Signs: Fixed Cross—Taurus

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

Gaining self-worth: illumination, clarity, strength

Taurus: esoteric meaning

The main esoteric thrust of Taurus is the shift from material attraction and desire for the physical towards the lifting of the veil of illusion that imbues material gain and comfort with the glitter of glamour. In the end, everything achieved comes to be seen as irrelevant to the inner goal of disillusionment (in the literal sense of the word). This shift allows light to enter those areas of life that have been obscured by glamour and the lure of material goals. The horizontal Taurus-Scorpio axis of the Fixed Cross is where the inner work reaches a peak of intensity, during which our own shortcomings and inner conflicts are painfully brought to light, in ways that we can no longer avoid.

The Secret of Taurus is revealed at the second initiation by the sudden removal or disappearance of world glamour in the blinding energy of light. This constitutes the final radiant activity which consummates the play of the Taurian force upon humanity during the long and cyclic journey to which man is committed. The individual enacts on a tiny scale what humanity—as a whole—will enact when it takes initiation in Taurus. (EA 388)

Inwardly the shift is from self-oriented desire, through the aspiration to face the challenges of self-development, to the eventual will to be of use in the general evolution of humanity as a whole and the sense of direction that implements that will. This transformation of desire into will on the Fixed Cross is summed up in the triangle Taurus-Scorpio-Mars. For the evolving individual on the Fixed Cross, as well as during the vast process of planetary evolution, the tensions manifest as a struggle between what is no longer serving the evolutionary process, and that which holds to what is limiting that process:

It is a cosmic, planetary and individual struggle, for desire-will underlies the manifested activities of the Logos, the planetary Life, [of humanity] 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… (EA 401-2)

The focus then shifts to the tests in the complementary Fixed Cross sign of Scorpio to test all of this achievement.

(Details to follow)

Taurus: rulers

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

Orthodox: Venus ⇧

In Esoteric Astrology, states that this rulership involves the unique relation of Venus to the Earth, and touches upon one of the mysteries of the Ageless Wisdom (EA 382) because Venus is to… Earth what the higher Self is to the Personality [which] brings about a much closer relation between Taurus and the Earth than perhaps exists in any other zodiacal relation where our planet is concerned (EA 383). The fact that Venus is a sacred planet and the Earth isn’t has a bearing on this relation between the two planets that involves:

a deep mystery of relativity, of interplay and of eventual revelation. This revelation as to the relation of the Earth’s alter ego to the world of human life will only be revealed at the third initiation, at which time all glamour and illusion is dissipated and “the light which shines through the eye of the Bull will be unimpeded” and carry light into the darkness. (EA 383-4)

There follows am explanation (following Bailey’s esoteric Christian symbolism) about the relation of the personality to the higher self being an esoteric parallel to sexual union, and how—although we cannot force that union physically (no matter how intimate)—we are essentially seeking in physical expression the soul-personality wholeness we really long for.

This carries the legacy of Aristophanes’ speech in Plato’s Symposium of the conjoined beings (male, female and androgynous) that Zeus split into two, because their completeness gave them an immense strength and ambition rivalling that of the gods. After the split (and after Zeus subsequently repositioned their genitals so they experienced pleasure when conjoined) they became preoccupied with seeking their “other half” in order to restore their original wholeness! (Symposium 189c) The idea of soul mates as the popular interpretation of this tale limits it to material relationships. In contrast, esoteric philosophy sees an allegory of the human journey: from an original unconscious and innocent whole; through the personality being developed and becoming painfully alienated from the inner self or soul; to a conscious reunion of personality and soul—a unified human self—at the third human initiation (or first cosmic beyond the personal self). This esoteric view elaborates on Pausanias Symposium speech, where he states that he who loves the soul remains devoted for life, for he is attached to something enduring (183e).

Specifically in relation to Taurus, the esoteric correspondence of sex becomes the relation of the lower nature to the higher Self:

it is then lifted up into the light of day in order [to] reach complete union with divinity. …sex (which has hitherto been a purely physical function, carried on sometimes under the impulse of love) is elevated into its rightful plane as the divine marriage, carried out and consummated upon the levels of soul awareness. [Humanity has] sought through physical expression to produce the inner fusion and harmony which they crave and this cannot be done. (EA 385)

Sex is as a symbol of inner duality which must be itself transcended and wrought into a unity cannot be resolved by physical means or rituals because it is a transcendence in consciousness. In the cosmic planetary sense, the relation between the Earth and Venus must eventually work out into symbolic expression upon the physical plane (EA 385). In other words, the hint is that when the Earth reaches the state of becoming a sacred planet, its bond with Venus as its “soul” will become apparent in material life, both on an individual and (more distantly in time) planetary scale.

Venus connotes [even with] only a glimmer of occult truth, that which is mental [the esoteric plane of the soul], that which concerns final sublimation, that which deals with sex and that which must work out into symbolic expression upon the physical plane. (EA 384)

See the related triangle Taurus-Venus-Earth for more details about this connection.

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)

There was a “mass initiation” then that led post-WW2 humanity towards a new beginning, when some crucial changes set up the assurances and alliances which—at the time and for many years—kept at least the worst of humanity’s destructive urges in check.

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)

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.

The metaphor about Vulcan’s connection to the mineral kingdom represents 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 our deeper selves, rather than the strictly personal focus that simply reacts; and this, both individually and for humanity as a whole. In the esoteric sense, Vulcan:

…works in the densest, most concrete expression of the natural world (from the human angle) [going] down into the depths to find the material upon which 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… (EA 385-6)

Note that the phrase the art of Vulcan here brings in the creative aspect of Ray 4 as it rules Taurus, fashioning through conflict and eventual harmony the shift from the personal self to the more inclusive perspective of the soul.

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 40-41) ), the suggestion here is for individual 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, the indwelling life, and the overall purpose of humanity. As vehicles of expression are created they are literally forged from the mineral kingdom, in the substances we ingest to create and sustain our physical bodies, or through behaviours that determine our impact on the planet as well as the collective material form of expression of the human kingdom as a whole. 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 of being, where the qualities and kinds of material required necessitate digging into the esoteric depths. This is the role of the Third Creative Hierarchy, the unmanifested Devas (form-builders) who are the flower of the earlier system (EA 40-41) i.e. the first of the three solar systems which was under the third or form-building aspect, as ours—the second—is under the love-wisdom of Ray 2.

Existing on the cosmic etheric plane—not the one where the human vital body is located, but in the planes beyond those accessible to humanity—they never assume physical form, but as the third or electric fire mentioned in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire they give form to lives that require it. This does not mean physical matter as known to us, but form as a containing structure. From this perspective, a human “soul” is a body or form that contains the essential human inner self on its own plane, distinct from the human personality. Esoteric Astrology explains the more vast, cosmic Theosophical explanation of this exalted level of being (EA 44).

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