Although this is the seventh zodiacally related set I have created for the Jewel Mines, Virgo is the sixth sign of the zodiac. Its symbol, the Virgin, does *not* represent what ``virgin" has come to mean in these times. The word ``virgin" originally meant ``unnattached to a man".The Virgin referred to here is the Kore, one of the three integral facets of the threefold Mother Goddess, who is virgin, mother and crone. The relation to fertility and the earth is still evident in the image of Virgo that has come down through the ages: a young woman holding a sheaf of wheat in her arms.

The issues of dependence versus independence, of the great service that is our life, and of what and how we choose to serve are very much Virgo/sixth ``house" of the chart issues.

And in case you were wondering about the little cockatiel, Mercury, the ruler of Virgo, rules birds, and Virgo and the sixth house rule pets. Somehow, I couldn't see my Virgo holding a hefty blue and gold macaw or the snow white umbella cockatoo on her hand, so I pressed my ‘tiel, Kukulino, into artistic service. The two other small parrots, a nanday and a lory, where uncooperative, maybe because they are not Virgo sun sign birds ;->

Virgo's metal is brass, and its stones are jade and peridot. I chose peridot, mostly because it sparkles and because I had recently done a set with a lot of jade.  The two bullets included with this set are the glyph for Virgo and the glyph for its planetary ruler, Mercury, with a peridot in its center.

Poppies are *not* Virgo flowers, but what is a wheatfield without poppies?

This artiste and astrologer is an Aquarius. I'm zodiacally entitled to make quirky decisions like that.

The colors in this set are astrologically related to Virgo, which is an earth sign. To represent an actual person is also correct, since Virgo is one of the three ``human" signs, ie, the three signs symbolized by a human: Gemini, Virgo and Aquarius.