Characteristics: beauty-oriented, calm, decisive, homebody, indulgent, lazy, loyal, money-savvy, patient, possessive, sensual, slow-tempered, stubborn, tenacious

Dates: April 20^th – May 20^th

Symbol: The Bull

Ruling Planet: Venus

Natural House: Second House

Body Parts: Neck and Throat

Following energetic Aries is the second sign of the zodiac: Taurus. After all plant and animal life reappears and color returns to the landscape, the world is blessed with azure skies, May showers, and floral scents. Taurus is a sign of beauty, and that’s what mid-Spring is all about. Along with a love of beauty, Taurus has a silent strength, represented by its symbol, the bull: an animal that stays calm and cool under pressure until it’s taken to the last solitary straw.

Taurus’s planetary ruler is Venus, named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. This sign makes ample use of the five senses and favors the comforting things in life. Home-cooked meals, good music, beautiful antiques, and soft, fluffy blankets are a few of its favorite things. Taurus doesn’t need anything flashy—or even expensive, necessarily—to feel good. As long as it’s physically comforting or aesthetically pleasing, anything will make Taurus happy. Because of Taurus’s affinity for such things, people with planets in this sign are usually skilled at cooking, baking, gardening, needlework and other hands-on activities. Interestingly, Venus not only rules Taurus, but also rules the sign Libra. However, whereas Libra is focused on the mental and communication-based aspects of beauty and harmony, Taurus is more focused on the physical and tangible aspects.

In the natural zodiac¹, Taurus rules the Second House. The Second House in the natal chart is the house that rules money, possessions, and one’s sense of self-worth or self-esteem. In sum, it rules over everything of which we take ownership. As Taurus is focused on the physical and tangible, it is, by consequence, concerned with money and finances, as well as the items it owns. Making money is important to this sign, and it makes a point of keeping track of its spending and buying habits. The bad side of this is that if funds are low, it tends to take a heavy hit on Taurus, for less money means it’s less able to take care of its basic needs. The good side of Taurus’s emphasis on money is its ability to handle it, which makes it skilled at working in financial fields. This doesn’t surprise me, as my late mother was a Taurus and worked as a bill collector. Scorpio—Taurus’s opposite sign—rules the house that governs other people’s money and what we get from legacies and other sources (i.e. inheritance, life insurance money, etc.), as well as our needs and what we accumulate spiritually. It’s not that Taurus is unable to be wealthy in spirit or gain emotional wealth; it’s just that physical earnings and belongings are what are natural to this sign.

In Taurus, we have the earth element and the fixed quality: in other words, the most immobile element and most immobile quality. What does that mean? It means Taurus is one stubborn son of Apis², that’s what. Don’t expect it to change its ways (unless it wants to). It can take forever to budge so much as an inch on an issue. This is because its decisions are usually made after a long period of weighing pros and cons. It only goes along with a decision after slow and careful consideration. If someone comes and challenges that decision, Taurus will refuse to change it. “I’ve already looked at every possible solution,” it will say to the other person. “My decision is final. I’m not going over it again.” This headstrong attitude may annoy many people, but it also makes them a lot more stable and consistent than other signs. It’s good to have some kind of grounding in life; otherwise, you’ll float aimlessly or charge straight into a marble wall. Its stability makes Taurus the calmest of the twelve signs; it’s the last sign to lose its cool or break into sobs. This cool and collected attitude is exactly what makes Taurus helpful in a crisis.

Two other negative traits that come along with Taurus’s element-quality combination are laziness and homebody tendencies. It’s not that Taurus doesn’t enjoy going out to a rocking party once in a while. It’s simply that an ideal night for Taurus is a nice, quiet evening at home, complete with a meal, a scented bath, and warm, comfy clothes. Even more pleasant for Taurus is hosting a dinner party for a small, intimate group of loved ones. Taurus can be a fun sign; it only prefers a more subdued, low-key kind of fun that echoes its calm nature. I imagine that Taurus would be sitting down and talking to a few good friends rather than chatting it up with the entire crowd. Maybe it’s talking about a nice deal they got on a dress or slow-cooker or another item that would help it fulfill its senses. Or maybe it’s sharing a new recipe it learned the other day. I think eventually it’ll get up and talk to a few other people. But for right now, it’s taking in the pleasure of the decorations on the walls and ceiling, the scents of its martini, and the sound of laughter and pleasant conversation from all those around it. This isn’t to say every Taurus person will act in this manner at a party; this is what I can picture the sign itself doing in its pure form.

Taurus rules the neck and throat areas of the body. That’s not surprising, considering how many famous singers are Tauruses: Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson, Cher and Adele, to name a few. Even if the voice of a Taurus person isn’t exactly superstar material, there will be something notable or particularly interesting about it. (S)he could have an affinity for necklaces or chokers, or his or her neck could stand out in comparison to the rest of the body. However, Taurus is more prone to neck and throat conditions than are other signs. These conditions include laryngitis, thyroid issues, and strep throat.

Next Article: Gemini, the Mutable Air Sign

¹The basic blueprint of the signs and houses, with Aries in the First House, Taurus in the Second House, Gemini in the Third House, etc. Most people’s natal charts will be very different from the natural chart, as the natal chart is specific to one’s time and place of birth.

²A bull god in Egyptian mythology.