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Taurus Archetype

Started by Lucius, Apr 20, 2011, 12:47 AM

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Lucius

Taurus seems to be about having ourselves stripped to our necessities - survival.  I have always been rather vehement againt stoic/acsetic practices ( and in a patriarchal paradigm I still am, mind you :) ) - now, I think I'm having appreciation for the goal - to strip one's self to the bare minimum to see where you end and god begins.   
 
I think I understand viscerally the idea that what you have is taken away - and then you are added upon, by god.

Thanks, Bradley for your insights - the person you speak of does seem to personify beautifully the natural condition of the human being - giving & inclusion.

I've heard of 'ramtha' - probably shouldn't say more than that!  :)




Rad

Hi Lucius,

"to strip one's self to the bare minimum to see where you end and god begins. "


a thought to consider: the wave can not exist without the ocean ........

God Bless, Rad

adina

I'd like to add a couple of thoughts to this thread but am pressed for time at the moment. Until then, I DID find a review of the documentary Rad mentioned, AND a place where you can watch it for FR*E online

Here's the link to the review:  http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D01E2D81038F930A25752C1A967948260


And the documentary can be found online for free and in many approx. 15-minute segments. Just scroll down to get started with the first one, and go from there. I found that they're not all numbered.

http://www.yidio.com/bhagwan-shree-rajneesh/id/1720288757

Elen

Quote from: ari moshe on May 12, 2011, 08:17 PM
Hello everyone!

I am sitting here in a room where I was scheduled to give a lecture but no one has shown up, so I finally have some time to catch up on this board! I've been traveling and teaching for a couple weeks now which has been a truly evolutionary journey for me on many fronts. I feel I have been facing my core evolutionary dynamics for this life. This is reflected in all the Aries and Taurus transiting planets moving through my 8th house opposing my second house Venus and Pluto.

I want to share a few things I've been internalizing that relate to the Taurus archetype.

I was blessed during this past week to attend a 3 day ayahuasca ceremony during my visit to a certain city. The first 2 nights I was purging many negative emotions and felt a great need to be alone, to retreat from other people in order to settle into my own experience. At the core of this was a deeply karmic pattern of identifying "others" as a threat to me feeling secure and safe; thus the constant need to hermit myself from outside interaction.

The final night I made a special commitment, and knowing my own chart helped me with this immensely. I committed to stay seated in my spot no matter what happened. And more than that I committed to sit straight and FEEL everything that arose in me.

What I was shown was how I, as a soul, am deeply attached to being alive; to this body. I observed that I am identified with "my space" or "my time" or "my experience" to the point that I often find it necessary to be physically separate and alone from others in order to inhabit that which I see as being "mine". The biggest one of all is "my body". I was lucidly aware of the energy field of the person sitting very close to me. Instead of actually moving, even just a couple feet, I remained exactly where I was and observed the sensation (Taurus) itself.

Taurus when tuned in spiritually represents the capacity to be deeply connected to ones internal experience without the need to hold on to anything in order to preserve some sort of security. Taurus represents the capacity to identify what the soul needs as the basis for it's survival. However what I was discovering is that from the point of view of the absolute, the soul doesn't need anything at all. Only God sustains in an ultimate sense, everything ephemeral does not provide absolute security.

From the point of view of Pluto in the second house, the soul, by evolutionary necessity, is challenged to identify with a deeper source of sustenance that does not change.

At some point I asked, "What if I don't eat, what if I don't breath? What if I stop trying to preserve myself and become COMPLETELY receptive to God?" I noticed that any willful action was in a sense maintaining my separation. I directly realized that breathing was keeping my consciousness in a perpetual state of grasping and separation. As Jeff Green and Rad have often pointed out, duality itself can be correlated to the inhale and exhale of the breath; cause and effect. The desires of the soul that keep it in the wheel of cause and effect are reflected in the constant flow of inhalation and exhalation.

So effortlessly, I just chose to stop breathing. This lasted for no more than a minute or so. During that time various layers of perception began to unfold until the thought arose "what if I die? My parents would be so sad. I should breath now!" This thought came up even though the body clearly didn't need to breath, as it seems that it was being sustained by love and light.

It was the identification with "mine" and nothing more than that, that drew me back into this physical world. I realized that it is that very identification that keeps me coming back time and time again.

I once heard a very wise truth: "Do little, more happens. Do nothing, everything happens." One thing that this experience has left with me is the question "well what do I need?" I feel the tension between the dual desires of the soul more strongly now.

This is reshaping my relationship to money and all kinds of possessions. Resources are naturally meant to easily flow in and out of my life. My lesson is to not constrict that flow out of fear.
All the money that I have is for me to let go of.

For example, last night I bought some nice clothing for the first time in my life. Why? because I had the money to do so and wearing a new shirt would support the sanctification of my spiritual self through the beautification of the physical. It felt so empowering and evolutionary to buy that shirt!

One of the shadows the of Taurus archetype is a fear of letting go (Scorpio polarity). When the soul is holding on to what is not necessary for it's evolution, then it will be difficult to receive. How can it receive new resources when it is holding on to old and useless ones? It's values are fixated on the past, and thus receiving can easily bring up shame, a lack of self esteem, and feelings of unworthiness.

What I need is reflected in what I already have. And what I have is exactly what I'm meant to let go of. Nothing less nothing more. Like a tree.

Trust is another concept that relates to the Taurus archetype. Trust from a consensus point of view may be linked to trusting one's capacity to make ends meet within the realm of consensus values and possibilities. From an individuated point of view it points to a profound capacity to think outside of the box and trust one's innate capacity to provide for oneself. From a spiritual point of view it points to a trust in God that what one has is exactly what one needs; that God is all that one needs.

I will share one more story that I feel beautifully reflects the above principal of trust. When I decided to travel a town in north carolina from NJ I reflected on my financial reality.

First of all, I didn't know if I'd even make any profit from this journey (I set up a 3 part lecture series on ea and had no clue if anyone would even show up). And second, I didn't know how I'd get there and how much that would cost.

I reflected on it and found no GOOD reason why I should not travel based on financial lack. I had an amount in my account which would be enough to get there and pay for the lecture space. I knew I had a place to stay and knew that I would not starve one way or another. So I decided I would put the money into this trip and trust that I innately have what I need in every moment. I surrendered to God and accepted that I'm doing the spiritual work that I am here to do. It is not for me to not travel out of fear of not having enough.

I was prepared to rent a car and hopefully pick up some folks who could share the ride. Last minute I get a call from a man who saw a post of mine on craigs list. He is a trucker who offered me a FREE ride to just 1 hour from my destination. We spent a full day together traveling. He just loves giving rides for free. I was blessed with this truly kind soul.

I get dropped off in a town about 2 hours from my destination, and the time is approximately 5 hours before my first scheduled lecture. I'm sticking out my thumb on the highway for over 2 hours and no one is picking me up. I think to myself "What can I do such that I will definitely make it to my lecture on time?" The answer I found was to call a cab from the local city. So I called a friend who found a taxi number and I called the taxi. The expensive taxi cost me all but 10 dollars of what I own! After that taxi cab I did not even have enough money to rent out the lecture room.

Nevertheless, I got to the town 30 minutes before my lecture. I made no money because I that first lecture was a free intro lecture. The woman who rented out the space to me approached me before I had the chance to talk to her about my current lack of funds and said that she appreciates what I'm teaching so much that she doesn't want to charge me anything for my classes.

I ended up getting a bunch of readings from the people who were at the lecture and it continues to spread by word of mouth. So income is now coming in large amounts and I'm experiencing the exact opposite of what I experienced during my travels. It may go as quickly as it came! I'm learning to be empty; to surrender all of what I have to God.

So I'll stop here. I'll say that I'm very much still internalizing this experience and as these transits are still very active in my chart.

I've been thinking about this forum a lot during my travels - how much this place has significantly shaped my own understanding of the truth and supports my own soul evolution. Now I am actually sharing this work with others. I really owe it to every single person here for where I find myself today, and hope to meet some of you in person soon!

God bless,
Ari Moshe


Ari,

This is beautiful... Thank you for sharing it.

Love,
Ellen

Dhyana

Yes! Thank you very much Ari, for sharing the way you did. I don't think there is any better way to understand an archetype than to hear it shared like that from some ones direct experience.

And thanks all for your contributions. Even though I am not participating much on here, I do come and check in from time to time.

Thanks again.

Love,
Dhyana

Linda

Taurus  -  2nd House  -  Venus




Survival
Fertility
Procreation
Preservation
Self as Resource
Inner resources
Values
Beauty
Prostitution
Poverty
Starvation
Self-sufficiency / Security         
Isolated
Withdrawal
Stagnation
Personal worth / Value         
Self-esteem
Patience
Give up
Suppress emotions
Shut down
Stubborn
Hoarding
The Body
Pleasure
Cautious
Literal
Materialist
Possessions
Landowner
Farmer
Thief
Carpenter
Shepherd


[P. Walsh, EA Archetypes]

Linda

Thank You

to Lucius, Rad and all who participated in this thread.




[Remaining archetype threads:  Gemini, Cancer & Leo.]



jasonholley

#22
Hi Rad, Heidi, and all,

Following from the conversation in the relationships thread, I wanted to offer a couple of thoughts about Taurus and voyeurism that might be helpful, and also Rad to check my understanding of some of these dynamics.  I thought this message would be better placed here than there where our focus is different.

To me the connection between Taurus and voyeurism seems related to the last line of the Wikipedia quote Heidi shared in her first message: "its principal characteristic is that the voyeur does not normally relate directly with the subject of their interest, who is often unaware of being observed."  Voyeurism, like masturbation, is usually a closed-circuit sexuality that does not involve actual intimate encounter with the Other (Scorpio polarity).  Voyeurism may seem to involve a second person technically -- the object of the gaze -- but in fact the viewer's sexual experience is a one-person affair, not generally shared with the viewed.  The voyeur remains self-contained (Taurus).  

To Rad's point the kind of voyeurism discussed in the Wikipedia quote is vicarious; and vicarious experiences are not genuinely shared experiences, rather they involve the acquisition (Taurus) and internalization (also Taurus) of another's experience as imagined - but not in fact directly shared/encountered/osmosed (that's Scorpio) - by the vicarious experiencer. To use JWG's phrase for Taurus, "frog in the well", it seems to me that vicarious experiences are a perfect fit for this archetype.  They do not involve vulnerability or actual encounter or risk, and they do not threaten to reorganize the reality system of the person having them (which real relationships do) - in other words the frog doesn't have to leave the well.  Yet, at the same time, vicarious experiences allow the frog to feel "as if" it has gotten out of the well.  It hasn't, of course, and most often vicarious experiences of the kind we're talking about tend to just reinforce the existing forms of a person's identity (Taurus), not change those forms (Scorpio), kind of the way the "plot" of a pornographic film is never really in question and most voyeur's fantasies are grimly predictable not to mention pretty uncorrelated to the actual nature or desires of the person being viewed.  Yet if you're a frog in a well, a vicarious experience is going to _seem_ pretty darn relational, even if it is in fact just the product of your own reference points and imagination, vs. really a shared experience as the person themselves understands and experienced it.  I have an image of someone who is very isolated (Taurus) and watches television all day, the characters becoming their "friends" so they don't notice their own aloneness.  
 
When Rad named this correlation initially in relation to Rajneesh, I also thought about how Taurean dynamics seem to play out when people have a voyeuristic arousal template.  For example consider sex addicts whose addiction manifests in terms of the Taurus masturbation/voyeurism template.  They often hoard (Taurus) their porn "collections" - such as closets full of magazines, a stash of secretly recorded videos/pictures, thousands of images saved on a hard drive (sometimes highly indexed and categorized! - natural Virgo trine - not to mention periodic guilt-based purges). There is also a certain sloth/inertia (Taurus) when a person just sits there, basically unmoving, for hours and hours, while staring at a screen or a person or through a peep show window. And there is also the tendency in these kinds of addictions to focus more on the building building building (Taurus) phase of sexual arousal, hours and hours and sometimes days of looking, watching, masturbating, generating sexual magnetism and heat, ever deferring  orgasm/release (Scorpio polarity).  

Going a bit further into the darker aspects of this, consider intrusive voyeurs, those who take secret photos, look in windows, etc.  One of the deepest patterns in them seems to be the psychology and gratification of "taking" - taking something without the "owner's" permission/knowledge (Taurus shadow, the thief).  In this case they are taking sexual and emotional energy, a visual imprint or even physical snapshots of their victims (one way to think of a photograph = it "captures the light" of something/someone) which they can then use for their own purposes alone.  These people are typically profoundly isolated (Taurus) and starved (Taurus) for connection, yet the only way they know how to try for it, or the only way they are willing to try for it, is to "take" something from the other, try to possess an aspect of the other - again Taurus shadow.  And of course any time an archetype is in shadow expression, so's the polarity: taking something without permission is also a violation (Scorpio) of the boundaries of another.        

All this said I do not mean to imply that there is anything inherently compulsive, addictive, or pathological about a more self-contained sexual orientation - actually one of the things I most appreciated in the discussion of John Lennon was Mirta suggesting and Rad confirming that when this orientation comes from a spiritual place, it can be about deep self-contemplation.  However I'm using these examples because I think they can help exemplify the archetypes.  

God bless,
Jason

Rad

#23
Hi Jason,

Yes, this is exactly right, and why the Taurus archetype applies to this. Vicariousness is also a reflection of laziness. And laziness correlates with Taurus. Thus, vicarious relationships leading to things like voyeurism. This is also self evident in the charts of Yoko and Lennon that we have been analyzing to the extreme point of both of them creating a voyeurism for the world, Lennon's Uranus in Taurus in his 2nd, ruled by his Moon is Aquarius in his 10th. The literally invited the world into their bedroom. Yoko has her Vesta and Chiron in Taurus and in her 8th, ruled by her Venus in Aquarius in her 5th, which of course is John's Moon. So the 'bed in' they both created lead to a from of world voyeurism.

God Bless, Rad


Heidi

Hi Jason and Rad,

Thanks so much for that thorough explanation, I totally understand now.

Blessings,
Heidi

Bradley J

Thanks Jason, that was really helpful.  
Really appreciate everyone's work on the "Composite and Synastry Thread" also.

Goddess Bless,

Bradley

ari moshe

Hi all, as Jupiter comes to oppose my own second house Pluto I've had an amazing opportunity to reflect on some of my core evolutionary dynamics.

Here's a little something I just wrote about Jupiter in Taurus:

****

Jupiter has recently entered Taurus and will remain there for the next year.

Taurus symbolizes the actual embodiment of the soul within this time space physical reality. It represents the underlying need for all souls to internalize their very reason for being here: to cultivate an inner relationship to the life they are living and why it is worth living.

Therefore Taurus represents the "needs" and values that any soul has identified as necessary for it's ongoing evolutionary journey. All resources in a soul's life: such as food, water, shelter, supplies, tools, books etc... are an ultimate expression of what that soul feels it needs in order to make its life livable according to its highest values.

Juptier in Taurus is a calling to expand our understanding of our use of resources and ultimately, our relationship to the physical senses. The senses are the faculties through which ALL resources are made viable. Jupiter in Taurus therefore is calling to experience the senses from a higher point of view.

On one extreem, when consciousness is rooted in fear of scarcity and the subsequent need to "assure survival" at all costs, a soul's sensual experience becomes the instinctual basis for how one lives. Pleasure is sought and pain is avoided. Hunger must always be satiated, and in general the senses are kept in a constant state of gratification. Anything that deviates from that can trigger a psychological feeling of lack and lead to a crisis.

On the other hand, when a soul's core needs are rooted in "what is" then there is truly nothing that is needed other than "what is". And because IT already IS, developing receptivity to Grace is the only key.

From that receptivity, the grace that flows supports the soul's highest spiritual development and service in this world.

Jupiter in Taurus will expand our awareness of what we truly need; bringing to all who desire it, a life of greater simplicity and spiritual clarity. Keeping the senses relatively clear and free from too much stimulation is important. This is a lesson I am learning, and honestly have been learning for my entire life. It's a humbling lesson. Sensual clarity keeps the mind still and focused on the highest purpose.

I once asked a teacher of mine, "How do I overcome my addiction to sugar". He replied "Just focus on the heart." Venus, which rules Taurus does in fact correspond to the heart chakra. Sexuality, food, any kind of sensual experience that is received through the heart; meaning, if we are in touch with our FEELINGS as they arise, keeps the senses balanced without going to far in either direction of lustful indulgence or guilt.

With the transiting north node in Taurus for the next year plus, transiting Jupiter in Taurus symbolizes an evolutionary emphasis for the next year. Wherever Taurus falls in your chart signifies where you can simply your life and clear your mental pallet. It is also the area through which you have the opportunity to expand your trust in a higher purpose and follow your own intuition. If you feel like your life is atrful and full of beauty you are on the right track. Be receptive to the Grace of God and remember that contentment is the starting point for receptivity.

With love,
Ari Moshe