Earth · Mutable
Virgo
The Maiden, the 6th sign of the zodiac year, usually printed as 23 August – 22 September.
- Element
- Earthpracticality, endurance and the material world, in the tradition
- Modality
- Mutablethe signs that close a season, traditionally read as adapters
- Traditional ruler
- MercuryAssigned before the outer planets were found
- Modern ruler
- MercurySame as the traditional ruler.
When the sun actually crosses
The moment the sun enters Virgo and the moment it leaves for Libra, each year from 2015 to 2026, in UTC to the minute.
| Year | Sun enters Virgo | Sun leaves for Libra |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 23 August, 10:37 UTC | 23 September, 08:21 UTC |
| 2016 | 22 August, 16:39 UTC | 22 September, 14:21 UTC |
| 2017 | 22 August, 22:20 UTC | 22 September, 20:02 UTC |
| 2018 | 23 August, 04:08 UTC | 23 September, 01:54 UTC |
| 2019 | 23 August, 10:02 UTC | 23 September, 07:50 UTC |
| 2020 | 22 August, 15:45 UTC | 22 September, 13:31 UTC |
| 2021 | 22 August, 21:35 UTC | 22 September, 19:21 UTC |
| 2022 | 23 August, 03:16 UTC | 23 September, 01:04 UTC |
| 2023 | 23 August, 09:01 UTC | 23 September, 06:50 UTC |
| 2024 | 22 August, 14:55 UTC | 22 September, 12:44 UTC |
| 2025 | 22 August, 20:34 UTC | 22 September, 18:20 UTC |
| 2026 | 23 August, 02:19 UTC | 23 September, 00:06 UTC |
VSOP87, checked against published equinox and solstice times.
Which dates can be Virgo
Since 1920 the sun has entered Virgo on 22 August, 23 August or 24 August, and left it for Libra on 22 September, 23 September or 24 September (UTC). On those dates the sign depends on the year, and in a crossing year on the hour; each date's page gives every year.
In the tradition
In Western astrological tradition, Virgo is classed as a mutable earth sign. Mutable signs are the signs that close a season, traditionally read as adapters, and earth signs are traditionally associated with practicality, endurance and the material world. Its ruling planet in that tradition is Mercury.
These are associations reported from tradition, not claims about anyone born under the sign.
Justice, who left the earth
Hesiod, Hyginus says, made her the daughter of Jove and Themis, and Aratus the daughter of Astraeus and Aurora, who lived among people in the Golden Age and led them. For her care and fairness she was called Justice, and while she stayed no nation went to war and no one sailed the seas. As later people grew greedier she came among them less often, and when the Brazen Race was born she could bear no more and flew away to the stars.
Others called her Fortune or Ceres, and disputed who she was "because her head is dimly seen." Some made her Erigone, daughter of Icarus, and some an infant daughter of Apollo named Parthenos, put among the stars by her father because she died young.
Hyginus, Astronomica, book 2, in Mary Grant's translation (1960), chapter 2.25, checked .