Archetypal Virgo

Virgos are born between August 23 and September 22. Virgo, also known as the Virgin, is a mutable Sun-sign. One of the traditional symbols for Virgo is the goddess Persephone, holding a scape of ripened wheat, symbolizing harvest after patient labors in the field.

Virgo is governed by the planet Mercury, the planet of practicality and self-awareness and their Element is Earth. Virgos are known for being critical thinkers and perfectionists. People with a Virgo personality are usually analytical types who take great care to do things to the utmost degree of quality. They will expect everyone to perform perfectly with exacting attention to every detail as well. Overworking their nerves to the point of gastrointestinal upset is a common vulnerability. They are sometimes modest, shy, kind-hearted and sensitive. Other times they are pushy and demanding. The Virgo personality is primarily driven by the conscious mind. It is believed that people with a Virgo personality have an innate need to help others out of a sense of duty or responsibility when they can do so without interfering with their own schedules or plans. Financial responsibility is important to the Virgo temperament and is usually taken care of diligently. Most Virgos are quietly successful and they don’t spend their earnings on flash or other trivial matters. Virgos take care of business first and will readily direct yours too, if you let them (often to your benefit, though). They are good managers and make a hard boss.

Venusian Virgos are fairly attractive with refined features, dress in a fashionable manner and are cold and unsympathetic toward the outside world. Once trust is earned, they open up and are playful and talkative and become rather loyal to their chosen inner circle. They are quite interested in your thoughts, the mind of their partners taking on a particular fascination for Virgo. Jealousy and suspicion are easily provoked however and can become obsessive and ruin things. Obscure degenerative diseases and psychosomatic illness are the natural result, given the penchant for overworry. Virgos need reassurance and acknowledgement and thrive on communication.

Virgo and Pisces are about as opposite as it can get and lack of the watery Piscean Element shows up in a tendency toward dryness. The mundane subject is doomed to hard work as a frugal servant carrying out activities with strict attention to rules and duty. Virgo has an innate instinct for purity and chastity and is not much interested in the sense pleasures. Virgo under Saturn can be ill-humored and cantankerous, disagreeable, sometimes defiant and prone to growl. Often winding up alone, they are not easily satisfied because no one can measure up to their demanding specifications. Virgo in their native Mercury can be highly skeptical and their rudimentary mind stays busy tearing other people apart, resulting in impatience, irritability and chronic discontent.

The basic issue here, is over-identification with the power side of the Tree of Life …the Pillar of Severity. Many Virgos are pure souls in their first incarnation into humanistic conditions (virgins, in this sense) and they are often born into situations of paucity, abuse and neglect. Having already the lower Manas for a mind, their hindbrain is not exalted in the rustic conditions that they find themselves inhabiting and there will be no way to click the amygdalae forward and proceed with transcendental mind, until adulthood frees them from this context. Left to its own devices, the reptilian hindbrain resorts to material thinking and remains suspicious of others, sometimes taking on an enemy mentality and generally remains dubious about real spirituality. Their machine-like devotion to work and study, however has a great likelihood of freeing them via some workshop or other to begin the long process of opening up and learning how to trust.

The cure is found in Solar initiation, which begins to melt the rigidity of over-analytical self-control and imbue a sense of purpose and joy in life that can only be expanded through the Soul Journey. Beyond this, Archetypal resonance with the spontaneity and spirituality of the Chesed character, with its emphasis on Love and the Divine Word will bring about a marvelous emendation, manifesting itself in a happy, loving, kindness that is sincere and a joy to be around.

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