Paris: a Virgo kind of town

I was at a rather low-key, casual gathering the other week. The host had put out red wine, but all the wine glasses were in use, so he brought out the backups, champagne flutes.  I took a glass, filled it with wine, and was minding my own business, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a woman bee-lining her way towards me from across the room.

Shaking her finger at me in a tsk tsk manner, she then said quite loudly, “You are drinking wine out of a champagne glass.”  I told her they were the only glasses left. She looked at me condescendingly and said, while shaking her head, “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter”, (she repeated this twice). I refused to get sucked into whatever trip she was on and didn’t respond and just stared back blankly; sensing this, she moved on.

To many foreigners these types of encounters make them feel they are in a city of uptight, prissy nosy parkers ready to get into their business. This type of behavior can be impossibly baffling to the non-French residents of this fair city. Is it something in the water? Has the human population been swapped out for perfectionist animatronic robots by some evil mastermind at EuroDisney? I have seen the film the Stepford Wives, and I am scared. And like the Katharine Ross character from that film, I feel like carrying around a knife, so that when I am confronted by one of these acmes of human perfection, I can say, “Look I am human, I am flawed, when I cut myself I bleed....and you?”

So what exactly is it about Paris? Well, cities, just like people, have signs, and Paris is ruled by Virgo, big time. This means that just like a person with a Virgo sun sign, the city of Paris itself gives off a Virgo vibe. Virgo is the sign of the perfectionist. If you are feeling as frustrated as I sometimes do, understanding these Virgo characteristics and learning how how to cope with them can help you to better navigate the local social landscape. There are also lots of positive characteristics of Virgo, so it is better to seek out the finer aspects of this city, and keep these in mind.

Virgo, like every sign, has a light and a shadow side to it. There can be amazingly wonderful qualities which, when afflicted, become negatives. We will examine how to deal with the negatives to neutralise them and get them back to positives. In this article, we will look into the general meaning of Virgoness, while in Part Two we will go more in depth into how these are manifested by Parisians and how to cope.

So what are the manifestations of Virgoness?

Virgos can, when afflicted, be shy, passive aggressive, stingy, paranoid, nervous, neurotic, bureaucratic, detail-oriented, wallow in martyrdom and place their mind over heart or soul. On the plus side, Virgo also rules the mind and this can be a city where philosophy and fine writing are part of the daily life. Virgo is also the sign of service to others, and there is a deep-seated compassionate nature to Parisians. For all their snarkiness, they never beat up the down-trodden or those who have some serious problem; they reserve their irony for those strong enough to cope with it. Virgo also rules health care and nutrition, and anyone who has moved here from the States can appreciate these aspects.

Virgo rules the 6th house, the house of service to others. There is the tendency to repress the individual in order to work for the betterment of the society as a whole. Outward markers, such as etiquette and social rules, form the basis of identity as opposed to an interior sense of freedom and expression, which Virgos can see as egomania. When Virgo energy is afflicted, it can tend towards moralising and judgement to those whose behaviour tends towards the iconoclast.

Moreover, earthy Virgos love order, and the comfort that a strong hierarchy can bring.  If you try to be an anglo-saxon self-starter, then you are not respecting the social order, and this chaos can breed fear and suspicion. Virgos know their place on the ladder and are happy to conform to the role of their station. Too much freedom makes them jittery.

Virgo is also the sign of the perfectionist. As Virgo rules the nervous system, if they feel they are somehow not living up to their perfect ideals, or if they are confronted by a new situation, they can get really nervous. Fear and self-doubt is the underlying cause for their passive aggression.

A Virgo Twin City

Virgo also rules the city of Boston, and shares a bit of the same characteristics of Paris - Boston is a somewhat stuffy bourgeois paradise that doesn’t have the modern glamour of cities like LA or, dare I say, Miami or even New York. It has a kind of quiet genteelness to it, as does Paris. One only needs to take a trip to London or Milan to see how kind of square Paris is. There is a certain kind of antiseptic quality to both Boston and Paris, they lack the overt modern, sexiness to be found in other cities. No ostentatious glamour allowed. The Miss Manners type of etiquette of the Boston Brahmin is quite similar to social conventions of the Parisian bourgeoisie. Boston is also the leading city for medicine and hospitals in the USA.

Some Famous Virgos

Jane Austen novels represent a lot of Virgo traits. Jane has Virgo rising. Our rising sign represents how we appear to others, while our sun represents who we really are. And while Jane seems the to be the archetype of the proper and chaste female, Jane’s sun of Sadge gives her the drive and ambition needed to become England’s first famous woman novelist.

Austen’s novels lost themselves in the details and were very much concerned with moral issues and judgements. Her heroines are prim and proper with
none of the passionate wildness of a Cathy Earnshaw in her doomed love for Heathcliffe (Emily Bronte was a Leo / Scorpio combo). The Austen world is one of organised control where etiquette rules over naturalness. Those Austen heroines would despise the uninhibited openness of Cathy Earnshaw - and comment on her use of the improper wine glass, which of course Cathy wouldn’t give a flying toss about.

The Virgo of the moment is John McCain, and his passive aggression hating of Obama’s Leo Ego is a good example of the Virgo energy. Virgos are happiest toiling in silence, serving others not for applause or the spotlight, but to live up to their very high perfectionist codes.

Virgos, like John McCain are like those kids in high school who study and do everything right only to see the charismatic wunderkind take the glory, and instead of taking their place on the stage, stand on the sidelines smirking and seething, spreading innuendo and snark. See my article John McCain portrait of a Virgo for more on this (LINK).

Paris does not treat the overtly extroverted very well. It is a city where a certain silence generates respect, and where a tacit following of procedure and a low profile will get you farther than taking visible risks.

In another article, I examine the top ten Virgo traits that are manifested by Paris, and how you can best neutralise or utilise these vibes to get about your business and enjoyment of life.

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