TAURUS THE BULL
In my Zodiac And The Soul I have tried
to find a basic principle for each sign, a cosmic principle, without which
the universe could not be what it is...without which in fact nothing could
be what it is.
For Taurus I suggested Cosmic Stability or Certitude.
We know that all phenomena come into existence and pass away.
In the natural world everything goes through its cycle of birth, maturity,
decay and death. "All things flow" said Heracleitus many centuries ago,
and in our day Bergson maintained that the only reality is change itself.
"We change without ceasing and the state itself is nothing but change."
But even in writing this, he had to use the pronoun "we" and
indeed if there were no such thing as stability, we could have no pronouns
or nouns; there would be no sense in naming something that altered into
something else before the word had left our mouth. We could neither
think nor talk intelligently.
Relatively to ourselves, things have persistence. Some
very little; some so much that we think of them as permanent..."the everlasting
hills." A geologist, thinking terms of geographical time, would probably
not use that phrase; but it is good enough for the most of us.
There can be no denying that some things change less rapidly
than others, and this is only the converse of saying that some endure longer
than others. In other words, they express the principle of stability
more emphatically.
The tendency of Taurus, then, is to make things stay as they
are and to resist the eternal flux of which Heracleitus spoke. We
shall find some apparent exceptions to this dictum and it will be of interest
to examine them. But in the main it is true.
For that reason we shall not find it very easy to make a long
list of celebrities with strong Taurus values. The man or woman who
labours to keep things as they are performs a useful purpose. We
do not all want to be swept off our feet; indeed at the present period
in world history quite a number of people are strongly impressed with the
desirability of having a rest from the sort of progress that makes it daily
easier to get to Australia and more difficult to cross the local High Street.
But that same person who tries to put a brake on the wheels of Time's chariot
will seldom achieve fame, unless indeed he applies the brakes so violently
as to cause a serious skid!
It is because there is a relative stability in things that we
can enjoy a measure of Certitude, to recall another keyword.
One may wonder what planetary conditions ushered in those almost
fabulous conditions of inflation when in some countries the price of a
meal doubled or trebled between one's entry into the restaurant and asking
for the bill. That was instability with a vengeance and in respect of that
very Taurus commodity, cash.
I named the virtue of Taurus: Reliability. With this we
may bracket such like terms as trustworthiness, constancy and integrity.
Taurus usually has to do with money even if it has very little,
just as Karl Marx (both Lights in Taurus) had no capital, as his mother
lamented, even whilst he was writing Das Kapital.
Certainly I think honesty in money matters can usual be predicated
to Taurus.
The Taurean delusion is Staticism, or a worship of what has
been simply because "we have always did it like that."
An intense conservatism, in thought and in everything else.
Its chief "fault" is Stubbornness; and there is often a propensity,
common to all four fixed signs, towards a despotic attitude, especially
in the family. The Taurus father may be generous and even indulgent...so
long as his wife and children do not oppose him or his prejudices.
He likes others to have a good time, so long as they have the sort of good
time he approves of. Of course this paternal attitude has been rather
laughed off the stage today.
Naturally one would expect fixed earth to be unchanging, but
the thought at the back of the Taurus mind is to alter things until he
gets them as he wishes, and then to keep them just so. He will work
long and persistently to get a house he really likes and can call his,
and be comfortable in, and, having done this, nothing will move him from
it.
Thus, I suggest, we see why a very Taurus map can, as in the
case of Queen Victoria, who kept her husband's bedroom unaltered, had his
dressing gown and razors laid out for him, and so forth.
We must indeed march with the times, even when we dislike
them and to try to relive the past is futile and a dwelling with ghosts.
Most natives of Taurus have enough sound sense to see this.
The most Taurean part of England, so far as I know, is undoubtedly
Sussex, with its well-known motto: "We won't be druv." To see this sign
at its most bull-like, one should visit Sussex marketplaces and see those
powerfully built, well-set-up folk, with their strong necks, short white
teeth, good complexions, and blue eyes. Not by any means people to
be trifled with.
In towns the appearance may vary a lot. I have known lean
and even scrawny Taureans. One cannot account for that sort of thing.
It is a freak, a joke of Nature. If you want a science that yields
exact and uniform results, you had better try something else than astrology.
Why some people recall in appearance their Sun position, others
that of the Moon or ruler, and others seem to respond most clearly to some
exact aspect to the ascending degree, I cannot say.
Taurus is not an intellectual sign; it is predominantly instinctive.
It is, of course, often gifted as an orator or singer, the 16th degree
being specially related to voice, though this may not be pleasant, as for
instance in the case of Hitler. It is musical and may paint or write
poetry,
mainly on rural themes. It is a builder and architect; and here
again Hitler, with Sun, Venus, Mars in Taurus, comes into the picture;
had he been sufficiently gifted and fortunate to make a success of his
early artistic efforts, he might have lived a happy and harmless life.
Apart from its tendency to get into banks and similar places
where money is abundant, Taurus is in the main an agriculturalist and stock
raiser. He is also fond of a deal in landed property. This
is well shown in the case of William Shakespeare, whose very birthday is
not known exactly, but who certainly had the Sun in Taurus. After
writing the Sonnets and Plays, we are told he retired to his native town
and did very well for himself as a corn merchant and what-not, and bought
land shrewdly, without troubling, so far as we know, to write another line
except a not very inspired or inspiring epitaph, or even have his daughter
taught to read! A strange story indeed! At all events, the latter
part of his life story agrees well enough with Sun in Taurus; and perhaps
he had a double sign rising and lived two very different lives; "one man
in his time plays many parts"!
Hardly a word has come down to us of his later years but there
is a legend that he, together with some fellow-townsmen, engaged in a drinking
contest with the inebriates of a neighboring village and came off winners,
but that William himself became so far a casualty of the Bacchanalian warfare
that he spent the night in a ditch. And indeed many natives of the Bull
do like their eats and their drinks.
Let Leos have the ballroom and supper-tables, their liqueurs
and champagne, and give Taurus the country inn and the nut brown ale!
The sign contains no stars of the first magnitude and most of
the others have considerable latitude.
There is Hamal, which is the brightest star in the constellation
Aries, and is in 6 Taurus. This seems to give a certain amount of
celebrity or notoriety, as the case may be.
Then there is the ill-famed Algol, the Skull, in the constellation
Perseus and in 25 Taurus; and Alcyone, one of the Pleiades, in 29 Taurus.
The Indian decanates are of course well-known to all of us,
but not so the Chaldean, which have rather fallen into disuse, but merit
attention.
According to this system, the first decanate of Aries is under
Mars and then they go according to the apparent speed of the planets, in
reverse order, back to the Moon and beginning again with Saturn.
Therefore the Taurus decans are: Mercury-Moon-Saturn, whilst
Gemini goes Jupiter-Mars-Sun, and Cancer continues Venus-Mercury-Moon.
One would expect the 1st of Taurus to indicate one of an intellectual
disposition, but whose mind is devoted mainly to practical things.
A good decan for a financial journalist or lecturer on economics.
The 2nd would indicate a sturdy patriot, shrewd commonsense,
one well qualified to deal with real property.
One would expect much feminine influence in the life.
No doubt it has a very respectable side to it, but it would
perhaps be prominent in gigolos and others who make money out of women.
It is not surprising that Landru, who murdered them for their money, had
his ascendant in this decanate.
The 3rd decan is Saturnian by both systems and this appears
to be an unfortunate zodiacal sector. Indeed all of Mars and Saturn
decanates, by the Chaldean system, indicate the possibility of misfortune,
unless they succeed in in manifesting the better side of these two planets.
Even so, they are often unlucky. The contrary, of course, is true
when Solar, Jovian, or Venus decans are conspicuous, and the Mercurial
decans are also helpful.
To glance for a moment at two illustrations of what I mean:
Mr. Churchill has 2 planets in solar decanates, 2 in those of
Venus, 2 in those of Jupiter, the Sun being the one of Mercury. None
is in a Mars decanate, but 2 are in Saturn decanates. This is a high
score in terms of fortunate decan values. I omit Pluto.
Mr. Bevan, who must certainly be regarded as a successful man
"in terms of himself," has 4 bodies in Venus decans, 2 Solar, 1 Luna, 1
Mercurial and 1 Mars, which is a very fortunate score.
So far as I have observed, when Taurus is emphasized at all
in well-known maps, it is the 1st decanate that is usually occupied.
This may link up with Hamal, which I have mentioned; and likewise the bad
repute of the 3rd decan maybe due in part to Algol and Alcyone. This
last was one of the Pleiades and my classical dictionary merely adds that
she was "beloved of Neptune," so she probably came to no good, and astrologers
in general dislike the last degree of Taurus.
Many years ago a Dr. Madler suggested that the solar system
revolves around Alcyone, but I do not know if modern astronomers accept
this hypothesis.
It is significant that in More Notable Nativities and Famous
Nativities I only found eight cases with Taurus rising. Even allowing
for short ascension, this is a small number, and of the eight, one is not
human; being the figure for the Austrian Republic. Then we have Landru,
already mentioned, two politicians, and a professor of moral philosophy.
There are really only two celebrities in the eight.
One is John Napier, the Scotch Astrologer who invented logarithms,
a very practical achievement.
The other is George Washington. The time of birth is not
particularly well established, but Taurus seems probable. He was
by birth and inclination a country gentleman and practised land surveying.
As a soldier his chief claim to respect lies in his dogged persistence
in the face of adversity and his great power of leadership, which enabled
him to keep some sort of an army together through thick and thin, until,
with the help of the French and Spanish, he won the day. He died
of quinsy, a Taurus ailment.
Ulysses Grant is also attributed to Taurus, and his military
career again exemplifies unflinching determination. But the odds
were all in his favor.
Americans seem to like Taurus in their presidents and this is
not surprising in view of some of their national qualities. Eisenhower
is a native of either Aries or Taurus and his appearance suggests Taurus,
with his large oxlike eyes.
Harry Truman had the Sun in Taurus and Garfield the Moon.
Herbert Hoover is placed under Taurus rising.
Among the few Taurus rising celebrities I found is Mary Queen
of Scots. She had 16 Taurus rising, which, as I have said, is often
related to the voice, and perhaps with the throat, which in her case was
severed by the axe. She had many charming qualities but a setting
Saturn was her bane...as it might be anybody's. In fact the more
we study her story, the more we do see this cruel opposition at work...a
Venus ascendant opposed to Saturn in Scorpio. There seems little
question as to the correctness of this figure.
She was the victim of many things, but perhaps most of all of
her amorous nature, and indeed, I think Taurus is naturally more passionate
than Libra.
Sex is intimately related to the sense of touch, of which smell
and taste are specialized forms, and all sensations are strong in Taurus,
including the sense of color. Its sense of hearing often verges to
actual clairaudience.
It has also much of what anthropologists call "mana," a sort
of power of imposing one's will upon nature and so producing so-called
magical results.
Taurus rising often seeks the stage or some other place in the
world of amusement; and we have two actresses, Vivien Leigh and Lillian
Braithwaite.
There are no such things as good and bad signs, but there are
such things as square pegs in round holes. Every sign is capable
of doing good work if it is given the right job to do, but only a few horoscopes
permit the native to thrive in almost any conditions.
Now we turn to Sun in Taurus.
Sun in the 1st decanate seems uncommon. We have, of course,
Adolf Hitler and the unfortunate half-crazy Rudolf Hess. Our sidereal
friends make play of Hitler's Taurean planets, forgetting that he was devoted
to architecture.
The Sun in the 2nd decanate furnishes us with several interesting
examples.
Ribbentrop had the Sun in 10 Taurus, opposed to Uranus, and
this I mention, because Ribbentrop was not a typical Taurean. This
sign, as I have mentioned, is usually honest in money matters and generally.
In fact, "my word is my bond" is a very Taurean aphorism. I like
to think of the hero of the old Roman Republic, Cincinnatus, who won wars
and then went back to the plough, as a Taurus type. He hadn't much
property, wrote an old Latin poet, but was "full of good faith." Or, in
other words, reliable to the last degree. That is Taurus.
But Uranus is the perverter. Whatever any aspect or other
factor may show in normal circumstances, let Uranus lend a hand, and you
will probably get the reverse.
Hence, the dishonest Ribbentrop.
He had plenty of other difficult aspects besides Sun opposed
to Uranus.
Another exception was H.G.H. Schacht, Hitler's "financial wizard."
He had Moon conjunct Neptune in Taurus, square Sun and Mercury but trine
Venus.
Wellington is a good instance of the bluff, not to say gruff,
Taurus.
One would not expect an eminent jockey to have much in Taurus,
but Gordon Richards had Sun, Mars, and Mercury there, and rather curiously,
Cromwell had Sun, Mercury, Venus. Curiously, because Cromwell was
a great cavalry leader, so the equine element appears in both men.
They had the Sun in the same degree...the 14th.
So also Karl Marx, who had the Moon in this sign, and Venus.
Here we get the passion for economics and the desire to seek the explanation
of all history along economic lines. As Marx had his Sun-Moon conjunction
in sextile to Saturn and in trine to Jupiter, one might expect much from
him. He could have been a prosperous banker, one would imagine, but
presumably Uranus and Neptune in the 11th gave him different aims and objects...the
word "ideals" seems out of place in regard to such a hard baked materialist.
Rudolf Valentino and Robespierre had the Sun in 15 Taurus, but
I must leave someone cleverer than myself, or at least better acquainted
with their respective lives and characters, to try to trace a resemblance.
Once again we have, as in the case of Mary Queen of Scots, where this area
brought death by beheading.
Harry Truman had the Sun in the 19th degree of Taurus and he
will probably be remembered in history as a man of good feeling and sound
sense.
So much for the 2nd decanate.
The third is sparsely represented, but we have two philosophers,
Mr. Krishnamurti and Socrates. In each case Sun is in 21 Taurus.
One can trace similarities here. The former cut himself off from
his early associations and sought a path of his own, as sooner or later,
most of those who pursue truth must do. "Betake yourselves to no external
refuge," said the Buddha, and the Scriptures are but "fingers pointing
the way."
Being under Saturn, the 3rd decanate might be unfortunate or
it might lead, as in these two cases, to a very serious and profound state
of mind. The philosopher Kant had Sun conjunct Mercury in 13 Taurus,
and Notable Nativities puts his ascendant in the 3rd decanate of the same
sign. But I believe this birth time has been questioned.
Moon in Taurus provides a fair list of celebrities; but I am
at a loss to see common features. Presumably it makes for a kindly,
common-sense sort of individual, but I suspect one would have to know the
native personally in order to see just how it has expressed itself.
I do not know, for instance, in what way Moon in Taurus has manifested
itself in the case of Chiang Kai Shek.
Dr. Alfred Adler had Moon in 5 Taurus and Jung had it in 14
Taurus, which may indicate a flair for understanding human nature or may
be mere coincidence.
I can believe that this position is helpful to the physician.
It should make him patient and able to instill confidence in the sick.
Hans Andersen had this position but it seems a little difficult
to see how its value was exhibited in this case. I should have thought
that this emplacement would save from the hell of ultra-sensitiveness,
but this was certainly not the case with him. Jupiter rising in Sagittarius,
Sun-Mercury in Aries, Moon in Taurus, Mars in Leo: these ought, one would
say, to have produced a strong and resilient character, despite afflictions.
In this case they didn't.
George Bernard Shaw had Moon in 21 Taurus.
He was certainly a kindly man, not at all sensitive, and the
rather close connection between the sign we are discussing and the theater
comes out here.
He was satirical; and so too was Dryden, Moon 23 Taurus.
Swedenborg had Moon in 14 Taurus, with Uranus, and this must
complete our list.
Except that Moon in Taurus seems fairly frequent in well known
maps, we really cannot see any prominent common feature.
One would not suppose that Mars in Taurus would be a happy position,
but actually I find several cases wherein it appears in famous nativities.
There let the siderealists prick up their ears, for of those that I shall
quote, everyone has Mars in the constellation Aries.
David Lloyd-George...Mars in 1 Taurus, and Jay Gould, the railway
king, in the same degree. Both were good at laying their hands upon
other people's money, though with different views as to its ultimate destination.
Science gives us three examples: Sir Oliver Lodge with Mars
in 6 Taurus, and Sir Isaac Newton and Rudolf Steiner with Mars in 7 Taurus.
All three were natural scientists and all three had "occult interests."
La Volasfera says that 7 Taurus is a degree of mind-wealth and 6 Taurus
of bodily wealth, which agrees with these three men of science, and with
N.N. 987 given as "great wealth." This last had Jupiter in 7 Taurus.
This area does seem beneficent.
Houdini, the "handcuff king," had Mars in 11 Taurus which is
its position in our 1801 horoscope. And perhaps our country, like
Houdini, is rather good at getting into entanglements and getting out again.
Though Taurus does not produce many famous people, in the better
sense, it is a sign that ranks pretty high among criminal maps, being so
early in the zodiac and hence given to crude expression. Despite
its Venus rulership, it can be a fierce fellow and in a table of violent
criminals in Some Principles of Horoscopic Delineation it scores 35 points
against an average of 20, being if fact the highest of the twelve.
I imagine its sins are usually the result of sudden outburst
of temper.
Of course our sidereal friends may well seize on these figures
as evidence that our sign Taurus people are really constellation Aries.
But the sign Aries itself, which by the same reckoning would for the most
part be constellation Pisces, scores 32. Thus signs Aries and Taurus
together score 67 against an average of 40. The next sign is Gemini
and the first three signs yield a total of 95 against an average of 60,
so I think the true explanation is that the signs become progressively
less individualistic and more gregarious and socially minded. However,
we avoid crime from different motives and the little table in the book
mentioned exemplifies this. For the three lowest are Leo, Sagittarius
and Capricorn. Now I suggest that Leo and Capricorn eschew criminality
because they prize their social status and Sagittarius because it is a
good fellow, and if it is anyone's enemy, it's usually its own.
I do not propose to trouble you with a long list of Taurus criminals,
but some are interesting.
Often the motive is financial, as in the case of Landru.
I have two cases of poisoning for insurance money.
There is Trenkler (Sun, Mercury, ascendant, Neptune, Saturn
and Pluto in Taurus) who killed three people in robbing a jeweller's shop
in Berlin.
Others seem to have been motivated partly by resentment and
vindictiveness, which are really the qualities of the sign in polarity,
Scorpio.
The Law of Polarity...if one can call such an uncertain thing
a law ...explains many of our anomalies. Its operation, so far as
the ascending sign goes, may be connected with the doctrine of the pre-natal
epoch, and it would be interesting to see whether the Taurus rising criminal
usually has his pre-natal Moon in Scorpio.
We have seen that some of our Taurus criminals were lured into
evil by the attractions of "easy money," but the typical Taurus does not
seem to me to be avaricious. He likes comfort and security rather
than luxury, and is satisfied in his diet with plain British fare.
Of course you may get a self-indulgent glutton like George IV. (Moon conjunction
Jupiter in Taurus) but in his case these two were opposed by Mars, very
closely. Result: extreme obesity, gout, etc.
Poor Taurus! He has had a rough passage during the recent
times, his diet depleted by war-time restrictions, his savings mulcted
by a hungry exchequer.
Will he ever come into his own again?
Several countries have been placed under this sign.
Firstly, Ireland. This seems fairly well tested.
The Southern Irish at any rate have Taurean qualities, mixed with the occasional
outburst of destructiveness that recalls Scorpio. They are said to
be indolent, fond of song:
"I'm one of the
old sort of O'Gradies;
Not over
fond of hard work;
But I
like my pipe and the ladies
And I'd
make a most illigant Turk!"
This links up well with the Persians, at least if we may take
Omar Khayyam as as being at all representative of his race. He lived
too soon to enjoy his pipe, but his verses suggest s fondness for "the
ladies" and also for
"The Vine that
can with logic absolute
The two and seventy jarring sects confute."
But you will notice that his proposed diet included that very
Taurean article, a loaf of bread.
Persia, too, is potentially a very wealthy country. In
modern jargon it has been "exploited" by the West. Personally, if
I possessed what seemed to be a waste of sandy desert and someone came
along, discovered oil, took the risk and trouble to develop it without
my having to turn a finger, and then paid me half the proceeds, I should
not consider myself exploited; I should think Fortune had been remarkably
kind to me. Friends, this modern talk about "colonialism" and "exploitation"
is the biggest bunk imaginable, and least of all does it behove the Americans
to talk such nonsense.
I suppose my Moon in Taurus is getting on its hind legs. For
Taurus is plainspoken and doesn't like humbug.
Another region attributed to Taurus is Campania, and that is
probable enough. Hannibal's army is said to have gone to pieces in terms
of morale after wintering there, and modern Naples, with its gift of song
may well be Taurus.
In fact, I am inclined to think that the modern Italians are
strongly
Taurus-Leo habits, with their gross indulgence in gluttony and public
shows..."bread and circuses."
We often contrast signs with these in quincunx.
Taurus differs sharply from Libra in being inflexible, whereas
Libra is notoriously complaisant and given to compromise, generally to
its own disadvantage; Taurus is a more sensuous sign, and, as we have seen,
can indulge in excess, whereas Libra has an instinct for moderation and
the glorious Middle Way.
As for contrasting Taurus and Sagittarius , no two signs could
possibly be more unlike excepting for the undoubted fact that, each in
its own way, they are pleasure lovers, those of the Jovian sign, being,
however, as a rule rather more exotic. Again, Taurus says little
and means what it says; Sagittarius says a great deal and usually forgets
all about it as it dashes off after some fresh interest.
We will not leave our sign with any compliments or bouquets,
for Taurus careth not one jot what we think of him, so long as we do not
get in his way or try any tricks on him. If we do, we may find ourselves
being tossed sky-high on his horns and trampled under his hooves when we
come down to earth.
© Astrological Lodge Lecture
-§- 29 April 1957
© Astrology Quarterly
-§- Vol. 32/1
  
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