Maturity the harvest and the fruits gathered. The pregnant woman. This must imply patience and the capacity to wait. Gathering in. Perhaps letting go is a challenge to her.

What about for a man? Like Cancer she seems so very feminine. In Italian Virgo is The Virgin. This must be connected to the Mother. The Mother of Life. She gives birth to the male, and in her shadow form she will devour him. In that sense the male is growing within her. She needs to externalise him.

Really the virgin birth symbolises the spiritual birth. The second birth. She is the Goddess, the queen of the land, the earth but she also births the spirit.

Virgo the mother. Holding, looking after, loving, protecting. The harvest, fruits of a lifetime. Mine, She said, were not material fruits but were in essence like the dew in the morning, the mists clinging to the hills and the sunlight warming the earth. They are very valuable She said, and just as the outer harvest gives people their bread, so yours offers the inner jewels of wisdom and love. The precious qualities of the Mother. Not just her personal child but to others in general. The open heart, the understanding, the listening ear, the ready smile. The Mother qualities.

To gather in means to harvest all that one has sown and grown. Beautiful things and painful things. To bring them into the store house for the winter or inner season. Some things will bring nourishment and strength like the corn reaped for bread, whilst other things will have more of a bitter flavour and will promote reflection and understanding. Still others will burn and prick like the thistles caught amongst the grain. These too should be gathered in and allowed to cool down so that one can get close to them without being hurt.

Virgo is the great harvester. In a way She stands at the end of the year. The great Mother who receives from the past and transforms into the future.

Virgin yes She is for no mortal man is needed here to create a future life, only the dreams, attitudes and actions from the past.

Virgo a glimpse of you to create an image, a bridge. You who stand at the turning point of the year. You who gather in the harvest be it from the earthly fields of corn, the orchards of fruit or the nuts and berries of the woods or be it from the inner fields of inspiration and creation. Fruits of lessons learned or wisdom plucked from the tree of life. You gather in with pride and joy offering encouragement and nourishment or else with sadness and compassion offering healing and strength.

This is no weak lady, her strength is such as can harvest in both joy and pain. She stands at the gate of winter so that all that is harvested will be used to nourish during the cold months ahead.

Brown of the earth newly ploughed after the harvest. Gold of the ripe corn rippling like ocean waves in the autumn sun.. Dark rose of the berries and hips, the first tinge of turning leaves. White of the virgin birth, conceived of the fruits of past actions. Grey of the stormy skies, the wet stones and the smoke from the first fires. The harvest moon The blood red of the virgin moon. Blood red.. squeezing out the last drops, getting rid of all the clutter and getting right down to the last drops that contain the very essence of something. That is the seed.. that is what will lie dormant through the winter months till spring and the new light bring it into life. The sweat, the blood, she gathers in to sort and order what is needed for life to go on.....................