Thursday, April 21, 2016

Taurus Considered

 Taurus by Erté

In his book, Astrology (pub.1964) Louis MacNeice, not an astrologer, but a poet and scholar, gathered together much of interest from a variety of sources, ancient and modern. On zodiac sign Taurus, through which the Sun is beginning to travel as I type, he wrote the paragraphs below, often quoting from a variety of professional astrologers. The extract was copy-typed by my own fair fingers, by the way, not copied and pasted from elsewhere. As some of the astrologers mentioned may be unfamiliar, at the end of the extract I've added some links to relevant websites for each named astrologer.




To the layman it may seem comic that Taurus should be feminine, but the horned moonface of its hieroglyph certainly looks less aggressive than Aries' hieroglyph, which is almost all horns and nothing else. Moreover, Taurus is a fixed and earthy sign, and is ruled by the opposite of Mars, the gentle Venus. It is not surprising that Taurus is slow and long-suffering, in fact "bovine"; the hostile Robert Eisler even suggests that he was never a bull, only an ox, and quotes the ancient Roman champion of astrology Firmicus Maternus to the effect that this sign is responsible for the birth of important people and perverts. But most astrologers have been insulting. A slow sign, yes, but a sure sign certainly. Nor is the Taurus type traditionally a sissy: Pearce writes that he is "slow to anger but, when provoked, furious."

Just as Aries was connected with both Mars and the Sun, so Taurus is connected with the Moon as well as with Venus. Barbault describes the Taurus type as essentially "ruminant", a creature of a leisurely rhythm who tends to walk slowly looking at the ground, obedient to the law of his sheer weight. The physiognomists, of course, make him look like a bull: thickset, thick-necked, and thick-lipped, with a broad forehead, wide nostrils and a tuft of hair on the forehead. Countess Wydenbruck notes that he is "not very intelligent", but everyone agrees that he can be a tower of strength. Barbault, in discussing Freud (whom he makes a Taurus type) and his Taurine psychological universe, moves from the love of the child for its mother to the conclusion that "we are here at the heart of Taurus, which represents the meat-safe of the Zodiac...and, through displacement of the oral tendency, the strong-box of the Zodiac".

Working on the same strong-box lines, Tucker finds in Taurus a symbol of the Golden Calf; but he concedes that the Taurus man worships money not for itself but for the pleasure and ease it will bring him. He adds that, if the Taurus man does have enough money to eat well, he should cut down on the carbohydrates. He is a reliable husband and family man, pays his debts, and enjoys a joke; but too much of the "ruminant" quality can make him slothful.

The two points to remember are that Taurus is essentially fixed and essentially earthy. Gleadow instances as Taurus types George Washington and Arnold Bennett. Barbault gives Balzac and Karl Marx as well as Freud. Marx had Taurus as his Sun-sign and it contained at his birth both the Taurine females, the Moon and Venus. Dialectical materialism, Barbault says, falls naturally under this sign. The next, the first of the airy signs, is a very different kettle of flying fish.

Astrologers mentioned:
André Barbault
A.J. Pearce
Countess Wydenbruck
Robert Eisler
Dr. W.J. Tucker
Rupert Gleadow

My own experience of persons with Sun in Taurus, when comparing flesh and blood with the above descriptions, is mixed. My maternal grandmother and my late partner both had Sun in late Taurus (19 and 20 May). There were some basic similarities in their natures, but wide differences too, due of course to the rest of their natal charts. The nature of one of them was far more in line with textbook Gemini than textbook Taurus. There was great warmth and capacity for love and loyalty in them both, and roiling anger if provoked too...but those attributes could equally apply to other zodiac signs, even to my own - Aquarius!

It's not easy to pinpoint something peculiar to Taurus (the sign, not the person). Steadfast and stubborn applies to the other Fixed signs, Aquarius, Scorpio and Leo. Earthy equally applies to Capricorn and Virgo. Venus-ruled also applies to Libra.


What is exclusive to Taurus then? Well...there are the neighbouring signs. Taurus is flanked by Aries and Gemini. One or more personal planets, especially Mercury and Venus, will often be found in one of those adjacent signs for a person born with Sun in Taurus. That exact same trio cannot apply elsewhere. It's very likely that a person with Sun in Taurus will display characteristics of textbook Aries or textbook Gemini - maybe even both - or of all three signs.

4 comments:

mike said...

I would definitely say that May 19 & 20 birthdays would be Sun-sign cusps and have Gemini qualities, regardless. Depends on the year of birth, whether the Sun is in Taurus or Gemini, or possibly changing on those days. Tom Daley, the USA Olympic diving medalist, was born May 21, 1994, time unknown. His chart set for noon provides his Sun at 0*10' Gemini. A midnight to 8 AM birth puts his Sun in Taurus (Sun moves about a degree per day). One look at his photo and his enormous, Gemini eyes, would incline toward the Sun in Gemini, though his Mercury is distinctly in Gemini. As you indicate, personal planets can be misleading, depending on proximity to the Sun's position. In Tom Daley's natal chart, his Sun is either 29+* Taurus or 0+* Gemini. His Mars is in Aries, Mercury in Gemini, and Venus in very early Cancer:
http://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Tom_Daley

My Sun, Mercury, and Venus are mid-Scorpio, and I've had a number of pleasant encounters with Sun-in-Taurus individuals, with most having Suns at mid-Taurus. My generalized experiences with Taurus Suns is that they are very methodical, slow to change, don't like imposition, do not like being rushed, very sensual (sexually, but inclusive of most facets of physical life, particularly fine food), very fashionable with an emphasis on comfort, most have an affinity for animals-pets-gardening.

Here's to the Sun in Taurus, with a full Moon in Scorpio just after midnight tonight (12:25 AM CDT, Friday) at 2.5* Scorpio.

An interesting full Moon for Hillary, with her Sun at 2.3* Scorpio. A full Moon transit of her Sun is essentially a new Moon, but opposed transiting Sun. If she has an 8 AM time of birth, this occurs in her 12th house. Something is revealed. But many questions about her TOB, so who knows?! Either way, she has a full Moon on her Sun.

mike (again) said...

Wowzers! Prince has left Earth! His natal chart is very complex. He's hit by tonight's full Moon on his natal Neptune-N Node, making a number of aspects. It accentuates his natal yod...Neptune-N Node at the apex, with Mercury-Mars sextile at the base, with his Venus forming an arrow (boomerang yod)...these four planets form a number of difficult aspects in his natal chart. Transiting Uranus opposed his Jupiter, too.

"When Doves Cry"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYVOrzv61Yg

"Purple Rain"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsRUAoUvP10

Twilight said...

mike + (again) ~ Yes, a late Taurus Sun person could, in truth, be a very early Gemini Sun person, depending on year. My 20 May person's Sun was definitely in Taurus. I'm of the view that Sun signs are hardly ever clear-cut in real life, as they are in textbooks. Almost always one has to look to adjoining signs, at least, to account for some trait or other - especially for those with birthdays in the first 5 or 6 degrees of a sign (I'm included in that myself, and sense that I have some Capricorn and some Pisces in "the front row" of my basic Sun-Aquarius nature.

My Grandmother (19 May) was more in line with your findings for a Sun Taurus, but being of a completely different generation, and more used to slower, calmer life style, it would have seemed more natural to expect those traits.

Tom Daley does look - from the photo I've just seen - far more Geminian than Taurean. I think of a Taurus-type physically as having a stocky, strong frame and square jaw - my 20 May Taurus did fit Taurus this far.

I'm sure Hillary Clinton is still cock-a-hoop about her NY win, so her Moon on Sun thing likely reflects that.

Had just spotted the Prince news on Huff Post. Far too soon at 57! I know next to nothing about him, other than his name, which I think he changed from time to time.

It seems that well-known people are leaving at a very fast rate these days, maybe faster than normal. British personality/comedienne Victoria Wood died yesterday, again much too soon at 62.

RIP to both.

Twilight said...

mike ~ I should have said "first few degrees and last few degrees of a sign" - in the first para of my comment, rather than just the "first 5 or 6 degrees", as if this idea has any validity it must work at both ends of a sign.