Did you have a religious upbringing?

I am wondering if many Virgos have had a religious upbringing as I consider that I did. My mother was quite religious and moralistic (Christian, Anglican/Episcopalian) and so I definitely grew up feeling somewhat embarrassed/guilty about sex. Traditionally ours is known as an inhibited sign and so I have wondered if this often has to do with having had something of a religious upbringing. In my case it was kind of exacerbated by my elder sister becoming a "wild child", making me feel like I had to "atone" for her sins as well as my own by as it were "walking the straight and narrow" whether I wanted to or not, which really cramped my style . This is going back forty or fifty years now as I am now 54 years old and I guess that narrow religious upbringings were more common then than they are now but they do still exist. What I mean by all this is to do with this idea that Virgos are (inwardly) passionate but find difficulty in freely and openly expressing these passions, which may be to do with having had a repressive/guilt-laden upbringing and childhood. In my case part of this was the message from my mother (the religious one) that I was "never good enough", which I suppose has been internalised (and then re-externalised) as the Virgo critic!

One thing that has made me wonder about this apart from my own experience is the case of the British novelist Jeanette Winterson, who is a Virgo. Her first and most famous novel, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, is about her religiously-repressive upbringing by her step-parents in the north of England. The fact that she is a lesbian obviously caused particular problems in this regard!

Finally I found a topic that I can really relate to, thank you as I myself experienced the terror of being thrown
into hell for having premarital sex. I grew in an ultra conservative upbringing. My family strongly believe in God
that I myself dreamt of becoming a nun someday when I was still a kid which is the most wonderful dream for me
at that time. We go to church every Sunday and actively participated in every bible study, prayer meeting and fellowship.
As a growing kid I strongly believe that women would only loose their virginity on their wedding night and no woman and
man should share their body unless they are married. But the modern day is here and when I first had my taste of "worldy desire"
I felt so guilty that I was so afraid to go to church anymore. Being surrounded by my cousins who are preacher and friends who are priest (dad protestant and mom catholic)
I just can't move on and break free from the teachings I had when I was young. Up to know I'm still at the cage of my beliefs that I am a sinner coz I've lost
the purity of my soul and indulge myself into "worldy pleasures". But as of this moment I am slowly moving to a more forgiving thought that
I can set my self free from all the bandage that my Christian faith has mold me as a kid. I may be sinner but I should learn to forgive myself first. Still confuse and still searching
for ways to make myself feel better.

Not overly so. My mom's an Aqua so maybe that helps. She's Christian and growing up she would say you know "say your prayers before eating/before bed" but she never forced it. My older brother's an atheist. She didn't disown him, she didn't really try to argue with him about it. We don't go to church- we didn't go much when I was a kid either. She's always left it up to us. I think that if I decided to become a Buddhist or something she might question me- more out of curiosity than anything. But no, nothing overly religious. It was more like do good things, have a conscience. Christian or not.

I grew up in the church.

During my earlier years, we moved around - Catholic, Baptist, presbyterian, lutheran, methodist...was really too young to understand the fundamental differences between denominations. All I really cared about was the fun bible songs and free cake.

Settled into a Mennonite church pre-teens into adulthood. I would say me and my family (immediate and church) as a whole were more spiritual than religious. Nothing overly fanatical that birthed feelings of guilt, embarassment or shame.


I think specifically for Virgos because we are perpetually in search of perfection and are sort of naturally averse to anything impure, immoral, and are quite rigid and very hard on ourselves...we have to be surrounded by people who will encourage us to open up and that while it's ok to want to live a decent life, at the same time, we are not going straight to hell in a hand basket for engaging in certain human pleasures. That's what I had.

I can't tell you how many times I was told by different church members to loosen up, that it was ok to make mistakes, express emotion and really be myself. I think in part that's key in helping to eradicate those feelings of shame and embarassment. When the body of believers are understanding, empathetic, compassionate and truly get that all humans are flawed. Not to mention, I think it's extremely important for the church to have open discussions on everything. Including sex. There were really no "taboos" so to speak, in my church, and that went a long way in fostering open communication between the members, especially the young and old.

Nope I was not...I'm Baptist/Christian (at least this is what im used to)....I was baptized when I was younger (didnt really know what was going on) but I was never forced to believe in the Baptist/Christian way or any other religion growing up.
Pretty much free to make up my own mind...