Mercury & The 7 Hermetic Principles
Video Transcript: Gemini is ruled by the planet Mercury which has had a profound influence on Hermes and Hermetic philosophy. These are the 7 Hermetic Principles according to The Kybalion. Number 1. Mentalism: The ALL is mind, the universe is mental. 2. Correspondence: As above, so below. As below, so above. 3. Vibration: Nothing rests, everything moves. Everything vibrates. 4. Polarity: Everything is dual, everything has poles. Everything has its pair of opposites. 5. Rhythm: Everything flows, out and in. Everything has its tides. All things rise and fall. 6. Cause and Effect: Every cause has its cause, every effect has its cause. Everything happens according to Law. And finally, 7. Gender: Gender is in everything, everything has its masculine and feminine principles. Gender manifests on all planes.
Taurus, Target & The Bullseye
Video Transcript: This symbol is ancient. It’s a circled dot or what’s called a “circumpunct”. This is Target’s bullseye logo. Aside from thickness they’re one in the same. The circumpunct has a long history. It’s been associated with God, Gateways and has been used to represent the Universe… all of which overlap with Taurus symbolism. Most people recognize it as the symbol for the sun or gold. It also is related to The Self, The Center and The Bullseye.Taurus has two stars that represent its eyes, the largest is Aldebaran which has been compared to Mars, The Red Planet. Target’s branding is famously red. The word “Target” starts and ends with the letter “T” which is related to the “Tau Cross”. In Greek the letter “T” is “Tau”… as in Taurus. There’s a few words that start with T-A-R and are related to Taurus as well. Tarot and Tartarus are two examples, does “Tar-get” with its “Bulls-eye” also apply? Target’s mascot is a white dog named “Bullseye”. The official breed? A bull terrier.
Taurus & The Milky Way
Video Transcript: Taurus represents a Bull but its broader symbolism also includes the cow, together they’ve represented many important ideas including the universe itself… and in fact, the name for our galaxy, The Milky Way, was inspired by one of the greatest gifts the cow — and mother — has given mankind: Milk.
Barbara Walker writes: “The Milky Way is our galaxy, from the Greek gala meaning "mother's milk." The ancients believed this heavenly star-stream issued from the breasts of the Queen of Heaven. Worshippers of Hera said the stars were made of milk from her Moon-Cow incarnation. Ionians said the stars. All white Moon-Cows were the same Goddess, known as the mother of the star-spirits, she says. To the Celts, our galaxy was created by a primordial white cow whose udder produced the star-rivers. Egyptians called the Milky Way the "Nile in the Sky," which poured from the udder of the Moon-Cow. Names differed, but everywhere the Milky Way was regarded as the Goddess's star-milk.”
The Goddess’s milk which inspired the name of our galaxy was, in many cases, the Sacred Cow who has been considered by some cultures as the Second Mother to Mankind.
Taurus, Scorpio & The Golden & Silver Gates
Video Transcript: In mainstream astrology there’s twelve signs that create six pairs of opposites, Taurus and Scorpio are one of these pairs. Scorpio resides on the dark side of the zodiac and Taurus on the light side. Scorpio occurs in the middle of Fall and Taurus in the middle of Spring. They sit on opposing sides of The Fixed Cross and both contain massive Royal Stars. There’s a fascinating history attributed to these stars and their general area which people have said are openings to a great cosmic gateway. Let me explain… These signs sit where the path of the sun intersects with the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy. In fact, the center of the Milky Way is just behind Scorpio. These intersections are sometimes called “The Gate of the Gods” and “The Gate of Man”. One belief was these openings are where souls enter and exit this earthly plane and have also been called The Golden and Silver Gates. This is Vatican emblem featuring a golden and silver key which sometimes appear in The Hierophant card, which is ruled by Taurus. It’s been said that, metaphorically, these keys belong to none other than The Golden Gate of Scorpio and The Silver Gate of Taurus… sometimes also referred to as The Gates of Heaven and The Gates of Hell.
Taurus, Bullseyes & The Venus Pentagram
Video Transcript: The most recognizable feature of the Taurus constellation is the large V that makes up the head and horns of the bull. There are two stars within this V that represent the Eyes of the Bull. The bull’s right eye is named Aldebaran. Massive, red and fiery, it’s the largest star in Taurus. It’s one of the four “Royal Stars” and has been called many things including The Eye of God. The bull’s left eye is named Ain which means “eye” or “bulls eye”. The origin of the word “bullseye” is likely related to Taurus. The character for Roman numeral 5 is a V. The 5th card of the major arcana is The Hierophant which corresponds with Taurus and is related to the sacred mysteries. In the Thoth deck the main figure sits on a bull. Notice the pentagrams and the 5 petaled flower behind his head. The woman below is Isis, which acts as an expression of Venus (there’s the V again). Taurus is an Earth sign ruled by Venus. If you trace the progression of Venus from Earth it creates an amazing pattern… a five petaled flower. This pattern takes 8 years to create and has been referred to as the “Venus Rose” or the “Venus Pentagram”. What a beauty.
Taurus and The Secret Teachings
Video Transcript: This book starts off with a brilliant insight. It’s The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall from 1928. On the first page of the introduction there’s a painting called "Group of World Religions". Let’s take a closer look at a colored version…
This band up here represents a third of the Zodiac. The Bull represents Taurus. Moving upward you’ll see Aries, Pisces and Aquarius. These are The Four Living Creatures of Revelation. The winged bull represents Taurus. Over here is the Egyptian Apis bull in front of a figure that represents The Nile. This is the Golden Calf the Israelites worshipped. Here Mohommad holds pages from the Koran and just behind him the Celestial Bull breaks the “Egg of the Year”. This scene comes from The Mithraic Mystery system. It shows Mithras slaying a bull, which most likely meant, among other things, the end of the Age of Taurus.
As you can see, the bull takes center stage here. Cow and bull symbolism is deceptively deep… they’ve been used as metaphors for life and death, lunar and solar powers and have been associated with countless meanings, myths and deities… in certain cultures they’ve even been used to represent the universe itself.
Taurus Whiteboard: Part 1
Video Transcript: In gender symbolism this means male, which is also the symbol for Mars. This represents female and is also the glyph for Venus. It’s well known that Mars and Venus are complimentary and are considered partners. Mars rules Aries, the first house while Venus rules Taurus, the second.
I was fascinated to read that under some esoteric models Mercury is the true partner of Venus and not Mars… Mercury rules Gemini, the third sign. The fact that these symbols are so closely related really makes me think. Mercury, among its many meanings, has a phallic energy to it. Does this union, between Mercury and Venus, make more sense? I think both ways of looking at it are correct. One is exoteric and well known and the other is esoteric and hidden.
So we have Aries, Taurus and Gemini… the 1st, 2nd and 3rd signs. Governed by Mars, Venus and Mercury. Taurus appears to sit in the middle of spring, seemingly, sandwiched between her two partners. A lot can be said about this love triangle. In fact, I have reason to believe the three signs of Spring correspond nicely with the Abrahamic religions as well… but that’ll have to wait for another time.
Aries and The Head
Video Transcript: Aries corresponds with the head. The ram on top of this figure represents Aries while the two fish by her feet represent Pisces. Like the zodiac, we’re born into this world head first. The head leads the body. It makes sense that the first sign contains immense power which is needed to kickstart the progression through the signs. Aries yanks us out of the ethereal waters of Pisces and into the world of light. A fitting job for the headstrong ram.
Rams are well known for their horns which make a thunderous crack when fighting. Horns are associated with many things including abundance, fertility, power and the supernatural. In Judaism, the Shofar is a ram’s horn that’s blown often times to signify new beginnings. Our heads seem to represent what’s to come while our feet represent what’s trailing behind.
As such, I wanted to emphasize the head in my Aries print. All of the rays emanate from the head which is also situated within a cross. I also included a symbolic pillar of fire that starts between its horns. The intention was to allude to a springing forth from the cosmic center, not unlike Aries which ushers in spring from a long, dark winter.
Aries Whiteboard: Part 2 (Mars & Iron)
Video Transcript: This is the symbol for Mars which rules Aries and is associated with Fire. In certain schools of thought the mars symbol has also meant Iron, which is closely associated with the mars. This variant also indicated iron. This second arrow symbol meant steel in early chemistry. If you darkened the circle it meant Grenade Thrower or Mortar in a military context. This symbol also represented Iron, as did this one. The next two have upward arrows and represent iron as well. In alchemy and early chemistry there were number of ways to communicate the various elements. This symbol for iron caught my eye because if you remove the dots it looks exactly like the Sagittarius symbol. Sagittarius is the mutable Fire sign and its mantra is “I Aim”. If you erase the second “I” it says “I AM” which happens to be the mantra for Aries, which is ruled by Mars.
Aries Whiteboard: Part 1
Video Transcript: This is the symbol for Aries which represents more than the horns of a ram. Let’s focus on the point where the two lines split. The dot represents the one essence from which everything emanates from. It’s the symbolic seed of life. Life returns from which it came, the divine center. This creates a cross section of a torus field which gets its namesake from the next sign, Taurus. This dynamic can be seen all over the natural world. As an example, it looks like an apple cut in half. The apple holds many symbolic secrets. If you draw a simple tree you’ll notice the same shape because tree’s are toroidal in nature. There’s good reason why trees have been worshipped since the beginning of time. Both the branches and roots fan out from the central trunk. Once again, the toroid represents energy springing forth and returning to itself. When a plant dies it returns back to the earth from which it came. The heart symbol is also related. It represents the divine center splitting and then unifying. This is what love is all about… union with your other half. If we erase these lines, we return to the symbol for Aries itself.
Aries and The Emperor
Video Transcript: Aries corresponds with the Emperor card so let’s get into it. This is the card most people recognize. He’s throned and looks powerful. You’ll notice a lot of reds and oranges throughout this series. Usually one leg is crossed over the other or one leg is exposed more than the other. It’s not uncommon for him to be holding an orb with a cross on top or for there to be references to eagles and phoenixes. Here you’ll see rams and lambs, he’s holding a wand and an orb. Here he’s holding a club, an instrument of war… let’s not forget Aries corresponds with Mars. It’s not uncommon to see him in front of mountains and I really like the way the Rider Waite version does it where it looks like he’s supposed to be a symbolic central mountain. So when you look at the Emperor card you’re looking at a symbolic representation of Aries itself which is why I put some of that same symbolism in my Aries piece here.