In my recent post Personality Flaws of the Four Elements I described ways the 4 Elements can go wrong, each according to its own nature.

How To Know If Earth Is Grounding You
When your life is carefully measured from achievement to achievement (or failure), it’s easy to forget how to have fun.  Earth is the poster child for “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”  Your Earth has gone wrong when:

•    You’re such a critical perfectionist that your partner calls you a nag.
•    You’re a cynic, only interested in the bottom line and closed to any ideas that don’t have already proven value.
•    You’ve been called “cold” or “calculating.”
•    You’re prone to overindulging in physical pleasures to compensate for how hard you work or how boring your job is.
•    You’ve learned to defer gratification in favor of long-term goals—learned it so well that you can’t let yourself off the hook during a vacation and you despair of enjoying retirement.

Solution One:  Balance Earth With The Other 3 Elements
If your Earth is distorted, the other elements can help restore balance.  When your routines and systems are so effective that even you are bored, it’s time to break up the Earth with a little Fire.  Be spontaneous, take risks, look dopey.  Fling yourself into something, instead of calculating all its details first.

Earth gets dull and blockish without the lightness of Air.  Air encourages brainstorming sessions and crazy ideas—some may sound just like empty theories, but others will, with the time and testing Earth provides, prove useful in the end.  But you have to open your ears and listen first.

Water fertilizes Earth in a wonderful way, bringing warmth, emotion, compassion and sensitivity Earth does not naturally possess.  Too many late nights at the office?  Balance them with cozy family time.  Gotten too controlled or controlling?  Nothing like a nice emotional outburst to break down the walls.  Oh, and don’t forget to be vulnerable.

Solution Two:  Emphasize Healthy Earth
Healthy Earth practices can eliminate the need for compensatory, negative Earth behaviors.  Here are some examples of “Earth-Fu:”

•    Pay close attention to your bodily needs and engage in rigorous physical self-care.
•    Feed yourself delicious, homemade, organic, healthy food on a regular basis.  It tastes best when you cooked it yourself.
•    Organize your home, your office and your projects in ways that allow you to streamline, be effective and stop worrying.  Work smarter, not harder.
•    Fall in love with this physical world:  get out in nature more, breathe clean air and surround yourself with trees.
•    Set achievable goals and be consistent about rewarding yourself (even if it’s just a mental pat on the back) when you succeed.  When you become preoccupied with your failures, wrench your attention away from them and instead put it on what you’ve done right.

The Four Elements are a fascinating part of human temperament.
Find out about yours in a reading with Jamie:
Contact Jamie to learn how.

Coming up next:  Does Air Have You Lost In A Cloud?

How does Taurus do it?  Stay grounded in the midst of chaos, find order in the midst of sanity and be the calm at the center of the storm?  And why do Taurus types have such a lock on inner peace?  In today’s article, discover 5 ways Taurus stays sane—and how you can too.

Enjoy Simple Pleasures. Taurus is endlessly entertained by the small, immediate yummies of life.  The Taurus type loves things—expensive things, shiny things, lots of things, quality things but definitely things.  Taurus loves well-crafted objects, fabric with a good drape, food with subtle flavors and lovely smells.  Even earthy smells—such as a freshly plowed field—can bring secret nostalgic delight to a Taurean (“ahh, the farms where I grew up. . .”).  Taureans are earthy creatures and this world is full of sensory delights for them to enjoy.  Where’s the nearest flower?

Be Still. Taurus is not only capable of stillness, Taurus revels in it.  This ability to be the eye in the storm, the rock everyone can cling to, the still point of the ultimate balance is the envy of all the other signs (especially Librans).  How does Taurus do it?  The secret is that Taurus loves to stop moving and simply be still.  Your friendly neighborhood Taurean type resembles Newton’s Laws of Motion:  Taurus is static, unmoved except by an outside force; they tend to go in the direction they’re moved until stopped or slowed by (again) an outside force; and every action causes an equal and opposite reaction.  Ponder that next time you ask a Taurus to do something for you.

Practice Yoga. The practice of gentle stretching is good for the Taurean soul as well as the body.  Not-for-Taurus are those high-impact, high-energy workouts that bring sweat and require uncomfortable bras.  The sheer slowness of yoga is soothing.  And if that wasn’t enough, doing yoga means engaging in a practice that brings flexibility to this sometimes very stubborn Fixed sign.

Cultivate Body Awareness. A Taurus who is living the best of this sign is really in touch with her body.  She loves her body and her body gives her good messages.  It’s not easy to cultivate real body awareness in this modern world, with its continual barrage of sexual images, but the Taurus side of us can do it, needs to do it.  A woman who’s really in her body knows when something feels wrong.  And when something is wrong she has to set it right or she’s just not comfortable in her skin.  The enlightened Taurus is not distracted by bling or pulled off center by men’s offers to “take care of her.”  Instead she checks with her abdominal compass and holds her own dignified center.

Have a Low Tolerance for Drama. And here we get to the heart of it.  The Taurus part of us is very much a practical person.  Unnecessary shouting (and to Taurus, all shouting is unnecessary) is met with raised eyebrows.  Willful pushing and manipulations are useless, because Taurus has grappled with some of the finest manipulators ever (perhaps they are attracted to the challenge).  And when you get out the really big guns and throw a screaming hissy fit in front of a crowd of people, hoping to embarrass a Taurus into capitulation, you can almost see those heels dig in.  And once that happens, forget it.  To Taurus, you just look crazy.  To Taurus, drama is ridiculous.  Gentleness and reason will always work far more effectively with a Taurus of any age.  And this keeps life simple—exactly the way Taurus likes it.

Got a favorite Taurus you’d like to celebrate this year?
How about a birthday astrology reading?
Contact Jamie to find out how.

Art by Melora. Here’s her page on deviantart.com.

This is a repost of an article I wrote for the San Francisco Bay Area Women’s Journal.  You can find the original here.

Feed Your Senses, Yes . . .
To Taurus, sensory life is important and it’s good to feed your senses—all of them: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch.  The more you give all your senses good things to feed on, the better the Taurus side of you feels and the better it serves you instead of making you a slave to your own appetites.

Taurus says:  enjoy, savor, let things simmer.  When you taste, give it all your attention.  Do not ignore what’s in your mouth.  Life is rich and delicious and being in your body and senses in the moment is the best way you can show your appreciation to the gods for the gift of your life.

Taurus reminds us that we can use appetite as motivation by letting desire pull us toward the things we want in life.  But this only works if you are willing and able to be satisfied.  If you cannot be satisfied and experience contentment then no amount of pleasure (sensory or otherwise) will be enough.

. . . But Don’t Overdo It
As an object-lesson in how our senses can run away with us, here’s the story of Tantalus:  Once upon a time, there was a king named Tantalus, who was loved and respected by the gods.  Their affection for him was so great that they invited him to dine at their own table, in their grand hall on Mount Olympus.  Tantalus went there and ate and drank the ambrosia and nectar of the gods.  However, he became overly proud of the gods’ acceptance of him, and stole some of the food and drink of the gods, which he gave to his own mortal friends, to show off his divine connections.

In his superiority, Tantalus decided the gods were not greater than he was after all.  He thought to himself that the gods would not know the difference between human and animal flesh and decided to test them.  He then threw a feast for the gods at his own home and Tantalus was so corrupt that he served them his own son, killed and cooked, as the test.

The arrogance of this act was beyond belief (because of course, the gods did know the difference) and the gods grew angry and punished Tantalus in a most fitting way.  To merely kill him and relegate him to the land of the dead was not enough.  In addition, they tied him up and placed him in a great pool of water, with a bunch of grapes hanging above his head.  They then caused him to be forever filled with hunger and thirst, but whenever Tantalus dipped his head to drink, the water receded.  Whenever he reached upward for the grapes, they were pulled up out of reach.  Tantalus remained there for the rest of eternity, consumed by appetite and unable to satisfy himself.  It is from him we get the word ‘tantalize.’

In the beginning of the story, Tantalus had it good—he was beloved by the gods and the recipient of their special favors.  But then he had to go and blow it out of arrogance and excessive appetite.  It seems that divine food awakened in him a sense of his own greatness that then ran amok.  Tantalus forgot to show appreciation to the gods for the gift of his life and instead took it for granted.  His story serves as a reminder to the Taurus in all of us to enjoy appetite, be open to satisfaction of it, but not to habitually glut ourselves.  Otherwise we face an endless existence of being forever tantalized and never satiated.

“Great,” You Say, “But What Do I Do With This Information?”
Elsewhere in my website I have talked about your astrology chart being, not just a description of yourself and your life, but a useful set of instructions on how to live your unique life in the most satisfying, powerful way.  The location of any zodiac sign in your chart (and planets placed in that sign) will benefit from an approach that fits that sign.  All parts of your chart that are connected with Taurus will benefit from this Taurean wisdom:  Enjoy your senses, be physical, slow down and get into your body in this area of your life.  But do not be a glutton.

If you are curious about how Taurus appears in your chart and what areas it affects, contact me for a reading to find out.  More Taurus posts here.

Taureans, how about a special birthday present?
Your birthday is your own personal New Year’s Day. 
Having an astrology reading at this time can help you find inner peace
and enjoy your life to the fullest in the coming year.
Contact Jamie at Pandora@pandoraastrology to schedule a reading
or put one on your wishlist this year.

What Do I Mean By “Smell the Roses?”
To stop and smell the roses is to enjoy life as it is happening and not wait for some longed-for moment in the future.  Smelling the roses affirms that there is no need to defer pleasure until the achievement of a goal.  It affirms that there is no other place to be that is better.  There is only you, being fully present in your body and loving it.  There is only you, feeling the quality of life as it passes across your skin.  There is only you stopping for a moment to experience heaven on earth, right now.

Draw On the Taurus Side of You
Every human being has at least a little of every sign of the zodiac and thus has access to the wisdom of all the zodiac signs.  What wisdom does the Taurus side of you have?

Taurus Operates Best When Slow and Sensory
The Taurus part of us continually brings us back to ground, to center, to our bodies.  For Taurus, pleasurable sensations serve as an anchor to the physical world and remind us why we bothered to come to this little blue and green planet off on the edge of nowhere.

Taurus understands and is drawn toward quality.  A beautifully crafted object, a perfectly-proportioned garment, a fabric that feels as fine as it looks, a synergistic assembly of food ingredients—these are all things that touch the Taurus heart because she recognizes the mark of quality about them.  Fine things sing to her senses and make her whole.  Your friendly neighborhood Taurean does not mind paying more for quality and wants very much to be in a position to do so—thus the Taurean preoccupation with making money.

So Why Must the Roses Be Smelled?
Because stopping to enjoy life reminds you why you do it all.  Because some things simply cannot be done any more efficiently if they are done faster.  Because moving slowly and filling your senses with pleasurable experience supports your right brain and helps your rumination process along.  Because hurrying and worrying distracts you and pulls you out of center.  Because things done things in a rushed way are not things done thoroughly.  But mostly:  Why smell the roses?  Listen closely as the Taurus in you whispers,” Because this is a lush, beautiful world and they are there to be smelled.”

Taureans, how about a special birthday present?
Your birthday is your own personal New Year’s Day. 
Having an astrology reading at this time can help you find inner peace
and enjoy your life to the fullest in the coming year.
Contact Jamie at Pandora@pandoraastrology to schedule a reading
or put one on your wishlist this year.

•    Follow through.  Finish.  Complete.  Sounds simple?  It is.  But arduous.  Just do it . . . until it’s done.  No matter what happens (distractions, crying babies, fire, flood, storm, etc.).  Be the last one standing, because the last one standing writes the history books.
•    Never waste your effort.  Pace yourself and use every scrap of energy for a purpose.  This way you can more quickly go back to being lazy (a Taurus’ chief occupation).
•    Set a high bar.  Have values—and use them.  Every Taurus type knows that they are offering a lot, so they expect a lot too.  It’s only fair.
•    Feed yourself first.  Build a solid base for yourself and make sure you have what you need and a little more.  Is this selfish?  I don’t think so.  It makes you more solid for those in your life who depend upon you.  As the flight attendants say, “Put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others.”
•    Be methodical.  Set up a method for what you are doing, then stick to that method.  Hone and refine it until it shines.  Use it over and over and over and over and over.  People will think of you as consistent, and that is your greatest asset.  They will also come to underestimate you and take you for granted.  They will decide you don’t have much imagination (not true!), which allows you to over-deliver and surprise them.  Can you say “fait accompli?”
•    Pay attention to your gut.  Your bodily intuition is a great gift and it will tell you much if you listen.  You’re a human animal and your animal instincts are feeding you information all the time.  Does one person ruffle your feathers, while another smoothes them out?  When your hackles are raised, shouldn’t you pay attention instead of telling yourself it means nothing?
•    Touch people.  A warm handshake, firm hug, or a solid back-pat establishes rapport and gives you contact.  People need that.  It gives them confidence in you and puts them at ease.  It also gives your intuition something to work with.
•    Bonus Habit:  Eat for mobility.  Don’t let your dinner weigh you down.  If the food you eat puts you in a torpor, it’s preventing you from having access to your animal self and your bodily intuition.  It may be delicious, but if it puts you off your game, is it worth it?  Not to mention the long-term health consequences of habitually eating badly, consequences which may be hidden until suddenly you’re down for the count.  Can you say “fait accompli?”

Watch for at least one more Taurus post in May. . .

Taureans, how about a special birthday present?
Your birthday is your own personal New Year’s Day. 
Having an astrology reading at this time can help you find inner peace
and enjoy your life to the fullest in the coming year.
Contact Jamie at Pandora@pandoraastrology to schedule a reading
or put one on your wishlist this year.

Every sign of the zodiac has a planet that rules it.  But there are twelve signs and only ten planets,* so that two of those planets have rulership over two signs each.  Venus is one that has two signs, those being Libra and Taurus.

These two signs aptly illustrate the two sides of Venus’ personality.  Libra is more intellectual and distant, the cool, remote beauty, the lovely statue on the pedestal, the unattainable ideal.  Libra is also highly sensitive to beauty, but as an air sign, Libra is more interested in the abstract than the actual; to the Libran mind, a pure, beautiful, balanced idea is a perfect idea.  It doesn’t matter whether the idea can ever manifest in a real, physical form—Libra treasures the idea itself.

Taurus on the other hand, represents the earthier and more sensual side of Venus’ nature.  Taurus is the part of us that lives in the realm of the senses that takes pleasure in hedonistic desire that magnetizes our desire to us.  Taurus is drawn toward objects of beauty, toward fine, well-made objects, and wishes to possess them.  Taurus luxuriates in all things beautiful and delicious.

Libra is also the sign associated with agreements, promises and contracts.  Libra appreciates the rules of a relationship, whereas Taurus appreciates the sensations of being in contact with another person.  Taurus loves physical affection and comfort.

Both signs have their negative side:  Taurus overindulges, becoming a hedonist or gourmand, while Libra becomes a temptress:  cold and unapproachable, standoffish and teasing.  At Libra’s worst, there is the promise of love with no satisfaction; at Taurus’ worst, there is consumption with no satisfaction.  Libra can be the siren, luring sailors to their deaths, while Taurus can be like Tantalus, with the grapes forever dangling above his mouth, perpetually unable to reach them.

A Venusian “type” (someone whose chart shows a strong, centrally placed Venus) may identify with both sides of Venus over time.  This is so whether the native is a woman or a man.  Such a person will struggle with overindulgence as they embrace embodied experience and may at times fall in love with the idea of love.  But the Venusians among us also live lives rich in relationship, both to others, and to themselves.

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* Holding all arguments about Pluto’s status as a planet aside, that is.  Astrologers have not abandoned Pluto just because it’s been demoted by astronomy.  Pluto may be small, but its effects are potent.