Your Personal Horoscope 2012: Month-by-month forecasts for every sign

Deepest needs – comfort, material ease, wealth

Characteristics to avoid – rigidity, stubbornness, tendency to be overly possessive and materialistic

Signs of greatest overall compatibility – Virgo, Capricorn

Signs of greatest overall incompatibility – Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius

Sign most helpful to career – Aquarius

Sign most helpful for emotional support – Leo

Sign most helpful financially – Gemini

Sign best for marriage and/or partnerships – Scorpio

Sign most helpful for creative projects – Virgo

Best Sign to have fun with – Virgo

Signs most helpful in spiritual matters – Aries, Capricorn

Best day of the week – Friday

Understanding a Taurus

Taurus is the most earthy of all the Earth signs. If you understand that Earth is more than just a physical element, that it is a psychological attitude as well, you will get a better understanding of the Taurus personality.

A Taurus has all the power of action that an Aries has. But Taurus is not satisfied with action for its own sake. Their actions must be productive, practical and wealth-producing. If Taurus cannot see a practical value in an action they will not bother taking it.

Taurus’ forte lies in their power to make real their own or other people’s ideas. They are generally not very inventive but they can take another’s invention and perfect it, making it more practical and useful. The same is true for all projects. Taurus is not especially keen on starting new projects, but once they get involved they bring things to completion. Taurus carries everything through. They are finishers and will go the distance, so long as no unavoidable calamity intervenes.

Many people find Taurus too stubborn, conservative, fixed and immovable. This is understandable, because Taurus dislikes change – in the environment or in their routine. They even dislike changing their minds! On the other hand, this is their virtue. It is not good for a wheel’s axle to waver. The axle must be fixed, stable and unmovable. Taurus is the axle of society and the heavens. Without their stability and so-called stubbornness, the wheels of the world (and especially the wheels of commerce) would not turn.

Taurus loves routine. A routine, if it is good, has many virtues. It is a fixed – and, ideally, perfect – way of taking care of things. Mistakes can happen when spontaneity comes into the equation, and mistakes cause discomfort and uneasiness – something almost unacceptable to a Taurus. Meddling with Taurus’ comfort and security is a sure way to irritate and anger them.

While an Aries loves speed, a Taurus likes things slow. They are slow thinkers – but do not make the mistake of assuming they lack intelligence. On the contrary, Taurus people are very intelligent. It is just that they like to chew on ideas, to deliberate and weigh them up. Only after due deliberation is an idea accepted or a decision taken. Taurus is slow to anger – but once aroused, take care!

Finance

Taurus is very money-conscious. Wealth is more important to them than to many other signs. Wealth to a Taurus means comfort and security. Wealth means stability. Where some zodiac signs feel that they are spiritually rich if they have ideas, talents or skills, Taurus only feels wealth when they can see and touch it. Taurus’ way of thinking is, ‘What good is a talent if it has not been translated into a home, furniture, car and holidays?’

These are all reasons why Taurus excels in estate agency and agricultural industries. Usually a Taurus will end up owning land. They love to feel their connection to the Earth. Material wealth began with agriculture, the tilling of the soil. Owning a piece of land was humanity’s earliest form of wealth: Taurus still feels that primeval connection.

It is in the pursuit of wealth that Taurus develops intellectual and communication ability. Also, in this pursuit Taurus is forced to develop some flexibility. It is in the quest for wealth that they learn the practical value of the intellect and come to admire it. If it were not for the search for wealth and material things, Taurus people might not try to reach a higher intellect.

Some Taurus people are ‘born lucky’ – the type who win any gamble or speculation. This luck is due to other factors in their horoscope; it is not part of their essential nature. By nature they are not gamblers. They are hard workers and like to earn what they get. Taurus’ innate conservatism makes them abhor unnecessary risks in finance and in other areas of their lives.

Career and Public Image

Being essentially down-to-earth people, simple and uncomplicated, Taurus tends to look up to those who are original, unconventional and inventive. Taurus people like their bosses to be creative and original – since they themselves are content to perfect their superiors’ brainwaves. They admire people who have a wider social or political consciousness and they feel that someday (when they have all the comfort and security they need) they too would like to be involved in these big issues.

In business affairs Taurus can be very shrewd – and that makes them valuable to their employers. They are never lazy; they enjoy working and getting good results. Taurus does not like taking unnecessary risks and they do well in positions of authority, which makes them good managers and supervisors. Their managerial skills are reinforced by their natural talents for organization and handling details, their patience and thoroughness. As mentioned, through their connection with the earth, Taurus people also do well in farming and agriculture.

In general a Taurus will choose money and earning power over public esteem and prestige. A position that pays more – though it has less prestige – is preferred to a position with a lot of prestige but lower earnings. Many other signs do not feel this way, but a Taurus does, especially if there is nothing in his or her personal birth chart that modifies this. Taurus will pursue glory and prestige only if it can be shown that these things have a direct and immediate impact on their wallet.

Love and Relationships

In love, the Taurus-born likes to have and to hold. They are the marrying kind. They like commitment and they like the terms of a relationship to be clearly defined. More importantly, Taurus likes to be faithful to one lover, and they expect that lover to reciprocate this fidelity. When this doesn’t happen, their whole world comes crashing down. When they are in love Taurus people are loyal, but they are also very possessive. They are capable of great fits of jealousy if they are hurt in love.

Taurus is satisfied with the simple things in a relationship. If you are involved romantically with a Taurus there is no need for lavish entertainments and constant courtship. Give them enough love, food and comfortable shelter and they will be quite content to stay home and enjoy your company. They will be loyal to you for life. Make a Taurus feel comfortable and – above all – secure in the relationship, and you will rarely have a problem.

In love, Taurus can sometimes make the mistake of trying to control their partners, which can cause great pain on both sides. The reasoning behind their actions is basically simple: Taurus people feel a sense of ownership over their partners and will want to make changes that will increase their own general comfort and security. This attitude is OK when it comes to inanimate, material things – but is dangerous when applied to people. Taurus needs to be careful and attentive to this possible trait within themselves.

Home and Domestic Life

Home and family are vitally important to Taurus. They like children. They also like a comfortable and perhaps glamorous home – something they can show off. They tend to buy heavy, ponderous furniture – usually of the best quality. This is because Taurus likes a feeling of substance in their environment. Their house is not only their home but their place of creativity and entertainment. The Taurus’ home tends to be truly their castle. If they could choose, Taurus people would prefer living in the countryside to being city-dwellers. If they cannot do so during their working lives, many Taurus individuals like to holiday in or even retire to the country, away from the city and closer to the land.

At home a Taurus is like a country squire – lord (or lady) of the manor. They love to entertain lavishly, to make others feel secure in their home and to encourage others to derive the same sense of satisfaction as they do from it. If you are invited for dinner at the home of a Taurus you can expect the best food and best entertainment. Be prepared for a tour of the house and expect to see your Taurus friend exhibit a lot of pride and satisfaction in his or her possessions.

Taurus people like children but they are usually strict with them. The reason for this is they tend to treat their children – as they do most things in life – as their possessions. The positive side to this is that their children will be well cared for and well supervised. They will get every material thing they need to grow up properly. On the down side, Taurus can get too repressive with their children. If a child dares to upset the daily routine – which Taurus loves to follow – he or she will have a problem with a Taurus parent.

Horoscope for 2012

Major Trends

You have been idealistic about your career for many years now, and now that your career planet is in your spiritual 12th house (it entered last year) this trend continues and will go on for many more years. It’s not enough for you to just make money and achieve status; you need to do this in a spiritual, socially conscious way. This is the challenge these days.

For the past two years you have been very health conscious. Daily disciplined regimes have been more interesting. Probably you are watching the diet more but it is a struggle. Later in the year it will get easier. The focus on health continues in the year ahead.

Ever since Uranus moved into Aries last year, and into a square aspect with your love planet Pluto, love has been challenging and highly unstable. Instability is perhaps the hardest thing for a Taurus to handle. They need – yearn for – stability, security and an established routine. The love life and marriage has been just the opposite. Love continues getting tested in the year ahead, especially after October 5.

When Jupiter entered your sign in the latter half of 2011, you entered a period of prosperity and this continues in the year ahead. Jupiter will be in your sign until June 11, and then moves into your money house. So, you are living the good life, travelling and enjoying all the pleasures of the body. Also you have the wherewithal to indulge these things.

Neptune makes a move this year (this only happens every 14 or so years) from your 10th house to your 11th house. Thus you are making friends with spiritual types these days. Many of you are joining spiritual organizations and groups or becoming more involved with them than usual. This is a long term trend now.

Your areas of greatest interest this year are the body, image and personal pleasure (until June 11); finance (from June 11 onwards); children and creativity (from January 1 until July 3); health and work (until October 5); love, romance and social activities (after October 5); religion, philosophy, theology, foreign travel and higher education; friends, groups and group activities (from February 3 onwards); and spirituality.

Your paths of greatest fulfilment this year are the body, image and personal pleasure (until June 11); finance (from June 11 onwards); sex, personal transformation, personal reinvention and occult studies (until August 30); and love, romance and social activities (from August 30 onwards).

Health

(Please note that this is an astrological perspective on health and not a medical one. In days of yore there was no difference, these perspectives were identical. But these days there could be quite a difference. For a medical perspective, please consult your doctor or health practitioner.)

Health should be good this year, Taurus. All the major long-term planets are either in a good aspect or leaving you alone. So energy and vitality are basically good. Certainly, over the course of a year there will be periods where your health is less easy than usual, perhaps even stressful, but these things are caused by the planetary transits; they are temporary and not trends for the year ahead. When the stressful transits pass, your natural good health returns. These stressful periods will be from January 20 to February 18; July 22 to August 22; and October 23 to November 21. These are the times to rest and relax more and to pace yourself better.

Your 6th house of health is strong this year, showing a great focus on health. But since health is basically good, I would say that your problem could be an ‘over focus’ or a tendency to magnify little things into big things – bigger than they actually are.

Good though the health outlook is, you can make it even better. Give more attention to the following areas: the neck and throat (regular neck massage, especially the back of the neck, will be good to release tension there); the kidneys and hips (regular hip massage will be powerful); the gall bladder; and the spine, knees, teeth, bones, skin and overall skeletal alignment (regular visits to a chiropractor or osteopath would be a good idea). Give the skin more protection when you are out in the sun. Therapies such as the Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais would be good to help your posture, and I also like craniosacral therapy, which work with the bones in the neck as well as the head. Give the knees more support when exercising too. All these areas are the most vulnerable ones in the year ahead, and any problems would most likely begin there. So keeping them healthy and fit is sound preventive medicine.