Taurus II: Unlocking Power and Potential
We’re continuing our journey through Taurus and diving into Taurus II, the second decan of the sign. In this post, we explore themes of balance, creativity, and the strategic use of resources. Guided by the planetary rulers Mercury and the Moon, this decan blends intellect, intuition, and natural rhythms to create a unique energy focused on harmonizing the spiritual and material worlds.
I also connect this decan to the Six of Pentacles tarot card, which reveals deeper questions about power, generosity, and responsibility. Using examples like George Lucas and Queen Latifah, we’ll see how those influenced by Taurus II can unlock hidden potentials, persevere with fixed determination, and use their success to make a meaningful impact on the world.
Transcript (modified)
Introduction
Today I continue my Decan walk with the second Decan of Taurus, an earth sign with a fixed energy that is ruled by Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, and harmony. But also a goddess that has to do with finances and money, and we're going to see that with this Decan in particular. Like and subscribe if you enjoy the content. I have a lot to unpack. First, we'll talk about the planets that rule this particular Decan. And then I'll get into some symbolic images from ancient esoteric texts, as well as the tarot cards, of course. And then finally, I'll give you an example: George Lucas, the famous filmmaker and creator of Star Wars, had his rising sign in this Decan. So he's a great example.
Taurus Energy
Okay, Taurus. Let's talk first just about what Taurus energy is. I said already that it's a fixed earthy sign ruled by Venus, and the symbol for Taurus is the bull. So there's always going to be a fixed quality, a stability, a groundedness to people who have their ascendant in the sign of Taurus.
The first Decan of Taurus, which we covered in the last video, the tarot image that was associated with that is the Five of Pentacles. And you see in this card two people struggling to survive, not quite aware of the spiritual support that might be in the background for them.
And so there's a quality of people with their ascendant in the first Decan of Taurus to persevere and work really hard and also to be concerned about lack and poverty and questions like that. And I went into all of that with the last video. But now, when we move from the five energy, which numerologically can have to do with conflict, to the six, we get more of a quality of harmony. And I'll talk about that a little bit later in the video.
Ruling Planets: Mercury and the Moon
But first, let's talk about the planets that rule this Decan. And the planets that rule the second Decan of Taurus are Mercury and the Moon.
When we think about Mercury, we think about strategy, the capacity to think, the way the mind works and communicates, and can organize information. Mercury has a strategic quality to it.
And then when we think of the Moon, of course, we think of mother and nurturing, and the rhythms of the universe—how we predictably know when the tide is going to come in and the tide is going to come out.
The Moon is directed to the tide, as well as to a lot of natural processes in the material world, including, for example, women's menstrual cycles. So there's something about the Moon where it can relates to timing, and getting in connection with lunar energy. Like we know with the new moon and the full moon, we can do certain practices to try to manifest in the world. So there's something about people who have the lunar quality about them, who not only care about nurturing and preserving, but they also care about creating and containing energy to create something in the world, and tapping into the deeper energy of the rhythms of existence to create something, to maximize the capacity for something to be produced in the world.
So we really see the combination of this lunar energy with the Mercury energy in the second Decan of Taurus. People with this as their rising sign can tend to be very successful in the world. They can be prolific creators and also people that care to sustain and make strategic Mercury decisions about how or what they do with their creative product, with their success, how they distribute that out into the world. We're going to see that reflected in that Six of Pentacles card in the tarot deck. We'll talk about that a little bit later. So those are the two planets that are associated with the second Decan of Taurus.
Ancient Symbolic Images
We also have ancient images from the Picatrix, which is a book about how to work with magic and astrology that is dated from the 10th or 11th century. Agrippa, also wrote a book of occult philosophy, from the 16th century. Both sources have the same image for this second Decan of Taurus. In Agrippa's Book on Occult Philosophy, he describes the image associated with this Decan as “A naked man, holding in his hand a key; it giveth power, nobility, and dominion over people.”
Let's unpack that a little bit. The idea of a key—there's something about this Decan where people who have it in their rising sign have a key to how to unlock something in the world, how to find success strategically, to unlock potentials and opportunities, or hidden treasures. It requires control and mastery to do this, unlocking. George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, has his rising degree in this decan of Taurus and is a good example of this energy.
There's another person we can use as an example, who has their rising in this Decan, and that is Queen Latifah. She also created an incredible empire. She was prolific, a powerful figure, a Queen. I watched a few of her videos after I found out her rising sign is in Taurus II and was struck by the fact that she often wore a chain with a key on it around her neck. That key is associated with an event in her life where her brother died, but also is an uncanny reminder of how esoteric symbolism can play a part in someone’s day-to-day life.
The other part of that Agrippa image was not only the key to unlock the power of the universe but also the notion of dominion and power. Queen Latifah and George Lucas are both powerful figures with a dominating presence. They have both exercised their dominion and authority in the world to create financial success.
Tarot: Rider-Waite 6 of Pentacles and Thoth “Success”
Let's move to the tarot images. The Six of Pentacles is the card associated with the second Decan of Taurus. Six, numerologically from the Hermetic Qabalah, is the center of the Tree of Life. It's the heart. It's the part of the Tree of Life that accesses the spirit and the body.
So it's this idea of harmonizing the energy from above with the capacity to manifest it in the material world and doing this with balance, or attempting to do it with balance. We can see this balance and harmonizing force reflected in the Thoth tarot deck image that is associated with this Decan. It's called the Six of Disks. Here we see a six-petaled rose in the center, the manifestation of creative force in the world. And Thoth calls this card Success.
Six of Disks, Thoth Tarot
Then again, when we expand this with the Six of Pentacles from the Rider-Waite tarot deck, which is a much more complex image, it deepens our understanding of this second Decan of Taurus. Here, we see a man holding scales in his hand. The scales are not balanced. And you see that money is going into the hands of one of the—I’m going to call them beggars because that’s something about the card that’s a little disturbing too. You can see it raises questions about what happens when you achieve financial success in the world. With success comes power. How do you use that power in the world? Who do you decide to give money to, and who do you ignore? So there’s a lot of complex energy in this card.
Six of Pentacles, Rider-Waite Tarot
We see the scales in his hands, but they’re not balanced. We also see he’s giving coins to one of the beggars and not the other. We also see the man is wearing a red coat over a blue cloak. It’s an interesting image when you think about it because colors matter in tarot cards. Red can have to do with the ego and blue relates to spirit and connection to the divine. So there’s something perhaps about the possibility of the ego taking over and making the decision for the spirit.
So this card really calls a lot of notions into question. What is it to have money and wealth? Clearly, the guy has the wealth, and it gives him the power. But how do you exercise that power in the world? Do you do it strategically—that Mercury that guides this second Decan of Taurus? Or does your ego somehow interfere?
We are material beings in a material plane, and when we are inspired to take action in the world, there’s always a need to reflect on what inspires us to act. Are we doing it from the center of our being, from something from the deeper part of who we are? Or is our ego desire for power and control—and the authority that comes with having a lot of money—interfering with that?
So these are some of the deeper questions that can come with the second Decan of Taurus.
Example: George Lucas
George Lucas, is a good example, in addition to Queen Latifah, of somebody with a rising sign in the second Decan of Taurus.
Agrippa and the Picatrix's image of the key speak to access to hidden knowledge or the ability to uncover secrets of the natural and material world. If you think about Star Wars, the series, George Lucas unlocked a new dimension of storytelling, blending timeless mythological themes with groundbreaking technology. So he created something new.
He was related to both spirit and his own embodied existence to bring these new creative ideas into the world. If we think about numerologically, I talked about the number six being associated with Tiferet, the Sephira of beauty and harmony, and the heart center. It represents the importance of establishing a balance between the spiritual and material worlds. This was a key theme in the Star Wars films. They had spiritual and philosophical themes, but they also resonated with what it is to be human in the world—the struggle of Luke Skywalker to individuate and grow, and also to take authority back for himself.
I’m just going to riff on that for a second because if you look at this Six of Pentacles Tarot card once again, you see that one of the questions of this card can have to do with people in power and authority, and other people potentially becoming dependent on them. So at the beginning of the Star Wars films, Luke Skywalker is naive and young, and looks to others like Obi Wan Kenobi for advice. But part of the arc of the story shows how he ultimately needs to grow up and take back his authority.
The films also mimic the balance, harmony, and prosperity that we see in this in the “Success” card from the Thoth deck; Lucas was able to harmonize different elements of myth and technology, and storytelling into a cohesive whole.
And that can be the quality of the sixes. On a practical standpoint, the Tarot sixes are the most accomplished of each of the elements. So the Six of Pentacles is the height, in some ways, of the capacity to achieve in the world—hence its name in the Thoth deck, Success.
Then we have the Rider-Waite card again. The card shows a rich man distributing coins. People with this as their rising sign might be philanthropic. And boy, was Lucas philanthropic. In 2012, he sold his film enterprise to Disney Studios for $4 billion and committed to giving this money to the greater world, to improve the world.
Not only that, but he did it strategically. There’s something about this card, or people with the energy of this Decan, where when they decide to give money, it’s going to be in a responsible way or in an attempt to fulfill their vision in a way that feels like it’s aligned with the world. They’re careful about how they make decisions around money or around sharing their resources because they want to achieve the most possible.
Lucas did not just donate his money, he made a strategic decision to create a foundation around education. Here’s a quote from Lucas that exemplifies the strategic nature of his giving: He said, “I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education. It is the key to the survival of the human race. We have to plan for our collective future, and the first step begins with the social, emotional, and intellectual tools we provide to our children.”
So this was a big deal, and so you see the grounded, serious nature—in some ways, the strategic nature—of this second Decan of Taurus when it comes to how to distribute wealth.