Moon in Virgo: dignity by chart, and what the texts say

The Moon in Virgo is the Moon in a sign ruled by Mercury. BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 12-13 makes the Moon the mind, and the sign it occupies at birth is the moon sign, or Janma Rashi - the sign this app counts transits and Sade Sati from. So this one placement is read twice: as a planet in a sign, with a dignity and a classical description, and as the reference point for much of the rest of the chart. What it does in a given chart depends on the house Virgo occupies, the house the Moon rules from your Lagna, and the planets that aspect it.

This page covers only the combination. For the Moon as a graha - significations, strength, phases and its Mahadasha - start with the Moon in Vedic astrology. For the sign - its element, its nakshatras and what it means rising - see Virgo, Kanya Rashi. The short definition of the moon sign itself is under moon sign. This page is a map of rules, not a forecast about anyone.

Moon in Virgo: dignity, and how this app decides it

The neighbouring placements are Moon in Leo and Moon in Libra; the dignity terms used below are collected under dignity.

Virgo is neither the Moon's exaltation, its debilitation nor its own sign. BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 49-50 puts the Moon's exaltation in Taurus, deepest at 3 degrees, and its debilitation in Scorpio; Sl. 51-54 gives its Mooltrikon in Taurus after the first 3 degrees; its own sign is Cancer. Those cases have their own pages: Moon in Taurus, Moon in Scorpio and Moon in Cancer.

So the Moon in Virgo is judged by its relation to the sign's lord, Mercury. Saravali Ch. 4 Sl. 28-29 names the Moon's natural friends as the Sun and Mercury and says the Moon has no enemies. Mercury is one of the two friends, so by the natural relation alone Virgo is a friendly sign for the Moon. The relation is not mutual: the same sloka makes the Moon Mercury's enemy. Only the Moon's side counts when the Moon is the planet being judged. The term is explained under naisargika maitri (natural friendship).

How the engine decides

dignityOf runs its tests in a fixed order: exaltation, then Moolatrikona, then debilitation, then own sign. The Moon in Virgo passes none of them, so the label comes from the last step, the fivefold relation (panchadha maitri) between the Moon and Mercury. That is the natural relation combined with a temporary one read from your own chart: by BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 56, a planet in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th sign from another is its temporary friend, and in any other position its temporary enemy. BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 57-58 then combines the two. So the degree of the Moon never changes the label in Virgo, but where Mercury sits does. The same Moon at the same degree can be Friendly sign in one chart and Neutral in another.

The engine gives Friendly sign a score of 1 and a sthana strength of 6.25, Neutral 0 and 5, and Enemy sign -1 and 0, so the difference shows up in the strength figures too. The temporary relation has its own glossary entry: tatkalika maitri.

The nakshatras the Moon moves through in Virgo

Virgo holds padas 2, 3, 4 of Uttara Phalguni, all four padas of Hasta, padas 1 and 2 of Chitra. For the Moon the nakshatra matters especially: the birth Moon's nakshatra sets the first Mahadasha of the Vimshottari sequence, whose lord this engine takes from the nakshatra's place in the cycle of nine. So a Moon in Virgo can open with any of three different Mahadashas, depending on its degree. The nakshatra pages go further: Uttara Phalguni, Hasta and Chitra.

What the classical texts say about the Moon in Virgo

Saravali Ch. 23 Sl. 37

Saravali Ch. 23, "Effects of the Moon in Various Rasis", gives each sign one descriptive line for the Moon and then six lines for the Moon in that sign aspected by each other planet. In paraphrase, the Virgo line lists learning, the role of a religious teacher, eloquence, truthfulness and purity, valour, kindness to living beings, a forgiving disposition, good fortune, interest in others' affairs, and more daughters than sons. It also praises the face, teeth, eyes and ears, which is description, not medical advice. It is a catalogue of qualities, not a single verdict.

Saravali Ch. 23 Sl. 38-43: the aspect lines

These six lines are where the reading turns. In paraphrase:

• Aspected by the Sun: in charge of royal wealth, famous, keeping one's word and performing distinguished acts.
• Aspected by Mars: skilled in mechanical or fine arts, famous, affluent, disciplined and courageous, though inauspicious for the mother.
• Aspected by Mercury: expert in astrology and literature, successful in disputes, and remarkably skilful.
• Aspected by Jupiter: foremost among relatives, happy, carrying out royal duties, keeping one's word and wealthy.
• Aspected by Venus: several spouses, cosmetics, pleasures, wealth and lasting fortune.
• Aspected by Saturn: a weak memory, poverty, unhappiness, separation from the mother and dependence on women.

Five of the six lines are favourable; only Saturn's is plainly poor. Mercury, the lord of Virgo and the Moon's natural friend, gives the scholar's line, and the Sun - also a natural friend of the Moon - a line about trust and office.

When Saravali says the results come to pass

Saravali closes the chapter with a condition (Ch. 23 Sl. 88): the effects described come to pass fully only when the lord of the Moon sign, the Moon sign itself and the Moon are all strong, and they vary with the dignities of the dispositor and of the aspecting planet. For a Moon in Virgo the dispositor is Mercury, so Mercury's own condition is part of the reading. The same book's chapter on dignities adds a general line. Ch. 45 Sl. 12-14 says the Moon in a friendly sign makes one happy and very honourable; Sl. 19-21 says the Moon in an inimical sign brings a loss of brightness and heart complaints - the text's claim, not medical advice. Since the fivefold relation can drop the Moon in Virgo from friendly to neutral, but never to enemy, only the first of those lines can apply here.

BPHS and Bhrigu Sutras

BPHS supplies the dignities, relationships and ratios used above (Ch. 3 Sl. 49-60). A search of the BPHS file found no sign-by-sign description of the Moon of the kind Saravali gives, so for the sign itself Saravali is the only text in the corpus with a character line.

Bhrigu Sutras' commentary on the Moon in the 1st house quotes Chamatkar Chintamani listing Virgo among the eight signs in which a rising Moon reads poorly. The commentator does not take up Virgo separately, so this page adds nothing to that.

How the sign changes the houses the Moon rules and sits in

The Moon rules one sign, Cancer. Counting whole-sign houses, the table gives where Virgo and Cancer fall from each Lagna, and the role BPHS Ch. 34 (Sl. 19-44) gives the Moon there, as coded in this app's Yoga Karaka table. The house pages - for example Moon in the 1st house, Moon in the 4th house and Moon in the 10th house - go further.

In Virgo the Moon sits in the 3rd sign counted from its own sign, so in every row the house it occupies is the 3rd from the house it rules. BPHS Ch. 34's roles turn only on lordship, not on the sign the Moon is in.

Worked example: 28 December 1999, 18:37 IST, New Delhi

An illustrative birth, not a real person, computed in this app's engine. Gemini rises at 27.51 degrees. The Moon is at 0.09 degrees of Virgo, in Uttara Phalguni pada 2, in the 4th house, not combust, and labelled Friendly sign. The Moon is never retrograde, and the engine marks it combust only within 12 degrees of the Sun.

Dignity. Mercury, the lord of Virgo, is in Sagittarius, the 4th sign counted from the Moon, so by BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 56 it is the Moon's temporary friend. Combined with the natural relation (friend), BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 57-58 gives great friend, and the engine labels the Moon Friendly sign. Had Mercury stood in a 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th or 9th sign from the Moon, the same Moon would read Neutral.

Lordship. With Gemini rising, Virgo is the 4th house and Cancer, the Moon's own sign, is the 2nd, so the Moon here is the lord of the 2nd sitting in the 4th. In the engine's BPHS Ch. 34 table for a Gemini Lagna, the Moon is listed as maraka (killer).

Aspects. Using the aspect rule this engine applies (every graha aspects the 7th sign from itself; Mars also the 4th and 8th, Jupiter the 5th and 9th, Saturn the 3rd and 10th, as in SPECIAL_DRISHTI in relationshipIntelligenceEngine.js), the Moon in the 4th house is aspected by Mars (in the 9th house, the Moon being the 8th sign from it). So Saravali Ch. 23 Sl. 38-43 brings the Mars line into play for this chart, as listed above.

Company. No other graha shares Virgo with the Moon in this chart. The Moon's nakshatra, Uttara Phalguni, is ruled by the Sun in the Vimshottari cycle, so this chart opens in a Sun Mahadasha.

Any reader can check every figure: enter 1999-12-28, 18:37, New Delhi in the Birth Chart calculator or the Moon Sign calculator, and the same positions come back.

How often the Moon is in Virgo

In this app's sample the Moon was in Virgo in 411 of 3,000 sampled birth moments 1985-2060 (13.7 per cent). That figure needs a warning. The sample steps 9 days, 2 hours and 37 minutes from one moment to the next. Bhrigu Sutras gives the Moon's round of the zodiac as 27 days, 7 hours and 43 minutes, so one step moves the Moon about four signs and successive samples keep landing in the same three signs, four apart. The table shows all twelve signs from the same run.

So for the Moon the sample says more about the sampling grid than about the sky. Over any real month the Moon passes through every sign; the engine's own transit table gives it about 2.25 days in each.

Checking the Moon in Virgo in your own chart

1. 1.Cast your chart with the Birth Chart calculator and confirm the Moon is in Virgo. Note its degree and nakshatra.
2. 2.Find Mercury, the lord of Virgo. Count from the Moon's sign to Mercury's sign: the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 10th, 11th or 12th makes a temporary friend, anything else a temporary enemy. That decides the label.
3. 3.Note the house Virgo occupies and the house Cancer occupies: those are where the Moon sits and what it rules.
4. 4.List any graha in the 7th sign from Virgo (Pisces), Mars in the 4th or 8th from it, Jupiter in the 5th or 9th, Saturn in the 3rd or 10th. Only those bring a Saravali Ch. 23 Sl. 38-43 line into play.
5. 5.For timing, see the Vimshottari Dasha calculator and the Moon Mahadasha page; for Saturn's transit around the moon sign, Sade Sati.

Is the Moon exalted or debilitated in Virgo?

Neither. The Moon is exalted in Taurus and debilitated in Scorpio. In Virgo it is in Mercury's sign, which is a friend's by nature. See Moon in Taurus.

Why can my chart call the Moon in Virgo "Neutral" when a table says "friendly"?

The table gives the natural relation only. Your Kundali page uses the fivefold relation (BPHS Ch. 3 Sl. 57-58), which adds where Mercury sits from the Moon in your chart. That is why Friendly sign or Neutral both occur.

What does Saravali say about the Moon in Virgo?

Ch. 23 Sl. 37 gives the sign line and Sl. 38-43 six aspect lines. Five of the six lines are favourable; only Saturn's is plainly poor.

Is the Moon in Virgo the same as a Virgo moon sign?

Yes. The sign the Moon occupies at birth is the moon sign, or Janma Rashi. The Moon Sign calculator finds it, and this app counts transits and Sade Sati from it.

How common is the Moon in Virgo?

In this app's sample it was in Virgo in 411 of 3,000 sampled birth moments 1985-2060. That sample steps about four signs of Moon motion at a time, so the figure reflects the grid, not the sky; the Moon spends about 2.25 days in each sign every month.