On the brink of the equinox, I honour Virgo season as I bid it farewell
There’s an unpredictable edge in the air where I am right now. The rains haven’t begun yet, but the winds are restless.
Hurricane Fiona is on route.
As I anticipate the incoming storm while the Sun sits at Virgo’s 29th degree, I am also feeling into another shift - the moment of the equinox is only hours away as I write this. With the equinox comes autumn in the North, spring in the South - and for both hemispheres, the beginning of Libra Season.
At the time of the equinox the solar and lunar worlds are equally matched with the length of daylight matching the length of the night.
It doesn’t stay this way for long, however. Libra’s symbolic scales are perfectly balanced only momentarily in this respect.
Homeostasis is always fleeting.
After the equinox, almost immediately, the night will begin to stretch out further, swallowing more and more sunlight with every passing day (in the north).
As the leaves on our maple tree dance nervously in the pre-storm weather while we secure the lawn furniture and bring in plants, I have also been reflecting on the use of scales over time, in different contexts.
On a recent episode of the Astrology Podcast, I was reminded by Austin Coppock that Libra is the only sign in the zodiac that is not symbolized by an animal or human figure:
A scale is a machine, and it’s a machine for calculating.
Most traditional texts will mention the sort of justice side of the scale, but most people for most of history see scales in marketplaces, and it’s for literally determining what’s a fair trade, what’s a fair price… And so there’s this calculating what the fair balance is that I see planets in Libra and people in Libra doing constantly. There’s a relational outcome, which is the Venus, but it’s very much a result of calculation. (~ Austin Coppock)
I appreciated this reminder amid all the more common descriptions of Libra’s affinity with beauty and art, with justice and equality, with love, relationships and social attunement.
I particularly like this insight because 1) it helps me craft stronger ties between Libra and Taurus (the other Venus-ruled sign that is often equated with money and material resources); and 2) this insight creates a tighter narrative weave as we shift from Virgo Season to Libra Season.
Consider, for example, this image of vegetables on an old-fashioned balance scale using a counter weight:
We could say the vegetables themselves, represent Taurus (our material resources, the plants we grew from seed in the spring).
The squash have recently been harvested during Virgo Season.
Now as we enter Libra Season we are weighing them and then taking them to market to see how much money we can exchange them for - this is both a relational and financial exchange.
I love the way the patterns of the zodiac wheel synchronize together, so I was pleased to make new metaphorical connections inspired by Austin’s reflections on Libra as the scale within commerce.
I wonder how many Libra-types have had particularly strong experiences around balancing a budget, financial negotiations, counting cash, or closing the till at the end of a day…
Honestly, it has not been a theme that I have often explored with others when interpreting this sign. I usually gravitate to Virgo when thinking of detail-oriented calculations, but perhaps these two side-by-side signs work in closer partnership within this area of life than I had previously thought.
From a seasonal perspective - using a traditional farming context as a narrative anchor - it makes sense to me now that if Virgo is going to be the one who is busy busy bringing in the harvest and getting the produce all impeccably organized, it’s likely Libra’s job to do the final checks with the scale in hand - do we have enough to make it through the winter? Should we exchange this for that? What do we have an abundance of, that we should now share/barter/sell? What needs to be measured, weighed, calculated and recorded so we can effectively plan for the coming months?
Libra is after all, an air sign. Air signs are particularly attuned to the functions of the brain’s pre-frontal cortex. They like to work with information, words, mental planning and cognitive exercises of various kinds.
Beyond the seasonal farming narrative (unless that does indeed apply to your life), how are you noticing this Virgo-Libra transition map onto your life right now?
We are at a still, precious moment of equilibrium before gravity pulls, the pendulum swings, and the Sun’s path of travel moves away from the equator. How is that feeling for you?
It feels to me, energetically, like the end of an exhale.
When I meditate, I picture the end of the exhale as the end of a long pier overlooking a quiet lake. I know that in a matter of seconds I am going to draw breath into my lungs once more - similar to how Libra as a cardinal sign is skilled at changing direction - but for that brief moment, there is a sense of peace and clarity that I can’t access elsewhere.
As I sit with this equinox (at the end of the pier, let’s say), I find myself reflecting on Virgo season and how nourishing it was for me.
Virgo’s lunar cycle was imprinted with Mars’ energy and certainly there was continued sense of urgency and many things still have not been checked off my to-do list, but that’s not really the point of Virgo Season (to complete all the goals).
As I wrote about in my last post (craving rhythm, routine & ritual), Virgo is a sign that is about tending with dedication, to a process.
Virgo is a mutable sign and all of the mutable signs are in-betweens. They are the liminal spaces, the thresholds, the transitional signs that stitch together the shifts between seasons.
Virgo is the energy that helps us find our way from summer to fall in the North, and from winter to spring in the South.
Virgo is more about wayfinding in the midst of change, rather than achieving, in the midst of stability and order.
In these final hours of Virgo Season I wanted to revisit and share with you all, a post I wrote about Virgo (and mutability) four years ago. I’ve reworked and edited it slightly, but it remains quite relevant and it’s one of my favourite pieces of writing on Virgo.
So, as we bid Virgo Season farewell, here it is…
In this post my aim is to clear up some misconceptions and stereotypes about the essence of Virgo, the only mutable earth sign. Virgo is one of four mutable signs along with Pisces (water), Gemini (air), and Sagittarius (Fire).
The 12 zodiac signs are divided into four elements (water, earth, air and fire), and they are also divided into three qualities (also called modalities or sign quadruplicities). This means that we have three signs belonging to each element and four signs belonging to each quality...
I think that the elements of water, fire, and air are easy to conceptualize as having mutable characteristics - spontaneous, transitory, ever-changing, flexible and adaptable.
It is more difficult however, to imagine the element of earth having similar characteristics in terms of the zodiacal archetypes.
Earth.
This word brings to mind something firm, hard, unmoving, grounded, stable, foundational.
It's pretty easy to connect Taurus with the qualities of being fixed earth; loyal, consistent, stubborn, rooted and strong. Because of its fixed quality, Taurus is often considered the earthiest of earth signs.
It's also easy to understand Capricorn as a being cardinal earth; the sign brings to mind someone who initiates practical building projects and goal-oriented, stable long-term plans. Capricorns lead the way as they climb mountains and create structures from earth.
Virgo though? A mutable earth sign? The widespread images of this sign often deny Virgo's mutable nature.
Before I go into this further, I want to share some diagrams to illustrate the relationships between the four elements and three qualities. This is basic stuff, but it's foundational and is often overlooked.
Although the signs themselves are often studied in isolation and compartmentalized, the symbolism of astrology acquires so much more depth when you understand the organization of the zodiac and how each sign relates to one another based on their relative positions to each other in the wheel.
As you can see below, the four cardinal signs (Capricorn, Cancer, Aries and Libra) form a cross when you connect them with four 90 degree square angles - the Cardinal Cross. The cardinal signs with their initiatory and energizing energy, launch the four solar seasons of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.
Using the tropical zodiac, the year's two equinoxes (when the Sun aligns with the equator) occur at 0 degrees of the cardinal signs Aries and Libra. The year's two solstices (when the Sun is furthest North or South) occur at 0 degrees of the cardinal signs Capricorn and Cancer.
In sequential order, moving counter-clockwise around the zodiac, we then encounter the four fixed signs, marking the middle of the seasons (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius). These too, form a cross in the zodiac wheel; the Fixed Cross.
Continuing in sequential counter-clockwise motion, we reach the four mutable signs, representing the end of the four seasons with their transient nature, being in-between states (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces). When these four signs are connected to each other, they form the Mutable Cross.
Okay, now back to Virgo.
Stereotypes of Virgo focus on the sign’s tendency toward perfectionism, its seeming need to be in control of every tiny detail in its environment, and its rigidity with maintaining consistent schedules. Virgo-types are seen as having a tendency to fret and worry over the small stuff - especially on matters of hygiene, health, food, cleanliness, organization, meeting practical needs (e.g. financial concerns), time management and daily routines.
As there often is, there is a seed of truth in stereotypes, but it isn’t the whole story.
Not all Virgo-types are focused on cleanliness for example, but most of them do have a certain range of small details that they will focus in on in an effort to manage their situation, especially when under stress.
Sure, maybe this involves sanitizing everything, maybe it involves cleaning obscure nooks and crannies - or maybe it involves a disastrously messy house (with its own particular order invisible to the external observer) that is covered wall-to-wall with post-it notes with directions, lists, warnings, and reminders.
Virgo-types are built to prioritize and organize. So it really depends, at an individual and personal level, which particular small details of life are most important to monitor and manage. This apparent desire to manage and control many small aspects of daily life, can make Virgo-types appear inflexible and more “fixed” in nature than they actually are.
And yet... one of the highest expressions of their mutable and practical earthy essence is to respond to life's constant change and transition by continually creating, and recreating, structured daily containers that can make the chaos of life more manageable in bite-size pieces.
Interestingly this mutable characteristic may be one of the reasons many people with lots of Virgo in their chart don't identify with the sign - because they feel like they are always working with chaos and change, rather than finessing the art of organization.
Let's throw a high expression Virgo-type into a few scenarios of disruptive change and transition...
→There's a big storm and getting to a restaurant or a grocery store as planned is not an option. The power is out and there's barely any food in the house.
The Virgo-type immediately opens all the cupboards and the fridge and thoroughly assesses the situation. What resources can they find? What synthesis between limited ingredients can they orchestrate?
In less an hour Virgo is herding everyone to a candle-lit table for a simple but nutrient-rich meal that makes the best out of what was available.
→Due to health concerns and allergies, you need to drastically change your diet and cut out many common ingredients.
Your thoughtful and attentive Virgo best friend is on it! They locate the best products and the most amazing recipes that accommodate your dietary restrictions - and they even deliver you a care package of homemade goods that you are able to eat. They offer to help you meal plan the week so that you feel less overwhelmed by the changes.
→Finances are tight and a Virgo-type just moved to an empty apartment in a new city with only a few bags of clothing.
The Virgo-type is immediately scouring yard sales, second-hand stores, and local online marketplaces for the best bargains. In a week or so they've collected an excellent collection of furniture. Admittedly some of chairs look like they'd shatter if a cat sat on them, but the Virgo-type has seen their potential. A few YouTube how-to videos later and they are as good as new.
→A company just underwent a huge transition to respond to the ever-changing needs of clients. It's a stressful time because there are a lot of new skill-sets that are required.
After a long meeting with their boss to address their lengthy list of questions so that they thoroughly understand the new needs and demands, the Virgo-type manager quickly finds available courses that will increase the expertise of the employees. They create a detailed spreadsheet to organize the employees' attendance so that there will be no great loss in productivity.
I hope these examples highlight how RESOURCEFUL Virgo is.
Incredibly resourceful.
Virgo-types are skilled at honestly, analytically, assessing what raw resources and tools are available in any given situation, no matter how chaotic.
They are gifted at being able to then collect and gather the very best of these resources and tools, which they work on via a dedicated daily practice that subjects the resources to an alchemical process - until these resources transform from their raw state into something that is purified, useful, serves others, improves the target issue, and supports health and wellbeing.
Frequently minimalists who value simplicity, they prioritize only what is most useful. They hate wasting anything because they know that every resource has a potential order, placement or use-value.
They have a sharp critical eye to spot what is unsustainable, inappropriate for the situation, or deteriorating in its use-value within the context of the larger goal or response to a need. They appreciate quality and have high standards, but their minimalist tendencies are in accordance with their practical, mutable nature.
Virgo-types typically do not accumulate more than what they need (at least in the area of life where their Virgo-ness most expresses). They readily eliminate the extraneous components or things (probably through recycling programs) that are hindering their freedom to flexibly respond and adapt to the next chunk of raw chaos that life assigns to their magical alchemical process.
They never risk becoming complacent (in contrast to fixed earth which can tend this way) because they have an innate awareness and understanding of the changing, transient nature of life. This may be part of the reason why Virgo-types like to stay busy all the time. Their activity to improve themselves, the work, the thing, or the situation, is partially prompted by a need to adapt to the constantly shifting sand we walk on.
While it may sometimes feel like a curse or a burden for the Virgo-type (and those around them) to constantly be noticing what is missing, what is imperfect, what could be improved upon, it is also a marvelous gift and part of Virgo's mutable nature to be dedicated to making fine corrective adjustments.
The same traits which can make a Virgo-type more susceptible to being extra critical (of self and others), people-fixing, worrying, and insecure perfectionism, can also render them capable of amazing versatility and adaptability.
They can be beautiful, humble healers and thoughtful, considerate caregivers; committed to being of service by helping people meet their practical needs, develop their skills, and take care of their health in the midst of change.
When you imagine "mutable earth", imagine wet, raw clay on a spinning potter's wheel; constantly adjusting its shape in response to the slightest touch. You need a steady hand and a sharp eye to ensure your clay vessels become sturdy, upright containers.
Here are three realities:
Life is not static - life is unpredictable on a daily basis and change is the only constant;
in any situation there are certain practical limits (e.g. limited resources, limited energy, limited time);
and all human beings (and the material world) have practical needs that must be met in order to thrive and express their potential.
A Virgo-type knows these three truths deeply and organizes their response to life accordingly.
So then why the seeming rigidity, resistance to change, and worrying about the future that we sometimes see express through Virgo placements?
The Virgo-type (and the Virgo in us all) really, really wants to be prepared. They are wired to respond to change with practical solutions and improvements, so they often try to outsmart uncertainty, to have answers and resources ready for possible scenarios and outcomes A, B, C.... P, Q, R... etc.
The thing with life change - big change, little change, minuscule change - is we don't know exactly how it will play out... what it will look like... what it will ask of us. So naturally, the Virgo-type (and the Virgo in us all) may begin to worry and brace against the future instead of embracing it.
The Virgo-type begins to wonder... will I be able to manage the changes that life brings? Will the situation demand more from me than I am able to adapt to? Will I be able to access the resources and the tools that I need to take care of the people who depend on me?
The Virgo-type needs to learn to trust themselves. They were made for this! They are pros! They are designed for making the best of whatever raw materials they are given. They have the innate skill set for shaping life's rough clay into a vessel with a purpose.
When Virgo-types begin to doubt their capacity to cope with the constant adjustments that need to be made in response to change... or when they begin to feel overwhelmed by some major transition or uncertain outcome (especially when it is of an intangible emotional nature that cannot be addressed directly through practical means and hard work)... then the Virgo-type may start zeroing in obsessively on the tiny, manageable things that they CAN control, fix, or improve upon -->this for me is a clue that I need to check-in with a Virgo-type (and myself) and find out how they are really doing.
Honestly, this isn't just relevant for Virgo-types. It probably applies to most of us (who all have Virgo in our birth charts somewhere). The more uncertain, unmanageable, and out of control that life becomes, the more we may tend to get consumed with expending a huge amount of energy trying to perfect things that really don't matter in the big picture.
We may think that strict dieting, obsessive daily exercise, and checking off our weekly to-do list will make everything better, when really it's a distraction from (and a coping strategy for) the grief bubbling up from the major break-up or death we've just endured.
We may think that the organizational task of arranging all our books, clothing, dishes, and mugs according to the color of their binding or material, is the major issue we have to deal with... but really it's an effort to introduce order and calm to a life narrative that has been interrupted with the looming possibility of a difficult diagnosis.
These are examples of trying to adapt (indirectly) to change that has happened, is happening, or will happen. Many of us likely try to compensate in some manner when life feels wildly chaotic, by fixating excessively on insignificant details. Strong Virgo-types may do it more noticeably - or with a particular emphasis on themes of cleanliness, organization, food, health, and daily routines.
Alternatively those with more of a Piscean orientation in their charts for example, may cope with disruption and change via substances and other mediums (e.g., video games, television, fiction, dissociative daydreaming), which enable them to emotionally and cognitively escape and numb their reality.
Because productivity is so valued in mainstream society the workaholic Virgo-type may receive more social approval, respect and validation for their coping strategy (allowing it to escape detection) in comparison to a Pisces-type coping strategy, but ultimately they may stem from the same root and serve the same purpose.
No shame for coping strategies. No shame for doing the best one can in a challenging situation in order to gain a sense of mastery over one’s environment.
And yet within us all, is the capacity - even if underdeveloped or underutilized - to adapt to change without grasping, to respond effectively without bracing or avoiding, to engage in processes of becoming while embracing states of just being, to re-center ourselves on what is truly most important - one day at a time.
Virgo-types who trust in their mutable nature have the potential to help lead the way in this regard, especially in terms of meeting practical needs in the midst of change.
Virgo-types are tuned into the subtle changes in life rhythms and have the skills to make the "just right" adjustments necessary to match the beat.
Virgo-types can bring coherence to the ordinary mess of daily existence in ways that promote healing, growth and well-being. They can move with chaos and bring practical solutions to transient scenarios; crafting routines of order and containment that shape-shift as needed.
A good reflective question for all of us who lean into Virgo-ness might be:
Am I a servant to my routine, or is my routine serving the continual evolution and adaptation of myself and others, in the face of constant change?
I hope you enjoyed revisiting this 2018 Virgo piece as much as I did!
Virgo has helped us find our way into the next season of the solar year.
Now Libra, as an action-oriented cardinal sign, will help us set our course for the fourth quarter of 2022 as we launch into autumn in the North, spring in the South.
The Libra equinox on Thursday night is quickly followed by Mercury (rx) at the heart of the Sun at the potent 0 degree (restarting the Mercury cycle with the interior cazimi).
Then a couple days later on Sunday, September 25th, there will be a lovely new moon in Libra opposite Jupiter.
Therefore, the next few days offer many wonderful invitations for intention-setting and initiating some new beginnings!