Mythical Tales of Taurus

Three different bulls are associated with Taurus. First there is the white bull that was Zeus disguised as a bull, which carried Europe to her home in Crete. He was up to his old tricks again. The thought of seducing Europe was so tantilising that he disguised himself as a white bull.

Second there is the cow who was really Hera. Because of her jealousy she turned herself into this cow, to see what Zeus was up to.

Finally there is the famous Cretan's bull, which King Minas's wife fell in love with. King Minas was king of Crete, and was the son of Europa and Zeus, himself the son of a bull. He had two brothers, and fought and won over the king of Crete, with honor.

He prayed to the god Poseidon lord of the sea, and of earthquakes, to send a white bull out of the sea, as a sacrifice. The white bull is in honor of his kingship. The God Poseidon acknowledged this request, and sent a fine white bull from the sea to the king so that his prayer would be blessed. But once the king received this magnificent animal, he could not bring himself to sacrifice it.

He thought to himself why sacrifice this perfect white bull when I can use this in my herd? So instead he sacrificed another white bull, thinking the god Poseidon would not notice. The God Poseidon did notice and was upset that he hadn't received his due respect, as was his right. He retaliated by asking the Goddess Aphrodite to inspire King Minas's wife to have an irresistible passion for the bull, and she enlisted a craftsman to make her a wooden cow, that Pasiphae the King's wife might engage with, in order to gain revenge on the king.

From this union came the Minotaur, who was a creature with a human body and a bull's head. The king was very ashamed and wanted to hide this creature from view, and so built a maze, where the Minotaur lived by eating maidens and youths.

The fault was not his wife's, she just paid the penalty for what the King, through his greed, had done.

Taurean's are often imprisoned in their own passions and senses. The bull signifies the uncontrollable urge to flow with these passions, not taking the intellect into account.

Venus on the other hand seems to be the animas of the bull where Aphrodite is most active. To her, love- making is wonderful, and whether it is within the marriage of not, doesn't really matter.

Both Taurus and Venus are part of one another - the dynamics between them both, are profound, and are coupled with passion and jealousy.

Both the qualities of Taurus and Venus cannot live together - and yet cannot live apart. The only solution is to learn the 'dance of life', which these passions and intellect have in order to co-exist.

Taurus on the other hand is ugly, but a fine craftsman. He was so ugly that his mother 'Hera', threw him away at birth. However a Sea Goddess rescued him. He became a smith and made some beautiful jewelery for her. By chance, his mother saw these beautiful objects and wanted to know who made them. On hearing that these were made by her son she bought him back to her kingdom and he was duly rewarded.

The myth behind this tale is a bit like 'Beauty and the Beast'. She is forever unfaithful. He is ugly, yet very talented. Both have an enormous amount to give to one another, its just a bit difficult getting it right.

All material in this site is © Valerie Georgiou 1999, 2000, 2001.