TAURUS: The Love of Ownership

Source; Unsplash/John Angel

This is part 2 of a 12-part series. It’s a little meditation on understanding the signs based on the Archetype.

Taurus represents the pleasures of the world experienced through the stimulation of the senses. If Aries is the first push of emerging life in Spring, Taurus is the season’s fullness, when the world is in full bloom. 

People with strong Taurus energy are extremely sensual and instinctual, enjoying all that life has to offer through the use of the senses. They’re resilient, unyielding, methodical, steady, appreciative of the arts, and typically have an excellent sense of harmony and rhythm.   

It is also the sign associated with the 2nd house, which represents our possessions, which includes income, material goods, and perhaps less obvious, our own talents and self-esteem. In the Archetype, it represents the ideal way to approach ownership, as seen through the qualities and planets associated with it. Taurus is a feminine, fixed earth sign, with Venus as ruler, Moon exalted, and Mercury and Saturn in triplicity. Taurus seeks ownership as a reaction to its need for security. With Venus and the Moon, it’s okay to take pleasure in our possessions and crave things that bring us comfort, but we need to still live in harmony with the natural world. Saturn and Mercury show that discipline, patience, and a steady intelligence are needed in how we go about acquiring and using them in our lives.  

Mars is in detriment in Taurus, and the only planet considered in dishonor. It reminds us that we can’t use all our energy to acquire for selfish reasons. In Dane Rudhyar’s excellent book, The Astrological Houses, he writes about how anything we acquire is from the collective action of ourselves and others, and therefore honoring items means they must be used with purpose. Interestingly, Jupiter, the planet of abundance, is considered peregrine in Taurus. Perhaps because if we continue to accumulate without end, we lose sight of usefulness. When a strong Taurus can’t satisfy its need for security, greed becomes an issue, or they become self-indulgent from overstimulation of the senses. 

Bringing it back to the love of ownership, this is the lesson of loving the material world, but with a sense of detachment. Possessions in life are not permanent. They should be honored while we have them, and when it’s time to let go, we should be able to do so without fear or wanting.