Taurus decan 3 is ruled by Saturn. The sun twists and turns through the constellations of the Ram, the River, Perseus the hero, Queen Cassiopeia, Medusa’s head and some of the Pleiades from May 11 to 20. It is appropriate that the dark lord of time Saturn rules this decan since it houses the infamous star Algol. This part of Taurus houses bohemians and temperamental, artistic types. Decan 3 bovines are probably less set in their ways than the classic Taurus because of the influence of our dashing hero Perseus. They can be daring, but are still very much fixed in their determination to pursue their dream. Taurus decan 3 are extremely chivalrous, they have impeccable manners and a lot of class. Even the most low-down wretched expression of the breed will give off an aura of sophistication. Caught shamefully stumbling on the pavement after too much Algol-hol, they will still manage to wobble back onto their high hooves gracefully.
Taurus decan 3 has great taste and appreciation of the aesthetic, managing to dress like a lord even if they can only afford to shop in charity shops. They are also incredibly thrifty like the rest of the sign and manage to be very creative on a tiny budget. Perhaps they are so creative precisely because they are faced with those restrictions and hardship. Ironically with more choice and a larger budget, the more likely they are to stagnate artisticly. They seem to enjoy the challenge of having someone or something to overcome. Like Perseus slaying his Medusa. Taurus decan 3 has a tinge of sorrow and melancholy about it, since some of the stars here are associated with tears (Electra) and pain. (Algol). Saturn being the ruler here is also no stranger to melancholia, but combined with Taurus I think it gives great stoicism.
Taurus decan 3 are life’s troupers, they get knocked down, but they get up again, and again and again. Irrepressible, irresistible and iridescent, they do have the ability to bewitch. The Bulls sensual energy combined with Algol’s dark edge makes them very alluring. The men can play the dark knight (but in very shiny armour) and the women a smoky-eyed gypsy with wild Medusa hair. The nearer one gets to Algol the shadier it gets, but generally this zone is still earthy and you can get a handle on it. These folk are not really “evil” or deliberately malicious in any way. In fact they wear their demons on their sleeve for all to see and are quite proud of them. Love me, love my depression/addictions/rampant curly hair…
Taurus Decan 3 Stars
Taurus 20º 51’ ~ Botein in the flank of Aries the Ram 4.5•
Taurus 20º 52’ ~ Rana in Eridanus the River 3.7
Taurus 23º 52’ ~ Zaurak in Eridanus the River 3.2
Taurus 24º 12’ ~ Capulus in the sword hand of Perseus 4.4
Taurus 24º 46’ ~ Segin in the left knee of Queen Cassiopeia 3.4
Taurus 26º 10’ ~ Algol in Medusa’s Head. 2.1
Taurus 29º 25’ ~ Electra in the Pleiades on the shoulder of the Bull 3.8
Botein is in the belly of Aries, this sign shares the bravery and courage of Perseus. Rana in Eridanus the river. “Rana is a Latin word for the genus “bullfrog” so called because of its strong croak, said to sound like a bull bellowing.” How very apt for Taureans when Taurus rules the throat area too. Eridanus is a huge constellation that starts at the foot of Orion nearer the ecliptic and twists down all the way to Hydra at the South Pole. Eridanus is a generic, mythical river that each culture can associated with it’s own important waterway. “The river may have been named Eridanos (Early Burnt) after the story of Phaethon, the boy who attempted to drive the chariot of the sun, and fell flaming into the waters of this mythical river”. Fire and water mix here. Fire is heroic passion, and water is creativity and swelling emotions. Taurus decan 3 need to be able to express their emotions and release their pain and sorrow into some creative outlet. Ptolemy associated all the stars in the River with Saturn (Achernar is the exception). It will then bring into this decan the love of science and needing to experiment and quantify. These people need to underpin their go-with-the-flow lives with a solid structure. On the surface they can seem flaky as hell, but actually these people do have backbone, you can lean on them pretty hard and they don’t snap.
Artistic Temperament
Zaurak further along the river means in Arabic “The bright star of the boat”. Zaurak “has a Saturnian character. Anyone who has this star connected with a planet in his chart should endeavour not to take life too seriously and put too much weight on everything people say. This person should struggle to overcome melancholy. Otherwise, this star could trigger off fear of death and suicidal tendencies.” This contributes the tragic artist image. Capulus is the star in the slaying arm of Perseus. Bernadette Brady says this star is extreme, male sexual energy, I think it is the male Lilith. A match for her wild libido. The sword is very phallic do this is the male Kundalini energy. Mick Jagger has his Moon here…
Segin is on Queen Cassiopeia’s knee, the general meaning for Cassiopeia seems to fit well with this crystallising Saturnian sector. According to Manilus “will also count greedily the yellow sands…; he will make small weights to measure the tiny grains, or else will collect the wealth of gold-foaming Pactolus (A River in Turkey); or he will smelt lumps of silver, separating the hidden metal and causing the mineral to flow forth in a running stream; otherwise he will become a trader of the metals produced by these two craftsmen, ever ready to change coinage of the one metal into wares of the other.” This perhaps gives us Taurus’s reputation of being good with pentacles and precious metals.
Algol is so complex it’s hard to summarise here, but its contribution towards this decan of Taurus generally will be perhaps an abnormal sex drive, too much or too little. Some key words from my article on the fixed star; Creating monsters, splicing, plastic surgery, mutation, playing god, weird heads, unusual hair, perversion, deformities, potency versus impotence, stunning, spine-tingling. The high magnitude star in this decan is Electra, which is part of the Pleiades. She is known as one of the lost sisters. Which reflects the theme of sorrow of something missing. (Alcyone, the largest star of this cluster has now moved into Gemini). Interestingly Electra means amber and shining. Electrum is an alloy of Silver and Gold. So the precious metal theme surfaces again. So as well as the obvious artists we also get in Taurus decan 3; Money-lenders, porn-brokers, inheritance, sorrow connected with money, greed and excess turning in on itself and becoming destructive, fame breeding indolence. The shadow side of wealth seems to come out here. Maybe the hard lesson for Taurus decan 3 to learn is that money doesn’t buy happiness.
Taurus Decan 3 Celebrities
Sun: Marshall Applewhite, Katherine Hepburn, Tony Hancock, Salvador Dali, Margot Fonteyn, Madeleine McCann, Liberace, David Byrne, Cher, Dame Nellie Melba, Burt Bacharach, Brian Eno, Alison Goldfrapp, Eric Satie, Debra Winger, Zara Philips, Wreckless Eric, Pierre Curie, Natasha Richardson, Miriam Stoppard, Efron/Hudgens Davison.
Moon: Marshall Applewhite, Katherine Hepburn, Dionne Warwick, Bill Clinton, Vincent Price, Sylvester, Frida Khalo, River Phoenix, Peter Sellers, Mick Jagger, Linda Lovelace, Jimmy Hoffa, Ian McShane, Prince Harry, Gregory Peck, George Bernard Shaw, Dionne Warwick, Christine Keeler, Carrie Fisher, Bob Dylan, Patrick MacNee, Patricia Routledge, Mike Barson, Lynda Hill, Azaria Chamberlain, Lyle Menendez, Liz Renay, Vicious/Spungen Davison.
Ascendant: Dionne Warwick, Wilt Chamberlain, Patrick Duffy, David Beckham, Mae West, Brian Wilson, Anita Pallenberg, Anna Freud, Melanie Griffith, June Gibbons, Julian Lennon, Hanks/Wilson Davison.