Taurus and Libra compatibility

Love and romance is at 35. The angle weighs most in this facet and is weak; the shared ruler lifts the score somewhat.

Ptolemy’s word for signs five apart is “inconjunct”, and the reason he gives is geometric: “because they divide the whole circle into unequal parts”. On the ruler he writes: “Venus, possessing a favourable temperament, and placed beneath the sphere of Mars, takes the next two signs, Taurus and Libra.”

Alan Leo ties Libra to that planet in his own way. Libra people, he writes, have “a kind and amiable disposition, expressing the Venus side of their nature more than any other”.

Trust is the highest facet, at 47. Steadiness has as much weight in it as the angle, and the pair’s steadiness is high: a fixed sign counts in full and a cardinal sign for half. The ruler point helps as well.

William Lilly’s quality lines, written for judging a chart and not as portraits of people, differ when we set them side by side. Taurus is “Feminine, Nocturnal, Fixed”; Libra is “Masculine, Moveable, Equinoctiall, Cardinall”.

Alan Leo says of Taureans: “They can be secretive and very reserved, but make faithful friends to all whom they give allegiance.” Of Libra people he says “they are always just and generous”. Faithful in one chapter, just in the other: putting the two words together is our doing, not his.

Communication is the lowest facet, 25. The elements weigh most here and are this pair’s weakest input. Adaptability, which also counts, is low for a fixed sign with a cardinal one.

Alan Leo’s portraits give two manners. Of Taureans he says “it is quite natural for them to be reserved, conservative and secretive”. Libra people are “courteous, agreeable and very pleasant persons”. Our reading of the two chapters: reserve on one side, an easy courtesy on the other.

Emotions scores 32. The elements carry the largest weight in it, and earth and air have no quality in common.

Lilly’s lines spell that out. Taurus is “Earthly, Cold, Dry, Melancholy”; Libra is “aeriall, hot and moyst, Sanguine”. Cold against hot, dry against moist: the matching of the terms is ours, though the words are his.

Alan Leo, contrasting Taureans with the Aries types, says they “are more inclined to live in their feelings than in their minds”. Of those born under Libra he writes: “they seem to be able to weigh and balance all things mentally, as though they were inspired”. Read together by us, one sentence speaks of feelings and the other of a mental weighing.

Values is the second highest facet, at 43. It counts steadiness and the rulers, the two inputs that favour this pair, though the elements weigh most.

Alan Leo writes of Libra people: “They seem to accept fate in a way that others are not capable of, and realise the justice of all things.” His Taurus chapter says: “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.” Acceptance in one portrait and strength of will in the other is a contrast we draw; he does not.

Shared activities comes to 28. The elements weigh most, and adaptability, low for this pair, counts too.

Ptolemy describes the two kinds of sign differently. Libra is one of his equinoctial signs, “the first after the autumnal equinox”, and in a fixed sign such as Taurus the season “is then more firmly established”. One opens a season and the other settles it; that summary is ours. The autumn is the northern hemisphere’s.

Alan Leo’s words point the same way under a condition. Of Libra people “working along personal lines” he says “they are rather impatient and inclined to be somewhat careless”. Taureans are “slow, plodding, patient, enduring, persistent, executive and matter-of-fact persons”. Patient and impatient, set beside each other by us.