Virgo season usually lasts from about August 21 to September 21. It is a transition time from Summer to Autumn and can sometimes feel like a bit of a nothing time after all the fierce Leo energy of Summer. It’s time to stop playing and get back to work.
It is also the time when children go back to school. Virgo season urges us to put things in order. If we have been holidaying or travelling, then we might have let our chores build up. There is often a backlog of things to do by the middle of Virgo season.
Maiden To Mother To Crone
This period is also bereft of any pagan festivals unless we include the autumn equinox, which is on the cusp of Libra and Virgo. But Autumn fits more with Libra than Virgo because from Libra onwards, we have Fall, so we will look at the Autumn equinox in Libra Season. The Sun literally ‘falls’ as it gets lower in the sky and winter draws in. Virgo is the last sign of the first half of the zodiac wheel. It marks the midpoint of the astrological year.
So Virgo is the transition from maiden to mother or from mother to crone. It is when the harvest comes in. Virgo is a mutable sign, so this season is about change and adapting to the new season to come. In Virgo, we have a real sense of the seasons. You can feel the difference in the air. It feels crisper, and there is an autumnal twang.
Persephone Goddess Of Transitions
The Greeks revered Demeter as the goddess of agriculture and fertility, and Persephone, her daughter, became associated with the changing seasons and the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. Persephone, also known as Kore in modern English, is also considered the vegetation goddess. In Greek art, she is often portrayed carrying a sheaf of grain, resembling the Virgin in the constellation Virgo. This symbolism easily becomes part of Ceres’s attributes, so both Ceres and Persephone are closely related as aspects of the triple goddess. Persephone is mostly associated with the pomegranate, the fruit that she took a bite of which kept her bound to the underworld.
Persephone Artwork by Marina Marchione at Heavenly & Holy
Preserve & serve
Fruits mature to their full sweetness, and it is the last harvest of the year. The belly is full! It’s like we have to gorge all the sweet pickings before the scarcity of winter. In Europe, Virgo season is when my aunties and uncles harvest the tomatoes and bottle the salsa for the rest of the year. It is a hectic month because it is also grape harvesting, so the wine is bottled from the end of August into October. Virgo is all about thinking ahead.
Your cupboards will be very bare by December if you don’t work hard bottling and preserving the summer fruit. Of course, these days we have supermarkets. However, the hardworking, dutiful energy of Virgo persists. Virgo’s flowers are anything bright and small, like buttercups and daisies. Unlike the big-headed Leo sunflower from last season. Virgo is Mutable Earth. It is cold and dry and ruled by Mercury. Cold gives passive aggression (The critic), and dry so needs hermit time after serving others.
Be Prepared!
Virgo’s mutability means it merges with others but can lose itself. So just like Virgo, the neat little buttercup is inoffensive and blends into the surroundings. Joyful and light, BUT it is poisonous to animals. The buttercup is considered a noxious weed. Never cross a Virgo!
Do not underestimate the power of this transitional month then. It is all about preparation for a time of scarcity. Virgo saves for a rainy day, and we do not know what the universe is going to throw at us during this dark phase of evolution. So ‘Be prepared’ as the girl guides used to say!
