Sun enters Virgo

This morning the sun entered the sign of Virgo at 0.38 am. Virgo Sun asks us to weed, harvest and separate the wheat from the chaff. It is a time for introspection.The leaves are still green with summer, but there are spots of brown;the sun is mellower and evenings are beginning to draw slowly in; the hedgerows are a final flourish of blackberries,convovulous, nasturtiums and buddlia;the waves on the ocean are choppier as the wind starts to strengthen.

The Virgoan is often linked to 'The Hermit' in the Tarot; the thinker and analyser, an intellectual and one who is of service to the world.The Hermit goes inward to be alone and to reflect; here we see the shy, retiring side of the virgoan nature and that sense of turning inwards with the waning of the sun. The sign of Virgo is the sixth sign of the zodiac and marks the half way point between the outward growing time of the year beginning with the fiery, impulsivity of Aries and the second half of the year with the growing dark and inward contemplation that this signifies. Virgo from August 22 to Sept 21 is the sign that acts as a gateway to the soul: from Aries to Virgo the personality is developed and from Virgo through to Pisces the soul is seeking perfection. Virgo is traditionally the sign of the virgin and is associated with purity. Virgo is the energy we use to purify and evaluate our lives: Virgo always seeks to find the best way of doing things; analysing the raw material of Taurus and asking how it can be used, how it can be of service, how can it be perfected.

As an earth sign and associated with late August and September- harvest time we can see the obvious link between Virgo and the earth mother; goddess of fertility and abundance. Virgo is often depicted holding a sheaf of wheat and crowned with stars. In the depiction of Virgo, the Greek goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone are united in a single image. Demeter is the greek goddess of plenty, Mother earth herself and Persephone is her daughter, virgin bride of Hades, God of the underworld who abducts and rapes her. Because Persephone is tricked by Hades into eating a few pomegranate seeds she must return to him for six months of the year.Persephone's journey for half the year into the Underworld can be linked to the demise of the sun and the turning inwards of the wheel of the year. Persephone is Queen of the Underworld for half the year and returns with the Spring to her mother Demeter as virgin daughter. Hers is the classic cycle of descent, death and rebirth. The link with the sign of Virgo as gateway to the soul can be seen symbolised in Persephone's story. At this time we are starting to reflect, to turn inward with nature. We eat our own feast of fruit and vegetables, a cornucopia of Mother earth's bounty before we go into the dark and descend like Persephone into our own psychological underworld where we learn the inner mysteries and gain knowledge of death and rebirth. Obviously there are links between Persephone and Eve..eating teh forbidden fruit of self knowledge, awareness of our own mortality.Virgo is also the sign of health and wellbeing; now is the time to prepare our own health for Autumn and to use her skills of empathy and pure thought to heal the world soul.