Sun in Taurus: Life, Reflected Inward

As an extension of the idea of Taurus as the sign of satisfaction with the self

are all those things which we consider 'satisfying' and comfortable or comforting

in life, such as these handwoven, natural dye Thai silks for sale in Ban Tha

Sawang (Surin Province, Thailand). Taurus problems generally arise from

substituting the 'thing' for the satisfaction, or thinking that 'things' or money

or 'looking right' can fill or fulfill our need for the sort of personal satisfaction

which comes from fulfilling your potential and doing that which you know is

right (for you) as opposed to simply making others happy.

(photo credit: JJ Harrison, December 2012)

Taurus is the second sign of the zodiac. And as such, there’s only one sign which precedes it: Aries – the sign of Self and awareness that we exist.

If you look at a horoscope wheel, the order of the signs is one through twelve. And that 12th sign, like that 12th house, is always the ‘shadow’ which we just may be afraid of.

Or maybe we’re afraid of being afraid of it.

What is it? What could go wrong?

If there is a position in the horoscope which embodies the fear we have of things which go ‘bump’ in the night, that the 12th harmonic – which is to say, the 12th ‘sign position’ to wherever you’re starting from.

 
Which with Taurus is Aries. So when you’re sitting in the Aries seat, Taurus is the 2nd harmonic: it’s all about what we can make of ourselves, and what we have to build with. Talents, resources are half of it, and the self worth and internal security is the other part – the part which allows us to harness that first half.

But when you ‘sit’ in the Taurus seat? Then all the ‘am I going to fail?’ and ‘what if they don’t like me?’ or even ‘what if war breaks out?’ or ‘what if the banks fail?’ or ‘what if I become homeless?’ or ‘what if there’s a hurricane?’…all the thousands and forty nine (yes, I counted) things which we might dream could go wrong become Aries in the 12th house position. All the fears we might dream up of failure or humiliation or whatever…that’s where they go bump in what great poets have referred to as the night of our soul.

All this is important because as the Sun moves into Taurus – which it is going to do as of 10:04 in the evening of April 19th (UT/+0 time) – the Sun’s entrance into the sign of the impending solar eclipse brings all those issues which are going to be challenged by the eclipse into the metaphysical sunlight...our conscious awareness.

Sunlight streams down onto a hot spring at Leirhnjukur, Iceland

(photo credit: Andreas Tille, July 1996)

So where ordinarily with Sun in Taurus we might be talking about utilizing our time, our personal resources (be they time, love, talent, money – whatever) to help others and thus earn that satisfaction which breeds security, here we’re talking about a period of time which is more likely to be about tests of security - and yes, as we've seen through acts of violence, threats to commit acts of war and the mailing of literally poisonous letters in the mail, that security can be physical.

But on a more global level, especially once the Sun is in Taurus, the issues are going to be more about 'worth' - most specifically, self worth.

I know…you’re just jazzed. (NOT!!!) But as I've been discussing with a friend on Facebook (through the astroPPM page) what we've seen for the past week-to-ten days has been all about Aries energetics: who we are and trying to prove our 'existence' to others and ourselves. The aim has been to be and to be noticed and to feel valid in going (Aries=assertive aims) in the directions we're aimed at.

North Korea's leader made his threats as the Sun was passing through Aries emotional second decanate, where the stakes are emotional and thus the idea of threatening what you might do is apt. Everything about that time called our attention to life on a more or less survivalistic level.

Then, as the Sun moved into Aries' third and most public and worldly level, the actions became public. You've often heard me say that third decanate degrees (degrees between 20 and 29 of any sign) are where we let go and where the world then reacts to us, at which point we have to deal with those reactions.

If you think of the bombings at the Boston Marathon, they embody this very kind of concept. Localizing this just to the bomber(s), they obviously went through planning and putting things together - after which came the moment of 'putting it out there' and having the world react. That's the Sun moving through the third decan of Aries. My friend on Facebook quoted her nephew in noting how many, many acts of violence and terror have taken place during this last segment of Aries. And I agree: astrologically, such acts are very third-decan of Aries.

But beneath or beyond that is the greater metaphysical concept which will 'evolve' as the Sun moves into Taurus. With a solar eclipse in Taurus this year, events in the eight weeks prior to that eclipse would be all about calling our attention to however issues of security and satisfaction with our lives are playing out in those lives.

And just maybe how we need to make changes. Maybe it's to security measures we take, yes. But maybe it's to what we prioritize in life. Or maybe it's to how we see other people, some of whom end up doing us wrong when they think we've done them wrong.    

This is not about blame. And not to put too fine a point on this, with Venus already in Taurus we want what we like. We want to do well. We want to be well. We want to be well thought of.

But all that is now scrambled into a time where other people telling us we’re fine won’t feel fine if we’re not feeling fine with ourselves and with the world we live in. All the placation in the world isn’t going to satisfy us if we aren’t satisfied with ourselves. Or if we can't step outside because we're so scared of a world we've walled out that we've reduced ourselves to living in some sort of walled encampments.

Freedom - astrologically - is Aquarian, a sign is just as famous for rules as it is for anarchy. We win in this world only when the world wins, giving us that wonderful space in which to live. Universal is not 'me and mine,' it's 'all of us and everyone.'

Taurus tests our ability to understand what 'everyone' means and how to grow through that understanding. We don't have to love everyone to be a universalist. We only need to understand that others have the right to be different, so long as nobody's hurting anybody else.

And no, that doesn't mean hurting your feelings because someone doesn't agree with you! Sometimes that's the very simplest issue, and the very thing which starts a war. The greatest lesson we achieve when it comes to differing opinions or different cultures or different life styles or whatever is not why others do or think as they do, and not what or how they do it.

It is the growth we experience through learning to allow others to be not like us...and being okay with that.

Maybe even loving someone in spite of that.

Or loving them because they are so very different. 

But let’s be real here: we’re talking about a Taurus solar eclipse, which is not life's gentlest upheaval. Plus (spoiler alert!) maybe you don’t realize it, but Mars is going to be joining this Taurus on the day after the Sun moves into Taurus.

Which means that as the Sun is about to enter Taurus and moving through the most 'critical' (intense) degrees of Aries, Mars is also at the most critical point in the Aries process.

And Mars rules Aries, which makes this either an assertive dynamic (perhaps to the point of complete narcissistic disregard of others) or a time when all we can think of is how 'separate' we are from life.

Which is part of the most celestial point here. Whatever life has to do to get us to understand that we don't have to just 'go along to get along' and that we are individuals gifted with a life which gives us the opportunity to do things in this world...that's what life is going to do.

Yet at the same time, we also have to be realistic. And when it comes to Mars in Taurus, Mars in Taurus is not focused on the self and actions that self can take, Mars in Taurus is focused on what we want.

And that what we 'want' all depends on what we think we don't have. Or how much we believe in our capacity to get where we want to go, despite whatever we're up against in this very moment. You may simply want “out of here.” You might want a job. Or you might want to not need to do whatever you're doing.

The object, the goal, the aim is Mars in Aries. But what lies under that...the wanting and whatever sense of satisfaction or insecurity or craving or lack of self regard we have about ourselves will determine how we will deal with this time. The Sun in Taurus, even without Mars (and Venus) in Taurus gets us to thinking about how we feel about who we are on the inside. How comfortable we are with that person we feel ourselves being when we lay down at night and close our eyes.

Most of the time this relating-to-our-state-of-self is quasi-automatic. But with a Solar Eclipse coming up, the Sun's moving into Taurus represents life 'lighting up' all those little cracks and crevices in our opinions of our Self and our lives. 

The solar eclipse being slated to happen during the Sun’s passage through Taurus tells us that these next few weeks are going to be intense. Maybe even contentious. This solar month is going to pose challenges, propositions, questions and revelations. Some of the foundations we have built certain assumptions, presumptions or suppositions on are going to shift. Some may even melt away - sometimes rather magically, but other times through wholesale pressure like that exerted inside a crucible.

Yes, for some life itself is going to be a pressure cooker. In the world of metaphysics, the idea that such an object would become an object of harm isn't chance: its emblematic.

So as the pressure ratchets up, then we get to see how ‘solid’ our personal operating systems really are. Do we know how to vent, or do we just explode? Do we use our energy and personal energetics for constructive or destructive means?

As a sign of security and not just all which we do to become secure but all those

basic things which allow us to pursue personal security, Taurus is also the sign

of food, restaurants, cooking and the food chain in general - which leads us to

this rather fun photo of a Barcelona fruit market.

(photo credit: Ajrin, October 2008)

It is often said ‘life isn’t what happens, it’s how you respond to what happens.’ That’s very metaphysical. Fate is what happens…how we respond, even when we do nothing, is the choice of free will.

And how we deal with that choice, be it in real time or in our head or heart or soul…those reactions, those responses voice our Taurean nature. What do I value? What am I willing to stand on as a person and use to build my life and enhance and grow the world I live in so that my life (and that of those I love) is enriched?

Given that Saturn is retrograde in Scorpio during this year’s Taurus transit of the Sun, our challenges are huge. But so too are the possibilities for gain, for growth, for learning better how to live in this world.

Or maybe how to make a better world in which to live. But there will be disappointments and challenges. We can expect a little confusion or inspiration as the Sun's radiance connects to Neptune energetics on April 23-24 (depending on your time zone). For some this will raise questions or confusion, for others this will be an inspiring or even a relaxing time.

The last days of April - April 27th through to May 1st - are will bring confrontations, most of all to our realities (or something we thought was 'this' when it's really 'that') and sense of having things "all planned out." Though issues may well be raised by others, they are not the core issue - our reactions to them, and maybe how we have been regarding them are.

Accept the reality and cope with it. You may not like the 'feet of clay' feeling encountered now, but deal with it anyway. Expressing your disappointment is fine provided you understand that you may be projecting unrealistic expectations which are yours on someone else who will then know that you're prone to constructs in your head which aren't the real thing.

For most of us, this is just a sandpaper sort of moment which in evoking the changes of values and valuations associated with the incoming solar eclipse are offending us mostly because we have to change.

Do we HAVE to?

Well, no. If you don't care about keeping in step with life, reality and the world, no. Just remember - you're living in and with it!      

And yes, things are changing. With Pluto transiting Capricorn we know things structural are changing. Taurus is an earth sign, and earth signs pertain to realities and ‘things tangible.’ So we know that the structures and the ‘rules’ of life are changing. And yes, we can kick and scream all we want, but the world is not going back to ‘the old way.’

Things are simply changing. We're due to get a few more 'notes' on the subject (bring your #2 pencils, everyone!) as the Sun connects to Jupiter on the 7th and 8th of May - again, depending on the time zone you live in. This is something of the 'bookend' aspect to issues raised at the end of April: "x" may not work, and "y" is going to take a WHOLE lot of effort to put into place.

Again, the question becomes about quality: do we just want to ignore things and have them work? Sure. But will they? Probably not! So in 'fixing' whatever is amiss in life, are we going to go for a quick-fix temporary patch, or are we going to dig out all the old rotten methodologies and upgrade our life to something new and quality and stable?

I'm beginning to feel like an HGTV show here...

(Show Host): '....You know, when we started this life remodeling project we had no idea you had all these time-damaged support beams. They all need replacing - do you have the psychological budget to cover these additional costs?' 

Whatever sign the Sun is in, it’s always making some sort of aspect to every planet, and during the Sun’s passage through Taurus we are in a moment of earth-to-earth sign trine. This does not (contrary to pop astrology PR) mean everything is ‘easy.’ Trines merely mean “ongoing energy” which can just as easily be an ongoing epidemic as ongoing sunshine and roses. The ‘pop astrology’ reference is to the energy…the energy of the trine is ‘easy’ in the sense that it simply flows and flows and flows.

But is that good? Ongoing good is good. But ongoing bad is bad, right?

In the end, the lesson here – however it manifests in your life – carries with it one reminder: though we may miss something which fails or ends or vanishes now, all things happen for a reason.

Unbeknownst to us,
 the universe is unfolding as it should. 

'Airglow': Earth's city lights plus atmospheric incadescence as

photographed from the Space Shuttle

(photo credit: NASA)

No, we don’t always like the reasons, but sometimes that’s just the point. Humans do not learn through complacency. We learn through striving. The terrible loss often teaches us to make more of what we have and who we are than any amount of comfortable status quo.

Do we like the status quo? Of course.

But life isn’t about what we like. We are born into this world to be part of something far greater than ourselves. And that sometimes takes blasting us out of our comfort zones.

Life isn’t mean. Life is just life. Our mistake is that thinking life is personally sentient rather than inevitably responsive.

Cause, effect. What we put out comes back to us.

So when we put less out, we get less back. And conversely, when we put a lot out, we get a lot back. What we get back depends on the quality of what we put out, and (this is an often missing Taurus part) whether what we put out is appropriate considering who we actually are.

Taurus tolerates no fakes. Taurus demands ‘the genuine article’ – starting with our Self.
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