This time of year is always so initiatory on so many levels. For many, Virgo season is somewhat melancholy because it means summer is over… Personally, I relish it. With collective themes of back to school, dusting off our fall coats and boots, clearing out clutter, while enjoying the bounty of the Harvest – the spirit of academia fills the air.

As I revisited the dance of Virgo to revamp it, I was flooded with nostalgia and reminded that it was it was during this season when I was originally inspired to embark upon writing the Astrological Series in the first place. After a long period of artistic stagnancy triggered by the lockdowns of 2020 – it was Virgo Season of 2021 when my inspiration returned and the Astrological Series led me on a path which ultimately bloomed into the glimmering jewel that you know as Animara today… Virgo, you clever gal, I couldn’t have done it without you.

Virgo is a Mutable Earth sign historically represented by the Demeter/Ceres, the Goddess of wheat and agriculture – an association that speaks to virgo’s deep rooted presence in the material world. Virgo’s are logical, practical and systematic in their approach to life. This earth sign is a perfectionist at heart and isn’t afraid to improve skills through diligent and consistent practice. Virgo rules the digestive system, which makes these earth signs especially attuned to the ingredients that make up a whole – in food and in everything else. They’re hyper-aware of every detail. Virgo is one of the three Earth signs, along with Capricorn and Taurus, and is governed by Mercury, the messenger planet of communication. Methodical, committed, and hardworking, they make excellent teachers, healers, editors and musicians.

Virgo Latin for “virgin” or “maiden” is the sixth astrological sign in the zodiac.

The sign is associated with Astraea. In Greek mythology, Astraea was the last immortal to abandon Earth at the end of the Silver Age, when the gods fled to Olympus – hence the sign’s association with Earth. Astraea, the celestial virgin, was the last of the immortals to live with humans during the Golden Age, one of the old Greek religion’s five deteriorating Ages of Man. In the Iron Age, the world was illegally rampant. People only coveted gold, while family and friends did not trust each other. According to Ovid, Astraea abandoned the earth during the Iron Age. Fleeing from the new wickedness of humanity, she ascended to heaven to become the constellation Virgo. The nearby constellation Libra reflected her symbolic association with Dike, who, in Latin culture as Justitia, is said to preside over the constellation. In the tarot, the 8th card (or 11th, depending on the Tarot system followed), Justice, with a figure of Justitia, can thus be considered related to the figure of Astraea on historical iconographic grounds. According to myth, Astraea will one day come back to Earth, bringing with her the return of the utopian Golden Age of which she was the ambassador.

The constellation Virgo has many different origins, depending on mythology. Most myths view Virgo as a virgin maiden that carries on her associations with wheat. In Greek and Roman mythology, the constellation is related to Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest, or her daughter Persephone, queen of the Underworld. As notably one can observe the beginning Persephne’s slow, deliberate return to the underworld at this time. Others associate it with the myth of Parthenos, which explains how the constellation Virgo came to be.

In another Greek myth, Virgo is the Athenian maiden Erigone, daughter of Icarius. After Icarius was murdered by his shepherds in a drunken rage, Erigone hung herself out of grief, and her dog Maera committed suicide. Zeus or Dionysus pitied the family and placed them in the sky as constellations: Erigone became Virgo, Icarius became Bootes, and Maera became Canis Minor.

In Egyptian mythology, the time when the Sun was in the constellation Virgo marked the beginning of the wheat harvest, connecting Virgo to the wheat grain. In Christianity, Jesus was born to a virgin in the town of Bethlehem; the ancient Zodiac ended in the constellation Leo and began with Virgo. A comparable sign to Virgo in Indian astrology is Kanya (meaning “maiden”), and she has even been connected with the Virgin Mary.

The Dance of Virgo I have created portrays her personification of the Empress and like the Goddess Ceres – our benevolent Queen of the Harvest.

Our Empress basks in the golden hue of the waning September sun, and bows in reverence as she blesses the land.

Heart shining boldly, she celebrates the ripeness of her voluptuous body and the season from which she was birthed.

With a coy gaze (for she is too smart for her own good) she flaunts her intelligence well, and diverts the onlooking eye, so enamored by her beauty to the delightful game she has made of picking the ripest fruit of the vine.

Playfully, she dances upon the bounty of the harvest, kicking and flirting her way through a crimson deluge, only to win over our hearts under who’s admiration ~ ~ ~ she basks.

Gratitude to Virgo and her season for blessing me with the return of my inspiration, commitment and the necessary drive to put my thoughts into action with a job well done.

Music: Bells Books and Candles by Graeme Revcll – From the movie THE CRAFT:

DANCE OF VIRGO DEMONSTRATED: