Why do they drive you up the wall?

Are Virgo and Sagittarius compatible?

Virgo and Sagittarius are a square: earth and fire, both mutable, three signs apart on the zodiac wheel. Since Ptolemy, astrologers have counted the square as a hard aspect, the angle of friction. But that compares two Suns and nothing else. Venus, Mars, the Moon and the descendant decide how it actually feels.

You're here because of someone.

The Sun signs say friction. Two whole charts say far more.

Your card is worked out from the day, the minute and the place you were born, not from a sign you share with a twelfth of the planet.

Every Virgo and every Sagittarius reads this page. Only your card knows you.

Find out your true compatibility.

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Admit one Virgo Earth · Mutable Aug 23 – Sep 22

Admit one Sagittarius Fire · Mutable Nov 22 – Dec 21

□︎ Square · 90°Earth + fire · both mutableA hard aspect, since Ptolemy

What it is: synastry, the art of comparing two charts

Comparing two people's charts has a name: synastry. Astrologers lay one chart over the other and look at the angles between the two sets of planets, the same angles the old books use inside a single chart.

Sun-sign compatibility is the shortcut version. It compares only the two Suns, and the angle between them is the aspect: four signs apart is a trine, two apart a sextile, three apart a square, six apart an opposition. Ptolemy called the trine and the sextile harmonious, and the square and the opposition disharmonious. ¹

Elements describe temperament (fire, earth, air, water) and modes describe pace (cardinal starts, fixed holds, mutable adapts). A pair can share one, both or neither. Virgo and Sagittarius share the mode but not the element: two mutable signs, one earth, one fire.

Full synastry goes much further: whose Venus lands on whose Moon, where one person's planets fall in the other's houses, how the two descendants line up. Ptolemy himself compared the Sun and the Moon of both charts, not just the Suns. That is why the same Virgo can get on beautifully with one Sagittarius and not at all with another. ²

Why do Virgo and Sagittarius clash?

The traditional portrait: the same for every Virgo and every Sagittarius.

Virgo in love

Virgo, in the old portrait, shows love by paying attention. The coffee made the way you like it, the thing you mentioned once and forgot, fixed. Shy at the start and particular about who gets close, the books say, but devoted once someone does. A Virgo's criticism is often care with the wrapping paper still on.

Sagittarius in love

Sagittarius loves the way it travels, in the old portrait: wide open, a little reckless, always up for one more adventure. Traditionally an Archer wants a partner who's also a co-pilot, and freedom inside the relationship, not outside it. Honest to a fault, the books say. Fence one in and it starts looking at the horizon.

Together

Fire and earth. Tradition says fire wants to leave now and earth wants to know where you're parking. Forge, or scorched field?

Both mutable: two people who bend. Easy company, the old books say. Picking a restaurant, though, could take all night.

Two curious signs looking at the world from opposite ends of the telescope. Virgo checks the details; Sagittarius skips them to get to the big picture. Both are what the old books call double signs, which might explain how each of them can argue both sides at once.

Where it comes from: comparing charts, from Babylon to your phone

Era by era, with sources. More in the Reading Room.

Ancientc. 450 BCEThe Babylonian zodiac settles into twelve equal zones, the frame later comparisons of signs are built on. ³
Ancient410 BCEThe earliest known horoscopes, from Babylon and Nippur, date to this year. ³
Classical2nd century CEPtolemy's Tetrabiblos names the aspects between signs and calls the trine and sextile harmonious, the square and opposition disharmonious. ^4,1
Classical2nd century CEPtolemy files Virgo and Sagittarius together as bicorporeal signs: the double-bodied signs at the end of a season, which share in the weather on either side. ¹
Classical2nd century CEPtolemy's chapter on the planets' houses puts Virgo under Mercury and Sagittarius under Jupiter. ¹
Classical2nd century CEIn his chapter on marriage, Ptolemy compares two charts: the Sun and Moon of one against the Sun and Moon of the other, reading trines and sextiles between them as concord and squares and oppositions as friction. ²
Classical2nd century CEHis chapter on friends and enemies does the same with the Sun, the Moon, the rising degree and the Lot of Fortune of both people. ²
Medieval12th centuryAbu Ma'shar's introduction to astrology circulates in Latin; the University of Edinburgh holds a 12th-century copy. ⁵
1800s1890Alan Leo's Astrologer's Magazine offers its annual subscribers a free horoscope by post. ⁶
1930s1937R. H. Naylor's newspaper horoscope, begun in 1930, is organised by the twelve sun signs. ⁷
1970s1978Linda Goodman's Love Signs is published by Harper & Row. ⁸
1980s–90s1980–1999Chart services run by computer arrive: Astrodienst in Zürich sells birth charts from 1980 and goes online in 1996. ⁹
Today202430% of US adults consult astrology, tarot or a fortune teller at least yearly, mostly for fun, according to Pew Research Center. ¹⁰

Worked out, not guessed

Virgo is sign 6 of 12 and Sagittarius is sign 9: three signs apart, 90°. Squares always share the same mode, never the same element or polarity. Of the 78 possible sun-sign pairings, 12 are squares.
Venus never gets more than about 47° from the Sun, so a Virgo's Venus is in one of five signs (Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra or Scorpio) and a Sagittarius's in one of five (Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn or Aquarius). Which one is a matter of the year and the day.

Why does every plan turn into an argument?

The Sun can’t answer that. These four can, and your card reads every one of them.

Venus · how you love

How do you love, and how do they want to be loved?

That's Venus. It never strays far from the Sun, so a Virgo's Venus can only sit in Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra or Scorpio, and a Sagittarius's Venus can only sit in Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn or Aquarius. Two people with the same sun sign can want completely different evenings.

Your card reads your Venus.
Mars · what you want

Why do the details always start the fight?

That's Mars: desire, temper, the way you chase what you're after. It can sit in any of the twelve signs, so two Sagittarius born a season apart can want, and fight about, completely different things.

Your card reads your Mars.
The Moon · what you need

Why do they feel like home one day and a stranger the next?

That's the Moon: what you need when the door's shut and the day's gone wrong. It changes sign every two and a half days. If their Moon falls in your sign… well.

Your card reads your Moon.
The descendant · who you’re drawn to

Why do you keep falling for the same type?

That's your descendant, the edge of the seventh house: the sign setting in the west at your birth minute. Tradition reads it as the partner you keep noticing. It needs your birth time and place.

Your card reads your rising sign and your descendant.