II. Taurus [?]
"He (Aries) turns and wonders at the mighty Bull (Taurus).''
The second constellation of the shining twelve represents the first
reaction of spiritual conception. In other words, it is the mind's attention
to its own ideas. In the Kabbalah it represents that peculiar state
of executive force whereof it is symbolically said: "And the Lord saw
that it was good,'' after each act of creation.
When intelligence first manifests itself form is a matter of necessity,
and, as no form can possibly exist without matter, so Taurus is
the first emanation of matter in its most etherealized state. Hence it is
feminine, Venus the ruler thereof, and it represents the first pure form
of the human soul, as it existed in its bright paradise within the angelic
spheres of its parents, and reveals to us the first surprise of intelligence
in embryo, the first sensation of consciousness, so to say—conscious of
its Divine selfhood. Hence "He (the male spirit of pure fire, Aries),
glorious in his golden (solar) wool, turns (expressing reaction) and
wonders at the mighty bull (or material form).'' Thus the first idea of
pure intelligence in embryo, the result of action in Aries, becomes
objective to its consciousness and is surprised at its own conception.
It is the first sensation of pure, Divine love within angelic realms, and
it (the male spirit of pure fire) sees that it is good.
Bringing this spiritual reality within our conception, and comparing
it with its reflected astrological influx, what a beautiful harmony
we find, and yet so simple that verily we cannot refrain from once more
quoting our old-time, worn, yet, nevertheless, golden law: "As it is
above, so it is below; as on the Earth, so in the sky.'' Reflecting that
Taurus is an Earthy sign, and a symbol of servitude, we see that matter
is ever the servant of spirit, a necessary means for the manifestation of
intelligence, again recognized in the fecundating forces of this astrological
sign on every plane of its action. And it is ruled by Venus, the
love element in Nature, her sympathies ever finding expression in this
beautiful sign. What can be clearer, more understandable, than, that
the involved principles and Deific attributes, as represented by the
shining constellations, when refracted through the human organism, so
complex in its constitution, reflects qualities which are the external and
parallel expression of the subjective principles, and, further, that form
is absolutely necessary for the manifestation of intelligence?
