~ Aries & Taurus ~   

ARIES (March 21st - April 20th)

Element: Fire.

Arian Traits: Adventurous and energetic, Pioneering and courageous, Enthusiastic and confident, Dynamic and quick-witted.

Arian Faults: Selfish and quick-tempered, Impulsive and impatient, Foolhardy and daredevil.

The spring equinox, March 21, is the beginning of the new zodiacal year and Aries, the first sign, is therefore that of new beginnings. The young ram is adventurous, ambitious, impulsive, enthusiastic and full of energy. The Arian is a pioneer both in thought and action, very open to new ideas and a lover of freedom. They welcome challenges and will not be diverted from their purpose except by their own impatience, which will surface if they don't get quick results.

Aries subjects are courageous leaders with a genuine concern for those they command, but they will not hesitate to use their subordinates to obtain their own objectives as leaders. As followers they can be troublesome, for they are apt to be immoderate in act and expression. They may be unwilling to obey or submit to directions for which they can see no reason, or with which they disagree. They are much concerned with self, both positively and negatively - self-reliant but also self- centered - and concerned with their own personal advancement and physical satisfaction to the point of greed. Their immense energy makes them aggressive and restless, argumentative, headstrong, quick tempered, easily offended and capable of holding grudges if they feel themselves affronted. Thus, if at work superiors cooperate well with their Aries employees, approving of their good qualities, they will receive from them complete loyalty; but if Arians consider themselves unappreciated or exploited, they are likely to give notice impulsively, to nurse resentment and even, in extreme cases, to revenge themselves by slandering their former firm, or by acts of sabotage.

In their personal relationships Arians are frank, direct and candid, and make enthusiastic and generous friends. They are liable to have a high sex drive and make passionate but fastidious lovers. There is, however, a negative side to their associations with other people. They can easily be irritated by slowness or moderation in their companions and, though themselves sensitive, ride roughshod over the sensitivities of others. The intensity of their sexual urges can drive them to promiscuity and a Don Juan-like counting of conquests of the opposite sex. It can also trick them into early unwise marriage which may end disastrously. Their love of change more than counters the little loyalty they have, and their tenacity, though sufficient to achieve short-term objects, is unlikely to stand up to the challenge of a lifetime's faithfulness. They can be brusque, rude, bullying, even brutal and immature, and were summed up by an early astronomer as "bestial, luxurious, intemperate and violent."

Mentally Arians are intellectual and objective, but can be bigoted and extremist in religion and politics. They are good champions of lost causes and last-ditch resistance. They are quick-witted but foolhardy and overoptimistic, lacking thoroughness and the ability to evaluate difficulties in the undertakings into which they often rush impulsively. The great need of Aries natives is to exercise an iron self-control, to discipline the qualities and tendencies of their character to the advantage, not the detriment, of the society in which they move.

They can make good athletes and climbers, doctors, explorers (of new ideas as well as uncharted territory, the latter in these days including adventuring into outer space), soldiers, sailors and airmen, and leaders - though awkward subordinates - in industry and politics.

Aries governs the head and brain, and Arians are said to be prone to headaches, particularly migraines, sunstroke, neuralgia and depression. Indigestion and nervous disorders are also threats to them, and their rashness, impetuosity and wholesale physical commitment make them liable to accidents and physical injuries.

TAURUS (April 21st - May 20th)

Element: Earth.

Taurus Traits: Patient and reliable, Warmhearted and loving, Persistent and determined, Placid and security loving.

Taurus Faults: Jealous and possessive, Resentful and inflexible, Self-indulgent and greedy.

The Taurean's characteristics are solidity, practicality, extreme determination and strength of will - no one will ever drive them, but they will willingly and loyally follow a leader they trust. They are stable, balanced, conservative good, law-abiding citizens and lovers of peace, possessing all the best qualities of the bourgeoisie. as they have a sense of material values and physical possessions, respect for property and a horror of falling into debt, they will do everything in their power to maintain the security of the status quo and be stupidly hostile to change.

Mentally, they are keen-witted and practical rather than intellectual, but apt to become fixed in their opinions through their preference for following accepted and reliable patterns of experience. Their character is generally dependable, steadfast, prudent, just, firm and unshaken in the face of difficulties. Their vices arise from their virtues, going to extremes such as being too slavish to the conventions they admire, obstinately and exasperatingly self-righteous, unoriginal, rigid, ultraconservative, argumentative, querulous bores, stuck in a self-centered rut. They may develop a brooding resentment through nursing a series of injuries received and, whether their characters are positive or negative, they need someone to stroke their egos with a frequent, "Well Done!"

They are faithful and generous friends with a great capacity for affection, but rarely make friends with anyone outside their social rank, to which they are ordinarily excessively faithful. In the main, they are gentle, even tempered, good natured, modest and slow to anger, disliking quarrelling and avoiding ill-feeling. If they are provoked, however, they can explode into violent outbursts of ferocious anger in which they seem to lose all self-control. Equally unexpected are their occasional sallies into humor and exhibitions of fun.

Although their physical appearance may belie it, they have a strong aesthetic taste, enjoying art, for which they may have a talent, beauty (actively recoiling from anything sordid or ugly) and music. They may have a strong, sometimes unconventional, religious faith. Allied to their taste for all things beautiful is a love for the good things of life pleasure, comfort, luxury and good food and wine and they may have to resist the temptation to over indulgence, leading to drunkenness, gross sensuality, and covetousness.

In their work, Taureans are industrious and good craftsmen, and are not afraid of getting their hands dirty. They are reliable, practical, methodical and ambitious, within a framework of obedience to superiors. They are at their best in routine positions of trust and responsibility, where there is little need of urgency and even less risk of change, and a pension at the end. Yet they are creative and good founders of enterprises where the rewards of their productiveness come from their own work and not that of others. They can flourish in many different trades and professions: banking, architecture, building, almost any form of bureaucracy, auctioneering, farming, medicine, chemistry, industry Taureans make good managers and foremen surveying, insurance, education and, perhaps surprisingly, music and sculpture. They make an ideal trustee or guardian, and can attain eminence as a chef. Some Taureans are gifted enough in singing to become opera stars or to excel in more popular types of music.

They are more than averagely amorous and sensually self-conscious, but sexually straightforward and not given to experiment. They make constant, faithful, home loving spouses and thoughtful, kindly parents, demanding too much of neither their spouses nor children. They can be over possessive and may sometimes play the game of engineering family rows for the pleasure of making up the quarrel. If anyone offends their amore proper they can be a determined enemy, though magnanimous in forgiveness if their opponent makes an effort to meet them halfway.

Physically the Taurean is a heavy, thickset type, sometimes hefty or even clumsy, and unusually strong. They range from average to shorter than usual height, with broad shoulders, and tend to be slow walking and inclined to corpulence. They can give an impression of awkwardness and clumsiness on the one hand, because their breadth seems disproportionate to their height, but on the other hand they can be extremely dignified and majestically good looking. Their features often include a broad forehead, large, well-set eyes, an aquiline nose, a wide mouth with thick lips, set in a swarthy face with heavy jaws and thick black or sandy hair, often coarse and curling.

Taurus governs the throat and neck and its subjects need to beware throat infections, goiter and respiratory ailments such as asthma. They are said to be at risk of diseases of the genitals, womb, liver and kidneys, and of abscesses and rheumatism. Because their body type has an inclination to physical laziness, Taureans can be overweight.