Taurus Constellation Meaning

Taurus Constellation [Stellarium]

Constellation Taurus the Bull, is an ecliptic constellation laying between constellation Aries and constellation Gemini. It spans nearly 30 degrees longitude in the zodiac signs Taurus and Gemini.

Taurus Constellation Stars

2000	B	Star Name	Mag.	Orb
21 ♉ 10	ο Tau	Omicron Tau	3.61	1°20′
21 ♉ 54	ξ Tau	Xi Tau	3.73	1°10′
29 ♉ 25	17 Tau	Electra	3.72	1°10′
29 ♉ 26	16 Tau	Celaeno	5.45	1°00′
00 ♊ 16	19 Tau	Taygeta	4.30	1°00′
29 ♉ 41	20 Tau	Maia	3.87	1°10′
29 ♉ 42	23 Tau	Merope	4.14	1°00′
29 ♉ 44	21 Tau	Asterope	5.76	1°00′
29 ♉ 59	η Tau	Alcyone	2.85	1°40′
00 ♊ 21	27 Tau	Atlas	3.62	1°20′
00 ♊ 23	28 Tau	Pleione	5.05	1°00′
00 ♊ 38	λ Tau	Pectus Tauri	3.41	1°20′
03 ♊ 27	37 Tau	Yuè (月)	4.36	1°00′
05 ♊ 48	γ Tau	Hyadum I	3.65	1°40′
06 ♊ 52	δ¹ Tau	Hyadum II	3.77	1°30′
07 ♊ 57	θ² Tau	Chamukuy	3.40	1°40′
08 ♊ 28	ε Tau	Ain	3.53	1°40′
09 ♊ 47	α Tau	Aldebaran	0.87	2°40′
10 ♊ 30	σ² Tau	Fùěr (附耳)	4.67	1°00′
22 ♊ 34	β Tau	El Nath	1.65	2°20′
23 ♊ 23	119 Tau	Ruby Star	4.32	1°00′
24 ♊ 47	ζ Tau	Tianguan	2.97	1°40′

Jupiter, assuming the form of a bull, mingled with the herd when Europa, with whom he was infatuated, and her maidens disported themselves on the sea-shore. Encouraged by the tameness of the bull Europa mounted it, whereupon the God rushed into the sea and bore her away to Crete. According to other accounts Taurus represents Io whom Jupiter turned into a cow in order to deceive his wife Juno.

Ptolemy makes the following observations: “Those stars in Taurus which are in the abscission of the sign resemble in their temperament the influence of Venus, and in some degree, that of Saturn (cunning, bad morals, mercenary, repulsive habits, perverted tastes, unfortunate love affairs, seduction).. .the stars in the head (except Aldebaran) resemble Saturn, and, partly, Mercury (profound liar, thief, blackguard, scandal and slander); and those at the top of the horns are like Mars (violent death, ultimate ruin by folly or pride. If rising, wealth, power, courage, generosity, ingenuity, rise to authority, martial success, subject to cuts, wounds, accidents, sores and injuries to the face, pains in the head and fevers. If culminating, martial eminence, success in trade and in occupations of a Mars nature. If afflicting Mercury, deafness).” By the Kabalists Taurus is associated with the Hebrew letter Aleph and the 1st Tarot Trump “The Juggler.” In all the ancient Zodiacs, Taurus is the beginning sign and marked the Vernal Equinox from about 4,000 to 1,700 B.C. [1]

Taurus, the Bull…everywhere was one of the earliest and most noted constellations, perhaps the first established, because it marked the vernal equinox from about 4000 to 1700 B.C., in the golden age of archaic astronomy; in all ancient zodiacs preserved to us it began the year…Manilius characterized Taurus as dives puellis, “rich in maidens,” referring to its seven Hyades and seven Pleiades, all daughters of Atlas, and the chief attraction in a constellation not otherwise especially noticeable…

After Egyptian worship of the bull-god Osiris had spread to other Mediterranean countries, our Taurus naturally became his sky representative, as also of his wife and sister Isis, and even assumed her name; but the starry Bull of the Nile country was not ours, at least till late in that astronomy. Still, this constellation is said to have begun the zodiacal series on the walls of a sepulchral chamber in the Ramesseum; and, whatever may have been its title, its stars certainly were made much of throughout all Egyptian history and religion, not only from its then containing the vernal equinox but from the belief that the human race was created when the sun was here. In Coptic Egypt, it, or the Pleiades, was Orias, the Good Season, Kircher’s Static Hori, although it was better known as Apis, the modern form of the ancient Hapi, whose worship as a god of the Nile may have preceded even the building of the pyramids.

With the Druids it was an important object of worship, their great religious festival, the Tauric, being held when the sun entered its boundaries; and it has, perhaps fancifully, been claimed that the tors of England were the old sites of their Taurine cult, as our cross-buns are the present representatives of the early bull cakes with the same stellar association, tracing {Page 383} back through the ages to Egypt and Phoenicia. And the Scotch have a story that on New Year’s eve the Candlemas Bull is seen rising in the twilight and sailing across the sky, — a matter-of-fact statement, after all. The Anglo-Saxon Manual of Astronomy four centuries ago gave it as Fearr.

Astrologers made this sign the lord of man’s neck, throat, and shoulders; Shakespeare having an amusing passage in Twelfth Night, in the dialogue between Sirs Toby Belch and Andrew Aguecheek, when both blunder as to this character of Taurus. And it was considered under the guardianship of Venus, sharing this distinction with the body of Scorpio, — some said with Libra, — whence it was known as Veneris Sidus, Domus Veneris nocturna, and Gaudium Veneris: an idea also perhaps influenced by its containing the Pleiades, the Doves, the favorite birds of that goddess. It ruled over Ireland, Greater Poland, part of Russia, Holland, Persia, Asia Minor, the Archipelago, Mantua, and Leipzig in modern astrology, as it did over Arabia, Asia, and Scythia in ancient; Ampelius assigned to it the care of the much-dreaded west-northwest wind, Pliny’s Argestes. White and lemon were the colors allotted to it. On the whole, it was an unfortunate constellation, although a manuscript almanac of 1386 had “whoso is born in yat syne schal have grace in bestis”; and thunder, when the sun was here, “brought a plentiful supply of victuals.” [2]

Taurus Constellation Star Map [Urania’s Mirror]

The Bull will dower the countryside with honest farmers and will come as a source of toil into their peaceful lives; it will bestow, not gifts of glory, but the fruits of the earth. It bows its neck amid the stars and of itself demands a yoke for its shoulders. When it carries the sun’s orb on its horns, it bids battle with the soil begin and rouses the fallow land to its former cultivation, itself leading the work, for it neither pauses in the furrows nor relaxes its breast in the dust. The sign of the Bull has produced a Serranus and a Curius, has carried the rods of office through the fields, and has left its plough to become a dictator [eque suo dictator venit aratro]. Its sons have the love of unsung excellence: their hearts and bodies derive strength from a massiveness that is slow to move, whilst in their faces dwells the boy-god Love. [3]The picture is that of a Bull rushing forward with mighty energy and fierce wrath, his horns set so as to push his enemies, and pierce them through and destroy them. It is a prophecy of Christ, the coming Judge, and Ruler, and “Lord of all the earth.” The Egyptian Zodiac of Denderah already, 4,000 years ago, had forgotten the truth to which the prophecy had referred, and called him Isis, i.e., who saves or delivers, and Apis, i.e., the head or chief. The Bull is clearly represented, and in all the zodiacs which have come down to us is always in the act of pushing, or rushing.

The name of the sign in Chaldee is Tor. Hence, Arabic, Al Thaur; Greek, Tauros; Latin, Taurus, etc. The more common Hebrew name was Shur, which is from a root which means both coming and ruling. There are several Hebrew words for bulls and oxen, etc. But the common poetical term for all is Reem, conveying the idea of loftiness, exaltation, power, and pre-eminence. We find the root in other kindred languages (Etruscan, Sanscrit, etc.), and it can be traced in the name of Abram, which means pre-eminent or high father; Ramah, high place, etc.

The stars in Taurus present a brilliant sight. There are at least 141 stars, besides two important groups of stars, which both form integral parts of the sign. [4]