![img_8102.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQma7tHy14M9G3fZFkiRae7xf3LADh3nYFunj1nqPpMp4zf/img_8102.jpg)
Virgo in Mythology There are many identities represented by the constellation VIRGO , all of them related to maidens , purity and fertility . In India VIRGO was Kauni , mother of the great god Krishna , whilst the Babylonians linked her with the goddess Ishtar . When she descended into the underworld to reclaim her husband Tammuz , god of the Harvest , the earth went dark and nothing grew . The great gods were forced to intervene , she and Tammuz were saved , and the earth bloomed again . In Greek mythology , too , there is a similar theme . Persephone , daughter of Zeus and Demeter , had been abducted and taken to the underworld by Hades . In revenge her mother ruined the harvests , the earth became infertile and the people were starving . Zeus was forced to issue a decree stating that Persephone should spend only a short time each year in the underworld , and when she was released Demeter permitted Nature to resume its natural course . Yet another Greek myth suggests that VIRGO represents Erigone , who hanged herself after finding her father Icarius ' dead body . ( From the book " Astrology for Lovers " by Liz Green ) The Virgo Myth Modern language sometimes does some very funny things with words and concepts that come from the pre - Christian era . For example , take the Latin word virgo . It's usually interpreted as virgin , with all its sexual implications . So that the typical Virgo portrayed in popular astrology is virginal , i.e. , prudish or inhibited or sexually cool . One need only look at some well - known film personalities born under Virgo , like Sophia Loren and Jacqueline Bisset and Sean Connery , to feel a little silly about equating.
Virgo with a lack of sexual interest rappeal . But more of that later . Let's go back to what the word virgo once meant . It had , in fact , nothing to do with sexual virginity , but simply meant intact , self - contained . The great mythical figure that stands behind Virgo is the Great Goddess , the Magna Mater , and she was no virgin . In fact she is often portrayed in myth as the Great Harlot , the fecund one . There is a magnificent statue of the virgin goddess Artemis , one of many names for the Great Goddess , portrayed with fifty breasts to show that she represents the nurturer and giver of life to all of life . But she is virgo in the sense that she is self - possessed , her own person . In early mythology , from which we inherit the figure of the Virgin Goddess , before the Hellene invasion from the north into the agricultural civilizations of the Aegean in around 2000 B.C. , the goddess did not owe her powers on her status to a divine husband as we see her in later mythology . She ruled alone , self - contained , husbandless , yet offering her femininity freely as she chose . She was the consort of all life . This is a clue to the deepest meaning of Virgo : the ultimate goal of this apparently humble sign is nothing less than the self - possessed psyche , the person who integrated within himself and can therefore give freely because he need not fear losing himself in another . He can choose life's experiences from his own place of completeness , rather than because his need for finding himself in another drives him into relationships or situations which destroy him or rule him . Sometimes you see this pattern of becoming one's own person lived out in the lives of Virgos through the necessity to live alone for a period of time . In fact his seems to be almost a requirement for Virgo to develop himself or herself . Difficult as it is for any person to face loneliness , many Virgos impose it on themselves , not because they don't need others , but because something in them says that you must learn to be yourself and love you own company before you can allow another person to be himself . The zodiacal circle of twelve signs is divided into halves . The first half Aries through Virgo - is often taken to symbolize the stages of individual development . The second half - Libra through Pisces - is often taken to symbolize the individual's relationship to the larger society , other people , the world .

**Credit LIZ GREEN**