August 23 - September 22

Virgo the "Virgin" is one of the signs that has many stories behind it. One of the better-known stories involves Persephone (the goddess of spring) being kidnapped by Hades (the god of the underworld) who forced her to marry him.

When Persephone's mother Demeter (the goddess of the harvest) heard of her kidnapping, she decided to ruin the harvests out fo the anguish of losing her daughter. In her despair, she went to Persephone's father Zeus (the god of the gods and lightning) and demanded that she be found at once.

Hermes (the messenger of the gods and also the god of merchants) was sent to the underworld to retrieve her from Hades, but when he arrived he found that Persephone was not in distress at all. Instead, she was a strong, beautiful queen of the dead. She said that she had found her calling in accepting the newly dead into the underworld.

As she is torn with by desire to return to her mother or to remain in the underworld as Hades' wife, Hades offers her a pomegranate. When she visits her mother up above, she has changed. She has tasted the fruit of life and the red stain of the pomegranate was the proof.

To comply with both of her duties, Persephone rises from the underworld every spring and she brings back with her the color of life. This is why this constellation is only visible for the spring months in the northern hemisphere.

Check out the stories behind the other astrological signs: