Earthy Pleasures with the Sun in Virgo

Virgo, from the Zodiac Window in Chartes Cathedral

Question: What do farmers in northern France do when the Sun is in Virgo and the harvest is in?

Answer: Hold a local agricultural fair to show off the fruits of their labours and the produce of the land, demonstrate their skills and celebrate the bounty of the earth.

I spent the Virgo month of September in France, beginning with a visit to belle-fille's (daughter-in-law's) family in Picardy, and went along to the local agricultural fair where her farming brother was taking part in a ploughing competition. The whole event was very earthy, reflecting the earth element of Virgo, itself a practical Sign of precision, nurturing and attention to detail. With my Sun also in Virgo (and yes, a birthday coming up), I went along to this event and viewed it through an astrological lens.

Arriving by car at the venue (a very large field in the middle of nowhere), we were directed to another large field nearby to park. This was ploughed neatly and precisely into sets of long earthy furrows, with enough space between each to park 2 rows of cars. It was around then that my astrological eyes clicked open! We headed off towards the ploughing match area. Way in the distance the tractors on their allocated plots could be seen ploughing and turning up and down as they created precise furrows.


Belle-fille's brother had already spoken of how difficult it was to meet the exact requirements in this competition - each furrow has to be of a certain depth and width, each competitor has a judge watching and checking every furrow ploughed.

The contrast between modern farm machinery and traditional methods was marked. Belle-fille's brother was driving a large tractor and ploughing 6 furrows at a time. A demonstration of old style ploughing with 2 horses attracted a lot of attention.........

.......as did the sheepdog rounding up the flock in a Virgoan way, keeping things nice and tidy!

There were produce stalls of all kinds, with tasting and sampling included. And just to show that there's more to French bread than baguettes, here's a line up of organic flour and the many varieties and flavours of bread that was made from it.

There were farm animals on show too, and although I didn't see a Capricornian goat, I did touch Taurus when I stroked a beautiful creamy-white Charolais bull named Velours (Velvet). Astrology is vibrant, living and all around if we know where and how to look for it!