Tapestry of the Gods
Volume III
by Michael D. Robbins (c)

Astro-Rayology
in progress

Taurus
& Ray 4

Introduction - Expression in the self-centered - Expression in developed man - Expression in disciples and initiates - Directives - Mantra - Symbols - Contrasts - Similarities - Famous People 

Sun or Ascendant in Taurus with Ray 4

 

.

Sun Taurus (or Ascendant Taurus), R4P (or R4S)
Plus Constellationally Transmitted R4

A strong mutual reinforcement of ray and astrological energies emerges due to the transmission {though not in greatest strength} of the fourth ray, constellationally, through Taurus. The appropriate category of reinforcement would be, Strong by Constellational Transmission. The fourth ray is also transmitted through Mercury, ruler of the second decanate both esoterically and exoterically, and through the Moon which is the planet exalted in Taurus.

 

Selfish, Self-Centered or Self-Serving Human Being

Selfish, Self-centered, or Self-Serving Human Being

  1. The persistent struggle by the form life for expression despite higher and better promptings—a struggle typical of the self-centered Taurus person—combines with the warfare between “rajas”(desirous activity) and “tamas”(inertia) induced within the insufficiently spiritualized personality by the fourth ray.

  2. The tamasic aspect of the fourth ray is at first emphasized over the rajasic aspect.

  3. “Let struggle be undismayed”. (EA 403)

  4. The warfare caused by the instincts. Fighting (fourth ray) for the gratification of the instinctual nature (Taurus).

  5. Carried away by the beautiful. Indulging in all that is sensuously beautiful. Captivated by beautiful objects or persons and having to own them.

  6. Strongly subject to the sex instinct. The sensualist.

  7. Pleasure-loving to the point of impracticality.

  8. Strongly determined upon the acquisition of what is considered beautiful—just for the sake of having it and whether or not it is needed.

  9. Uncertainty (fourth ray) about what is worth having (Taurus). Thus, an uncertain sense of values.

  10. “A house divided”. The instinctual nature (exalted Moon in Taurus, Moon transmitting the fourth ray) is the opponent of progress.

  11. Matter (the fourth aspect of the personality) reigns.

Advanced Human Being; Aspirant; Disciple: Additionally, where relevant, combine Ascendant Sign with the ray of either the ray of the personality or soul.

Advanced Human Being; Aspirant; Disciple
 Additionally, where relevant, combine Ascendant Sign, Taurus, with the fourth ray as either the ray of the personality or soul.

  1. A powerful attraction to beauty-of-form characteristic of the advancing Taurus individual combines with a keen sensitivity to harmony, beauty and art induced within the spiritually unfolding personality by the fourth ray.

  2. Beauty strongly accentuated. All the arts appreciated.

  3. Appreciation of the beauty (fourth ray) of Nature (Taurus).

  4. Beauty of form (Taurus/Venus) and the “Corrector of the Form”.

  5. Great sense of rhythm; love of the dance.

  6. Sculpture. Creativity. Music.

  7. The expression of beauty (fourth ray) through the throat center (Taurus). Song, poetry, oratory.

  8. The elevation of life through the acquisition of beautiful objects.

  9. Visual acuity.

  10. Providing architecturally beautiful environments for the enhancement of the quality of life. The builder of that which is beautiful.

  11. On the Path of Discipleship: learning to discern (fourth ray) finer and truer spiritual values (Taurus).

  12. On the Path of Discipleship: the increasing stimulation of the ajna center for purposes of creative visualization.

  13. On the Path of Discipleship: a growing light (Taurus) upon the Path brings a greater sense of proportion (fourth ray) and a truer sense of values.

  14. On the Path of Discipleship: a growing appreciation of beauty, helps to overcome negative emotions.

  15. On the Path of Discipleship: the use of sound, color and the arts leads to a harmonizing of the personality vehicles and their integration. Expressivity leads to a healing of the emotional vehicles.

  16. On the Path of Discipleship: learning to bring harmony, balance and beauty to the desire nature. Part of deglamorization and sensitizing the astral nature for the reception of the energy of love.

  17. On the Path of Discipleship: a strongly developed sense of beauty brings about the achievement of a more balanced, “sattvic” approach to living.

  18. On the Path of Discipleship: learning to access the light of intuition (fourth ray) as it reveals the ways of materializing (Taurus) beauty (fourth ray) through form (Taurus).

 

Advanced Disciple; the Initiate: Additionally, where relevant, combine Ascendant Sign with the ray as either the ray of the personality or soul.

Advanced Disciple; the Initiate
 Additionally, where relevant, combine Ascendant Sign, Taurus, with the fourth ray as either the ray of the personality or soul.

  1. A sensitivity to the presence and higher meaning of vibration, light, sound and color (all of which are matter itself)—a sensitivity increasingly characteristic of the soul-infused disciple/initiate born in or under the sign Taurus—combines with a rapidly developing sensitivity to the harmonizing energy of buddhi induced within the soul or spiritualized personality by the fourth ray.

  2. Beauty and Truth are seen and known as identical.

  3. Enraptured by the beauty of the world.

  4. A deep understanding of how to bring together form (rupa) and the formless (arupa).

  5. Consciousness is strongly receptive to the buddhic plane, thus appreciating the harmonizing of all forces.

  6. Strong capacity to synthesize sound, color and form.

  7. Growing ability to hear the name by which the soul is called—the “hidden name Egoic” and to see the pattern of that name.

  8. The development of “Mantra Yoga” as a creative and harmonizing agent.

  9. Highly developed ajna center. Using it as an organ of ‘unitive appreciation’ and to envision the beautiful.

  10. Just as the Buddha overcame the Forces of Illusion, so this combination of energies is adept at doing the same. Intuition (fourth ray) and the “Greatest Light (Taurus)”, together, are adequate to the task. Illusion is dispelled and consciousness is transformed into a unitive-intuitive field.

  11. The revelation of the beauty of Divine Creativity. The power to recognize the archetypes embodied in natural forms, and also to create forms which beautifully embody the same archetypes.

  12. The Crucifixion Initiation (the Renunciation Initiation) ends in the achievement of Harmony. Vulcan (carrying the first and fourth rays) is active at this fourth initiation (ruled by the fourth ray). Taurus, ruled by Vulcan, distributes the fourth ray constellationally. When Taurus and the fourth ray appear in the energy equipment of the initiate (and the time is right) a large measure of the energy-endowment needed to take the fourth initiation is present. The Buddha renounced—for Taurus teaches renunciation of all attachments and acquisitions. Taurus and Vulcan bring the power to sacrifice. And finally, through the fourth ray (both present and transmitted through Taurus), “Harmony” is achieved—harmony with the Love of God as found on the buddhic plane.

Directives

(On Behalf of Humanity and the One Great Work. These are Meant to be Suggestive; Your Intuition Will Supply the Directives and Counsels Most Suitable to You)

Directives and Counsels for Taurus and the Fourth Ray
(On Behalf of Humanity and the One Great Work)
(These are Meant to be Suggestive; Your Intuition Will Supply the Directives and Counsels Most Suitable to You)

    1. Abide In Beauty

    2. Accumulate Objects Of Beauty

    3. Add And Subtract Aesthetically

    4. Adorn The Edifice

    5. Affirm The Value Of Expressivity

    6. Appreciate All That Is Lovely

    7. Aspire Towards Buddhic Realization

    8. Attune To The Energies Of The Natural World

    9. Battle Persistently (“Let Struggle Be Undismayed”)

    10. Beautify The Form

    11. Bridge The Contrasting Worlds Of Light And Dark

    12. Bring Color To The World Of Tangibility

    13. Brood Upon The Beautiful

    14. Build In Harmony

    15. Contemplate The Beauty Of Nature

    16. Correct The Form So That Beauty May Be Fully Expressed Through The Form

    17. Create Rich And Contrasting Textures

    18. Cultivate The Light Of The Intuition

    19. Dance Rhythmically

    20. Design Beautiful Buildings

    21. Dwell In The Holy Place Where Three Lights Meet—The Lights Of Earth, Of Love And Of Life.

    22. Embody Buddhic Consciousness

    23. Endow The Arts

    24. Envision Divine Beauty

    25. Evaluate Judiciously

    26. Establish A Beautiful Rhythm

    27. Express Beauty Naturally

    28. Feel Harmony And Discord Within The Body

    29. Fight Doggedly

    30. Finance Artistic Projects

    31. Find The Seed Of Even Greater Beauty Of Form

    32. Forge Links Of Relationship

    33. Fortify The Peace

    34. Fund The Expression Of Beauty

    35. Gather The Fruits Of Culture

    36. Give Substance To Aesthetic Impressions

    37. ‘Ground’ The Intuition

    38. Harmonize The Desire Nature

    39. Illuminate The Laws Of Harmony

    40. Intermediate Between The Forms Of Heaven And The Forms Of Earth

    41. Intone Words Of Beauty

    42. Intuit The Nature Of Form

    43. Intuitively Access Illumination

    44. Invest In Works Of Art

    45. Let A Life Of Beauty Be Your Treasure

    46. Link The Three And Three So That Triadal Light Shines Through The Form

    47. Keep The Peace

    48. Mark The Parting Of The Way—Where The Paths To The Mysteries Of Heaven And The Dark Mysteries Of Materialism Diverge

    49. Massage The Form Until Harmony Is Achieved

    50. Mediate Between The Light Of The Soul And The Light Of Form

    51. Pacify The Instinctual Nature

    52. Paint Sensuously

    53. Perceive The Way Which Leads To The Beauty Of Illumination

    54. Practically Establish The “Art Of Living”

    55. Provide Substance For Expression

    56. Refine The Senses

    57. Render The Formless Tangible

    58. Respond To The Sensuous Life

    59. Reveal Beauty Through Form

    60. Reveal The Light Within The Symbol

    61. Shape The Form Masterfully

    62. Share Resources Fairly

    63. Sing Sonorously

    64. Sooth The Raging Bull

    65. Stabilize Cooperative Efforts

    66. Steady Inconsistency

    67. Struggle Enduringly

    68. Sublimate The Instinctual Nature Through Artistry

    69. Substantiate The Intangible

    70. Support Artists

    71. Sustain Accords

    72. Transform Desire Through Beauty

    73. Treasure The Great Works Of Art

    74. Trumpet Forth the Note of the Lord—Build Boldly by means of Sound

    75. Unite Wisdom And Beauty

    76. Uphold The Harmony Of The Whole

    77. Value That Which Is Most Beautiful

     

Mantra
 Mantra for Taurus and the Fourth Ray

Mantram for the Disciple’s Consciousness
With intuition penetrant, I seek to know the Harmony Divine through which the “Light of Love”, the “Lights of Love and Life” may stand revealed in Beauty.

Mantram for the Initiate’s Consciousness
“ Two Merge with One” in Beauty when the “Light of Life” Illumines all the Worlds

 

Proposed Symbol, Image, or Scene

Proposed Symbol/Image/Scene for R4/Taurus

Vibrantly responsive to the scintillating ‘Spectrum of all Rainbow-Colored Tones’, the ‘Artist of his Life’, immersed within the streaming light, sees a lum’nous vision, and hears a glorious sounding, which he seeks with joy in beauty to embody in the life of form.

 

Discover Potentials to be Derived from Energetic Contrasts

Discover Potentials to be Derived from
Energetic Contrasts Between Taurus and R4

Utilize these contrasts to understand how these two energies may contrast or conflict with each other when they are found together within the human energy system.

Taurus

In Comparison With

Ray  4

  1. Transmits R4 constellationally.

  

  1. R4

  1. Transmits principally R5 and R1 through its planetary rulers.

  

  1. R4

  1. Colors: Deep blue and possibly (on a hypothetical color-scale incrementally related to the chromatic musical scale) red-orange, orange, orange-yellow. (A color-chromatic scale has fourteen steps and a musical chromatic scale only twelve—hence the discrepancies and alternatives. The shading of decanates may offer a partial solution.)

  

  1. Colors: yellow, green, cream

  1. Note: DO sharp or C sharp, though the color “deep blue” will relate Taurus to the blue or indigo notes, G and A.

  

  1. Note: MI or E

  1. Expresses through the throat center, and secondarily through the sacral center, and (via Venus) through the ajna center.

  
  1. Expresses through the ajna center at a relatively advanced point of evolution. Related as well to the fourfold base chakra.

  1. Creative Hierarchy number III, liberated.

  

  1. Creative Hierarchy number II, liberated, and Creative Hierarchy number IV/IX, unliberated.

  1. Hypothesized as especially expressive in relation to the Mineral Kingdom, through Vulcan; the Vegetable Kingdom, through Venus; the Kingdom of Souls through Venus; and the Kingdom of Solar Lives through Vulcan.

  

  1. Related to the Vegetable Kingdom and the Human Kingdom.

  1. Fixity

  

  1. Vacillation and variability

  1. Stubborn resistance

  

  1. Flexible accommodation; compromise

  1. Routinization

  

  1. Irregularity, generated according to impulse.

  1. Centralization

  

  1. Bi-polarity

  1. Heavy strokes

  

  1. Lighter, more variable strokes.

  1. Plodding

  

  1. Nimble leaping

  1. Clear direction

  

  1. Often erratic process

  1. Given to Tamas

  

  1. Tamas and Rajas

  1. Often practical and “down to earth”.

  

  1. Often impractical and improvident.

  1. Given to realism

  

  1. Tendency to follow the imagination regardless of realistic considerations.

  1. Financial planning

  

  1. Financial carelessness

  1. Generating and retaining prana.

  

  1. Squandering prana through irregular, frictional living.

Discover Potentials to be Derived from Energetic Similarities

Discover Potentials to be Derived from
Energetic Similarities Between Taurus and R4

leo4444iv

Utilize these similarities to further understand how these two energies may combine with or reinforce each other (for better of for worse) when they are found within the same energy system.

  1. Fourth Ray Constellationally Transmitted Through Taurus: Taurus is strongly expressive of the fourth ray which is transmitted through it constellationally (though not presently in the same strength that it is transmitted through Scorpio).

  2. Relation to the Lunar Nature: Both Taurus and the fourth ray are related to the lunar nature and its struggles against the Light—Taurus, because the Moon is exalted in this sign, and the fourth ray because the Moon is said to transmit the fourth ray.

  3. Conflict of Desires: Both influences are related to the conflict of desires upon the astral plane.

  4. Love of Rhythm: Both Taurus the fourth ray conduce to a love of rhythm.

  5. Appreciation for Beauty, Artistry: Both energies have great appreciation for beauty and are inclined towards artistic expression. Sound are color are important to those influenced by either energy.

  6. Sensuality and Sensuousness: Those influenced by either Taurus or the fourth ray are given to sensuality and sensuousness.

  7. Struggle: Both influences share the dynamic of struggle. The Fourth Ray is the “Ray of Harmony Through Conflict” and the evolutionary mantram for the Fourth Ray is, “Let Struggle Be Undismayed”. The struggle against the inertia (Tamas) of matter is prominent in both cases.

  8. The Glamor of the Physical Body: The glamor of the physical body is related to both influences—to Taurus because of its general connection with the material nature and the fact that the Moon (representing the physical body) is exalted in this sign; to the fourth ray because the physical body is the fourth aspect of the personality. Under the fourth ray, the forces of the previous solar system (symbolized by the physical body) struggle against the more progressive forces of the present solar system.

  9. The New Group of World Servers: Both Taurus and the fourth ray are instrumental in the expression of the New Group of World Servers—Taurus because this group represents the ajna center of the Lord of the World (R&I 368); and the fourth ray because this ray ensures that there will be no destructive break between the best values of the past and those spiritual values which are emerging in the new civilization. “The major task of the fourth ray aspirant is to harmonise the new ideas with the old, so that there can be no dangerous gap or break.” (EP II 142)

  10. Relation to the Second Initiation: The light of Taurus is useful in dispelling glamor before the second initiation and contributes as well to the “mental illumination” necessary at this degree. The astral body must be somewhat harmonized before the second degree can be taken, and this can be seen as the role of the fourth ray.

  11. Relation to the Fourth Initiation: Taurus and the fourth ray are connected in relation to the fourth initiation, which is ruled by the fourth ray—the ray majorly transmitted through the constellation, Taurus. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Vulcan (with its fourth as well as first ray component) is active, thus implicating Taurus. A practical example of the connection of Taurus to the fourth degree is shown in the life of Krishnamurti who was born with the Sun in Taurus, and was said by a Master (“Sir Thomas”) to be taking the arhat initiation (the fourth).

A List of Famous Individuals for whom this combination is prominent

A List of Famous Individuals for Whom Taurus is Either the Sun Sign or Ascendant and in Whom the Fourth Ray is Proposed as Prominent

    Ludwig Van Beethoven
    German Composer (Possible Taurus Ascendant or Scorpio, to be Determined)

    Johannes Brahms
    German Composer of the 19th Century, With Beethoven and Bach, One of Germany’s ‘Three Great B’s’ (Sun Sign)

    Martha Graham
    Dancer, Choreographer, Brilliant Innovator in the Field of Modern Dance (Sun Sign)

    Yehudi Menuhin
    Virtuoso Violinist, Author, Promoter of Numerous Social and Environmental Causes (Sun Sign)

    Sir Lawrence Olivier
    Actor (Perhaps the Outstanding Actor of the 20th Century) (Sun Sign)

    Percy Bysshe Shelley
    One of the Greatest English Romantic Poets, Passionate in his Search for Love and Social Justice (Ascendant)

    Rabindranath Tagore
    Bengali Poet, Short-Story Writer, Song Composer, Playwright, Essayist, and Painter who was Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 (Sun Sign)

    Leonardo da Vinci
    Painter, Architect, Inventor, Engineer, Renaissance Genius (Sun Sign)

    Richard Wagner
    Innovative German Romantics Composer of Opera, (“Music Dramas”) (Proposed Ascendant)