THE VIRTUE OF VIRGO | Christina Rai

Virgo. What an energy!

One of the most complex of all of the zodiac signs, Virgo is mutable and earthy. Of all of the Earth signs, it is, in some ways, the least “stuck” in its own position. There is a measure of flexibility here.

Virgo loves the process; loves creating a pattern that can be followed over and over. Order is synonymous with this practical and hardworking energy. This is the energy of application, analysis, functional practicality and all things systematic.

More importantly, however, is the relationship of Virgo to healing. When I meet someone with a load of Virgo energy, I listen very carefully to the words that they use when communicating. Invariably, I have found that in that particular and attentive soul, lies the need to serve, to heal, to nourish. Think about the time of year that the Sun transits this section of the zodiac. In the Northern hemisphere it is a time of fruition. The air is filled with the scent of the full and ripened earth. The fields are ready to yield their harvest. And what is more healing than freshly harvested food and the ability to enjoy a warm and pleasant outdoors?

On the highest of levels, this is Goddess energy, pure and simple. Virgo understands ritual and, in order to connect to spirit, we need ritual and those who can work the ritual. Come on in, Virgo. We have all heard the cliché, “God is in the details”. Well, guess who gets the details right? Virgo!

The shadow side of Virgo is, for sure, the tendency to sink into criticism, to nit-pick, nag and chew away at something until everyone else runs out of the room screaming. Enough already, Virgo, they shriek. But, here’s the thing. Virgo has an innate sense of what works and if it is confronted with something less than this, it is a challenge to maintain detachment and allow mistakes to be made. Have you noticed how tight lipped some strongly Virgo folks can be? That’s them clamping their mouths shut to prevent those words from slipping out! The real reason that anyone falls into criticism is because they strongly desire everything to be …PERFECT. This longing for perfection can then lead to discontent whether expressed externally or nurtured within the self. The solution is, as always, to focus on what does work even when there is lots that is not working. Life lesson? Acceptance, of course.

If you have Virgo prominent in your birth mandala, it is vital that you develop strategies that you can draw upon when you feel challenged and especially when you feel that you are not managing to keep things under control

When nothing seems to make sense & when it does settle down, something happens to skew you off course yet again

solution:

Detach from outcome & focus on developing trust

When your emotions are like a roller coaster and you can’t find your ground

Solution: make a cup of herbal tea & take a salt bath

(A good combination of herbs to promote calm is: mint, lemon balm, catnip, sage & a bit of honey. Be mindful of catnip as it is a strong sedative in humans. One cup before sleep can do wonders for your system.)

Secondary solution: Pour this stress energy into a task like purging & cleaning.

When your head is full of ideas but you can’t always make sense of them or you may feel like you have lost your mind

Solution: carry a tiny journal to jot down flashes as they occur

Focus on the immediate concern; resist obsessive compulsive thinking

When nothing feels secure in your relationship life

Solution: love the one you’re with & don’t over think the future

When you keep running into obstacles and even having accidents

Solution: take time out to do breath work (10 minutes as needed).

Pause before running head on into whatever you think needs doing.

Tracking the transits of the outer planets is useful for the Virgo soul. (Well, its useful for all of us, really!) Virgo will find some comfort if she can co-relate the sometime cuckoo patterns that occur in life by keeping her finger on the moving parts—the planetary movement through the zodiac. The outers move slowly so it is especially useful to keep track of where they are in relations to one’s individual birth chart. At all times, the key to integrating the unpredictable, transformative or discombobulating energy of the outers is to move into a place of detachment from outcome. Trust that once the earthquake is over, you will still be standing and you may even be aware of things that needed to be brought out into the light.

Star Crossings: What’s the deal, Mercury?

Every Zodiac sign has a planet (celestial object) associated to it. Virgo is aligned to that pesky little fellow, Mercury.

Mercury represents the mind within the persona. How we think, reason and communicate are all aspects of the mental body. No one part of the psyche or entity is more important than any other. We cannot forfeit our reasoning ability just so that we can experience love. On the other hand, we cannot turn our back on emotion just because our head cannot logic its way through the experience. We cannot deny our spiritual needs just so that our physical body is nourished. On the other hand, denying our physical body does not always lead to spiritual illumination. The integrated personality is one that honours all parts of the energy system and provides itself with what it needs on all levels of existence. No wonder that when we block or deny on one level, we can feel the effects on other levels. Things like depression, anxiety, denial, dislocation are all potential side effects when we do not acknowledge truth. In the personality matrix, the condition of our individual Mercury placement can reveal a lot about the way we get our ideas across, how we interconnect with others and our general thinking process.

The transits of Mercury are rapid and he is either catching up to the Sun during the orbital year or running ahead of him, but never by more than about 2 signs either way. However, since he moves so quickly, we may only mildly feel anything energetically, unless we are strongly ‘mercurial’, that is Mercury ruled or with a highly accentuated Mercury energy. So, Virgo, with her special connection to Mercury is more sensitive to the relative condition of this planet at any given moment. This applies, in some ways, even more so to Gemini, also connected or ‘ruled’ by Mercury.

When Mercury goes retrograde, that is appears to be moving backwards in the sky, even those of us who are not Mercury ruled can suffer the consequences. Obviously, he is not actually moving backwards literally but because of the relationship between the Earth and the other planets in the solar system, we have the experience of backward motion from our vantage point here on the earth.

So what’s the deal with Mercury Retrograde? Firstly, let’s understand that Mercury is a mini-activator within the energy field. When he transits points within the psyche, you can have something like the experience of a light-bulb being turned on. Or you might get a message, either literally or figuratively, within yourself. A Mercury transit could signal a time to make a deal, form a partnership or do some data work. When this planet appears to be ‘moving backwards’, all of these sorts of things are either up for review or perhaps just take a pause. Example: you are in the midst of signing a contract, maybe for a home purchase. Suddenly you realize that Mercury will be turning retrograde. Do not panic. Just do your do diligence and carefully and meticulously review all aspects of the deal. You may find that the deal dies but it may be in your favour for it to do so. When you review, you may notice a major oversight and thus have the opportunity to correct it. It is true that everyone has a story about the mini disasters that they have experienced when Mercury was retrograde but I feel that mindfulness can allay much of the chaos. Remember, Mercury is connected to logic and order, reasoning ability, so doing a bit of prep work in advance by ensuring that everything is in order can be very helpful. So, rather than being victim to the slings and arrows of fortune, keep track of the retrograde periods of Mercury ( 3x/year) and make preparation. Ensure that your computer is backed up. Keep your desktop clean and tidy. File your important papers properly and always in the same way. Creating pattern and order within your daily life will go a long way when dealing with ‘backwardness’. Its easy these days to keep up with the daily transits since it seems that everyone and their crazy aunt are doing astrology so there are no excuses when it comes to being caught with our pants down! Track those transits.

No matter what sign Mercury is in when he stations retrograde—remember it will only last about 3 weeks—take note of where this part of the zodiac falls in your own birth chart. This is where you could feel any of the things that I described above in your life. If you have Mercury located in the sign in question, the retrograde period could be a time of mental renewal for you. You could take the time to reflect on some of your mental goals and make any adjustments to your actual thinking process. Maybe you have let things slip organizationally. Use this opportunity to make adjustments in this area.

One thing that I have noticed with the transits of Mercury is that I have often received some sort of news when he was transiting either my 1/7 house pair and even sometimes my 3/9 house pair. People have told me secrets, old friends have resurfaced, relatives have suddenly reappeared! But, for the most part, this is a pretty innocuous little fellow, more of a nuisance than a trauma. And, even if the news is not so great, the transit is quick and the discomfort, if any exists, passes rapidly. So, TRACK THOSE TRANSITS! It truly is helpful. Here is a quick cheat sheet list for strategies to enact for each house.