Healers and growers
Demeter, goddess of the grain, brought agriculture to the people. Demeter, goddess of Virgo1, is also Goddess of ritual magic, mother of Persephone who reigned in Hades, goddess of blight and harvest. She was a fierce goddess who stood up to bullying men and won, showing not telling what was important in this world: nature not might.
Demeter was the initiator of the Mysteries of Eleusis, which lasted for three thousand years. It is believed the Eleusian Mysteries were an initiation which involved a rebirth, a revelation and an experience of death and the soul’s journey. Heady stuff. The Mysteries were kept a deadly secret, literally, the death penalty awaited those who spoke about them. The Mysteries were open to all; men, women, Greeks, Barbarians, slaves and aristocrats, a very Virgoan move, everyone is welcome, integrity and pure intent were the only requisites for participation.
A great example of this is Starhawk.
Starhawk has Saturn, the agriculturalist, conjunct her Virgo Ascendant. Starhawk is known for her spiritual practice, her famous book The Spiral Dance (1979), outlines her beliefs and her work in her covens, which are still celebrating, sixty years after founding. Starhawk also is a supporter and teacher of permaculture, a holistic way of agriculture. Ritual then, the natural world, agriculture and the Mysteries are all Virgo traits.
Many Virgos embrace a ritualistic way of life. Yoga, especially Ashtanga Yoga falls into that camp. Kino is a great example,
 We have no birth time for Kino, so the houses cannot be read, but she has Mercury, Moon and Sun in Virgo, showing her life path is one of service, health and ritual. Kino was the youngest student to be accepted as an Ashtanga teacher. She started a Yoga TV channel and has run workshops, retreats and teachings worldwide. She is the author of several books on yoga.
Ashtanga yoga is a spiritual-physical discipline. By using the body, deep changes occur in the psyche and some would argue, the soul. Ashtanga has that Virgo sense of repetition, the same sequence of postures is repeated six days a week. The Repetition has both a deepening and a liberating effect. Deepening, as the postures are examined in the context of how the body, emotions and mind show up on the mat on a given day. Liberating, because the sequence is like a dance which flows and connects the poses allowing the practitioners to merge with them, the mind calms as the body carries the memory of the asanas.
Writers are also found in Virgo, one of my favorites is Mary Shelley, with Mars, Moon and Uranus (discovered in 1781) conjunct in Virgo, plus Mercury at a late degree. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein after a dream. You could take Pluto in Aquarius conjunct the MC for her monster or, Uranus conjunct her Sun, both describe the nightmare, although these aspects might also describe her mother’s early death (11 days after Mary was born). I wrote a blog about her extraordinary mother, Mary Wollstonecraft which you can read here
What is Virgo not good at? Leadership. The recent leader of the Labour Party was a Virgo, the rest as they say, is history.
Virgo discrimination can lead to dithering and failure to make decisions, a consequence of timidity and over-thinking. Starmer has a rather unpleasant Sun Uranus Pluto conjunction in Virgo, which perhaps explains his self immolation and describes his reputed toxic management style. It might also show the origin of the public’s disdain which undoubtedly contributed to his downfall.
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- You can read more about Demeter in my Goddess Astrology Aeon Books 2023 ↩︎
Elisabeth Brooke 