Zodiac Profile
August 23 - September 22
Element: EarthQuality: Virgo is reserved, modest, practical, discriminating and industrious, analytical and painstaking, seeking to know and understand.
Symbol: The Virgin - Representing purity, modesty, industriousness, service to fellow workers.
Ruling Planet: Mercury - Ancient god of communication and commerce. In astrology, Mercury rules intelligence and reason, and predisposes toward a high-strung temperament.
Dominant Keyword: I ANALYZE.
Polarity: Pisces. Virgo is the sign of work and self-improvement. Its natives are perfectionists who dissect facts in order to find the truth and obtain all the information available. Pisces, Virgo's opposite sign, is the sign of illusion and self-deception. Pisceans are prone to dreaminess, vagueness, self-delusion, and escapism.
Part of the Body Ruled by Virgo: The nervous system and the intestines. Virgoans are prone to illness caused by stress and nervous tension. They are particularly susceptible to ulcers.
Danger: Virgo people sometimes arouse anger and violence in others because of their tendency to interfere, their critical tongues, and unemotional attitudes.
YOUR MOST LIKEABLE TRAIT: CONSCIENTIOUSNESSThe real drama of Virgo's personality is interior. To the world you may give an impression of calm authority, but you are aware of your own nervous, restless, controlled intensity, the desire to be up and doing, rearranging, improving.
The planet Mercury, which rules both Virgo and Gemini, inclines its subjects toward constant activity. However, in Gemini the nervous energy is directed primarily toward stimulation and adventure, while in Virgo the ceaseless drive is to accomplish and perfect. It's impossible for Virgos to put off until tomorrow what might be done today, or to do later what might be done now. You are, in a word, organized. Your idea of taking it easy would seem like hard work to most people. You are not a daydreamer, you're a day-doer.
Your emotional life is a constant striving to bring order out of chaos. Although you have a great capacity for love, love alone is not enough for you to be happy. You need more than a mate, home, children, friends. You must justify your life, conduct yourself as a good bookkeeper keeps a ledger - always ready to give a reckoning on whether there's a profit or a loss.
Intelligence is the hallmark of your sign. The symbol is a young woman gathering wheat, and Virgo people harvest information, assimilate facts, and put what they learn to practical use. You have an excellent memory, an analytical mind, and are known for crystal-clear thinking. You also have a keen ability to probe into human motivations.
People like to check their plans with you before putting them in action because you have microscopic vision when it comes to detecting a flaw. Your superb logic cuts through muddled thinking like a laser beam. Because you believe life should be approached rationally, you are without peer in solving knotty problems or tangled disputes. You are convinced that a reasoned presentation of the facts will carry the day. Until you have the facts before you, you are reluctant to make a decision. Your faith is not in Chinese fortune cookies or in weighing-machine cards, but in facts, and you distrust ideas that don't stand up to critical appraisal or people who make emotional judgments.
The first thing you learned about money matters is that money does matter. Although you tend to be critical of your own ability in financial affairs, no one is better than you at staying within a budget. You aren't tempted into foolish ventures. Your bank balances usually jibe to the decimal point. You want the finest but rarely overpay, and you have a built-in resistance against self-indulgence.
One of your major faults is that you don't see the forest for the trees. A preoccupation with neatness and precision sometimes limits your breadth of vision. That estimable faith in logic also confines your imagination and leaves you a little shy on inspiration, too dependent on established practices and methods. Your nature is to look back and analyze rather than push forward in a new direction. You must know the why and how of everything. Virgo is a mutable sign, however, so you can adjust easily to change once you find a way of fitting the new situation into your routine.
You may run into difficulty because of a tendency to complicate everything. No problem is ever simple for Virgo. For every answer you've got a question, and making mountains out of molehills is one of your specialties.
Your nature is shy and reserved; it's hard for you to relax, to make small talk or be gregarious with strangers. You prefer one-on-one encounters, in which you can offer the full benefit of your sharp insights and discerning opinions. That's also when people discover how well-read, perceptive, charming, and witty you are.
A highly developed sense of discrimination may lead you to be hypercritical. You are unsatisfied with things as they are and continue to analyze situations and people in the hope of finding a way to make them better. At times your finely tuned sensibilities can even make you unhappy, for they give you a heightened awareness of the world's imperfections. However, you resist criticism of your faults from others. It's a rare Virgo who takes criticism well or who can admit to being in the wrong.
You are health-conscious and try to make sure you get enough vitamins and go for regular checkups at the dentist. However, in this as in other areas, you can't help being a worrier. As a result you are prone to tension and nervous ailments. Hypochondria is common among Virgos.
A warm loving relationship brings out the best in anyone born under this sign because basically you are kind, devoted and very loyal. When your affections are engaged you tirelessly try to serve loved ones. They will never have to worry about who's going to keep the checkbook balanced, or look after them when they are ill.
VIRGO'S AMOROUS COMBINATIONS
VIRGO AND ARIES
Virgo can be intrigued by Aries's audaciousness, but Virgo's prudent ways soon clash with Aries's colorful personality. They have difficulty communicating, because Virgo wants to talk and Aries wants to act. Their arguments will probably be more passionate than their lovemaking. Aries will think Virgo is inhibited; Virgo will consider Aries impulsive and wild. Aries likes a flamboyant social life. Virgo is happy with quiet, intellectual friends. Aries is also the type to bring out Virgo's worst habits of nitpicking and nagging. Exit romance.VIRGO AND TAURUS
Virgo is analytical while Taurus is sensuous, but Taurus's strong passions can spark Virgo. If that happens, they make lovely love. Practical, down-to-earth, satisfied with the tried-and-true, these two have much in common. Both try to build for a secure future, both are homebodies, both share a fondness for money. Virgo's rational approach and Taurus's persistence are also a good moneymaking combination. Auguries couldn't be more promising.VIRGO AND GEMINI
They are attracted to each other because of a mutual interest in intellectual ideas. Both have active minds, but the rapport ends there. Gemini's amorous nature is too impulsive and unstable to suit Virgo. Gemini dismisses Virgo as a stick-in-the-mud. Virgo considers Gemini irresponsible and adolescent. Gemini needs freedom to pursue its varied interests. Virgo resents this, and will nag and try to dominate. Gemini will soon stray to other lovers.VIRGO AND CANCER
A stimulating affair, for they arouse each other's beneath-the-surface sensuality. Cancer isn't too forceful, which suits Virgo fine. And the little attentions won't be neglected, which suits Virgo even better. Cancer is affectionate and sentimental, and that makes Virgo feel secure. This couple also likes money and domestic comfort, and Cancer's dependency fits perfectly with Virgo's protectiveness. On the downside, both tend to be overcritical. On the upside, each draws the other out of its shell.VIRGO AND LEO
Highly physical Leo takes it as a personal affront if Virgo doesn't match its leonine ardor. Virgo's passive and reserved nature frustrates Leo and leads to quarrels. Virgo isn't quick to hand out praise, and Leo lives on nothing but. Leo is a spendthrift, Virgo is careful with pennies. They're both very independent, but Leo exhibits this in a temperamental way while Virgo is very private. Virgo simply will not be dominated by tyrannical Leo, and always has its guard up. This affair has a shorter life than a May fly.VIRGO AND VIRGO
All is smooth sailing as long as these perfectionists curb their instincts for finding fault. Actually, they bring out the very best in each other. They are responsible, sensitive, intelligent, and take love seriously. They also share passions of the mind, and will never bore each other. Both think that there are more important things in life than sex; they may end up just talking in bed. There will probably be a continual contest over who is leader, but they have too much else in common for that to matter.VIRGO AND LIBRA
Libra is too frivolous and shallow for Virgo's taste. Libra enjoys spending money, going to parties, and being the center of attention. Virgo criticizes and makes Libra feel unloved. Libra may tap Virgo's hidden sensuality but their personalities are altogether too different for real compatibility. Virgo will try to curb and dominate Libra's fickle and outer-directed nature. Virgo is reserved and practical, and Libra views this as a personal rebuff. Libra will soon drift away in search of a more fun-loving companions.VIRGO AND SCORPIO
Sensual Scorpio keeps trying to entice Virgo into ever bolder sexual adventures. But Virgo is pleased because Scorpio is also possessive and fiercely loyal, which makes Virgo feel loved and protected. They also admire each other's minds. Virgo is logical, intellectual, analytical. Scorpio is imaginative, visionary, perceptive. Each sometimes has trouble expressing real feelings: Scorpio is volatile but secretive; Virgo is self-restrained and reserved. There may be some conflict about who runs things, but Virgo's willingness to compromise keeps Scorpio tractable.VIRGO AND SAGITTARIUS
These two are like the grasshopper and the ant. Sagittarius's free spirit has nothing in common with hardworking Virgo. Sagittarius has a reckless gambler's spirit, while Virgo carefully builds for future security. Both are intellectual signs but the way their minds work clashes with each other. Sagittarius is expansive and extravagant, while Virgo prefers a simple, ordered, and unpretentious life. Sagittarius considers Virgo's sexual attitudes rather prudish, and won't stay long in one bedroom anyway.VIRGO AND CAPRICORN
A harmonious pair. Capricorn's ambition and drive for success meshes well with Virgo's perfectionism and energy. Both are diligent, disciplined, and have a sense of purpose. They admire one another and take great pride in pleasing each other. Both need respect and approval (though neither will confess this), and each intuitively gives the other exactly that. Sexual compatibility becomes a mutual achievement; in lovemaking, though, Capricorn usually takes the lead.VIRGO AND AQUARIUS
They are both rational, intellectual, and tend to view love in the abstract - but the similarity ends there. Aquarius has venturesome ideas and thinks Virgo unresponsive or cold. Actually, each has a distant quality: Virgo is cautious about emotional giving; Aquarius's thoughts are in the far-off clouds. Aquarius is interested in other people, in causes, and in setting the world right. Virgo seeks personal achievement and financial security. Aquarius is outgoing, inventive, a visionary. Virgo is reserved, prudent, and very practical about its ambitions. This couple may not even make it as friends.VIRGO AND PISCES
To Virgo, love means security and mental compatibility. To Pisces, love is a sweeping, all-enveloping emotion. At first Virgo is powerfully attracted to Pisces, as opposites often are: sentimental, in-love-with-love Pisces is very intriguing to Virgo, and Pisces is fascinated by Virgo's incisive, analytical mind. However, disillusion quickly sets in. Pisces's extravagance, secretiveness, and dreaminess frustrate pragmatic, orderly Virgo. Also, Virgo isn't likely to adapt to some of Pisces's sexual preferences.
Taken from the book "The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need" by Joanna Martine Woolfolk. Buy it at Amazon.com.
