Virgo: A revolutionary reclaiming
Mercury: The god of loopholes and detours
The Magician, Rider-Waite Tarot Deck
Mercury, the ruler of Virgo, is represented by the Magician in Tarot.
In traditional astrology, Mercury is the ruler of Virgo. Mercury, one of the few gods who can transverse the Heavens, Earth, and the Underworld. As such, Mercury is the messenger and scribe of the gods and a guide to recently dead souls. He is detail-oriented, quick of wit, and intelligent; all suitable characteristics for the god of communication and commerce.
Mercury possesses an extraordinary ability to pivot and re-route. He sifts and sorts, deduces, rationalizes, and infers. He is iterative, building and refining as he goes, ultimately adapting to the task and resources at hand. All necessary skills when navigating the changing growing cycles which take place during Gemini and Virgo seasons, two signs which are ruled by Mercury.
Due to his mutable nature, Mercury represents a balanced exchange. But this goes beyond trade and agriculture. Mercury is said to take on the qualities of the planets and the signs “in which it mixes”. (I am referring to Mercury as he, but really, Mercury is they.) As psychopomp and a messenger to the gods, Mercury has to traverse realms. As god of commerce and communications, he has to bridge cultures and languages. As such, Mercury inherently knows how to blend in. He is a global citizen. His pronouns are all. His occupations are many. He is a jack of all trades.
Mercury’s multi-faceted nature earns him the label of shapeshifter and trickster. But this is dismissive of Mercury’s true genius. Above all, Mercury is a skilled navigator and a masterful negotiator. Of course, he always knows a backroad, a detour, and a loophole.
Depictions of Mercury often show him with winged feet, representing swiftness and timely delivery. His standard of quality requires extraordinary attunement and responsiveness. Yes, he is fastidious, but only because he cares.
Think of the official motto of the U.S. Postal Service:
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
That is the messenger of the gods, Mercury.
Virgo: The Maiden of Wheat
Mutable Earth
Virgo is an Earth sign. To understand Earth signs, think of dirt - compact, dry, and tangible. You stand on it. You walk on it. You drill, build, and bury in it. Ideally, it is fertile soil. Soil for you to till, nurture, and eventually, reap. Finally, you let it rest. Earth signs are familiar with the work and routines required to bring about earthly bounties. This is why Earth signs are described as practical and dependable. They produce tangible harvests.
Virgo is also a mutable sign. Mutable signs are flexible and adaptable. They are associated with the end of a cycle, to make way for a new beginning — Virgo season signals the end of the summer and it gives way to the beginning of fall.
Mercury’s Domicile and Exaltation
In traditional astrology, dignity refers to a planet’s strength or weakness based on its placement in the chart. The highest level of dignity is domicile, followed by exaltation.
In Virgo, Mercury finds his domicile and exaltation. A planet’s domicile is where a planet finds the most strength. Here, a planet can use all of its skills to bring about its goals. Domicile is the equivalent of having a supportive and conducive home environment. It brings about the planet’s most positive expression. Meanwhile, exaltation is where a planet is treated like an honorific guest. Exaltation gives a planet a dash of luck, and a lot of influence.
All of this tells us a lot about Virgo! This is a sign which will exhibit all the best qualities of Mercury. Virgo is learned, skilled, adaptable, responsive, discerning, and intelligent.
Photo: Virgo the Virgin, fom The book of birth of Iskandar
“Some people talk about Virgo as if they were talking about trad wives. There is nothing traditional here, and nothing wife. She belongs to no one except herself.”
Goddess of the Grain and Harvest
Virgo is referred to as the Maiden of Wheat and is associated with the harvest. As such, she is often depicted with an ear of grain or a sheaf of wheat. Historically, Virgo is associated with the Sumerian goddess of grain and mathematics, Nisaba, who is represented by a stalk of grain and was said to be “keeper of both divine and mortal records”. As well as the Sumerian goddess of grain and fertility, Shala. She also has overlap with the Egyptian goddess, Isis, the divine mother and goddess of agriculture, a magical healer who could bring back the dead. Since Virgo’s constellation is usually visible for 6 months of the year during early spring and summer, Virgo is associated with the agricultural spring goddess, Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, and wife to Hades; as well as Persephone’s mother, Demeter, goddess of the seasons and fertility.
Older depictions of the Maiden of Wheat often show her with a sickle and a flail. The sickle is the tool most commonly associated with Saturn, the reaper of souls. An apt tool for a sign ruled by Mercury, guide to the recently departed souls. Meanwhile, the flail historically doubled as a weapon used in manual combat. These are Virgo’s tools, and she wields them expertly.
Virgo like all Earth signs, is concerned with tangible harvests. But Virgo does more than sift and sort grain. She grows and harvests her own wheat, and then she bakes her own bread. She is self-sufficient and independent. She is no feeble maiden in need of saving.
Sovereign: One unto herself
We all know the stereotype of Virgo — anxious, perfectionist, and chaste. Usually, when the topic of Virgo comes up, that’s as far as it gets. But there is a lot more to Virgo than her stereotype. Understanding Virgo, requires exploring the concepts of divinity and virginity, and how these two overlap. In a 2023 workshop, Autoerotic Godfucking: Virgo, Ancient Virginities, and the Desire for God, Astrologer and Reverend Lindsey Turner drew from Rigoglioso’s book, The Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece, to trace Virgo’s complex history and arrive at a more nuanced understanding of Virgo’s full spectrum.
A Roman mosaic depicting the Greek primordial gods Uranus and Gaia. Sentinum, 3rd century CE. (Glyptothek, Munich)
In pre-olympian mythologies, female deities were far more common and far more powerful. Think of Gaia, Athena, Artemis, and Hera, all fearsome and independent goddesses with pre-olympian roots. Gaia, the primordial mother of everything who colluded with her son Kronos to castrate her husband Uranus and end his tyrannical reign. Athena the goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, ally to heroes like Heracles and Odysseus, creator of the rake, plow, yoke and chariot; goddess of crafting and mathematics. Artemis, goddess of childbirth and the hunt, who halted the winds blowing the Greek ships during the Trojan War, and fearlessly challenged Hera in battle. Hera, goddess of marriage, women, and childbirth; sister and wife to Zeus. All virgins. None coy, weak, or submissive.
Here, Hera teaches us an important distinction between what virginity used to mean and today’s definition. See, Hera wasn’t a virgin in the modern sense. Rather, Hera renewed her virginity annually by bathing in the Kanathos spring. This ritual was a marker of her autonomy, where Hera became “one unto herself” again. Here, virginity had nothing to do with chastity or morality. It was about retaining fierce sovereignty, self-sufficiency, and the power of creatrix. Specifically, the ability to bring about creation, to give life, to birth, independently. In her book, The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth, activist and writer Sjöö says, “Ancient moon priestesses were called virgins. ‘Virgin’ meant not married, not belonging to a man - a woman who was ‘one-in-herself’. The very word derives from a Latin root meaning strength, force, skill; and was later applied to men: virle. Ishtar, Diana, Astarte, Isis were all all called virgin, which did not refer to sexual chastity, but sexual independence.”
At their height, these female deities all commanded cults and followers who revered them as virgin creatrixes. Priestesses of these cults would often model themselves after these female goddesses, aiming to take on the title of virgin, or parthenos. Similar to Hera’s virginity, parthenos was a renewable, spiritual condition.
Virgo, illumination from an Italian book of hours, c. 1475; in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City
As times changed, the creatrix goddesses gave way to patriarchal deities and modern-day religions. Schooling and the topics of science, math, and writing became “the concern of men,” and the gods and mythology reflect that. Midwives were replaced with male physicians, and Virgo, and all the other virgin goddesses, lost their edge. Sex Educator, Nadege, writes about the interesting association that arose in the 1600s between Astraea and virgin Queen Elizabeth, and how this link coincided with a shift in Virgo’s story, introducing the notion of Virgo’s chasteness.
However, Virgo, was never concerned with chastity. Her preoccupation is her godlike work. Like the pre-olympian priestesses, Virgo is devoted, and when it comes to her calling, there is no question. Virgo is a goddess who possesses an intuitive understanding of the cycles of time and the passing of the seasons. She has knowledge of the earthly sciences, both of the dirt and land, and of topics like mathematics and writing, as well as the divine, both the Heavens and the Underworld. To Virgo, these are one and the same. Virgo is not lost in the details. She simply understands how they are connected better than the rest of us could ever imagine. Her calling is to bridge the mundane and the divine, and she does this by attuning to the magic of the natural world around her.
Virgo’s skills are discernment, intelligence, care, and devotion. Her sickle and a flail prove that she is not scared of slicing, cutting, or pruning in pursuit of her calling. She is aware some will ostracize her for her choices. In fact, in some ways, by choosing to follow her divine calling, she sets herself apart. But she is willing to make the necessary sacrifices. Virgo is the ultimate sovereign, reclaiming herself and following her true path.
References:
Autoerotic Godfucking: Virgo, Ancient Virginities, and the Desire for God
Astrology of Fate by Liz Greene
The Cult of Divine Birth in Ancient Greece by Marguerite Rigoglioso
The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth by Monica Sjöö
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