The Sign of Virgo as a Learning Process
by Aysem Aksoy
Gemini symbolizes the first learning process on the zodiac wheel, which represents automatic learning, naming what we perceive around us, speaking, writing, and imitating. After leaving the womb and accepting ourselves as separate entities, we realize that we have an environment, and we interact with this environment. We begin learning automatically by imitating – by hearing, by repeating – the common language around us, the name of the objects, to express our needs and to understand what is going on. That is our first encounter with the phenomenon of learning.
In the zodiac, the second stop on the path of learning is Virgo. Learning is different from Gemini in this process. Virgo takes over the direct self-expression, the revealed raw creativity from the previous sign, Leo, to polish and bring them to perfection. After Leo, this process is one of ore raw material processing, the process of making oneself ready to function within a larger whole and be of use to it. It is putting our intelligence, talent, and skills into service, to help others and the world concretely. In this regard, learning in Virgo is more specific and mastery-oriented.
On the zodiac wheel consisting of twelve signs, Virgo, as the sixth sign, ensures the completion of the personal process on the path to integration. This period is the stage of self-organization and preparation for going outwards to reach a larger whole. It is about assimilating, utilizing, and learning from information rather than collecting it. This learning is about gaining the ability to develop talents into skills and the ability to apply them in different situations.
Virgo has a tendency towards details and fine-tuning through the attention of its ruler Mercury, which represents perception and learning. At the same time, as Virgo is an Earth sign, this learning is not only concerned with the abstract mind but also with the concrete world we inhabit.
The Virgo process is about organizing and sorting out raw information, selecting what is necessary, and putting theoretical knowledge into practice within our daily life. After the Gemini process, it is a necessity to complete this.
How can we complete this process? How can we learn to put theoretical knowledge into practice in daily life? Here is where Virgo's famous teachings come into play: learning by apprenticeship and training. The path to mastery is to learn the application of knowledge side by side with the master. The first condition of this kind of learning is obedience; to accept that you don't know, to submit to someone who knows, and to put into practice in the same way as the model. Virgo already possesses those qualities. Modesty, diligence, and the desire for self-perfection are vital elements to serve this purpose.
How does the learning process go wrong in Virgo? Virgo is a well-equipped sign for self-sabotage as well as self-perfection. That shows in Virgo's learning process. When the desire for self-development turns into perfectionism, humility into an inferiority complex (and so, superiority complex), and realizing something dysfunctional into criticism, the natural learning process goes wrong.
When is Virgo unable to learn? When it thinks negatively about itself (I cannot study, I am not able to understand, I'm wrong, I am stuck, I'm not skilled, etc.), when it thinks that it will not achieve perfection (high standards), when it wants to be a master without completing a full apprenticeship, when it insists on its method and order, or when it is busy criticizing itself or someone else rather than repairing what does not work. Virgo uses knowledge to mend what does not work. When it obsesses over unimportant details, it is disrupted in the analyzing mechanism and gives up the whole process because of a little glitch; so the Virgo-style learning process fails. In each case, due to perfectionism, whatever is imperfect may be rejected (for example, you cannot accept not knowing, being an apprentice, being incompetent, doing something wrong, or making common mistakes which are a natural part of the process).
How can we understand that the Virgo process has gone wrong? In the master-apprentice-relationship, if we keep on doing what we know in our own way or what we think is right, not what our master shows us, if we are busy beating ourselves up, blaming ourselves, criticizing others, or situations rather than observing why something is not working; if we skip the details that the master tells us to do but seem unnecessary to us; if we don't understand that we don't know how to do a job, if we don't like working hard, if we are in the habit of putting off tasks that we should do, then the process would go wrong.
We cannot complete the Virgo process if we are not able to reveal and concretely burnish one of our talents, if our most important occupations cannot pass the hobby level (Leo), or if we cannot put into practice what we know in our daily life, and if we don't know how to use our knowledge to make it beneficial to others.
Without meeting the requirements of Virgo's learning process, we cannot go forward on the way of Gemini-Virgo-Sagittarius-Pisces, the holistic learning path of the zodiac. Without gaining the ability to apply, we cannot bring into action the philosophy of the Sagittarius process. Without gaining some modesty that enables us to accept the fact we do not know, we cannot avoid the traps of Sagittarius - fanaticism, guru's ego, living in an ivory tower, presuming you know everything, to be condescending. Or, we cannot leave our self-consciousness behind and reach the higher consciousness in the Pisces process without learning modesty. And so, we cannot avoid the traps of Pisces, such as spiritual ego, to presume one's self-transcendence and illusion.
You cannot make the journey along the Sagittarius and Pisces path to higher teachings, intuitive knowledge, and spiritual learning without Virgo's background and foundation – without acquiring the equipment and skills which allow us to survive there and without fulfilling the concrete requirements. If we start without Virgo equipment, our heads can spin at great heights, we can get lost without finding a way into the depth of greatness, we can live in confusion, in a blur, and we can reach that wholeness and spirituality, not in our whole life, but only in small parts when we move away from the life we live, when we escape and numb ourselves.
"David" by Michelangelo
Source: Michelangelo, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
All of these things happen because we haven't built enough muscle for the promised spirituality of Pisces to take over our whole life. On the path of awareness, if we do not work and do not keep learning by bending our heads, our hope towards enlightenment and expecting the jewel inside will reveal itself one day would become our greatest deception.
The great Renaissance artist Michelangelo was busy carving an enormous block of marble, and a young man asked why he was working so hard with this tiring work. The artist replied, raising his head from the marble which would become his most magnificent sculpture, David:
Young man, there is an angel inside this rock, and I am setting him free.
Michelangelo's answer is a good expression for the finale of Pisces, which we must prepare for in Virgo style. If we all would like to reveal ourselves as a work of art and go beyond ourselves, we must complete the education path of Virgo and learn its tiring and masterful task. Otherwise, without being rasped on the path of Virgo, we become scattered and lost in the chaos of the Pisces process, and we can see our inner work of art only in our dreams or fantasy world.
Author:
Aysem Aksoy is a consulting and teaching astrologer in Turkey.
Born in 1970, Istanbul. She studied chemistry and worked as a fashion designer for the textile industry for ten years. Her passion for drawing and astrology came at a very early age. She attended Baris Ilhan's (C.A., NCGR) astrology classes and apprenticeship program between 1997-2002. Since 2002, teaches astrology at Ilhan Astrology Institute Correspondence Programme and gives seminars. She is one of the founding members and vice president of the NCGR-Istanbul Chapter. Ayşem has NCGR Level III Certification.
Since 2000 she has painted astrological, symbological, and mythological paintings. Her particular expertise is in painting personal birth charts. Also, she paints book covers and edits astrology and psychology books for Baris Ilhan Publishing Company.
© 2023 - Aysem Aksoy
