Virgo Mythology + the Wardrobe
What needs to be simplified so that you can harvest more?
A few years back, I worked at a small organic flower farm. The farm itself was gorgeous, and the plants were top-notch in quality and variety, but harvesting the flowers was an inefficient process. Compared to larger, commercial farms, plants were often scattered rather than block-planted in organized rows, and we harvesters didn’t have a system for how to cover ground nor determine how much needed to be picked.
While I fully believe in planting diverse self-sustaining food forests and wild landscapes over lawns (where one plant here and one of the same plant over there help build the ecosystem and healthy soil) a farm working with a small budget, and even smaller profit margins, needs to maximize time, space, and harvest with a different strategy than the one we had (in the least exploitative way as possible, of course).
One planning and harvesting approach by a new, neighboring small farm was the placement of energy into fewer flowers that offered greater returns. The neighboring farm chose flowers that could easily be grown in bulk, self-sow, are less finicky about our swinging desert temperatures, and can be offered at a low~ish price point. The selection of flowers may have felt repetitive and boring to us working in the field, but these plants worked for the business we were all in. (The flower farm I was employed by had exceptional and unusual flowers for the market, but the local market is NOT where they were going to bring in the dollars needed to sustain the farm.)
As I begin to work on the plans for my own cutting garden next year (I definitely want to spend less time watering) it got me thinking about how this process of flower farming feels a lot like the development and curation of a sustainable wardrobe, a wardrobe that supports one’s lifestyle needs and fulfills a few fantasies.
(Because who gets into small flower farming for the moonneyyy…it’s the beauty that draws us in, until we realize #bills…just like those stunning, but impractical fashions we buy and don’t really get that much use out of. They serve our joy, but they don't serve everyday needs.)
In a sustainable wardrobe, as in a sustainable farm, there are the go-to hero pieces (like the work-horse flowers) with a sprinkle of unusual treats (those once-in-a-while, special occasion garments — like the exotic stems far and few between).
There is an organized system that brings both efficiency (you know what you have to choose from without wasting time searching for something) and extra space for creative play (because flower farming and the art of dressing can be hard and fulfilling at the same time).
And, your resources (mental bandwidth, money, space) contribute to something that recharges the emotional batteries. (When you dress well, you feel better and do better. When the flowers are serving the market and supporting the bills/health of the workers, we willingly go back for more.)
And, you know what? There’s no better time than Virgo season to assess how the past year of both farming and dressing worked out (or didn’t) for us.
VIRGO Mythology
So it goes (in one version anyway)…high in the starry skies above, the constellation of Virgo is seen as the representation of Persephone, daughter of Demeter, the Greek Goddess of Earth and Harvest, and Zeus, King of the Gods and God of the Sky and Law.
Persephone and Demeter were bonded closely as mother and daughter, and both shared a love for the fruits of the land. One day, while spending time in the lush meadows, Persephone was lured into a crack in the earth by the intentional placement of a most exquisite narcissus flower by Hades, God of the Underworld, Ruler of Death, who lusted after Persephone to become his bride and future Queen of the Underworld.
When Persephone disappeared, Mother Demeter was distraught and angry (rightfully so) over the abduction of her daughter, and because of the little help Demeter received from the other Gods in rescuing Persephone, this Goddess of Grain refused to look over the crops and harvests any longer. In protest, she declared that flowers and crops would never grow again on Earth. As fruits and vegetables soon failed to produce, a great famine resulted for the mortals.
Meanwhile, Persephone refused all of her treats (jewels, entertainment, clothes, and food) offered from Hades. Had she accepted sustenance, she would be forever bound to the Underworld under the Law of Abode, having gone from an unwilling “captive” to a willing “house guest”…or, in this case, permanent “housewife”.
In the dying land above, Zeus, Persephone's father, was forced to deal with Demeter’s wrath and recover his daughter. But, before Persephone could be rescued, her long and delirious hunger led her to be tricked into consuming six (or three or four) sweet pomegranate seeds. Each seed would come to represent one month of the year Persephone would have to live in the Underworld with Hades as this was the agreement Hades and Zeus made so that Persephone could live out part of the year with Demeter above and part of the year with Hades below. (1/3 to 1/2 of the year is to be debated. If you are a scholar of Greek mythology, please fill me in.)
During each of these months Persephone lived in the Underworld, Demeter would make sure the land above was barren without harvest. This became the season we know as Winter. Upon Persephone’s return to Earth, crops and flowers would bloom again in Spring…thus the cycles of nature began.
Key Words for Virgo’s Higher Calling: Critique (over criticism), Earthly Caretaker, Embracing the Balance of both/and (vs. either/or thinking), Honoring Intuition, Maximizing Harvest and Results, Organization and Planning, Systematization
VIRGO Season and the Wardrobe
The period of the year when the Sun passes through the constellation of Virgo in the sky is the gateway to the Fall and Winter seasons that (can) serve as a much-needed pause for reflection (and grief) of all that was held in the months prior. The light of the day is shortening in the Northern Hemisphere, and soon, more time may be spent inside and in solitude mending, resting from, and reviewing all that was in operation during the Spring and Summer months.
In the fields, last calls begin for harvests, while the grounds are also prepped in anticipation for next year’s first blooms. If there are questions about what to plant new and again, what needs to be fixed, and how to arrange the fields for maximizing yield, now is the time to ask them and plan out their answers.
Within the wardrobe, warm weather clothes are put away for next year, and we digest the summer memories that have been made. Now is the time to look at what you own and what you have been keeping yourself responsible for. What was ill-fitted? What wasn’t touched? What is ready for release? What can you not wait to wear again next year?
Side Note: those with Virgo-sensitive charts are known to mentally agonize, self-criticize, analyze to death, nit-pick, and lean into logic over intuition (Virgos are very intuitive btw!) — and softening this style of review can lessen the stress of this transitional season.
Virgo season is an excellent time to engage in the clearing and restructuring of your wardrobe’s landscape, so that your heart feels lighter and has greater capacity to receive in the Spring.
Key Words for the Virgo Wardrobe: Classics, Clean Lines, Details, Investment Pieces, Prep aesthetic, Organization, Quality, Wardrobe Systems (whether that is the arrangement of the items, or in how items mix and match for maximum versatility)
