Virgo Traits

Virgo, the Vir­gin (or Mai­den), is the sixth sign of the Zo­di­ac. The sun enters it on or around August 23, when the summer is fad­ing. Virgo belongs to the ele­ment earth, its quality is mutable and its charge is negative. Its Ruler is Mercury, and Venus exalts in it. Its motto is: "I scruti­nize."

     In the horo­scope chart, Virgo brings a scrutinizing and diligent charac­ter to planets or Houses therein.

Your Virgo Star Sign Traits

Those who have Virgo as their star sign are born when the sun was in Virgo, normally August 23 - September 22 (it differs slightly from year to year, be­cause of the leap years). Therefore, it is also - more correctly - called the sun sign.

     The sun in your horoscope is your natural self - what you are when you relax, when other planets in your horoscope are not active. It's your basic drive, a character you have as an ingredient - more or less evident in all you do and all you are.

     The sun is the most important point in your horoscope chart, but of course it's not the only thing that describes your personality. You need to look at all the components of your birth chart, to get a correct astrological description of your­self.

Constantly critical

If your sun sign is Virgo, you are a hard working person, paying great attention to detail, scrutinizing just about everything. You are quite critical, the last one to be convinced or swept away. You're not much for improvisation, but need mostly to go to the bottom of things, and to be prepared.

     You're usually rather restless, getting frustrated if there is nothing to do - but there usually is. If not, then to do all over.

     Virgo is the sign of the hard worker, who has the perseverence to bring things to their completion, no matter how long it takes and how many obstacles appear. Also, Virgo is very critical - especially of what others accomplish. There may be truth to this criticsm, but the mere insistence and persistence of it can frustrate most. But Virgo is really just as self-critical, although not publicly.

Three Different Virgo

A Zodiac sign doesn't give exactly the same influ­ence all through its 30°. Its first third has something of a cardinal quality, whatever the quality of the sign as a whole is, its second third is slightly more fixed in quality, and the last third is more mutable.

     If you were born at the end of August, the sun is in the beginning of Virgo. That means you're very critical and trust nothing that you haven't exam­ined thoroughly. Even things that seem to work you want to disassemble, just to make sure.

     If you were born in the beginning of September, the sun is in the middle of Virgo. Then you're mostly critical and doubtful to any kind of change. What works should be left as is. When you do something, you need to be very well prepared.

     If you were born in the middle of September, the sun is at the end of Virgo. If so, you're very hard to convince. You tend always to see faults and short­comings - also in yourself. It's frustrating to everybody, including you. You need to be doing something, always, but sometimes it's hard to figure out what. The third part of the sign is mutable and so is the quality of the Virgo sign. Therefore, people with their sun here are the most typical Virgo, its traits obvious in them - sometimes irritatingly so.

Traits of Your Father

The sun in the horoscope also represents your father (the mother is represented by the moon). That means your Zodiac sign traits reveal something about the characteristics of your relationship with your father.

     If you have the sun in Virgo, your relation to your father is a bit strained. Neither one is fully pleased with the other, but quick to criticise. You both often think that the other one is doing things wrong, even if you're not always sure to be able to do it better. In spite of that, you have your best times together when you do things, when you're working on something. You can also enjoy your disputes, although neither one ever admits to be wrong.

Traits of the Planets in Virgo

When another planet or other point of the horo­scope is in Virgo, it's also affected by the Zodiac sign, get­ting some of its traits. Here are those astrological points, what they stand for in the horoscope, and how they are affected by Virgo:


Sun   basic drive - Virgo brings diligence and scru­tiny.

Moon   longing - Virgo brings a sometimes frustrating inability to trust others.

Mercury   curiosity - Virgo brings a sharp mind, set on details, keen to dispute.

Venus   affection - Virgo brings a fine sense for detail and a capacity to handle complicated things.

Mars   aggression - Virgo brings mechanical skills, and little patience with the shortcomings of others.

Jupiter   luck - Virgo brings capacity to get lots of things done, and an ability to succeed in most trades.

Saturn   duty - Virgo brings a strong conviction of the necessity to strive for perfection.

Uranus   contemplation - Virgo brings a mind set on detail and on what makes things work.

Neptune   fantasy - Virgo brings a fantasy that usu­ally stays on the ground, inside what's concrete and makes sense.

Pluto   catharsis - Virgo brings concrete and pre­dictable changes, more often small than big ones.

Ascendant, AC   attitude - Virgo brings a critical and demanding attitude, that might put others off.

Medium Coeli, MC   self-image - Virgo brings a sense of being competent and serious, maybe also kind of boring.

Traits of the Houses in Virgo

In the astrological Houses, the Zodiac signs also bring their character traits, influencing the environments de­scribed by the Houses. Here are the twelve Houses of the horoscope, what they stand for, and how Virgo affects them:

1. Identity - Virgo makes you seem competent, but also predictable.
2. Resources - Virgo makes you skilled at taking care of yourself.
3. Communication - Virgo makes you doubt and criticize your friends, but you are a committed student.
4. Home - Virgo makes your home well organized, and your family life is full of demands.
5. Pastime - Virgo makes you diligent with many a hobby, and reluctant to just relax.
6. Work - Virgo makes you work hard, and with considerable skill, which is also expected from you.
7. Partners - Virgo makes it hard for you to find the perfect mate, and you tend to doubt any partner.
8. Unknown - Virgo makes you frustrated by things out of your control, and working hard to prepare for them.
9. Travel - Virgo makes you prepare any trip, no matter how short, and reluctant to accept changes in life.
10. Career - Virgo makes you get a trusted position, where your competence is recognized, but you are not seen as a leader.
11. Ideals - Virgo makes you quite utilitarian in your ideals. What works is good, what doesn't is bad. You are sure that you mostly know best.
12. Shortcomings - Virgo makes it hard for you to have a lasting order in your life, and many things don't get done, no matter how many times you try.

Generalizations

Of course, all of the above is very general, mainly to give you an idea of how the Zodiac sign traits affect the horoscope. You need to study your horoscope chart carefully, to make a deeper and more nuanced inter­pretation.

Virgo, illustration from a 1482 edition of a book by Hyginus.
© Stefan Stenudd