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Artist Notes:
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Virgo The Virgin (August 22-September 23) is portrayed on this blank note card. The sign of Virgo is identified with the element of Earth. She traditionally symbolizes intellectual curiosity, asceticism and untried potential. In alchemy, Virgo embodies the idea of transmutability of matter (the materia prima): a process that transforms earthly substances to create new malleable materials. In Greek mythology, Virgo personifies Justice. Like the immortal Dīke (pron. DeeKee), she lived among humans until their odious moral behavior provoked her flight to the heavens where she became the Constellation Virgo. My Virgo, whom I see as a hybrid unicorn-woman (apologies to the medieval Unicorn Tapestries) holds an Aesculapius (caduceus) in tribute to Mercury, her patron planet. Her shafts of wheat honor the Greek goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone which whom she ironically shares the blessings of fertility. The armillary sphere symbolizes her quest for understanding and spirituality.
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