The second sign of the Eastern zodiac is the character
and is pronounced “Chou.” The symbolic animal of this second earthly stem is the ox and is represented by the character
that is also symbolic of the water buffalo. It is a yin symbol of the second trine, and its fixed element is water. Its assigned realm on the heavenly ecliptic consists of the portion that lies between the 30th and the 60th degrees, and it is the lord of the twelfth lunar month, which lasts from January 6 to February 3. The hours of the ox are from one to three in the morning.
The second sign of the Western zodiac is the symbol
that is commonly known as Taurus. This sign is symbolic of a bull. Like its Eastern counterpart, this symbol is a negative yin symbol of the passive nocturnal feminine. Its elemental designation is earth and its quality is fixed. It possesses the same coordinates of the ecliptic as does the Eastern sign of the ox, however, its yearly domain of influence is from April 21 to May 21 in the tropical system and from May 16 to June 15 in the Jyotish system.
In the second position, the combined zodiac symbols of the East and West fall into perfect harmonic alignment with one another underneath the animalistic symbolism of the sacred bull. The bull of Taurus is generally associated in western mythology as the form of the white bull that Zeus assumed in order to seduce Europa, or as the white bull that was given to King Minos by Poseidon that fathered the infamous minotaur of Crete. In eastern folklore, the ox also occupies the second position in the macro-zodiac pantheon of animals, because the rat leapt upon its back as the ox crossed the river and stole the first position from the ox.
The etymology of the word Taurus extends into ancient time via the biliteral root of Tav and Resh (T and R.) This ancient root means both “bull” and “ox,” and can be found in the popular Spanish term for bull, which is the word toro. This root is also present in the words Tarot and Terra, and possesses the meaning of “series,” and “to order.” This meaning could easily be implied from the sense that a series or an ordering of things begins with the second item. One item cannot be a series, but two things can be formed into a row, series, or ordering for purposes of clarification, assigning value or importance, or urgency of usefulness. Thus, this second position is the beginning of the order of both the Eastern macro-zodiac and the Western micro-zodiac, which both share the sacred bull that could be seen as symbolic of ordering things into a series.
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