Dear Taurus:
THEME ONE in the coming few seasons is money, but it’s impossible to separate this from Theme Two: self-respect. Let’s take it from the top. Taurus is allegedly the sign of money, but I’m not so sure. It may be the sign of what we possess, value and have access to, but those born under the sign of the Bull need just as much instruction, help and support as anyone else making their way through the world of finances, at least in modern times. Taurus is about what we attract, which nearly always help. But to make it in business — and life on more than one level is a business — you need some push power.
The ideology of Taurean brilliance with finances comes mostly from Gemini being the very next house, the 2nd solar house, which has some of those Taurean themes involving resources.
The solar house system that I’m describing here deeply influences the standard interpretations of what a sign is about in the generic sense. Gemini is ruled by Mercury, and Mercury is the traditional ruler of money and the root of the word merchant. By this logic one would surmise that Taurus is good at plying its trade. True enough, as long as there is plenty of energy coming from the opposite signs involved: Scorpio (enjoying exchange, and selling yourself assertively) and Sagittarius (having a long-range vision).
Truly meaningful activity in Aquarius (your 10th solar house), says you need to make sure you have your most important asset accounted for and taken care of — your reputation.
Let’s stick with Gemini for a moment. Mercury is in Gemini for the stunning May 5th Taurus New Moon that this report is based on. And Mercury is going to be in Gemini for a while, because it’s about to go retrograde there, and when that happens it holds its approximate position for about two months. This represents a top-to-bottom revaluation of who you are, what you do and all your issues around money, assuming you have any — most of us have a few. Mercury is not there for nothing. This looks like a deep reassessment of what motivates you, what is meaningful to you and what you feel you have to offer the world. Some would say the 2nd house is what we have. I would say it’s what we have to offer, but I’m a Pisces so of course I would say that.
What we have to offer is a serious question now, and by now I mean in these early years of the 21st century. Unless one is content to be an android, you will be depending on what you have to offer to get you through life every day. You will especially depend on it when you enter into commerce with others, whether it’s your job or whether you are a tradesperson who makes your talents available to others for a fee. You need to know your resources, and Mercury retrograde in your 2nd house is like an inventory process. I suggest you create something that I sometimes do with my clients, which is a personal resources inventory.
You may fear doing this because you think you’re not going to find so much. But please go looking before you decide that. I think you’re going to find a lot more than you think. There is (apropos of Gemini) another side of the story. There are things you don’t know about yourself, and qualities that will seem more worthwhile once you put them on paper and organize your thoughts.
You need to include at least three topics. The first is personal attributes that have nothing to do with anything you were taught (i.e., you’re honest, responsible, sensitive, intelligent, have an affinity for animals, have an eye for color). Then you need a list of your learned skills and credentials (great tap dancer, Harvard MBA, microbiology certification, Eagle Scout). Finally, you need a clear list of what you have to offer in commerce. You may be able to tap dance, but you may not proffer that as a sellable skill. This third list must be very specific, relating to what you want to do every day for work and thus for compensation. There are things you used to do that you no longer want to do (i.e., you were once a bartender and now you’re a photographer). Leave them off the third list.
What you have here are the beginning stages of a business plan, or in New Age parlance, a Prosperity Plan. Stick to business; it’s easier for everyone to understand, and your repeated use of the word will teach you that you mean business, and invoke some of that mercantile power of Mercury.
If you do this right, it will take about two months. In that time, commit to knowing yourself in new ways; allow yourself to make discoveries; and put the information to work. At the end of those two months, I suggest that you have a new resume (work with someone on this), develop an accounting system of some kind, and create a list of priorities to focus on that enable you to divest of what is sucking your resources away, and to invest in what feeds you and the people around you. This is not specifically a self-esteem exercise, but it will work out to be one. An aspect of self-esteem is confidence, and this will help you gain some of that.
Along the way, remember something that the great Lois Rodden once said: Mars is really the planet of money, because to acquire money you need a lot of drive. Where you’re going to find drive is likely to be business relationships (Scorpio, your 7th solar house, is ruled by Mars) and your 12th solar house (Aries, your imagination or vision). Part of where you may fall short is this Aries factor: the ideas of the 12th are nearly impossible to grasp and more difficult to apply. Therefore, I suggest you work with others to develop and refine your plans. You set the tone and the agenda; ask others to help you refine it. Make sure that you’re coming from exactly the place that is right for you. The role of others is to focus and amplify what is going to work in the world outside your mind. The retrograde of Mercury is going to help you with all the introspective stuff, and also give you a chance to put it into language. Then: refine, refine, refine.
Besides finding many resources in this process, you’re likely to discover something unexpected — an inner conflict you didn’t know about, or forgot about. It may be two sets of conflicting values; it may be a dilemma; it may be something related to both. Then you get the task of deciding what to do, though I would remind you: the solution may be creative rather than logical. Most dilemmas are false dilemmas, and point us to a talent, resource or opportunity we were previously unaware of.
I can pretty much assure you that something truly beneficial and productive that helps you feel safer in the world is going to occur or emerge as a result of this process. Part of this will involve giving yourself permission to let go of judgments you are holding against yourself, particularly about your distant past, what you may fear was inappropriate sexual conduct, or some other source of guilt or shame. You tend to mix your personal judgments with your professional assessments of yourself, so I suggest you take what comes up as it comes up, and watch the rather interesting associations between topics that seem to have nothing at all to do with one another.
Let’s look in another direction that is crucial regarding your development in the world. And by the way if you’re wondering where the discussion of personal relationships or romance is, I’m of the persuasion that as you focus your worldly ideals, your role in the community, your personal needs and business affairs, relationships will suddenly seem obvious. You may use other words to describe them at the moment. The Mars retrograde that stretched through late fall, over the winter and only worked itself out some weeks ago, may have sent your most important relationship or relationships into an emotional spin. At least the emotional level is working itself out well enough. Mercury is going to focus you on the mental level.
As for your 10th house. While you’re progressing on your reassessment program, remember that because Aquarius is so prominent in your solar chart, being associated with your highest goals and your reputation, you need professional work that is humanitarian. You can’t fudge this one. You can pretend that the particular brand of frankfurters you sell serves the world because it’s the most wholesome of them all, but that is not enough. You also can’t fudge with having high ideals; we can no longer let ourselves believe we’re going to wish the world a better place.
Aquarius (thus your 10th solar house and therefore your sense of aspiration and reputation) has been experiencing a very, very long transit of Neptune that goes back a decade. It’s not over yet; there are still a few years to go. As I have suggested elsewhere, this is not an easy transit, because a house that wants to experience a lot of focus and competitive drive is feeling the foggy, lovey-dovey and slightly stoned feeling of Neptune. Then around 2005, a new development occurred: Chiron showed up. This at least began the process of focusing your energy, lighting up the environment and perhaps pushing things to a little crisis — you know, the kind of crisis that gets you off your ass. (The earlier in Taurus you were born, the sooner this crisis began.) Things get better, though: the fog starts to reveal some serious ideals; the crisis starts to get results; and then Jupiter shows up to move the whole program along.
In 2009 there is a triple alignment of Neptune, Chiron and Jupiter in your 10th solar house. That is, these three very significant factors align in Aquarius. This is Big News. You don’t want to show up for this event unprepared. By the time you reach this point, which looks like a real point of manifestation, make sure you’ve done your homework. Part of this involves doing the 10th house work long in advance — taking tangible steps to solidify your reputation and make sure that people know who you are, for example. This way when you get the enormous boost that is coming from this rare triple alignment, you will have all the necessary preparation to make the most of this opportunity. And that, as they say, is luck.
Happy birthday, Taurus.
