Traditional astrology has shown us Virgo images of a cross-legged, sexless, spinster school teacher contrasted with an oppressed, victimized, “profane” licentious prostitute. The common idea of Virgo is that of a virgin, a sexless person, however, the original meaning of the word virgin has been lost. In Latin, ‘virgo’ simply means single, while ‘intact virgo’ refers to a lack of sexual experience. To say that Virgo is virginal simply means that she does not belong to any man, that she cannot be possessed. Her sexual acts are not used to gain possession, security, or power. She does not need a man to give her a sense of identity, rather, that lies within herself and her identification with the goddess. And an important attribute of the goddess was divine sexuality. Therefore, a woman might make love to a man for her mutual uplift, not bonding.
As Stephen Arroyo once said at a conference I attended, “Virgo is an earth sign, after all.” Earth signs are sensual, grounded, of the body. The difference for Virgo is that sex must serve a higher purpose. Just as Virgo sifts the wheat, separating the chaff from the life-giving grain, he sifts his human relationships to be life-giving. Virgo’s sexuality must be dedicated to something greater than itself. It must be for the sacred, dedicated to the principle of the goddess. What we have lost is the image of the strong woman proud of her sexuality, using it to serve the divine by sharing her and her generosity with others, teaching through her bliss and ecstasy. When this image is lost for us as a culture, many are lost in terms of their own definition of themselves, and it hurts all of us by limiting our perceptions of our own sexuality and its higher purpose.
The great goddess in her generosity, bestowing life, love, bliss, including sexual pleasure, is an image that has survived all attempts to tarnish it, even if it has had to go underground to do so. Virgo embodies this image of sacred sexuality and will grow stronger by reclaiming it. The archetype of the sacred prostitute is one of sexual strength and healing, not the sexually crippled image of Virgo that some of us have been given. Virgo is not the division between the madonna or the harlot, Virgo is the integration of the madonna and the harlot and therefore holds a key for all of us as we strive to integrate the many and varied parts of our Being.
© 2010 Catherine Auman