Above, where all had been so still, the air was rent with
shrieks and the clash of steel. Below, there was dead
silence.
Because Rams and Bulls each have tough horns, the determination of Aries and the stubbornness of Taurus might seem to be identical traits. They are not, and numerous incidents will occur between the two of them to make the distinction clear.
For example, an Aries parent wants a Taurus child to eat, and emphasizes it with a Martian command like: "You swallow every bite of that Wheat Germ and pick up your spoon this second, do you hear me?" That's determination.
The Taurus child sits quietly, not moving a muscle, gazes back steadily and says, "No." That's stubbornness. An Aries boss wants a Taurean employee to work on his or her day off and states firmly, "I need you on Saturday, and it may take all day, so cancel any other plans you have." That's determination. The Taurus employee calmly answers, "I'm busy Saturday. Get someone else." That's stubbornness.
After a few encounters, the difference between the two traits will become evident. Determination initiates. Stubbornness reacts. The first is a Positive action. The second is Negative re-action. Therefore, in any clash between Aries and Taurus, the Ram starts it and the Bull finishes it. It's important to remember that. Taurus won't forget it. Taurus doesn't forget anything.
Although Aries people get accused of running around burning their bridges behind them, and shooting off sparks in reckless abandon, they have their gentle moments too. Taurus people get accused of always pouting and brooding like dull globs of earth, ready to smother Arian enthusiasms in negative silence. But Bulls have their imaginative moments too, when it suits them, and they possess a thoughtful wisdom and wonderfully warm sense of humor behind that pragmatic exterior. Still, the essential differences between these two Sun Signs must be faced.
Rams are inclined to be aggressive, impulsive, bossy, extravagant, talkative and optimistic. They pursue excitement and quick results - and they require a dash of magic to make life interesting.
Bulls are inclined to be reserved, practical, usually sparing with words and self-sufficient, though somewhat pessimistic. They pursue stability, solitude and sure things - and they require lots of rest and tranquility to make life bearable.
You can see right away that these people are not the Bobbsey Twins. Their inner motivations, not to mention their outward actions, tend to wander in divergent directions. However, sometimes it's beneficial to knock around with someone who possesses the qualities you lack. Because this is a 2-12 Sun Sign Pattern association, the Taurean is more apt to be tolerant and sympathetic toward the Ram, and the Aries will try to imitate the Bull's placid stability. After all, placid stability is more or less synonymous with strength, and Aries people will try anything - even if it's against their natures - to gain more strength. Weakness is a four letter word to both the Ram and the Bull.
Although Bulls are equally fond of strength they're temporarily (until their true ruler, PAN-HORUS, * is "discovered" and named) ruled by Venus, which tempers the whole thing somewhat, so they're not as intense about proving it or flaunting it as the Mars-ruled Arian. Taureans understand the compulsion behind Aries courage and flashing independence, since every Sun Sign carries the seeds or karmic memory of the qualities of the sign immediately preceding it in the zodiac, as with every 2-12 Pattern. But because the Bull has already been there, in an unconscious sense, he's also aware of the pitfalls involved in throwing caution to the four winds. The Taurus goal of financial security, however, can often be obtained through cooperation with the tireless drive and energy of the Mars person, and Taureans instinctively know this, which is one reason why they're attracted to Aries in the first place.
As for the Ram, he or she secretly envies the Taurus reserve and sensible outlook, and could profit immensely from being exposed to the Bull's realistic approach to life. Every Sun Sign unconsciously senses there are lessons to be learned from the sign immediately following or ahead of it in the zodiac, in a 212 vibration. This is why Aries feels drawn by the dependability of Taurus, as something tangible to lean on when that Mars rashness brings on a shower of trouble.
* The approximate place of an extra-Plutonian planet (Pan) was officially announced by Dr. C. Muses in 1965, through the publication La ricerca scientifica (p. 200) published at Rome by the National Research Council of Italy. Pan was calculated to be at 355° celestial longitude (i.e. 25° Pisces), with about nine degrees of south declination, on January 1,1979, and due to enter Aries in 1984. Muses notes that the astronomer W. H. Pickering at his observatory in Jamaica during the first half of this century had previously computed, from extensive data on cometary perturbations, the existence of a planet with a period of 333 years. Muses' calculations yield a distance of 48.4 astronomical units from the sun, which agrees with Pickering's period by Kepler's third law. Astrologically, the two meanings of this planet are expressed by Pan, ruler of chthonic earth forces and by Horus, restorer of the immortal body in Egyptian tradition. In this connection, Dr. Muses drew my attention to the startling depictions in the papyri of Pa-di-Amon, Khonsu-Renap, TaShed-Khonsu, and Amon-m-Set in the Cairo Museum, and also on the sarcophagus of Hent-Taui in the Metropolitan Museum, New York City.
If a free flow of give-and-take can be established between the Bull and the Ram, their natures could blend in such a way that each could attain with the other, through their association, what it would be difficult to realize alone. The danger inherent in the mixing of their Mars-Venus auras is that the Ram, on occasion, may exasperate the Bull beyond his (or her) great limits of endurance, until the Taurean finally makes up that very stubborn Bull mind, after long deliberation, that it's no longer worth the effort. Conversely, there's always the possibility that the Bull may so frequently refuse to catch fire from the Ram's many flaming ideas, sparks of ideals and dreams, that the Aries person will eventually leave in desperation, to avoid depression - which no Mars-ruled man, woman or child can tolerate for long periods of time, without relief.
The Ram may be puzzled, and frequently frustrated, by the Bull's periodic spells of melancholy and introversion, even though it's relieved by lots of fun and giggles and from time to time may coax the Bull into parties and social activities, which, if it's not overdone, may help to balance the Taurean's instinctive "loner instinct" - a trait best not overemphasized. Encouraging the Bull of either sex, or any age, to express the innate Taurus love of form and color in music or art - or suggesting ways to retreat to the fields, woods and hills (all Bulls have an intense, even if buried, love of Nature) - are all ways the Aries person can use to coax Taurus into more placidity and peace.
The major mistake made by most Arians with a Taurus friend, relative, business associate, lover or mate, is to press the Bull into a decision. It will never work. Never. The Bull must decide in his (or her) own time. Demanding, pushing and insisting (the typical Mars strategy, when Aries desires are blocked) will only make Taurus more unwilling to budge, often causing these people to become totally uncommunicative. If Taurus believes that the suggestion is valid and sensible, he (or she) will consider it, and finally say "okay." Until then - and otherwise - no power on Earth can force the situation prematurely. That's the way it is, and no one, not even a fiery Ram, is going to change it.
If the Bull can learn, as they say out West, to ride "loose in the saddle" with the Ram, and not always expect the Aries person to be practical, the association will also be smoother. Rams must be allowed to express themselves through their own Mars pattern, which must contain a certain amount of violent ups and downs, in order to eventually learn that impulsive, rash behavior usually brings regret. The Aries person will undoubtedly benefit from the nearness of a more stable Taurean to lean on when things go wrong - and he (or she) will accept advice with surprising docility from the Bull, as long as it's tempered with tenderness, and isn't offered so frequently or dogmatically as to make the Ram feel "fenced in."
Aries people of all sizes, shapes, ages and sexes must be allowed to forge ahead without undue restriction, or too much negative disapproval. Actually, silent disapproval disturbs the bright, hopeful Aries spirit even more than spoken disapproval. It seems, somehow, to the direct Ram, more ominous and threatening - and just plain "scary." Remember, Aries is the symbolic newborn Infant, just as Taurus is the symbolic older baby. (See the "The Twelve Mysteries of Love" in the front of this book.) If the Ram's spontaneous enthusiasms are constantly buried beneath a ton of earthy Taurean "don'ts," he-she may become a frustrated Sheep - a Ram whose ego has been cruelly nipped in the bud of blossoming. The Arian needs to be cautioned against all that brimming-over excitement, now and then, but cautioned lightly, and with much gentleness.
Aries discovers the new country, whether it's geographical - or a mental continent. With the direct penetration of Mars to the core of any situation, the Ram leads and pioneers both the land - and innovative ideas. Then the Bull can enter into his or her own natural activity of building, of turning the country or idea Aries has discovered and pioneered, into a thriving community - or a concept that becomes practical and useful.
All human relationships - Life itself - must have, for Taurus, a clear purpose, and a definite function. Lacking a defined goal of usefulness, in the midst of scattered thoughts, and aimless activities, the Bull becomes confused, and finally withdraws. He (or she) learns only through the senses and through experience, and only by exercising a Fixity of intention can this Fixed Sun Sign remain true to himself - or herself. To Taurus, every thing, and every person, has a proper place, and should stay there, serving its purpose, never pretending to be something it's not. Aries behaves and dreams in a straight line, always going forward, ignoring the fact that both ends of that straight line are wide open to the winds of fate, whereas Taurus behaves and dreams in a circle, which encompasses lessons of the past and careful plans for the future, leaving no opening for failure due to irresponsible action.
The Ram can help the Bull break open that circle to let in the light of optimism and new ideas - and the Bull can assist the Ram to bend the direct Mars straight-line of activity and feeling into at least a semicircle shape, to help close out some of the inevitable disappointments that will be met throughout the eventful, Aries roller coaster existence. It's a strange and lovely thing that music, in any form, will almost always serve to build a bridge of understanding between Aries and Taurus and heal some of the hurt caused by each other's personality differences, which can be vast.
Since the Sun is exalted in Aries, these people frequently feel that victory has been won even before the battle. Every Ram feels an identification with Birth, Spring and the ecstasy of Easter - the resurrection. It's the reason for that soul's existence - the miracle he (or she) possesses to innocently offer other Sun Signs - the way Aries people serve both mankind and their true, inner self. Aries believes in the triumph of Life over Death, of Faith over Doubt. However, behind his (or her) bravado lurks the peculiar emotional insecurity of the Ram (those karmic memory seeds from Pisces, just behind Aries, on the astrological circle) - and the attempts of an Earth Sign to hold him (or her) back in any way only result in an increase of this hidden vulnerability. Then, an Aries person will either suddenly and violently shatter all ties with the smothering Taurean - or submit, and fall into a sad neurosis, completely unnatural to the Mars Life Force.
For the reason that the combining of Mars determination with Taurus willfulness creates an immense amount of sheer power, ancient astrologers warned that a blend of the Aries-Taurus qualities, if not carefully balanced, can result in great cruelty. Adolph Hitler's severely afflicted Taurus Sun and Aries Ascendent (plus other negative natal aspects) is the classic example of this warning ignored. It can occur within the birth chart of one individual - or become manifest through an association between a Ram and a Bull, depending always on the planetary positions of both at birth. The tendency may, of course, be overcome, through enlightenment, and many Rams and Bulls produce an equally powerful alchemy of kindness and beneficence via their association. But there are, unfortunately, for example, some Aries and Taurus people who channel such negativity by becoming "hunters-for-sport," expressing the dark side of Aries courage and Taurus strength in a cruel manner, which causes them to be, instead, if they only comprehended it - cowardly - in the worst sort of way. Shooting a wild animal in cold blood, including deer, rabbits, ducks, pheasants and all our feathered friends in the sky - then carrying the silent corpse through town, as a trophy of macho, is a pathetic kind of cowardice in its lowest form - not the demonstration of "manhood" or "womanhood" some believe it to be.
If the Sun and Moon in the birth charts of the Ram and the Bull are inharmoniously aspected, in mutual Luminary relation to each other, the danger of cruelty must be guarded against carefully. However, when the natal Sun of the Ram is beneficently aspected to the natal Moon of the Bull (or vice versa) and if their mutual Ascendents are also harmonious, in a triple exchanged aspect, Taurus can help Aries soar to the heights of happiness and serendipity by supporting the Ram's emotional balloon flights of fancy with warm, kindly patience (also by providing a comforting, soft patch of Earth to fall on when the string breaks). And the Ram can lead Taurus to the higher slopes of the imagination, up where the windswept view of the future is as huge and grand as the Bull's own sturdy dreams.
