With the Sun in Virgo, you have an academic, logical approach to life. No detail is too small or unimportant to be uncared for, as together they make up the larger picture. For real considerate, and real inner wholeness, are your goals and you need to cut up your experience so that you can manufacture it into a new whole, that has real meaning for you. But you are also very realistic and down to earth and you have no time for dreams or abstract concepts if they do not make an impact on the here and now, or improve the lot of those around you. In fact, as time goes by and you find your way in life, helping others find their inner wholeness takes pride of place, for therapeutic, physical condition and wholeness are the sign of Virgo's main concerns.

Your ruling planet
Mercury, the adaptable, quick-witted messenger of the gods and guide of souls, rules communication, commerce, wit and learning. The connection between this world and the next, he was also the guardian of travellers and the bringer of luck. For the Greeks, he was Hermes, the inventor of music. The planet which belongs to him lies closest to the Sun. Its colour is vibrant lemon yellow, its jewel is agate and its metal, mercury or quicksilver. Its position at birth describes your mind and intellectual powers.

The sign and house it occupies, as well as the connections it makes to other planets, show not only how you communicate, but what kind of mind you have - how you think and rationalize - and how, and what, you learn. Its position also shows your relationships to your brothers and sisters - or your lack of them. Above all, it is worried with making connections. It also rules all forms of trade and commerce. Virgo, the virgin carrying an ear of wheat, was worshipped as the goddess of the harvest in the ancient world. The earth's bounty - flowers, fruits and fields of grain -were seen as her Beloved, whom she mourned at harvest time, when he was cut down in his prime. Having spent the winter in the underworld, he was reborn each spring and reunited with her. 3000 galaxies, unknown in ancient times, lie behind her head and shoulders. Virgo, carrying the Ear of Wheat - the bright star, Spica - lies between Leo and Libra on the zodiac band.

The flowers of the ancient Corn Goddess, Virgo, are poppies, while the flowers of Mercury, Virgo's planet, are lily of the valley and honeysuckle, the most pleasantly scented flowers of the shady woodlands and the waysides that Mercury rules. Quick-witted Mercury also owns all crisp and sharply fragrant flowers and herbs, such as lavender, lemongrass and mint. Your herbs are marjoram, parsley, valerian and dill, and your trees are the hazel and palm.

Your essential oils are lavender, lemongrass and peppermint, which all bring clarity and peacefulness to Virgo's busy, analytical temperament, soothing the emotions.

As the ruler of the harvest, Virgo is the sign of the great earth goddess, called a 'virgin' because she is whole self-contained. Its precious stone is agate, coloured and decorative like the earth itself and its greenery, which was believed to heal insomnia and give pleasurable dreams. The agate calms Virgo's logical mind, making its owners 'agreeable and influential', and helping its wearer to win their beloved's affection. Agate amulets were in great demand in the 18th century, as they were believed to ward off the evil eye with the vigilance of a guardian spirit.