Taurus Sun

From the volcanic eruption of Aries comes solid Earth. No longer incandescent with firey beginnings, consciousness wanders in the solace of ancient stone ruins, hears the healing rustle of birdsong among green trees. It reaches hands like roots into the earth, touching dirt, clay, the flesh of the planet itself. If we stayed with Aries alone we would burn up and disintegrate.

Rather than picturing energy perpetually flowing out from the center, the energy here moves back towards the center to consolidate. The most basic dynamic in Taurus, the 2nd house, and the Taurean half of Venus, following the principles of instinct and desire, is the survival instinct: whatever resources it takes to survive your life. This correlates with value systems and senses of meaning in life.

April blends into May: lazy clouds sail along the blissful wind. Dogwoods bloom, hawks float effortlessly on rising thermals. You sit alone on a hilltop and feel the sun-warmed ground beneath you, bathing in the soothing, warm touch of spring. Before you stretches a valley. The electric green of springtime threads down the furrows and through the forests. As you sit there no great questions haunt you. In that moment; cattle graze, clouds drift, and you simply are. What does Earth teach in such vast spaciousness? Timelessness. How to be infinite yet still simple- this is the endpoint of Taurus. To find that serenity and to keep it. Not all Taureans are nature lovers, but sitting on that sunny hill is a basic evolutionary strategy. Sensuality belongs to them. Wherever there is pleasure you will find a Taurean in the middle of it all, basking in the good life.

Our Taurean neighbors seek to ground the roaring tension of runaway mental imagery through the physical world. Here is the feel of skin on skin; hands digging into the earth, fingers caressing the wood of a fine old violin. Working with paint, cleaning the house, or chopping vegetables are all acts of self-healing for the Bull. They like to get their hands into the cement and slather on the plaster, if only for the joy of playing in the mud. Taurus does not transcend the flesh: they revel in it, glow and celebrate. They find the world through their senses, their fingertips, as they can never find it through mind alone. We feel the earth beneath our feet and the warmth of our lover's body pressed against ours. The nature of life...? Who can even think about it? For all we're concerned right now, that perfect moment is the nature of life. Talking about it only drops the veil again.

An aversion to drama and suspicion of complexity are the Bull's resources. They instinctively seek out circumstances- a stable job or a reliable network of relationships- that allow them to find their simplicity. They live and let live. They feel the crisp taste of a perfect apple crunching in their mouth. They see their family. They feel the solidity of their home and the efficiency of their body. And in some unspeakably silent part of themself, they feel something no sign can feel in quite the same way: reverence. But there is a fork in the path for the Bull. On the left lies material security, predictability and stability. Chances are good it is an honest and moral path, harmless to everyone except themself. On the other side is a path promising growth and change. Uncertain yet exciting, it presents the Bull with a fundamental decision:

Am I here to grow or to play it safe?

And there lies the proverbial stubbornness of the Bull. Fixed sign Taurus is determined. But in narrow responses to experience, stubbornness can result; a failure to take those leaps of faith that are a primary element of a full life. We grow and change, and as we do, our self-image and its halo of attitudes and opinions change too. Taurus may fail here. They may come to say, "I am the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow." And then everything is lost.

They just don't take kindly to sudden changes. They like to be wherever they are supposed to be when it is time to be there. Precipitous events requiring flexibility may just cause Taureans to dig in their hooves and refuse to budge. It is wiser not to try to talk them out of a sulk. Just let them paw the earth and snort and seethe alone. Soon, when the inevitable becomes blatantly inevitable, Taurus will budge of their own accord, as if nothing had even come along to disturb their quietude.

At any point you can ask yourself, "What if I just don't eat or drink? What if I hold my breath? What if I just stopped - and became completely receptive to the will of the universe?" And you notice that any willful action, in a sense, maintains separation. Breathing maintains consciousness in a perpetual state of grasping. Duality itself can be correlated to the inhale and exhale of the breath. The desires of the soul that keep it in the wheel of cause and effect are reflected in the constant flow of inhalation and exhalation. This is a key element to the house of Taurus.

Unlike Aries' love of the game, Taurus loves the rewards of the game! Think physical pleasures and material goods, for those born under this sign revel in delicious excess. They are a tactile lot who adore comfort and like being surrounded by pleasing things. The good life in all its guises, whether the arts or art of their own making, is heaven on earth to the Taurean-born. Taurus is earth.

Scorpio is the opposite sign to Taurus. The phenomena of vicarious experiences are a fitting example to explain this polarity. These are not genuinely shared experiences, but rather involve the acquisition and internalization- two Taurean aspects- of another's experience as imagined. Not in fact, directly encountered by the vicarious experiencer, for this invisible directness is the aspect of Scorpio here. These experiences involve no vulnerability or actual risk, and don't threaten to reorganize the reality of the person having them (whereas real relationships do). In other words, the frog doesn't have to leave the well. At the same time, vicarious experiences allow the frog to feel as if it has gotten out of the well. It hasn't, of course, and most often this reinforces the existing forms of a person's identity (Taurus), rather than changing those forms (Scorpio). If you're the frog in that well, a vicarious experience is going to seem pretty damn relational, though, even if it is just the product of your own reference points and imagination, versus a real shared experience as the person themself understands it.

The other fixed signs may be considered in relationship with Taurus through the fixed cross. Here one can see how most people are operating with a huge disconnect between their inner relationship pervasive in their lives (Taurus), with their personal sense of acceptance and creativity (Leo), how we transform ourselves via relationships (Scorpio), and the larger social context (Aquarius). We see how much objectivity is a part of our self value, what we think we need to survive, what we lack, and how we'll go about obtaining it. The nature of desire itself is partially rooted in this polarity with Scorpio- because sometimes what we perceive we don't have, we want.

Considering the water signs, Taurus is in opposition to Scorpio and in sextile to Cancer and Pisces. Our inner values and perceived strengths and weaknesses connect to our ego created to obtain our desires. The transformation we undergo within our self structure and the possible illusions we encounter help connect us to a greater reality.

Considering the trine of earth signs, Taurus brings in values, a healthy relationship, and an expression of meaning. These are expressed within society with integrity (Capricorn) and proper service to the whole (Virgo). On the other hand, Taurus pulls in the "frog in the well" idea, coupled with "ends justify the means" survival methods and a rigid mindset, resulting in existential crisis and an inner void (Virgo and Capricorn respectively).

Leo squares this sign. Greed and Taurus are frequently put together in stereotypical astrology as with narcissism and Leo. Really, this is the greed for what makes us feel secure, not necessarily for money. All living beings dwell upon the earth and take from its bounty. Humans have taken far more than their share, and do not give enough back. This ties into the square to Leo. Yet it is also true that we are animals ourselves, souls here to have human experiences, like an eagle is here to be an eagle. There is a limit to one individual's responsibility. The source of Taurus energy is love- and isn't nearly as judgmental as we can be with ourselves. It created this process, after all!

The 2nd house, Venus, and Taurus may be used in a chart to identify what the subconscious assumptions about the self are- to become conscious of why someone may be creating, projecting, experiencing the type of reality they are to heal themselves and create a reality reflective of their true natures.