The Legend of Virgo Virgo: the image of a female deity has long been associated by early cultures with the constellation of Virgo. Ancient star maps often depict a winged woman holding stalks of wheat or corn in her left hand. The bright star that represents the woman's left hand is called Spica, which means Ear of Grain in Latin. The representation of the constellation as a goddess of cultivation is due to the position of the summer solstice within this portion of the sky from 6000 to 4000 BC. Its appearance marked the time of harvest and the change of seasons. The figure of a woman within this portion of the sky was probably determined by the matriarchal societies of this era when the development of the sciences and arts of agriculture and grafting, the domestication of animals and the settling of cities was occurring. The Arabs called Spica the Defenseless One because it lacks bright companion stars. It is visible on clear summer nights if you trace a line from Polaris to the south, through Arcturus in Boötes. It also forms a large triangle with Arcturus and Denebola in the constellation Leo that can be used to orient yourself. Some of the mythological representations of Virgo are Nana, Eve, Istar, Demeter, Hecate, Themis, Hera, Astraea, Diana, Cybele, Isis, Fortuna, Erigone, Sibylla and the Virgin Mother. All representations of the Great Mother in some form. She who existed before the masculine gods of ancient and classical mythology.
Mesopotamia: the constellation is represented by the Hittite goddess Sala, goddess of fertility and agriculture as well as Nana, an agricultural goddess of Sumerian-Akkadian derivation. She is eventually associated with one of several goddesses known variously as Ishtar and Istar who represent springtime, the harvest, innocent and married love and eventually ritualized prostitution, war and death. This final incarnation is Istar, daughter of Anu the sky and known from the Epic of Gilgamesh. The constellation is sometimes referred to as the Furrow, with the brightest star of the constellation, Spica, representing a stalk of grain.
Egypt: Virgo represents the goddess Isis, the moon goddess-wife of Osiris the god of fertility and agriculture, and mother of Horus the new moon. Isis originally represented the Great Mother, similar to Nana and Themis. She is usually depicted as a woman carrying a small child in her arms, probably the infant Horus. The image eventually came to represent the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus.
Greece: well before the written word, the Great Mother existed. Long after the ascension of the male gods of classical mythology she still existed in the form of the Titan Themis. No god dared to work contrary to her wishes. Mother of the Hours and Order, Themis regulated the passage of time and the seasons and was known as the Great Goddess of Necessity. The mythical Hours, Eunomia, or Legal Order; Dice, or Just Recompense; and Irene, or Peace; were the goddesses of civilization and peace who guarded the gates of Olympus. When Dice felt that mankind no longer respected justice, she retreated to the mountains and later abandoned the earth for the sky becoming the Virgin.Another classical reference names the Virgin as Demetra or Demeter (Ceres), goddess of crops, vegetation, fertility, the harvest and civilization. Demeter's daughter, Core (Persephone), was abducted by Hades while she was gathering flowers. Taking her to his dark kingdom, he made her his wife. In her grief over the loss of her daughter, Demeter ceased the growth of green plants. Animals and men starved. They prayed to Zeus to stop their anguish. He spoke to Hades on behalf of civilization asking him to return the girl to her mother. Zeus appointed the goddess Hecate to act as council and determine a fair means of deciding if Core should be returned to her mother. Hecate decided that if Core had not eaten any food while in the realm of the dead, she could return to her mother with no obligations to Hades. The god of the Tartarus agreed to what he considered a fare decision. In fact Core had eaten seven seeds from a pomegranate and would therefore have to remain in Tartarus. Demeter threatened to continue the suspension of plant growth until Zeus interfered. He decreed that Core stay with Hades for three months of the year as his wife. She would return to her mother for the balance. During her time in Tartarus, the growth of plants is suspended, they wither and die as Demeter pines for her lost daughter. With her return in the spring, new plant growth returns to Earth.
Christian beliefs: with the rise of the patriarchal society and religion of Christianity, no strong female figure was easily recognizable. The Virgin Mary, as mother of God, became the obvious representation of all the noble and necessary feminine traits of the Great Mother. Her representation in the stars was placed with Virgo.Back to the Constellations
