Virgo - the last sign of Summer

This blog is a little late, as the Sun is quite far through Virgo, but my aim is to have it done in time for the new Moon, also in Virgo, on Friday.

Virgo is the last sign of summer and the second earth sign. As the last sign of a season it is mutable, and therefore flexible, bringing in change. And at the end of the summer we bring in the harvest, we reap what we have sown.

As an earth sign, Virgo is practical and grounded. Whereas Taurus, the first earth sign is about resources, Virgo is about how we assimilate those resources into something. It is preceded by Leo, which provides the creative energy which can take us forward into organising our resources into something of structure. With it's association with assimilation Virgo rules the gastrointestinal tract in the body.

Virgo is ruled by Mercury, but unlike it's counterpart Gemini, in Virgo Mercury is more focussed on logic, order and method than on gathering data and talking, which are more Gemini past times. And Virgo likes to be organised! With Virgo there has to be a plan. If anything is broken it will be fixed. There can be a tendency to be a perfectionist and Virgo can be very critical. Wherever Virgo is in the natal chart, and we all have each sign somewhere, is the area where order is sought, and if not well balanced a desire for perfection.

In order to achieve balance, we need to look to the opposite sign, Pisces. Where Virgo looks for method and order, Pisces brings in the vision and the imagination. Where Virgo can be hard and critical, Pisces brings in compassion and love. Where Virgo looks to organise the data, Pisces brings in intuition.

Virgo naturally rules the sixth house, so is also associated with service to others through practical work, and also health and healing (usually in a physical sense being an earth sign.

The new Moon in Virgo is a good time to look at health, and also is there an area of life that needs to be licked into shape? It's a good time to tidy and declutter, figure out where everything is. With Virgo's natural Mercury currently retrograde (through soon to go direct - on Saturday) it is a good time to focus on the Virgo aspects on Mercury's nature, so looking back over plans, data and information, making sure that everything is in order. While Mercury turns direct in 3 days we still have a wopping 5 other planets retrograde, so this is a time to reflect and review in many ways. Pluto, Neptune and Uranus are all retrograde, as are Jupiter and Saturn. So all the outer planets seem to be going backwards right now.

While Mercury is at home in Virgo, so works well here, Venus, Jupiter and Neptune have a harder time expressing their best selves.

Venus in Virgo can be critical in love expecting perfection in a partner. With this placement it is important to bring in the Piscean opposite of compassion. There can be a desire to fix a loved one and the journey is to learn to love them as they are.

Jupiter expands wherever it grows. Expansion in Virgo can lead to micromanagement of situations, excessive focus on detail with the challenge being to learn to see the bigger picture and allow things to be a bit more fluid.

Neptune is the modern ruler of Pisces and represents imagination, illusion (when not working well) and intuition. Virgo's requirement for logic and practicality rather stifles Neptune's expression.

That brings us full circle with a blog for each sign of the zodiac. It is my plan now to start an astrology school blog for those wishing to interpret their own charts from scratch. We will start with the basics and build it up....

Until then namaste