Virgos are born between August 24 to September 22 and reside in the zodiacal 6^th House of work, health and pets.  What this fails to tell you is that Virgos are the only ones in the known universe who know how to do things exactly right.  I kid you not.  Virgos are perfectionists to a fault and will let you know in a heartbeat, thanks to being ruled by Mercury, that those pitiful efforts of yours are flawed, inferior and probably beyond any hope of redemption.  If only they could run the world, everything would be just fine.  Environmental problems would go away, politicians would cease to lie, wars end and budgets balance.  All we need to do is listen and do what they say and a perfect world could be ours.

Yeah, right.

Of course they hide behind this diminutive symbol of a maiden which would imply that they’re the nicest people in the world.  And they can fool you into believing that for a while.  Being driven by their quest for perfection, they have impeccable manners and can be exceptionally polite, leading you to believe that they’re some of the nicest and best educated people you’ve ever met.  But after you’ve known them for a while, the "constructive criticism" begins and before you know it they’ve torn you to shreds. All with a smile, of course.  Your first clue should have been that "I'm Surrounded by Idiots" bumper sticker on their perfectly groomed car, old though it may be.

Needless to say they’re meticulous in everything they do.  Their clothes always match and their closets are better organized than any given clothing rack at Lord and Taylor.  If their home appears less than perfect in any way, it could be because they got frustrated trying to get everything in order and ran out of shelves, drawers, cabinets and closet space. You’ve probably known people who are "secret slobs."  Their house appears spotless, but if you open a cabinet or closet you risk being buried in debris that has been haphazardly stashed out of sight.  Virgos can be "secret neat freaks."  Their closets, drawers, etc. will be all lined up perfectly but when they run out of storage space, they just leave the rest of the stuff lying around wherever.  Being perfectionists, if they can't do it exactly right, they don't do it at all.  With their great memories, they always seem to be able to find what they want and will somehow make it your fault if you can’t find something they left out for lack of a proper storage space.

Along these lines, they also tend to be clean freaks.  One of my children is a Virgo and he would go on cleaning frenzies where he’d organize the pantry or scrub out the microwave.  Believe me that was NOT normal behavior for a teenager. They’ll change their clothes as often as necessary so they look neat and clean, yet some of them have a remarkable earthy side (they’re an Earth Sign, by the way) in that they can find a significant amount of humor in body sounds of all varieties. Another art form, I suppose, since they can be quite creative and talented in the arts.

Being an Earth Sign they are practical and their picky nature makes them careful shoppers who always balance their checkbook.  They make great accountants or any other profession that gets down and dirty with details.  Their memories are like a steel trap, particularly for anything you ever did that was wrong or offended them.  In spite of being able to dish out criticism, they are very sensitive themselves and get their feelings hurt easily.  Earth Signs don’t talk about their feelings much, but they have them, and will nurse a grudge for a long time (you too, Taurus and Capricorn).

Since their powers of observation are so astute, they can find something wrong with virtually anything.  If there’s a misspelled word in a thousand-page document, they’ll find it. If someone is a minute late they’ll say something.  If they’re on hold too long, the grocery store runs out of a sale item, or a meal doesn’t measure up some one will hear about it.  Since the world is so hopelessly imperfect they have a target rich environment for their critical eye and plenty to complain about.  And love every minute of it.

Of course since they’re perfect, nothing is ever their fault.  If they admitted they’d done something wrong their entire world would collapse.  There will always be an excuse and a means to blame the problem, no matter how small, on someone else.  This does not go well with that someone else is their boss and Virgos have a real propensity for problems in that area.  They're smart, honest to a fault, and work hard, but they often don't seem to get ahead because they absolutely can't play the schmoozing game they need to in order to get there, at least not for an extended amount of time or during a crisis.

Residing in that 6^th House, they are exceptionally hard workers and, as masters of detail, can be handy to have around in the workplace, that is if you can stand all that griping about everyone who doesn’t quite make muster.  As you can imagine, they make great auditors, which endears them even more to their coworkers.  Related to this is the fact that Virgo tends to be somewhat resistant to obtaining a higher education.  This is for various reasons.  First of all, as perfectionists they like to think they already know everything worth knowing.  Thus, they are also nearly phobic about admitting when they don't know something, to themselves as well as others, for the same reason.  Then, on top of that, to actually enroll in school they'd have to admit imperfection.  Should they get past all this and actually enroll, then they'd expect themselves to get straight "A's" and feel like a failure if they didn't.  So you see their dilemma if they don't find a field of study where they can ace every class.  Test anxiety is very common for these folks since they're as hard on themselves as everyone else.

Another 6^th House characteristic is the love of animals of all kinds.  In fact, they’re quite inclined to like their pets more than the people in their life.  After all, a dog is only a dog and a cat only a cat so the expectations for their behavior are much lower, plus animals don’t pass personal judgment on people or get tired of listening to their tales of woe and other frustrations.  Along with trying to attain perfection is their search for the Fountain of Youth.  Virgos are particularly health conscious and will generally eat a reasonably healthy diet and have more than the usual number of bottles of vitamins in the cupboard. Since they go around the better part of the time worried, frustrated and/or annoyed by all the problems in the world, they’re inclined to have blood pressure problems.  Nonetheless, they’re reliable, hard working, loyal and generally fine folks to be around.  Just don’t take it too personally when they tell you that shirt really doesn’t quite go with that pair of pants.

Okay, so I’m being pretty hard on these folks.  Maybe it’s my own Virgo Ascendant coming out.  Or deep-seeded resentments from my own childhood, which was spent with two Virgo parents who carefully pointed out my every flaw.  Of course that was for my own good, so that I could eliminate my many faults, though it didn’t work out that way.  In all fairness, Virgos are their own worst critic and are usually too hard on themselves, as well.  Perfectionism is a heavy load to carry.  What they need to realize is that while they see it as a virtue, the rest of the world views it as a fault.  Virgos should bear that in mind the next time they're dishing out some unsolicited, constructive criticism and get another one of those looks.

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Attitude:  I'm surrounded by idiots.