Virgo Transit Date of principal star:
13 April Virgo is the second largest constellation (after Hydra). As a member of the Zodiac, Virgo has a number of ancient myths and tales. The Sun passes through Virgo in mid-September, and is therefore the constellation that announces the harvest. Virgo is often represented as a "maiden" (as its name indicates). In antiquity, she may have been Isis, the Egyptian protectress of the living and the dead and the principal mother goddess. She was also Ishtar of the Sumerian-Chaldean civilisations, or "Inanna", meaning Queen of Heaven. Inanna is described by Kramer ( The Sumerians ) as an ambitious, aggressive, and demanding goddess of love. In Roman times the goddess Ceres was depicted: the goddess of the growth of food plants and harvests, and particularly corn. Her festival was in the second week of April, the same time that the constellation appears in the Spring skies. The Romans had simply adopted an earlier Greek goddess, Demeter. This goddess of agriculture was of the highest birth: born to Cronus and Rhea, she was the sister of Zeus. As evidence of her antiquity in Greek lore, her name has been found on a tablet from Pylos dating to the thirteenth century B.C. - Demeter was said by Homer to have "lain with Iasion in a thrice-plowed field", the result of which was the birth of Plutus, whose name translates as "riches from the soil" (perhaps "cornucopia" would be an appropriate description).
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