After the intensity of Aries season, and after those bright, blissful first warm days of spring, Taurus season — which runs from April 20 to May 21 this year — offers us a chance to stabilize, to get comfortable, and to come back down to earth. We’re entering the sweet core of the springtime, when seeds germinate and sprout, trees begin to bud, and it starts to seem possible that winter could finally, really be over.
Taurus is symbolized by the bull; it is a sign of power, determination, and tenacity. And because Taurus is an earth sign, that power isn’t flighty or erratic but steady, solid, and grounded in the real world. This energy is often very practical, ready to do what needs to be done, even when that work isn’t flashy or thrilling or attention grabbing. Taurus is unlikely to get carried away by impulses and whims or to submit to the demands of every passing trend. Instead, Taurus has a talent for sustained action, for committing to positive habits, and for resisting all pressure to be swayed from their plans.
This means Taurus season can be a great time for maintaining and deepening work on an ongoing project and for staying committed to your goals, ideas, and desires. It may also just be a great time for stubbornness! Nobody else gets to tell you what to do or who you are. You know what you’re about, and good luck to anyone who tries to boss you around during Taurus season! You have the power now to resist what you know to be wrong for you and defend what you know to be right.
Happily for Taurus, though — and for all of us this month— this hardworking tenacity emphatically does not come at the expense of having a good time. Taurus is a spectacularly, luxuriously sensual sign. All three of the earth signs are rooted in the physicality of the world and the body, but Taurus in particular is ruled by Venus, planet of love. Taurus season is not only about the work the body can do but about the pleasure it can feel, too.
This obviously can (and often does) mean sex. This is an excellent time for physical connection — it can deepen a relationship with someone new, or strengthen your bond with someone you love. But Taurus season is about more, too. It’s about the whole range of physical sensations we can experience in our lives. Taurus truly values the satisfaction of a fresh haircut or the feeling of silk against their skin or the taste of a perfectly ripe strawberry.
And more than any other sign, Taurus understands the value of rest, relaxation, and refusing the hustle mindset. In this way, can also broaden our ideas about what luxury means. Right now, wealth and status aren’t what matter most; rather, Taurus understands that a long hot bath, or a sweet afternoon nap, or a sunny afternoon spent lounging on a blanket in a lush green park are luxurious experiences too. While the sun is in Taurus, you too may feel newly alive to the joys, large and small, of living in the physical world.
For Taurus-season inspiration, think of Adrienne Rich’s decades-long career with her ever-deepening artistic practice and political consciousness. Think, too, of her resolve in refusing the National Medal of Arts in 1997: “The very meaning of art, as I understand it, is incompatible with the cynical politics of this administration.” Or think of Janet Jackson’s magnetic stage presence and her gift for steadily and consistently, over decades, putting out some of the best pop music in the world. Or think about Cher and all the glitter, sequins, and mesh she has ever worn. Think about how much she always seems to be loving her life, enjoying her physical experience of being on earth.
If you’re somebody who tends to get stuck in your thoughts, Taurus season can remind you to pay attention to your body, to the pleasures of your five senses. If you’re someone who tends to get carried away by nostalgia or anxiety over the future, Taurus season can bring you back to the world that exists in front of you right now. This is a good time for working hard, but this season will also remind you that work isn’t the only thing there is. You’re alive on this planet full of color and feeling, and you get to enjoy yourself here too.
