This article was originally published on the main blog on May 19, 2012.
Jupiter transited Taurus from June 5, 2011 to June 11, 2012, during the time when I wrote this article. Jupiter is back in Taurus from May 17, 2023 to May 26, 2024.
I grew up on a cattle ranch on the Saskatchewan prairie and spent years there as an adult, as well. You can't really get much more Taurean than ranch work. It's life on the land, on prairie grassland. It's physical work. It's animals and plants and dirt, wind and rain, sweat and sun. The work unfolds according to natural timing, according to the seasons, and it follows a similar course every year. Farmers and ranchers are time keepers in this way. They work according to old, nature-based rhythms and keep those fundamental energetic patterns anchored, just as the animals themselves do. When the Sun goes up, it's time to work. When it goes down, the work day's done. Simple.
I helped my father and mother on the ranch as I could, and after years of observing the cattle while also studying astrology, I realized how much you can understand about the sign and energy of Taurus through the behaviour of bovines.
Understanding The Sign of Taurus Through the Characteristics of Cows
1) Taurus is a fixed sign, and cows have a fixed nature. They really don't like to move all that much, especially if they've just had a calf. Cows don't enjoy transition. They like their basic routines, and they're not fans of any upheaval or changes in those routines.
2) Cows are comfort seekers, just like Taurus. Once they're content, they like to stay put, enjoying the sunshine, grazing, and chewing their cuds. The only time they can be convinced to favour a change is if an option opens that brings them even more comfort. This generally involves more or better food - another Taurus favourite.
Every year on the ranch, a portion of the cow-calf pairs were rounded up and trucked to a Native-run community pasture for the spring and summer. Once there, they had all the space and grass they could desire, but in order to get there, they had to endure the transition. They had to be moved from pasture to pasture at home and then up to the corrals to be worked before being trucked to the new pasture, and this definitely ruffled them a bit. Again, though, if the reward is there, they'll endure - just like Taurus.
To move the cow-calf pairs, my Dad rode horseback, and my mother and I (never horsewomen) each drove a vehicle through the bumpy-ass pastures in a mini round-up. My sweet ride was the 1986 Chevy farm truck. Just as if we were on horseback, we spread out to herd the cattle. Trying to determine how best to get cattle moving in the right direction gives us helpful hints for interacting with people with a lot of Taurus!
3) Cows, like Taurus, don't like to be rushed. They like to do things slowly, gradually, on their own timing. When they do move, they like it to be related to securing basic resources - food, water, shade, shelter from wind, or a comfortable place to lie down.
4) You can't pressure them too much. Cows will take some gentle guidance, but press too much, at the wrong place, or too quickly, and they won't do what you want them to do. If they feel excessively pressured, they'll rebel or freak out. They can be remarkably stubborn once they've been riled and will even jump a fence to get away. If an entire herd has been spooked in this way, they'll run through a barbed-wire fence. Suffice it to say, it's best to take it nice and easy on both bovines and Taureans, giving them lots of time and adequate space to make their moves.
5) Cows, like Taurus, enjoy working with a boundary. The easiest way to move cattle is by gently pushing them along a fence line to an open gate. Taking them through the middle of the open pasture is more likely to create confusion and panic. Boundaries and limitations help them feel safe.
6) Like Taurus, it takes cattle a while to get going, but once they have some momentum gathered, they follow a steady course. And once they have a steady course, they move along fairly quickly - no fuss, no muss.
7) Cows pretty much do what the rest of the pack is doing. This is the traditional aspect of Taurus. Once in a while, there will be a renegade cow who busts out on her own, but usually, they like to do what the other cows are doing, as long as it makes good, practical cow sense.
8) They seem very docile and gentle, and generally are, but cows (like Taurus) can become very pissed off - and dangerous - if they feel threatened in any way. Like most animals, cows are very protective of their babies.
9) Just like Taurus, after a transition or upheaval, cows need some time on their own to settle down and get back to a state of calm contentment. Once the pressure is removed, it doesn't take them long to get back to a settled state. Like Taurus, they're very grounded!
Use these helpful insights into the ways of the bovine to keep the Taureans in your life (and the Taurus in your own chart) sweet, calm, contented, and moving in the right direction!
I talked about Taurus, the behaviour of bovines, and the Jupiter in Taurus transit with Matt Savinar on his community radio show on KOWS FM out of Occidental, California in May 2012. You can listen to the show at this link.
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