Taurus Zodiac Sign

Taurus is the second sign of the zodiac, symbolized by the Bull (♉︎). In the tropical zodiac, the Sun moves through Taurus from about April 19 to May 20 in US Eastern Time, though the exact start shifts by a day between years. In astrology, Taurus is a Fixed Earth sign ruled by Venus.

Taurus at a glance

• Dates (usual): April 19 – May 20 (US Eastern Time)
• Symbol: The Bull
• Glyph: ♉︎
• Element: Earth
• Modality: Fixed
• Ruling planet: Venus (traditional and modern)
• Polarity: Negative / feminine (yin, receptive)
• Opposite sign: Scorpio

Born near the start or end of Taurus? Check your Sun sign in your birth chart

In the tropical zodiac, Taurus is the stretch from 30° to 60° of celestial longitude. The calendar year and the Sun's yearly cycle do not line up exactly, and leap years nudge things further, so the moment the Sun reaches 30° moves a little from year to year. From 2020 through 2030 in US Eastern Time, Taurus starts on April 19 in nine years and on April 20 in two. It ends on May 20 in nine of those years and on May 21 in two.

If you were born on a change day, your birth time and place decide your sign. The 30° point belongs to Taurus, not to Aries, so at any given moment the Sun is in one sign only. "Cusp" is a popular word for birthdays near a sign change, but it does not make anyone half one sign and half the other.

The calendar date of the change can also depend on the time zone. A change shortly after midnight Eastern Time is still the previous day in Pacific Time, and an evening Eastern change is already the next day in UTC. The 2026 ingress is a good case: April 19 in New York, April 20 in UTC. To settle it, enter your birth time and city in your birth chart.

Astrologers build a sign's character from three ingredients: its element, its modality and its ruling planet. For the Taurus sign that means Earth, Fixed and Venus. Aries opens spring; Taurus, a fixed sign, is read as the one that continues and stabilizes what Aries started, the season of full bloom, growth and steadfastness.

Astrology is an interpretive tradition rather than a scientifically validated method, so treat the portrait below as a set of themes to compare with your own experience, not a verdict on who you are.

Strengths in the tradition

• Practical sense (Earth): Earth is the element of the material world, so astrologers read Taurus as trusting what works in practice: a recipe tested until it is right, a garden tended every week, a task finished one step at a time.
• Staying power (Fixed): Fixed signs hold steady. Once a course is set, Taurus is associated with the patience to see long projects through.
• An eye for quality (Venus): Through Venus, the tradition links Taurus with sensory pleasure, affection and an eye for beauty and refinement.
• Composure (Fixed Earth, receptive polarity): The sign is read as calm under ordinary pressure, slow to react and hard to rattle.

Challenges in the tradition

• Stubbornness (Fixed): The urge to stabilize can turn into digging in when plans change or compromise is needed.
• Holding on too long (Earth and Venus): A taste for security and familiar comforts can make it hard to let go of routines that no longer help.
• Slow starts (Fixed Earth): Testing the ground first means new directions can take a while to warm up to.

Taurus is Latin for "bull"; the Greek name is Tauros. The sign is tied to bull myths and bull worship in several ancient cultures. It was the first zodiac sign the Mesopotamians established, and they called it "The Great Bull of Heaven," because in the Early Bronze Age, roughly 4000 to 1700 BC, the Sun rose in that constellation at the spring equinox.

The twelve equal 30° divisions of the ecliptic, the Sun's apparent yearly path across the sky, go back to Babylonian astronomy in the first millennium BC. Greek astronomers counted the signs from the March equinox, a convention described by Geminus of Rhodes in the 1st century BC and later spelled out by Ptolemy. That starting point is what makes the zodiac "tropical."

So the sign and the constellation are not the same thing. Precession of the equinoxes, a slow shift whose discovery is attributed to Hipparchus around 130 BC, moves the tropical signs against the stars, and so against the sidereal zodiac, by about 1.4° per century. Constellations also vary in width along the ecliptic. The zodiac sign of Taurus does not entirely line up with the constellation of Taurus; the tropical sign Astrolivo uses is always the exact slice from 30° to 60°.

In close relationships, astrologers read Venus-ruled Fixed Earth as valuing reliability, warmth and follow-through over drama. Trust is built slowly, care tends to show in practical acts, like fixing the leaky faucet without being asked, and sudden ultimatums land badly. On compatibility, the tradition looks to element harmony rather than promises: Taurus shares Earth with Virgo and Capricorn, and its opposite sign, Scorpio, shares its receptive polarity.

At work, the tradition ties Fixed Earth to patience, craftsmanship and steady execution. Taurus is read as suited to building durable results, keeping clear standards and working methodically, while constant reorganizing and rushed pivots run against its stabilizing nature.

For most birthdays the date alone settles your Sun sign, the basis of simplified, popular sun-sign astrology. Horoscopic astrology, which took shape in the Hellenistic world, reads the whole birth chart instead. Take an example chart with the Sun in Taurus, the Moon in Gemini and a Leo Ascendant: the tradition reads the Taurus Sun as a steady, practical core, while the Moon and rising sign add a quicker, more outgoing style. Someone born in another month can still have the Moon in Taurus, which describes emotional needs rather than the core self.

The Ascendant, or rising sign, is the degree of the ecliptic rising at the moment of birth. You can see your Sun, Moon and rising sign together in Astrolivo's free birth chart calculator by entering your birth date, time and city, with no sign-up needed.

Taurus follows Aries, the sign that opens the zodiac at the March equinox, and comes before Gemini, the third sign. Browse all zodiac signs to see the full wheel.

FAQ

When are the Taurus dates? In the tropical zodiac, Taurus usually runs from April 19 to May 20, US Eastern Time. The start moves slightly each year: April 19 in 2025, April 19 in 2026 (already April 20 in UTC) and April 20 in 2027. Exact times are in the table above.

Which planet rules Taurus? Venus, in both traditional and modern Western astrology. Venus also rules Libra.

Is Taurus an earth sign? Yes. Taurus is the Fixed Earth sign and forms the Earth triplicity with Virgo and Capricorn.

How this page was made

Prepared by the Astrolivo editorial team from the Wikipedia articles on Taurus (astrology), astrological signs, planets in astrology, the zodiac, and astrology and science, plus NASA JPL Horizons ephemeris data for the Sun's ingress times, and fact-checked against them. Astrological meanings are given as the tradition's readings.