About August 23 to September 22. The end of the sign is the September equinox, whose date moves with the year, so a birthday near the 22nd can fall in Libra in some years.

Is Virgo an earth sign?

Yes, the mutable earth sign, between Taurus and Capricorn. Earth deals in the practical and the physical, and Virgo applies that to detail: the method, the measurement, the body's maintenance.

What planet rules Virgo?

Mercury, which also rules Gemini. In Gemini the planet gathers and talks; in Virgo it sorts and checks. No second ruler has been widely agreed for Virgo, although some modern writers have proposed one.

Astrology basics · The twelve signs

What Virgo means: the sign that checks the work

Virgo is the sixth sign, the last thirty degrees before the September equinox. Earth and mutable, ruled by Mercury, Pisces opposite. The Sun passes through Virgo from about August 23 to September 22, as northern summer ends, and the sign's house is the 6th: work as routine, health, the daily grind, being of use.

Element: Earth
Modality: Mutable
Ruling planet: Mercury
Sun in Virgo: About August 23 to September 22
Opposite sign: Pisces
Natural house: The 6th

The last sign of summer

Virgo runs from 150 to 180 degrees of the ecliptic, the stretch that ends at the September equinox, where the Sun passes south over the equator. It is a sign, a twelfth of the circle reckoned from the spring equinox, not the constellation Virgo, which now lies about a sign further along; the Aries page explains the drift. Virgo is mutable, closing its season, and the second of the earth signs.

Virgo makes a planet careful

Virgo hands a planet a checklist. Its work gets done precisely, in order, with the mistakes found first and the praise left for later. Venus in Virgo shows affection by fixing the thing that was broken. Mars in Virgo wins by being better prepared than anyone else in the room. Jupiter in Virgo is generous with its time and its proofreading, and expects more of itself than it is given.

Virgo placements people search for

A Virgo Sun notices the typo on the menu, says nothing, and mentions it on the way home. The job it is for is the one that can be done properly, the drawer that finally closes or the recipe followed to the gram, and when a job can only be done roughly it does the roughness properly.

An unsettled evening with a Virgo Moon ends with the laundry folded, the list rewritten and the kitchen wiped down, and only then is the feeling itself looked at. Being useful to the people it loves is how it feels safe, and a house where there is nothing left to do for them is a house it cannot rest in.

Virgo rising arrives on time with the directions already printed. The handshake is neat, the questions are specific, and the first impression is of someone who has noticed the smudge on the glass and decided not to mention it yet.

Pisces opposite, Mercury, the 6th house

Pisces is opposite Virgo: the particular at one end and the dissolved whole at the other, with a Virgo planet in constant dialogue with the Pisces end. Mercury rules Virgo as it rules Gemini, and here the planet's taking-in and saying is turned toward detail and use. Virgo's house is the 6th: routine, health, the work that has to be done every day.

See Virgo in your own chartA free birth chart, with the reading, from your date, time and place.

Questions

What dates is Virgo?: About August 23 to September 22. The end of the sign is the September equinox, whose date moves with the year, so a birthday near the 22nd can fall in Libra in some years.
Is Virgo an earth sign?: Yes, the mutable earth sign, between Taurus and Capricorn. Earth deals in the practical and the physical, and Virgo applies that to detail: the method, the measurement, the body's maintenance.
What planet rules Virgo?: Mercury, which also rules Gemini. In Gemini the planet gathers and talks; in Virgo it sorts and checks. No second ruler has been widely agreed for Virgo, although some modern writers have proposed one.