Venus in Virgo

The old word fall marks the point across the circle from an exaltation. Ptolemy (Ashmand's 1822 translation) sets Venus's fall in Virgo since he set her exaltation in Pisces. Virgo is the sign where, in his argument, autumn's dryness appears, and Venus is a moist planet. Lilly 1659 names the twenty-seventh degree.

She has more foothold here than the label suggests. Lilly grants her a share in the earth signs by day, the middle ten degrees as a face and terms from 8 to 13, so the same sign holds her fall and three smaller entries.

Alan Leo 1899 describes Virgo as cautious and methodical, and Lilly's well-placed Venus loves mirth and easy company, so the two portraits pull apart. Modern astrology often turns the tension into love shown through practical service, a reading the old tables do not state.