Signs: Fixed Cross—Taurus

I see, and when the eye is opened, all is illumined

Gaining self-worth: illumination, clarity, strength

Taurus: esoteric meaning

in this sign comes the emphasis upon struggle. It is a cosmic, planetary and individual struggle, for desire-will underlies the manifested activities of the Logos, the planetary Life and of man and also of all forms in nature. It is the struggle of that which is deeply hidden in darkness to reach the light of day; it is the struggle of the hidden soul to dominate and control the outer form, the struggle to transmute desire into aspiration and aspiration into the will to achieve. It is the struggle to attain the goal which an increasing light reveals. So potent is this struggle that on the ordinary wheel it culminates (prior to the re-entry in Aries of the soul seeking incarnation) by the fixed desire, growing steadily stronger, to follow the wheel of re-birth; on the reversed progress around the zodiac, the struggle is to overcome and destroy all that has been so laboriously achieved upon the ordinary wheel and to demonstrate in Scorpio (through the terrific tests there applied) that the form no longer controls but that the lessons learnt through the use of the form have been retained; the struggle is to achieve initiation in Capricorn and thus release the soul from the revolving wheel and achieve final liberation from the thralldom of desire and from form control of any kind. (EA 401-2)

Taurus: rulers

• Orthodox: Venus
• Esoteric: Vulcan
• Hierarchical: Vulcan

Orthodox: Venus ⇧

Details to follow for Venus as orthodox ruler.

Esoteric: Vulcan ⇧

Taurus: bringing about material integration to clear inner vision, the forging of a worthy vehicle for the self: Vulcan crafts the personality from material experience.

…Taurus forges the instruments of constructive living or of destruction; …the chains which bind or create the key which unlocks the mystery of life; …this forging process, with its consequent clamour… is going on at this time in a most potent manner [during WW2]. Vulcan controls the anvil-like processes of time and strikes the blow which shapes the metal into that which is desired… (EA 374-5)

The metaphor here is that Vulcan’s connection to the mineral kingdom parallels the effect of Vulcan on the human personality, and the work we have to undertake in order to “forge ourselves” into a fitting vehicle through which to express the inner self we all have, rather than a personal self that simply reacts.

…Vulcan, the forger of metals… who works in the densest, most concrete expression of the natural world (from the human angle)… who goes down into the depths to find the material upon which to expend his innate art and to fashion that which is beautiful and useful. Vulcan is, therefore, that which stands for the soul, the individual, inner, spiritual [self]; in his activity we find the key to the soul’s task upon the eternal round of the wheel of life. …Hercules upon the Fixed Cross had to fashion his own weapons before he succeeded in the struggle. This is… a reference to the art of Vulcan…

Vulcan also rules nations at a certain stage of embryonic soul expression… and governs their activities, fashioning the instruments of war when war and conflict are the only means whereby liberation can come, though woe betide those through whom wars come. Vulcan then takes hold and—since the Middle Ages—has brought the mineral kingdom, “the depths from which supply must come,” under human control. … Vulcan… is governed by the first ray, and the first ray and the first kingdom are definitely bound together. This, therefore, brings in the Shamballa force and you consequently have an esoteric triangle of energy—will, humanity and the mineral kingdom. They have a very close rapport with each other, both from the angle of the Plan and from the expression of material selfishness. Hence the great use of minerals (iron, copper, etc.) in… war… in which the mineral kingdom is used against the human. (EA 385-6)

The “mass initiation” at that time led post-WW2 humanity towards a new beginning, when some crucial changes set up the assurances and alliances that—at the time and for many years—kept at least the worst of humanity’s destructive urges in check. Those gains have not been lost and today many people enjoy certain freedoms and access to ideas, as well as rights, that would have been hard to imagine in earlier periods. The struggle to maintain these is on the shoulders of all those who carry an inner awareness alive to injustice, selfishness and division: Ray 1, as expressed by Vulcan, has that invaluable tendency to build anew on ground that has been cleared by the more destructive Ray 1 force of the non-sacred planet Pluto.

Humanity had gone down into the caves and the depths of concretion and is ready now for an upward shift or move, this time consciously taken and taken all together. (EA 386-7)

Hierarchical: Vulcan ⇧

The “light which liberates from death” is a function of the mysterious “third unmanifested Hierarchy” (for the deeper occult role played by these “Lords of Sacrifice and Love” (see EA 40)), the suggestion for individuals being freedom from form control and hence liberation of the inner self or soul from the 3-fold personality. The following relationships are given in Esoteric Astrology (EA 274):

• Taurus—Illumination.
• Vulcan—First ray or endurance.
• Third Creative Hierarchy—Liberating Light.
• Virgo—The [soul]-life, latent and unexpressed (as is the 3rd Creative Hierarchy).
• The Moon—The form nature, the substance of the flame which lights the way.

The theme of the mineral kingdom as being forged by humanity is echoed here at a global scale:

Hierarchically… conditioning the planet and determining the fact that humanity is the macrocosm of the microcosm and that the fourth kingdom fashions or conditions all subhuman kingdoms. (EA 185)

This is a process of interaction between matter and the life and purpose of humanity, as vehicles of expression are created, whether these are literally forged from the mineral kingdom, the substances we ingest to create and sustain our physical bodies, or behaviours that determine our impact on the planet as well as the collective material form of expression for the human kingdom. Vulcan symbolises how the material forms we need are built from what exists at an atomic level in the mineral kingdom, or at subtler levels or being, where different kinds of quality are required—this is the role of the Third Creative Hierarchy, the unmanifested Devas (form-builders) who are “the flower of the earlier system” (EA 40) i.e. the first of the three solar systems which was under the third aspect, as ours—the second—is under Ray 2.

Decanates

See the notes about the inconsistency of decanates in Esoteric Astrology. For comparison, Stephen Pugh’s decanate rulers are listed, alongside current orthodox rulers and those given in the book.

Esoteric/developmental: conscious development (annual signs from Aries via Taurus to Pisces)

0-9°: Venus D: Taurus, intelligent love and the “final liberation from the thralldom of desire and from form control of any kind” Venus as the inner self or soul, revisited in the third decanate, foreshadowing its meaning as Capricorn’s Hierarchical ruler

10-19°: Mercury C: Virgo, “escaping from illusion and entering into light”… “the struggle [towards] initiation in Capricorn and… release… from the revolving wheel” The central decanate implies the “Fixed Cross experience” and struggle (Ray 4) of inner development

20-29°: Saturn G: Capricorn, “…the lessons learnt through the use of the form have been retained”, this is the final outcome of the struggle in the central decanate

Exoteric/experiential: humanity in general (precession from Aries via Pisces to Taurus)

29-20°: Saturn G: Capricorn, “The pursuit of material stability, pleasure and comfort: the ambition that values material stability and comfort”

19-10°: Mercury C: Virgo, using the mind for “the struggle and conflict to gain possessions and control” (Ray 4 brings conflict)

9-0°: Venus D: Taurus, “the love of beauty and the sensual pleasures of charm and seduction”

• Orthodox: Venus, Mercury, Saturn (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn)
• EAst e/o: Venus, Mercury, Saturn / Saturn, Mercury, Venus
• Pugh e/o: Saturn, Mercury, Venus / Venus, Mercury, Saturn (swapped?)

The esoteric decanates as described here cover all three planets and Earth signs as a wholistic journey through Taurus. Sepharial’s Moon being connected to Venus, as mentioned below, is not a veiling but more of an “as above, so below” kind of pairing.

Both the astrologers, Leo and Sepharial … agree in their assignment of planets to govern the triple aspects of the sign. They only vary exoterically on one point for Sepharial gives the Moon as governing the second decan whilst Leo gives Venus as ruling the first decan. However, Venus and the Moon are often used interchangeably and both express or emanate the same basic energy of active intelligence in its higher and lower aspects. One expresses intelligent love and the other the intelligence of matter; this dual emphasis is concerned with the dominance of the form nature in the Taurian subject and… release through the Venusian Son of Mind. The Moon or Venus, Mercury and Saturn control the decanates and our consideration of these planets in the other signs will have indicated to you their right interpretation, both here and elsewhere. Form life, intelligent activity, and intense struggle summarises the Taurian problem, whilst Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods, reminds the struggling [individual that they] must become ever what [they] essentially [are], thus escaping from illusion and entering into light. (EA 402)

Esoteric Astrology: 402