New Moon in Virgo: Priscilla and the Ministry of Details

Virgo, ruled by Mercury, is an earth sign associated with meticulousness, service, and practicality. It represents the harvest time of the year, symbolizing a period of gathering, sorting, and refining. Virgos are known for their analytical minds, attention to detail, and a strong desire to be of help. They thrive in environments where they can bring order to chaos and take great satisfaction in completing tasks to the best of their abilities.

Priscilla, mentioned in the New Testament alongside her husband Aquila, is a strong example of Virgo’s intellectual and service-oriented qualities. She was a tentmaker, like Paul, and played a significant role in the early Christian church. Priscilla is noted for her hospitality, teaching, and support of Paul’s ministry. She and Aquila are known for their careful teaching of Apollos, helping him understand the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:24-26). Priscilla’s actions demonstrate Virgo’s focus on detail, clarity in communication, and dedication to service.

Virgo season, and back-to-school season, turns us toward the small, steady things like handwritten to-do lists, rhythms that actually work, and the satisfaction of a project turning out according to your vision. Virgo can get a bad rap, but this energy helps us gather, sort, and refine. 

Priscilla (aka Prisca) reminds us that service isn’t code for silence and being detail-oriented is a way to embody love. She shows up throughout the New Testament in partnership with her husband Aquila, crafting textiles, opening her home, and strengthening her church. Although I wish we knew more about her, the record we have lets us see more than a “helper.”

Priscilla and Aquila had been kicked out of Rome and first met Paul in Corinth. According to the Wisdom Commentary on the book of Acts, “It is very likely that Prisca and Aquila had started a ‘house church,’ gathering Jews whom they encountered at their place of business or elsewhere and who were interested in hearing their message.” (p. 639)

The arc of their ministry stretches from Corinth to Ephesus, a year and a half with Paul, then trusted enough to remain and teach.

Paul writes about the community in their home as an ekklesia (Rom. 16:5). He names Prisca and Aquila as “fellow workers” (Rom. 16:3). They send greetings “with the church that meets in their house” (1 Cor. 16:19; cf. 2 Tim. 4:19). Prisca’s role is leadership with physical presence, the hospitable structure of four walls and a table.

She stands as a teacher and a prominent leader. In Acts 18:24 Apollos arrives in Ephesus as a gifted and eloquent speaker, but Prisca and Aquila take him aside to instruct him in the Way of Jesus. It’s worth noting that the majority of the time that the pair is named, her name appears first. The Wisdom Commentary says, “It is Prisca who is the teacher. Luke tried putting her in second place [in verse] 18:2, but that attitude could not be maintained in view of her reputation. The couple work in tandem, and she takes the lead. Here we have a woman who is married and yet preeminent. She is a new model…the church in her house depicts what other such household communities should strive to be.” (p. 648)

None of this should feel radical, but unfortunately it does, because women’s work is so often erased. Former Wheaton professor Gilbert Bilezikian once called it “the conspiracy of anonymity in the ancient church.” Writer Ruth Hoppin pressed even further in her book Priscilla’s Letter, which explores the possibility that Priscilla authored the book of Hebrews. Whether or not you think that’s true, the suggestion exposes something that we know so well: let the woman do the work, then make the woman invisible.

Virgo energy has shadows that I know well: the inner critic can take over and a desire for order can cross the line into control. But Priscilla gives us a picture of the beautiful side: the church has a home because someone made a set the table. A student grows because someone was meticulous in teaching them. A partnership bears fruit because power is shared, not hoarded.

Virgo shows us the power of faithfulness. Prisca’s name rose to the top of Paul’s list again and again, and the Spirit is still raising up this kind of leadership: the ministry of detail and the importance of steadfastness. Women have been creating the scaffolding for the Church for a very long time.

May this season help us gather what nourishes, compost what doesn’t, and build rooms where love can breathe.

High Side of Virgo: Analytical, detail-oriented, reliable, practical, methodical, hardworking, organized, precise, service-oriented, nurturing through helpfulness, values efficiency.

Low Side of Virgo: Overcritical, perfectionistic, anxious, judgmental, overly focused on details, self-doubting, controlling, worry-prone, struggles with imperfection, can be dismissive of emotions.

SUGGESTED MEDITATION FOR NEW MOON IN VIRGO: SELF-COMPASSIONATE BODY SCAN

Click to read more about the meditation and access the guide sheet.