Taurus

Taurus is the second sign of the tropical zodiac, the thirty degrees that follow Aries along the Sun's yearly path. The Sun crosses it in the middle of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and in the middle of autumn in the Southern. Astrologers count Taurus as an earth sign and a fixed sign, one of the four that fall in the middle of a season, and the tradition makes Venus its ruling planet.

This page is for people born with the Sun in Taurus and for anyone curious about the sign. The dates and the stars are astronomy and can be checked against the sky. The descriptions of temperament that follow are not measurements: they report how astrologers have read Taurus since antiquity.

The sky

In 2026 the Sun entered Taurus on 20 April 2026 at 01:39 UTC and left it on 21 May 2026 at 00:37 UTC. A year earlier it arrived on 19 April 2025 at 19:56 UTC. The cusp moves almost six hours later every year, because the year of the seasons is that much longer than a 365-day calendar, and a leap day pulls it back again. In New York the 2026 entry still fell on the evening before.

The sign is defined by the seasons, not by the stars. Earth's axis slowly wobbles, and since the zodiac was fixed the constellation Taurus has drifted about 24 degrees from the sign, so for most of the Taurus weeks the Sun now stands in front of the stars of Aries. As for the ruling planet, Venus crosses Taurus once in each year from 2025 to 2030, staying between 24 and 30 days, and it does not turn retrograde there. Astrologers read those weeks as Venus at home in its own sign.

Character

Astrologers describe Taurus as the steadiest sign of the zodiac. In the tradition's picture you take your time, and once you have decided, only a better argument is likely to change your mind. When the train is late, the Taurus response is to buy a coffee and wait for the next one rather than rebuild the evening around the delay.

The tradition reads Venus as the planet of pleasure and of things made well, and astrologers say Taurus notices quality before most people do, from the weight of a good pan to bread that was baked this morning. The sign is also associated with money and possessions, since things you can hold feel more reliable to you than promises.

Faced with a blank page, you tend to start slowly, often only after the desk is in order, and then to keep going long after others have stopped. A compliment means most to you when it comes with something solid, such as a meal or an hour of help. The difficulty astrologers name most often is stubbornness, the habit of staying with a plan after it has stopped working.

In love

In love the tradition describes Taurus as slow to start and steady once committed. You may take months to decide about someone, and you tend to show feeling through care more than through words: you remember how a partner takes their coffee, and you turn up when you said you would. Astrologers also link the sign with physical affection and with the pleasures of the senses.

The same steadiness has a cost. The tradition warns of possessiveness and of a tendency to go quiet when hurt, so that a partner may learn weeks later what went wrong. A long dinner suits the sign better than a surprise trip, and astrologers say Taurus does best with a partner who values routine instead of reading it as a lack of romance.

At work

At work astrologers link Taurus with the long middle of a project, the part that needs someone to keep going after the excitement has faded. You tend to be slow to agree to a new plan and reliable once you have, and you may dislike reorganizations announced at short notice more than the extra work they bring.

Through its ruler the tradition connects the sign with craft and with beautiful, useful things. The English astrologer William Lilly, writing in the seventeenth century, listed musicians, painters, jewelers and embroiderers among the people signified by Venus, and modern astrologers add banking and farming, practical trades that suit an earth sign. The risk they name is staying too long in a job that has stopped offering anything new.

The body

In the old scheme that maps the zodiac onto the body from head to feet, Taurus rules the throat and neck. The Roman poet Manilius already gave the neck to the Bull, and late medieval almanacs drew a small bull at the neck of the zodiac man. Modern astrologers extend the rulership to the voice, which fits the tradition's link between Venus and music. The scheme is symbolic, and nothing here is health advice.

With other signs

Taurus and Scorpio. Scorpio is the opposite sign, and since both are fixed signs, the tradition expects a pair that holds on hard. Taurus wants things comfortable and Scorpio wants to know what lies under the surface, which can make for a deep bond or a long standoff.

Taurus and Virgo. Virgo is another earth sign, and astrologers count it as easy company for Taurus. Both like practical plans and kept promises, so a shared kitchen or a shared budget tends to run smoothly. Friction, when it comes, is about Virgo wanting to improve things that Taurus is happy to leave alone.

Taurus and Leo. Leo is three signs from Taurus, a square, and both are fixed signs, so the tradition expects stubbornness on both sides. Leo wants to go out and be seen while Taurus would rather stay in, and an argument about where to spend a vacation can last until the booking deadline.

The myth

The bull is Zeus in disguise. In the version Ovid tells in the Metamorphoses, Zeus fell in love with Europa, daughter of King Agenor of Phoenicia, and appeared as a snow-white bull among the royal herd on the shore where she played with her friends. The animal seemed so gentle that she hung garlands on its horns and at last sat on its back.

The bull walked into the shallows and then swam out to sea, with Europa holding one horn and looking back at the shore. On Crete, Zeus took his own form again, and Europa became the mother of Minos, later king of the island. Star maps show only the front half of the animal, as if the rest were still under the waves. Before the Greeks, Babylonian star lists already called these stars the Bull of Heaven.

The constellation

Taurus is one of the easiest constellations to find in the northern winter. Following the line of Orion's belt up and to the right leads to Aldebaran, an orange giant about 65 light-years away that marks the bull's eye. It seems to belong to the V-shaped Hyades cluster that forms the face, but it lies at less than half their distance. Farther along the same line are the Pleiades, where good eyes count six or seven stars. Taurus is best seen in the January evening sky.

Questions people ask

What are the Taurus dates?

The Sun is in Taurus from about 20 April to about 20 May, and the exact moments shift by up to a day with the year and the time zone. In 2026 it is there from 20 April 2026 at 01:39 UTC to 21 May 2026 at 00:37 UTC, and in 2027 from 20 April 2027 at 07:18 UTC to 21 May 2027 at 06:18 UTC.

What is the Taurus ruling planet?

The tradition gives Taurus to Venus, and modern Western astrology keeps that assignment. Astrologers read Venus as the planet of love and pleasure, and they describe Taurus through the steadier, more physical side of those themes. In the traditional scheme Venus also rules Libra.

What element is Taurus?

Taurus is an earth sign, together with Virgo and Capricorn. It is also a fixed sign, like Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. The Sun passes through these four signs in the middle of each season.

Which signs are compatible with Taurus?

The tradition counts the other earth signs, Virgo and Capricorn, as the easiest matches, and the water signs Cancer and Pisces as friendly ones. Scorpio, the opposite sign, is read as a strong attraction between two people who both hold on hard. Leo and Aquarius, the squares, are the pairings astrologers expect to bring the most friction.

Am I a Taurus if I was born on 20 April?

Most people born on 20 April have the Sun in Taurus, but some do not. In 2026 the Sun enters Taurus on 20 April 2026 at 01:39 UTC and in 2027 on 20 April 2027 at 07:18 UTC, so in those years a birth earlier on that day, in UTC terms, has the Sun in Aries. Comparing the birth time in UTC with that year's entry time settles it.