all figured out, as she pushed Colin to live his life, instead entering fully into the healing process as she uncovers painful truths about her mother and her own guilt for having misunderstood her illness. This gift of Demonstration by putting her own shame on the line allows her to learn Trust, as the estate gives her a way back to her family, an opportunity to make peace and move onward.
♍︎ Virgo
Medicinal Research, Hygiene Promotion, Holistic Well Being
Health care in our time is a very confusing and politically charged topic. Our very definitions of it are so deeply flawed that when I say these words, I’m sure certain images of ambulances, drug commercials, and hospitals will spring immediately to mind. But I want you to suspend them temporarily as a very small part of what this topic really means. Medicine and health care in reality have very little to do with acute emergency situations, these should be extremely rare in nature and we see evidence of that in indigenous cultures. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. There is a bit more momentum as of recently on the notion that ‘food is medicine’, and diet makes up a large part of countering preventable disease, but because there is no actual support for this in a lot of places… all the science in the world is not going to do a bit of good in a food desert. Here is a point of a lot of overlap with Taurus, as in each element there are deep synergistic connections so let’s distinguish the two. Virgo has more to do with medicinal plants, wellness through exposure to nature in the way that they ancient Greeks practiced at the Hygeia and through dedication to Aesclepius, whereas Taurus has more to do with the manner of food production, it’s quality, freshness, and availability. Because food makes up arguably the biggest chunk of our basic life necessity and bottom tier of the hierarchy of needs of course this complex issue will appear in more than one place.
What we do know about the curative properties of plants comes from millenia of trial and error, what is helpful vs. what is poisonous passed down through generations of learning. Now we have much more sophisticated means of identifying and testing than simply eating them and seeing what happens! This is one aspect of the mission that I think is maybe even highest priority due to time sensitivity, as rainforest destruction is destroying species faster than we can even become aware of their existence, let alone determine what life saving properties they might have in curing our diseases. Only about 5% of the plant species in the Amazon rainforest have been investigated for their medicinal properties. For all we know, the optimal cancer cure might have already been wiped out by logging, but through ecological conservation projects and the intense preservation efforts of people around the world to protect specimens hailing from endangered environments might buy us some extra time to research plant medicine. Plants can heal both us, and the earth. Through intentional cultivation of both food crops, and herbal supplements, we can establish productive environments for erosion control and water conservation. Tea for example is a very productive plant with good yields, efficient water use, soil shielding, and a huge swath of useful products.
The medicine of Virgo is that of holistic well being, not invasive intervention. It strikes a careful balance between meticulous maintenance, and leaving well enough alone, applying the primary motive of wisdom to know when to hold back and let nature take its course. Hygiene is at the heart of health care, and to this day is under threat in many parts of the world. Sporadic water events like flooding make trying to centralize water treatment challenging, and pooling waste streams increases the chance of contamination with each one that we add. So it may be that hygiene could be better served by finding ways to decentralize and handle water treatment on the spot, rather than invest in expensive and fragile infrastructure in places which regularly experience extreme weather events. The collection of rainwater and processing of greywater within a household greatly reduces the need to send wastewater off elsewhere to be processed. Adopting these practices as a widespread standard would build a lot of resilience into the system, and protection for individuals in the case of disease or contaminant outbreaks. Composting toilets are an excellent solution in parts of the world where sewer infrastructure is absent; before any other health care concerns can be effectively addressed, contact between humans and their waste must be eliminated.
How does an individual get involved in such a mission? The medical field has become one of the most gated by educational credentials and certification requirements, armed to the hilt with legal protections against amateurs or experimentation unsanctioned by higher learning institutes. The length and intensity of schooling is intimidating to say the least, and thus in response there is a wave of push back in the form of alternative medicine and holistic practices. Not all of them are safe, effective, or helpful, so let me be clear when I suggest holistic well being as the point of entry which anyone can access to be of service to the world. Holism requires looking at a complex network of systems, and identifying what inputs are necessary, or harmful, for their function. Not buying a fancy essential oil blend to squirt in your morning coffee and act as a panacea for your aches and pains. The things our body requires for healthy function rarely take the form of something that can be packaged in a profitable little bundle with a high price tag and long shelf life. They look more like long walks in beautiful places, fresh air and sunlight, nutritious food, and adequate grooming habits.