The Virgo Personality, Nothing Less Than Perfection

Virgo is the sign of the virgin. Virgin here means unwed, not necessarily chaste or abstaining from sexual experience. The Virgo personality can actually take sex to an extreme. In some respects, it is the sign of the holy whore, which means offering sexual favors as a form of service. Being an earth sign, Virgo understands the needs and urges of the body.

The glyph for Virgo shows a creature with its stinger turned inward, upon itself. This is in contrast with Scorpio, which shows the same body with the stinger turned outward and barbed. This tells us a lot about the similarities and differences between these two signs. The Virgo personality is keenly aware of their propensity for destructiveness but they prefer to keep it to themselves.

Much of the sign’s modus operandi revolves around “fixing itself.” This is a critical point in the zodiac for here ends the strictly personal phase of relation. Much of Virgo is a reaction to the excesses of Leo, the sign preceding it in the zodiac. Leo took personality to the utmost and Virgo is acutely aware of the fallout from the heights of selfhood. Where Leo was only dimly aware of the Other, Virgo is painfully aware that it is not alone. It prepares for the meeting of the Other encountered in the sign of Libra, the first of the social signs.

The Virgo personality has a tendency to withdraw from worldly concerns and concentrate the whole of its awareness on an inward journey of personal discovery. They hold themselves apart from the world of men to seek the light within.

The hermit card in the Tarot deck is symbolized by the sign of Virgo. In the card, the hermit is a man whose face is turned away from the viewer. He holds a lantern with a six-pointed star within it. He is a wayshower, he knows the way through the darkness. The Virgo personality likewise retires into their inner self and guides others who may find these inner planes hard to traverse.

In the body, Virgo rules the intestines and the process of assimilation of nutrients.

Virgo is decidedly mental in orientation and it uses it mental faculties to analyze the contents and structure of the people, things, and situations it observes. They are quick to point out the flaws and deficiencies in workmanship or construction of clothes, ideas, and other people’s personalities. The intent is usually good. They want nothing less than perfection. However, perfection is always lacking in this world so they go inwards and search for an inner vision of holy purity.

Mother Mary is a Virgo Archetype. She gave birth without physical intercourse. The Virgo personality wishes to be impregnated by the divine. Nothing less than God’s child whether in the literal or figurative sense.

The Virgo personality is hard on themselves. They have high ideals for how they should be. This extends to the world too. They see how things could be better and they feel pressure to do something practical to bring about this desired change. Work and service are extremely important to this sign. If they are not working in a job or profession that is in alignment with their ideals then they are very unhappy creatures indeed. Feeling useful is paramount to their well-being. Working in subordinate positions doesn’t bother them if they feel they are being put to good use.

Health is a preoccupation of the Virgo personality. The sign is sensitive to how food is prepared, the cleanliness of its environment, and the mind-body state. Virgo can become obsessive about its well-being or lack thereof. Again, it uses its highly developed analytical faculty to break down every compartment of life until it can find every possible flaw or shortcoming hindering the smooth operation of that piece of the puzzle.

Virgo is particularly prone to go overboard in organizing its dietary intake. They will allow themselves no excesses of fat, carbohydrates, red meats, foods that are not organically grown and so on. Virgo will break it all down until there is nothing left to do except sit in a dark room and wait for the end to come. It is almost like they want to make themselves so perfect that they become incapable of leading any kind of normal life. The Virgo personality puts itself in voluntary quarantine.

On the plus side, when they are not tearing themselves or those around them into itty-bitty pieces, they make some of the finest and most considerate human beings around. They don’t impose on you or drone on about subjects you obviously have no interest in. They are extremely helpful in a crisis and always at the ready with some really nifty piece of information that you do need at the time you need it.

The Virgo personality curbs its excesses and incontinences. They are so worried about poisoning the world with their deficiencies that they spend most of their time pruning and shaping themselves into a paragon of human perfection. A healthy Virgo will be the least in need of a psychologist. Figuring out what makes themselves tick is second nature to them.

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