Taurus and Aquarius compatibility

Love and romance reads 32. The angle has the largest weight in this facet and the square is weak; the elements and the rulers, weighted equally, add a little and a middling amount.

Ptolemy puts the square, his quartile, with the opposition as “discordant”, made “between signs not of the same kind, but of different natures and sexes”. Taurus belongs to the triplicity he says “consists of feminine signs”, Aquarius to “Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius, masculine signs”. Of the rulers he says that Venus has “a favourable temperament”, while Saturn is “cold and inimical to heat”; placing the two phrases together is our step.

Alan Leo, contrasting Taureans with the Aries types, says “they are more inclined to live in their feelings than in their minds”. Of Aquarians, in another chapter: “They are faithful in their love until the end, the love generally living in the higher mind.” Feelings in one sentence and the higher mind in the other; putting them together is our doing.

Trust is the pair’s highest facet, 52. Steadiness weighs as much as the angle here, and two fixed signs supply it in full.

Ptolemy calls those signs fixed in which the season is “more firmly established”. William Lilly, who lists qualities of signs for judging a chart and does not describe people, has the same word in both lines: Taurus is “Feminine, Nocturnal, Fixed”, Aquarius “diurnal, sanguine, fixed, rational, humane, masculine”.

Alan Leo does describe people. Taureans, he writes, “as co-workers they are reliable, sincere and trustworthy”. Aquarians “are noted for the integrity and sincerity they possess”. Sincere in one portrait, sincerity in the other; noticing that is our step, since the passages we use do not compare the two signs.

Communication is the lowest facet, 19. The elements weigh most in it and give little, and adaptability, which also counts, gives nothing for two fixed signs.

According to Alan Leo, Taureans “usually speak with a quiet, firm, inflexible and almost authoritative tone”. His Aquarians are “determined, patient, quiet, unobtrusive and faithful”. Both sentences use the word quiet. Pointing that out is ours; Alan Leo does not say how the two would talk to one another.

Emotions comes to 28. The elements carry the largest weight of any facet here, and for earth with air they are the weakest of this facet’s three inputs.

Lilly’s quality lines show why. Taurus is “Earthly, Cold, Dry, Melancholy”; Aquarius “an aierial, hot and moyst Signe”. Cold against hot and dry against moist, with nothing in common: that observation is ours, drawn from two separate lines.

Alan Leo writes: “The true Taurean may be said to be one great, feeling individual, but as the sign belongs to the earthy triplicity, it is more often physical and objective than subjective feeling.” In Aquarians he finds “the intense and fixed love nature of the fixed signs combined with the refined mental quality of the airy signs”. Set side by side by us, one portrait is physical and the other mental.

Values is the second highest facet, at 47. Full steadiness lifts it, though steadiness weighs less here than in trust and the elements weigh more.

Alan Leo’s Taurus sentence carries a condition: “Persons possessing the strongest wills are born under this sign, but when living for themselves exclusively, they become as obstinate as it is possible for them to be.” So does his Aquarius sentence: “When fully individualised, they have a great love for all humanitarian undertakings and concerns that produce harmony for the many”. Each is tied to its own proviso, and reading one beside the other is our choice.

Shared activities scores 22, the second lowest. Adaptability counts in this facet as well, and the pair has none by the formula’s measure.

Alan Leo calls Taureans “excellent companions to those possessing ideas”. Aquarians, he says, “seem to readily take to strangers, and rarely consider that others are in any way strange to them”. In our reading both portraits show people at ease in company, which is a different matter from the adaptability the formula counts.