The symbol for a Virgo baby, the 6th sign of the zodiac, is that of the letter ‘M’, its third upright, and looping back down. This is the symbol of the end of the harvest. Ruling planet: Mercury.
Virgo Baby – Heaven’s Little Helpers
You’ve got a little Worrier in the making here, so from Day One make a vow not to put too much of a burden on these little shoulders. You won’t have to discipline this little angel too much, for they’ll do it for themselves.
Virgo is the most responsible of all the signs, taking a lot of life’s burdens and responsibilities on their own shoulders and feeling a lot of guilt. Although this won’t really manifest until they are grown, you’ll find that even at a very young age they’ll worry about you, their brothers and sisters, the cat, the dog, grandma, anyone and anything to them.
This is due to their Cosmic DNA. Virgo energy is Harvest energy. When Astrology was born, in the Northern Hemisphere, it was Harvest time. It was a time when you had to work hard to harvest the crops and whether you survived the winter or not, depended on the state of the quality and the quantity of the crops.
Although we are spread out around the globe now and live in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, it’s the Cosmic DNA that has come down from our ancestors, that still guides every Virgo.
They are born with a feeling of urgency and if they dont feel productive, or busy, they get a sense that something is wrong.
By the time your little Virgo is full grown, they’ll be fanatical about pulling their weight.
To stop your little Virgo worrying so much, about the little things, realise that you have one of Heaven’s Helpers here. As soon as they’re old enough, let them help around the house, but don’t make it a chore, or they’ll feel even more responsible. You’re most likely to have a happy little Virgo if you make them feel important and that they are such a big help to Mummy or Daddy, that what would we do without them? Simple jobs will make them happy. They love to feel needed.
Virgo is also the sign of the Earth Mother, so is a very natural sign. They’ll love nature, good health and everything that the whole Earth Mother image conjures. Virgo is ruled by Demeter, the Earth Mother, who also gifted health and the secret of healing plants to mankind, so health, especially good health, will always be important for a little Virgo.
All in all, your job as the parent of a little Virgo, is to lighten their load and don’t make them feel even more responsible than they already feel. My little Virgo helper couldn’t find her little brother after school one day and 20 years later, still feels bad about it.
Virgos love to talk, so from an early age, introduce language into their lives. Start reading books as early as possible and involve them in conversation, more advanced even than their age, right from the start. Virgo’s ruling planet is Mercury, planet of communication.
He’s also the ruler of Gemini, but Gemini is an Air sign, so his influence is more intellectual. Here, Mercury is in the Earth sign of Virgo, where he’s more practically based, so the focus is more on talking. Virgos just love to talk, so talk to your little Virgo as much as possible and introduce books right from the start.
Virgo Baby – The Constellation
Virgo or the ‘Virgin’ is said to be one of the most complex and intriguing of the Constellations. Virgo is the second largest of all the Constellations, second only to Hydra. It is also the only Constellation that has a female effigy for its symbol. Whether man or beast, apart from Virgo, they are all male. So, Virgo alone stands as a representation of all that is female. In fact, it is said that the Virgin embodies a small aspect of all the Goddesses.
Since antiquity and in all cultures, Virgo has been the Constellation that rules agriculture and all myths revolve around the same central theme. In Greek mythology it is that of Demeter (Earth Mother). In Egypt she was Isis, in Assyrian culture she was Baalita, in Sumerian-Chaldean mythology she was Ishtar or Inanna (Queen of Heaven, Queen of the Stars). Right down, in fact, to Christian symbology, where she is the embodiment of the ‘Blessed Virgin’.
Since the dawn of civilisation Virgo has ruled the harvest. Worship of the goddess of the harvest took place every year at harvest time, when the Sun was moving through the sign of Virgo.
In old star maps she is depicted as Astrea, Goddess of Justice. She is depicted holding a sword in one hand, scales in the other. The constellation of Libra (the scales) lies very close to Virgo. But it’s as the Goddess of agriculture, grain and harvest that she is best known. The Sun travels through the constellation of Virgo in mid September – making it the sign that signals the Harvest.
Demeter is the Earth Goddess, or Earth Mother. It was her that regulated the seasons. It was through her that women were taught to grind wheat, how to make bread and the knowledge of plants. In late summer the people gave thanks to her for the rich bounty of the earth. She governed all the cycles of nature and all growing. She presided over gestation of both plants and human life. She blessed the married.
Virgo is a very feminine sign and is one of matriarchal energy. She is said to have brought to man the art of ploughing and tilling the soil and to women the arts of grinding wheat and baking bread.
Demeter’s daughter was the beautiful Persephone (Core). Hades (lord of the underworld), while driving his chariot across the land, spied the beautiful maiden. He clutched her and took her down with him into the underworld. Demeter searched the world for her beloved daughter.
In her grief and rage she neglected the cycle of the seasons and the world went into perpetual winter, in mourning just as Demeter was. During this time the world had become barren and humans faced starvation (the Ice Age). It was her brother Zeus who had to intervene in the end. Helios (Sun) and Hermes (Mercury) played their roles as well. A compromise was reached, whereby so long as Persephone hadn’t eaten the food of the Underworld she could return. Persephone had, however, eaten the seeds of a pomegranate, the fruit of the underworld.
Because she hadn’t eaten all the seeds, it was decreed that she should spend part of the year in the underground with Hades and part of the year with her mother. Demeter accepted the compromise but never totally accepted it. When the time nears for Persephone to return, Demeter celebrates and the world is decked in the splendour of spring. When the time nears for her return, Demeter begins to mourn. While gone, Demeter goes into total mourning — this is winter.
It was Triptolemus who, with his brothers, witnessed the rape of Persephone and told Demeter where she was. In gratitude, Demeter instructed him in all her mysteries and taught him all she knew. She then sent him out into the world with the plough and a bag of seeds, to spread the knowledge of agriculture around the world.
This story is repeated in almost every culture with different names but in the same theme.
The Virgin is always depicted holding a sheath of wheat.
Demeter, Persephone and Hecate (Moon) form collectively what is known as the Goddess in Triad (Moirai) – maiden, nymph and crone
Virgo Baby – The Planet
Mercury is the ruling planet of Virgo.
As the planet closest to the Sun, it has the shortest orbit of all the planets. Mercury has always been visible to the naked eye and has been known and recorded since at least the time of the Sumerians (3,000 BC). In ancient Greece it was given two names, as like Venus it rose in both the morning and the evening. In the morning it was named Apollo and in the evening, Hermes.
The ancients knew that they were the same planet, just as they did with Venus. Like Venus, Mercury governs two signs, Gemini and Virgo.
In ancient times Heraclitus even believed that Mercury and Venus orbited the Sun, not the Earth. This is truly Geminian thinking and intellect, for it was many thousands of years before it was realised that the world was round not flat.
Mercury is an erratic and eccentric planet, with an orbit that would produce very strange effects if you were able to stand on its surface. At some longitudes the Sun would appear to rise, stop, reverse up and stop again before resuming its original path towards the horizon, decreasing in size as it went.
At the same time the stars would appear to be moving three times as fast across the sky. If you were standing at other points of the surface of Mercury, you would witness different, but equally bizarre and erratic motions.
As Mercury travels very close to the Sun it’s often hard to see, although it can be seen with the naked eye.
Virgo Baby – The God
Hermes, Messenger of the Gods, was given rulership of Virgo as well as Gemini.
To the ancients though, this wasn’t how they saw it. They saw not a planet, but Hermes himself. With a planet so erratic, no wonder Hermes was such a fickle and unpredictable god.
Mercurial would be the word that would best describe this god. He was impossible to pin down.
Born from ‘mother night’ and Zeus, king of the Gods, he is the child of spiritual light and primordial dark. In fact, one of his tasks was to guide souls on their journey to the underworld. His mother, Maia, was a mysterious nymph who gifted her son the arts of magic and divination.
Zeus assigned his son the task of Messenger. But you could never trust whether or not the messages he brought were right or wrong, as he loved to play practical jokes and was known as the ‘trickster’.
He is also, however, patron of thieves and liars and was known for his practical tricks. He wasn’t a god to trust completely. When he was just a baby he left his crib and stole the cattle from his brother Apollo, the Sun God. In order to trick Apollo he wore sandals, which faced backwards so that Apollo would look in the wrong direction for the culprit.
When Apollo finally confronted Hermes, he immediately gave Apollo a gift of a tortoise shell lyre and flattered him to such an extent over his singing gifts that his brother forgot all about the stolen cattle. Thus, Hermes rules the gift of communication and in perfect dual fashion, both communication you can trust and that which you can’t. They’re often very smooth talkers.
In the ancient world there would often be statues of Hermes at crossroads, as he was the patron of travellers, wanderers and the homeless.
Virgo Baby – The Season
Virgo is the last of the summer signs and as such a mutable sign. The long summer is drawing to an end, the days are getting shorter and the Sun is declining. Soon the Constellation of Virgo will disappear from the skies and won’t be seen until spring. Demeter herself is preparing to go into mourning.
Throughout the world homage is being paid to the Great Earth Goddess and thoughts are turned to the land.
Virgo is an Earth sign. Here, there is work to be done. Hard work. The harvest must be gathered and the time for play and frivolity is over. The land needs to be cleared, crops harvested, fields ploughed.
There is great need for organisation, planning and preparation for the long dark winter ahead. The harvest has to not only be collected but it has to be carefully stored and workers must be fed.
As a mutable sign it is a sign that looks at both the present and the future. The harvest is plentiful now, but it must last through to the coming year. The decisions made now would mean life or death. This is a time of great seriousness, of planning and great forethought. Great perception is called for. These are all qualities found so abundantly in the sign of Virgo.
