Taurus

April 20^th to May 20^th

Taurus – The Bull

Taurus the second house of the zodiac

Ruled by: Venus

Three different bulls are associated with Taurus. First there is the white bull that was Zeus disguised as a bull, which carried Europe to her home in Crete. He was up to his old tricks again. The thought of seducing Europe was so tantalising that he disguised himself as a white bull.
Second there is the cow who was really Hera. Because of her jealousy she turned herself into this cow, to see what Zeus was up to.
Finally there is the famous Cretan’s bull, which King Minas wife fell in love with. King Minas was king of Crete, and was the son of Europa and Zeus, himself the son of a bull. He had two brothers, they fought and won over the king of Crete, with honor. He prayed to the god Poseidon lord of the sea, and of earthquakes, to send a white bull out of the sea, as a sacrifice.

Myth
The white bull is in honor of his kingship. The God Poseidon acknowledged this request, and sent a fine white bull from the sea to the king so that his prayer would be blessed.
But once the king received this magnificent animal, he could not bring himself to sacrifice it. He thought to himself why sacrifice this perfect white bull when I can use this in my herd.
So instead he sacrificed another white bull, thinking the god Poseidon would not notice. The God Poseidon did notice and was upset that he hadn’t received his due respect, as was his right. He retaliated by asking the Goddess Aphrodite to inspire King Minas’s wife to have an irresistible passion for the bull, so she enlisted a craftsman to make her a wooden cow, that Pasiphae the King’s wife might engage with, in order to gain revenge on the king.
From this union came the Minotaur, who was a creature with a human body and a bull’s head. The king was very ashamed and wanted to hide this creature from view, and so built a maze, where the Minotaur lived by eating maidens and youths.
The fault was not his wife’s, she just paid the penalty for what the King, through his greed, had done.

Venus on the other hand seems to be the animas of the bull where Aphrodite is most active. To her, love- making is wonderful, and whether it is within the marriage of not, doesn’t really matter.

Both Taurus and Venus are part of one another – the dynamics between them both, are profound, and are coupled with passion and jealousy.
Both the qualities of Taurus and Venus cannot live together – and yet cannot live apart. The only solution is to learn the ‘dance of life’, which these passions and intellect have in order to co-exist.

Taurus on the other hand is ugly, but a fine craftsman. He was so ugly that his mother ‘Hera’, threw him away at birth. However a Sea Goddess rescued him. He became a smith and made some beautiful jewellery for her. By chance, his mother saw these beautiful objects and wanted to know who made them. On hearing that these were made by her son she bought him back to her kingdom and he was duly rewarded.

The myth behind this tale is a bit like ‘Beauty and the Beast’. She is forever unfaithful. He is ugly, yet very talented. Both have an enormous amount to give to one another, its just a bit difficult getting it right.

 

Ruling Planet Venus

The Greek goddess Aphrodite was a ruler of both physical and sensual love as well as ideal, romanticized love, and intellectual, humanitarian, and spiritual love as well.

Aphrodite married Hephaestus, the lame blacksmith. Hephaestus was an expert craftsman who made jewelry for Aphrodite, armor for Achilles, and Zeus’s crown. Although married, Aphrodite had love affairs: Ares, the god of war, Anchises, a Trojan prince, and Adonis, a handsome, young hunter were lovers of Aphrodite.

The myth of Aphrodite does exemplify many of the characteristics of Venus’s astrological influence: there are many flavors and styles of Venus’s love, depending on the signs, houses, and aspects to Venus.
Beauty has an attractive power over people, as shown in Aphrodite’s physical beauty, and the fact that she married a man, who although not beautiful, could serve her and adorn her with beautiful ornaments.
Attractive power and romantic attraction, unless balanced with other factors, will not result in a faithful, monogamous relationship, as evidenced by Aphrodite’s love relationships with handsome men.

Adonis was killed by a wild bear and Aphrodite pleaded with Zeus to bring him back to life. Zeus decided to allow Adonis to live 6 months of each year on earth and 6 months in the lower world, creating the summer and winter seasons. Thus, love can help overcome even death, and the bonds of love can survive the greatest tragedies.