Dot your i’s and cross your t’s, my babies, ruling the skies from August 22 – September 22 but running the show every damn day is Virgo.
A mutable earth sign, Virgo energy is discerning; it’s about acts of service, the controlled cure, and the vision of things not as they are but as they could be.
Virgo is ever operating from intention rather than impulse; words are measured, actions weighed. In some ways, it is the sign of our better angels and divine potential.
What are Virgos like?
They make it look easy, folks, but they work very, very hard.
As an earth sign, they aren’t concerned with acquisition and comfort like Taurus nor building a legacy like Capricorn. Rather, Virgo wishes to be useful.
Virgo shares the spirit of caretaking with the cardinal water sign Cancer, but while crabs want to tend to others, Virgo wants to teach them how to tend to and fend for themselves.
Consider Virgo musician Buddy Bolden, lauded as the father of jazz; his style of playing was so powerfully original that it birthed an entirely new genre.
Yet, not a single recording of his exists today.
The ballad of Bolden suggests what Virgos innately understands, that the evidence of genius is measured in the enduring echo of influence.
Virgo is the most common zodiac sign by the numbers, but their earth-born medicine and practical magic are wholly unusual when distilled and distributed.
In a nod to the uncommon but common, the lesson for Virgo is perhaps best expressed by one of their own, the poet Mary Oliver. Though her poem “Wild Geese” is well-read, oft-quoted, and taped to many a dorm room wall, it is a message that bears repeating.
“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”
As Oliver intimates, Virgos shine when they can abandon themselves without hesitation or self-hatred to the purity of their primal selves, exchange pain with others, and conspire with the wilderness within and around them. In doing so, they offer the rest of us a standard of humility, wholeness, and humanity to which we can aspire.
Planetary ruler: Mercury
Virgo is ruled by Mercury, the planet of consciousness and communication. Named for the messenger of the gods, Mercury also rules Gemini, but the planet’s energy manifests itself differently in each sign.
For airy Gemini, Mercury is about the rapid exchange and absorption of information and the search for answers. For Virgo, an earth sign, the influence of Mercury is equally curious but more vested in practical solutions.
Here, Mercury brings awareness to the material plane, and natives are adept at seeing not only what is but what could be. Mercury obeys reason more than emotion, which lends Virgo a critical lens and an objective approach to problem-solving.
Virgos have an undue reputation for being uptight when, in fact, the influence of Mercury in conjunction with their mutable modality lends itself to highly affable and relentlessly adaptable folks.
Virgo is willing to change their mind, methods, or macrobiotic diet if it makes sense or allows them to be of greater help to others. To that end, Mercury governs service and daily routines. These people want to be useful, to do well, and to be well. Not for nothing, nun organizing, poor aiding, Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian Mother Teresa was a Virgo, and International Make Your Bed Day falls during Virgo season.
I rest my case.
Mythology
The largest of all the zodiac constellations, Virgo has many mythic ties but is most often associated with the story of the earth goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone. Once upon a time, the world lived in an unending season of spring, with Demeter ensuring that all things stayed in full bloom, full time.
The largest of all the zodiac constellations, Virgo is associated with the myth of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone.
Seasons changed, and winter came when Persephone was abducted by hell daddy Hades and taken to the underworld to be his bride.
Bereft at the loss of her daughter, Demeter cast the earth into barrenness. She beseeched Zeus to return Persephone, and he appealed to his brother Hades. A deal was struck, and Persephone was permitted to leave the underworld, on the condition that she ate nothing until she returned to the land of the living.
Hades, the dubious character that he is, purposely gave Persephone a pomegranate seed to suck on. Thus, Persephone was returned to her mother but was forced to return to the underworld for four months every year.
The synergy between Virgo and Persephone/Demeter is reflected in the sign’s sense of duty , a willingness to go to hell and back and a propensity for choosing subpar partners at every turn.
This cycle of surrender and return explains the change of seasons; winter reigns when Persephone dwells in the underworld, and spring returns when she is reunited with her mother. The synergy between Virgo and Persephone/Demeter is reflected in the sign’s sense of duty and service, willingness to go to hell and back, and a propensity for choosing subpar partners at every turn.
Charms/strengths
Apex Virgo and repentant aristocrat Leo Tolstoy wrote, “The truth is obtained like gold, not by letting it grow bigger, but by washing off from it everything that isn’t gold.”
With this sentiment, Tolstoy points to one of the high-shine strengths of the Virgo ilk: discernment.
Virgos are naturally adept at divining value, sensing faults, and recognizing potential in all things and all people. This translates to the tendency to be preoccupied with refinement and perfection, a tendency that can come across as judgment or critique but is more about observation and assessment than condemnation. They aren’t judging you; they’re seeing you. Moreover, what they see makes them want to help. While Virgo is absolutely about pushing an agenda and keeping order, the soft belly of that bullying is a desire for efficiency and efficacy that benefits the collective.
“The truth is obtained like gold, not by letting it grow bigger, but by washing off from it everything that isn’t gold.”
Leo Tolstoy
Virgo is not in it for the glory and rarely pauses to appreciate what they’ve achieved, fixed as they are on what else can be done. Further, adversity is akin to diesel fuel for Virgos, who thrive on being underestimated like Virgo GOAT Jesse Owens.
To that end, Virgos, like all earth signs, are built to endure, though they often take on and take more s**t than necessary.
Poised and averse to high-octane drama, Virgos are rarely messy, especially when falling apart. Adept at survival and allergic to looking weak, they want their suffering to have meaning, to benefit others, and to stand as an example of what can be overcome.
We see this modality in Virgo Evan Rachel Wood, whose own experience of abuse led her to become an activist on behalf of other victims and survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. Her efforts led to the passing of the Phoenix Act, which extends the statute of limitation for sexual assault survivors.
When it comes to making a stand, making art and making their way through the world, Virgos don’t showboat, they just show up.
As Beyoncé explained to Vogue Magazine, “I’m not alive unless I am creating something. I’m not happy if I’m not creating if I’m not dreaming if I’m not creating a dream and making it into something real. I’m not happy if I’m not improving, evolving, moving forward, inspiring, teaching, and learning.”
Indeed, the process of creating and evolving is more important to Virgo than the product of that trajectory. For further evidence of Beyoncé’s incomparable Virgoness, watch this clip, where our regal earth queen gets her hair caught in a fan onstage and doesn’t panic, stop the show, or miss a single god***n beat.
Imbued with relentless imagination, Virgos are natural world builders; we see this expressed in artists, writers, and proud power-playing geeks like Tim Burton, Roald Dahl, Stephen King, Tyler Perry, and George R.R. Martin.
The influence of Mercury makes Virgos clever and quick but also prone to anxiety, overthinking, questioning text messages they sent ten tears ago, and tensing at the thought that they have been wrong or done wrong. Their preoccupation with cleanliness, order, spotless floors, and color-coded condiments are ways to divert and expend this mental energy.
The taxing, contemplative nature of the Virgo mind is beautifully personified by the viral Sad Keanu meme. Our boy is a Virgo, and he’s got a lot to think about, folks, not least of all the legion of people having sex with his avatar and how to redistribute the cash he has earned but doesn’t think he needs or deserves.
Bless.
Some upshots of the overactive mind of team Virgo are that they remember everything and are absolutely hilarious, making high art of self-deprecation. More than happy to ruminate over the personal problems of others and themselves, they are excellent at giving advice, shining light, showing levity, and providing practical solutions to pressing problems. We love you, Virgo, and we see you too.
Challenges/weaknesses
The very desire for betterment that drives Virgo can also paralyze their progress. Needing something to be perfect before it can be seen and shared is a bit of a blessing/bane among this contingent and they tend to get in their own way.
Additionally, for all of their prodigious talents and gifts of discernment, they fail to see their worth. This makes them endearingly modest and infuriatingly hard on themselves. Many secretly fear that they are not fun and are somehow unlovable.
There’s a bit of a “nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I guess I’ll go eat worms” vibe here, except they won’t eat worms because their bellies are preternaturally vulnerable to upset.
We’ve established that Virgos are adept at seeing where and when things can be improved, but their keen vision and “helpful” insights can only be received and applied if their perspective is invited.
Not everyone can stand to be seen, and natives would do well to tread lightly and make suggestions gently.
Along these same lines, the Virgo ability to see what could be rather than what is lends itself to them routinely slumming it in romantic relationships. These people view derelict houses and derelict romantic partners as irresistible DIY projects, looking at you, LeAnn Rimes, Lala Kent, and Amy Winehouse.
Of Virgo director Werner Herzog, critic Roger Ebert once said, “Even his failures are spectacular.” A sentiment that rings true for his zodiac brethren.
Virgo’s tenacity is astounding when applied to constructive and/or creative pursuits and downright staggering when they put it towards their unmaking. Case in point, the arch of cocaine-snorting, tiger blood drinking, goddess bedding Charlie Sheen or George “I will ride this lawn mower to the bar if you hide my car keys” Jones.
Some of the most illustrious trash monsters in history have been Virgos, including Caligula, the ever-industrious Ed Gein, and Ivan the Terrible, who was described as “intelligent and devout but also prone to paranoia, rage, and episodic outbreaks of mental instability that increased with age.”
All in line with low vibrational Virgo energy.
Tarot
Virgo is represented by the Hermit card in the Major Arcana of the tarot. The card depicts a cloaked, bearded figure atop a solitary mountain, holding out a lantern.
The figure can be interpreted as a shamanic father time type and the lantern as the light of truth and consciousness. The Hermit card carries a spiritual connotation suggesting that it is through separating the self from the masses and retreating into the richness of reflection and the natural world that cures can be found and wisdom sought. Fully formed, wholly himself, and with the vantage of the mountaintop, the card, like the sign, serves to remind us that when we look within, we never feel without.
The energy of the Hermit card is distilled by writer, super freak, and fellow Virgo D.H. Lawrence, who espoused,
“This is what I believe: That I am I. That my soul is a dark forest. That my known self will never be more than a little clearing in the forest. That gods, strange gods, come forth from the forest into the clearing of my known self and then go back. That I must have the courage to let them come and go. I will never let mankind put anything over me, but I will always try to recognize and submit to the gods in me and the gods in other men and women. There is my creed.”
And so, too, is it the creed and the cure for Virgo; nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect; we honor the clearing in the forest by bowing to the godly, resisting the lowly, and exalting in the knowledge we find between.
Astrology 101: Your guide to the stars
- The 12 zodiac signs
- What are the astrology houses?
- Here’s what each planet represents
- Sun, moon and rising signs: Get to know your Big 3
Sixth House
Virgo rules the sixth house of service and survival.
Commonly called the house of health, the sixth house concerns itself with our ability to maintain ourselves and keep the true north of our bodies amid crisis, illness, and discontent.
It ain’t all green tea, colonics, and billowing linen pants, folks; it’s about how we build ourselves back from devastation, how we are shaped by that journey, and how we can apply that knowledge to help others. This is where and how service and health begin their braiding. We need strength to serve others, but our frailty teaches us what it means to need.
The lesson of the Sixth House is to integrate mental, physical, and spiritual energy and to balance self-care and acts of service so that we can fill up and pour from the same proverbial cup.
Body
In relationship to the physical body, Virgo rules the abdomen, spleen, and digestive system. This lends itself to natives relying on their strong “gut” instincts and a tendency to feel emotional upset, stress, and anxiety in their bellies first.
Sensitive to what others say and the food they eat, the great Virgo gift of order is best applied to a clean diet that keeps their bodies functioning like the temples they are rather than the truck stops they can be.
Compatibility
True astrological compatibility is divined through synastry, a kind of birth chart cross-examination that considers the entire astrological scape of two individuals. For general, expedited purposes, it’s safe to say the following signs stand a good chance of going the distance with a Virgo:
Virgo and Gemini are both mutable signs, meaning natives are highly adaptable and prone to change their minds, plans, and middle names. Ruled by Mercury, the planet of intellect and exchange, these two prioritize communication and find in the other a mental match. For evidence look no further than Virgo high priestess Zendaya and her Gemini main piece, Tom Holland.
No one understands the complexity, obsessions, and dedicated spirit of a Virgo better than a fellow Virgo. We see this common sign and uncommon bond distilled in musician Nick Cave and his designer wife, Susie Bick. Together for decades, they operate as mutual muses to one another and, we suspect, keep an impeccably organized home and curated closet.
Virgo and Taurus are a pair of earth signs that don’t balk at hard work or the harder aspects of a relationship. This is a ride-or-die coupling that goes for miles; see Virgo Jimmy Fallon and his wife Nancy Juvonen and bull king Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and his Virgo lady love Lauren Hashian.
Virgo and Cancer are the uncontested caretakers of the zodiac, and in each other, they find the reciprocity they deserve. This is the match of tended home fires, a relationship of retreat and restoration. We see this dynamic at work in the longtime love between Virgo Lisa Van and Cancer business partner and househusband Ken Todd.
Recommended Listening
“I’m Your Man” – Leonard Cohen
“Formation” – Beyoncé
“What Kind of Man” – Florence + the Machine
“Work Hard Play Hard” – Wiz Khalifa
“Love Is A Losing Game” – Amy Winehouse
“Try A Little Tenderness” – Otis Redding
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture, and personal experience. To book a reading, visit her website.
