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Sometimes the only tidy thing you see around Virgo is his bookshelf, for many Virgos respect to an inordinate degree the entire field of knowledge. His books are to him the personifications of his mind, and his mind is often like one of those intricate workings of a delicate Swiss watch, carelessly moving and cataloguing and reflecting and considering and labeling. He may live with a heap on the living room carpet, but you can bet he's cleaning up his psyche. A lot of Virgos take to astrology like ducks to water - that is, if they can ever get over the resistance to the aura of vague spiritualism which popular columns have mistakenly cast upon the study - because astrology and other cosmological maps offer them confirmation that the universe is basically orderly, and that God Himself is innately tidy.
The impulse to be of service also runs strong in Virgo. Virgos need to be needed, and they need to be useful. The typical Virgo is not particularly ambitious; he lacks the onesidedness necessary to go after one goal wholeheartedly. In many ways his tendency to look for wider and wider pieces to complete the great jigsaw puzzle takes away any propensity for him to focus everything on one piece. It's a rare Virgo who aims for the position of obvious power. Most of the time you find them as advisors or counselors to someone else who's silly enough to have taken the throne and subjected himself to all that trouble. Virgo, clever as always, prefers to lurk behind the throne and keep himself out of the line of fire. Realistic, remember? Foolhardy Leos and Ariens and Capricorns aim for the top. Virgo knows that what comes up must come down; he'd rather keep his feet on the ground, thank you very much. Unless a Virgo has a lot of Leo in his chart, or the sun strongly placed in the horoscope, you'll usually only meet him through his work, rather than through his outgoing personality. Most characteristic Virgos are quite shy, or if not actually retiring, then subtler and quieter than their friends born under other signs. Being earthy, Virgo does like his security, and the need for security is often a problem because it keeps Virgo from trying out creative possibilities that require daring and a little bit of gamble. Ask a typical Virgo to gamble and he'll get a white, shocked look. Gamble? How horrible! You never know when life might deal you a blow; better to plan and prepare for the future. You often meet Virgos who have been rooted in rather limiting jobs for many years, where their natural intelligence and imagination are stifled, because of the wonderful security of that regular salary cheque. Besides, Virgo is more curious about what makes the wheels on the car run than he is being the driver and entering the race. He's a student and observer of life rather than a gambler or an entrepreneur. It's said that Virgos make better servants than rulers. This is undoubtedly true. Remember the historical characters like Cardinal Richelieu. Being a power behind the throne suits the Virgo very well. Craftsmanship and craftiness often run together in this subtle sign. Mercury, in mythology, was also the god of thieves and liars, and presided over the business deal.
There's another trait, sometimes endearing and sometimes infuriating, that's worth noting here about Virgo. This is his obsessiveness. He may be obsessive about order or tidiness in the obvious way, but equally often he's obsessive about emotional orderliness and tidiness. That is, never show your own emotional weaknesses. Virgo is a great controller of emotion. In fact, if you watch a more obsessional Virgo for a while, you begin to get the queer feeling that he's organizing rituals to keep the forces of darkness at bay. Whether it's the object-obsessive Virgo who puts all the yellow shirts on the left side of the cupboard and falls into a hysterical fit if you introduce a blue one, or the tightlipped emotionally constricted Virgo who analyses everything in a kind of frenzied desire to keep any ripped psychological seam from showing, the root is the same. You guessed it. All that chaos and emotional sensitivity and sloppiness, and romanticism and vision lurk secretly in the recesses of Virgo's soul. He has to fight against his own chaos far too often to be tolerant of vagueness and woolliness in others or in the world around him. There's too much of it in him. Virgo's apparent hardness and ruthlessness - no sign is quite so adept at
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