As I sat outside to work, the sun felt too strong. I moved to the shade, but then the breeze was too chilly.

So it went: I kept moving back and forth, from sun to shade, shade to sun. Layers on, layers off.

This was not a perimenopausal hot flash.

It was the arrival of Virgo season.

In the Northeast United States, where I live, Leo season brings predictable weather: heat.

For one blissful month of the year, I stop checking the weather app because I know what to expect. It’s warm when I leave my house early in the morning and when I return late in the evening. During the day, it’s hot. I don’t need extra layers or umbrellas or contingency plans.

And then, seemingly overnight, it all changes. Virgo season arrives each year with predictable surprise, shattering my blissful illusion that days can stretch long and warm until the end of time.

In a flash, nights become cooler. During the day, the temperature can be deceptive: warm in one spot and cool in another.

Virgo Season: The Shift From Summer’s Predictable Heat

The Sun’s move from Leo into Virgo (August 22, 4:33 PM ET) is always unsettling. It happens as the “official” summer season is wrapping up: some kids are already back in school; for others, that date is just around the corner.

Yet it can feel like summer just started. You’re not in work mode yet. You’ve barely relaxed.

As a mutable sign, Virgo season marks the transition from summer to autumn. It’s a time of year when the outer weather can be highly variable and unpredictable, when the temperature reading can be deceptive, depending on whether anything is blocking the sun’s rays.

Read: 5 Things to Know About Virgo

Why Virgo Works So Hard

Virgo is known for its hard working nature, diligent work ethic, and systems, which makes sense when you understand its context.

Virgo season is perhaps the most unsettling of all the mutable signs (the other are Gemini, Sagittarius, and Pisces) because Virgo is a mutable earth sign.

Earth is an element that is meant to be fixed, grounded, stable, and predictable. When earth moves, we get mudslides, earthquakes, and avalanches — events that happen without warning and that shake our sense of stability.

When we don’t have an anchor of stability or predictability, it’s hard to get things done. Moving from shade to sun, layers on and layers off, trying to predict the unpredictable weather is exhausting. It consumes bandwidth that could otherwise be applied to more productive ends.

There is no ease or flow.

Virgo is the only sign in the zodiac where both Venus and Jupiter — the two “benefic” planets — struggle. Venus brings ease and sweetness, Jupiter brings optimism and faith. With both of these blessing-givers debilitated in Virgo, we see all the problems that need to be fixed.

We can become hyper-critical, perfectionistic, judgmental, controlling, and prone to overworking — a recipe for burnout.

Virgo’s Superpowers: Skills and Systems

Within this challenge lies Virgo’s superpowers: developing skills and creating systems.

Virgo is both the home sign and the place of exaltation for Mercury, the planet of data, communication, analysis, logic, learning, and systems.

When you can’t rely on Venus to make things pleasant or Jupiter to make things lucky, you develop something more reliable: skill. You hone your craft. You learn how things work so you can put them together when they break. You pursue mastery.

When you can’t count on the weather, the ground is shifting underneath your feet, and nothing is predictable or consistent for more than five minutes, you create structures that support you.

You build practical routines that can flex without breaking.

You create systems that give you stability.

This is Virgo season’s gift: teaching us that we don’t need perfect conditions to do good work. We just need good skills and systems.