Virgo, the Maiden Goddess is not some coy young thing. She is an independent, self-contained, and self-sufficient young huntress, who does not need a male counterpart to validate her divine power. She is fully a Goddess in her own right.
But that does not mean that she is barren and frigid. It means, she is a woman who is in control of her own body and life. She is a virgin, in the sense that she is no-one’s wife. Mostly, she feels no need to get involved and prefers to sit on the fence, watching, without having to deal with the messiness of any actual relationships herself.
Mythology
In mythology, she has been associated with various Goddesses, Ceres, Diana, Demeter, and others. They often depict a virgin mother and Fertility Goddess, an Earth Mother who provides for all. In the northern hemisphere the constellation is visible in the night sky from about Easter to September, the fertile growing season.
Demeter & Persephone
The myth of Demeter and her daughter, Persephone tells of Persephone’s abduction to the underworld. Hades, the Lord of the Underworld had plucked her from a field of flowers and rode off with her to his dark abode below the ground. Demeter was beside herself with grief and roamed the land in search of her. No-one had seen her. In the end, Demeter threatened to withdraw her powers of fertility and let the land go to waste if Persephone was not returned. Jupiter took mercy on her and promised to bring her daughter back as long as she had not partaken of any food during her stay in the Underworld. As it happened, she did have 6 pomegranate seeds. But Jupiter was moved and decreed that Persephone could return to Earth for 6 months each year (spring and summer), but must return to the Underworld and spend the other 6 months with Hades.
Diana/Artemis
In the myth of Diana, she is the maiden huntress, patron Goddess of children and midwifery, as well as healing. She is at home in nature and communes with plants and animals as her equals. Yet, her cognition is not purely instinctual, but a fine combination of earthy intuition and the sharp and discerning faculties of the mind that enables her to make a million connections, discern patterns and understand even hidden processes at work.
Psychology
Psychologically, Virgo is an unselfconscious powerhouse, but her super-alertness sometimes sets her into a state of anxiety and alarm, always fretting over little things. She needs to learn to use her powers of discernment and dismiss things that are irrelevant from her sphere of awareness. She also has a tendency to care more for others than for herself. But without truly accepting and caring for ourselves we cannot truly care for others.
