Taurus and Scorpio compatibility

Love and romance comes to 58. The angle has the largest weight in this facet, and an opposition counts for half in our formula. The elements add more than that, and the rulers stand at half as well.

Ptolemy groups the opposition with the quartile as “discordant”, calling them “configurations made between signs not of the same kind, but of different natures and sexes”. Yet in the passages we use he lists both of these signs as feminine: Taurus in a triplicity that “consists of feminine signs”, and Scorpio in one of which he says “the signs which compose this triplicity are feminine”. Noticing that the general rule and the two lists sit oddly together for this pair is our step, not his.

Trust is the joint highest facet, level with values, at 70. Steadiness weighs as much as the angle here, and two fixed signs supply it in full.

William Lilly’s quality lines, which describe signs for judging a chart and not people, mark both: Taurus is “Feminine, Nocturnal, Fixed” and Scorpio “fixed and North”. Ptolemy explains the word. In a fixed sign the weather of the season, “having continued for some time in operation”, takes a stronger hold. Reading that as constancy in a person is our step.

Alan Leo’s two chapters, read together by us, show trust from two sides. Taureans “can be secretive and very reserved, but make faithful friends to all whom they give allegiance”. Of Scorpio people he writes “Their somewhat suspicious nature causes them to be distrustful”, in a sentence that goes on to grant them “that grit and backbone”.

Communication is the lowest of the six, at 46. Adaptability makes up a quarter of this facet, and two fixed signs have none by our measure. The elements, the largest weight here, supply most of what is left.

Alan Leo sums up those born in Scorpio as “very determined, reserved, tenacious and secretive”. Of Taureans he says “it is quite natural for them to be reserved, conservative and secretive”. Two words, reserved and secretive, stand in both sentences; that observation is ours, drawn from two separate chapters.

Emotions scores 61. Elements weigh most in this facet, and earth with water counts for three quarters.

Lilly gives Taurus as “Earthly, Cold, Dry, Melancholy” and Scorpio as “cold, watry, nocturnal, flegmatick”. Compared by us, cold is in both lines and the temperaments are not the same: melancholy in one, phlegmatic in the other.

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.” Scorpio people, in his account, “seem to contain in themselves the silence of Pisces and the tenacity of Cancer, Scorpio’s companion watery signs”. Laying the earthy portrait next to the watery one is our doing.

Values is level with trust at 70. Steadiness is a quarter of this facet and stands at its full value. The elements, the largest weight, add three quarters of theirs.

Alan Leo opens one Taurus sentence with praise and closes it with a warning: “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.” His Scorpio chapter has a sentence that opens on a like condition: “When living the purely personal life, living only for the self, the Scorpio types of humanity are very uncompromising and exacting beings”. Each warning is tied to a life lived for oneself. That parallel is ours to draw.

Shared activities comes to 49, the second lowest. Adaptability counts here too, for a fifth, and this pair has none.

In Alan Leo’s words, “The Taureans are slow, plodding, patient, enduring, persistent, executive and matter-of-fact persons.” Scorpio people, “though always affable and courteous”, are “ready at any moment to stand upon their dignity”. Our reading of the two portraits is that neither shows a person quick to give way over a plan.