Ka-Ching, Ka-Ching.

On November 4, 1879 James Ritty patented the cash register, which he invented to halt his bartenders' stealing from his Dayton, Ohio saloon.

Not surprisingly, the money/values axis of the horoscope was highly active: The Sun was in Scorpio and Mars was retrograde in Taurus. (An 'unseen' Pluto was too).

That same day, the oft quoted humorist-humanitarian and keen observer of the human condition who said, "I never met a man I didn't like" was born. His name was Will Rogers.

His highly polished retrograde Mars in Taurus (and º @ 29° ) must have been at the tip of his tongue when he said, "We don't know what we want but we are ready to bite somebody to get it".

Bite somebody indeed. Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula, the most infamous 'biter' in all of literature born 32 years earlier was a Scorpio with Mars in Taurus too.

So much for the negative spin we've been taught about planets in detriment (or retrograde for that matter): Mix the energy of Mars with the insatiable appetite, extravagance, sense of ownership, and endurance of Taurus- and voila! More often than not, you've got the makings of the sumptuous banquet that lasts a lifetime; the drive and means to pay for it, the china, the silver, the lavish setting, and the help.

Committed to survival and to the successful attainment of any goal, Mars in Taurus knows his way around the earth plane exceptionally well and feels it's his inalienable right to indulge and enjoy to life's fullest extent. With a knack for figuring out how things work and then working them, he goes from rags to riches as if it were the natural order of things. He'll boldly take a stand, often an unpopular one, and then defend his position with firm bravado. Ultimately he succeeds at getting his point across.

The long list of creative, gifted, resilient, and determined Mars in Taurus individuals with killer survivor instinct along with the roster of historical events that took place during his transits there, offers a compelling picture of just how potent a placement it is. Never taking "no" for an answer, in case after case, 'Mr. Slow and Steady' prevails and wins the race while collecting, tabulating, and banking the spoils! FYI: The 7th US President, Andrew Jackson who implemented The Spoils System ("To the victor belongs the spoils"), had Mars in Taurus.

Some Like it Hot
What is it about an earth-bound Mars in general and in Taurus in particular that makes for grounding, discipline, and even reasonable conduct from an otherwise unruly planet? The Male planet, delighted to be in Venus' chambers, takes his shoes off and dons his finest slippers and a silk smoking jacket: He's capable of his very best behavior (when he isn't breaking the law). And at the very least, when in Taurus, hot-headed Mars does a slow and methodical burn whilst simmering and sautéing his projects to perfect completion.

Perhaps part of a Taurus Mars' secret to success is alchemical: it's the union of spirit and flesh. Here, Mars' ambition is well-calculated; he's as contemplative and patient as he is determined; he's in less of a rush and more in tune with the sultry rhythm of The Earth (ask sex researcher Virginia E. Johnson about that): Mars in Taurus seems to have been housebroken and groomed. And no matter what the goal is he's in it for the long haul, persevering with style and in comfort.

Be it gold, a philosophy, a destination, or even a person, once Mars in Taurus casts his or her eyes on any sight he (or she) digs his heels in deep and inwardly says, "This is mine". His entire being is focused and on the case and the follow-through can be taken to the bank.

As the very embodiment of 'Artistic Will' merged with commercial viability, this sensual and smoldering placement appears in the natal charts of accomplished artists and musicians whose contributions have impacted their respective fields immeasurably: The collective recordings of "The Girl From Ipanema" (1962-64) written by Antonio Carlos Jobim (Jan 25 1927) played by Stan Getz (Feb 2 1927) and sung by Astrud Gilberto (March 29 1940) (all have Mars in Taurus) effectively ushered in the era of the Bossa Nova, providing perfect background music for the sexual revolution, if not the 'Mars in Taurus International Anthem' itself.

Jazz icon Tony Bennett (August 3, 1926) may have left his heart in San Francisco, but his six- decade career is still going as strong as ever as he approaches his 79th birthday.

Other wealthy warblers, composers, conductors, instrumentalists, lyricists, musicians and well-styled Divas of Distinction with Mars in Taurus include: Madonna, Michael Jackson, Zubin Mehta, Peter Nero, Peter Tchaikovsky, Billy Joel, Andres Segovia, Carole King, Morgana King, Celine Dion, Kim Carnes, Pat Boone, Jacques Offenbach, Leontyne Price, Sammy Cahn, Chaka Khan, Nicholas Rimsky-Korsakov, Les Paul, Smokey Robinson, Chuck Berry, Lawrence Welk, Queen Latifah, Ahmad Jamal, Pete Seeger, Pete Fountain, Belinda Carlisle, Joan Sutherland, Horace Silver, Glen Campbell, John Coltrane, Fred Waring, Meredith (The Music Man) Willson, and 'Mr. Showmanship' himself, Liberace.

And what better image illustrates the red planet's placement in the sign of the gourmand than the familiar TV ad with the upside-down ketchup bottle dripping ever so slowly to the song "Anticipation" by Carly Simon, who has (you guessed it!), Mars in Taurus?

But Mars in Taurus' incomparable artistry and uncanny ability to hit the mark and hold on to the prize extends way beyond music with stunning showings in many birthcharts of natives in the world of literature and an equally impressive presence in the charts of those accomplished in fine art (Dali, Degas, De Kooning, & Klee), crafts, crime (John Wilkes Booth, Jesse James, Belle Starr), dance (Rudolph Nureyev, Margo Fonteyn, Ginger Rogers), comedy (Charles Chaplin, Lucille Ball, Red Skelton, Improv founder Budd Friedman) drama (Bette Davis, Sir John Gielgud, Robert DeNiro, Anna Magnani), finance, engineering, sports, science, politics, aeronautics, several of whom made it out past the stratosphere. It was Galileo Galilei whose experiments with gravity influenced Sir Isaac Newton; both have Mars in Taurus and both are key figures in the development of modern science, mathematics, physics, and astronomy. Newton went on to formulate the Universal Law of Gravitation. And some 300 years later, four astronauts, all with Mars in Taurus: Charles Conrad (walked on the Moon), Don Eisele, Walter Schirra, and David R. Scott, ventured beyond Earth's orbit and into outer space. NASA itself was formed when Mars was in Taurus on July 29, 1958.

You Can Get There From Here
Mars in Taurus is in the charts of those who have greatly impacted the world's timeline for better: (Tom Dooley, Guglielmo Marconi, Socrates) or for worse (Hitler, Timothy McVeigh, Joseph Stalin, Osama Bin Laden). It is found in the horoscopes of many world leaders (JFK, Fidel Castro, Catherine The Great, The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini), remarkable survivors (The Dionne Quintuplets), and historical events (The crowning of King Henry VIII and his death; Edison's invention and demonstration of the electric light, the successful testing of the polio vaccine, the discovery of the Double Helix of DNA, USSR launching of Sputnik 3 - with 2 dogs aboard, Castro's takeover of Cuba, The Federal Center for Disease Control's first published report of AIDS, the launching of The Internet), that have changed the course of civilization itself.

Mars in Taurus is an ace at bridging one place to another. Be it:

Horizontal (John Roebling, civil engineer/pioneer in designing suspension bridges born June 12, 1806; State and federal highway officials implemented the familiar nationwide route numbering system with the U.S. shield-shaped, numbered marker: In the east, U.S.1 runs from New England to Florida and in the west, U.S. 101, from Tacoma, WA to San Diego, CA (March 1, 1925), The Dumbarton Bridge opened in San Francisco carrying the first auto traffic across the bay (Jan 15, 1927), the first copper telegraph cables were laid across the Atlantic Ocean connecting Newfoundland to Ireland (July 13, 1866, Sun sextile Mars, Mercury square Pluto, Saturn trine Uranus) thereby enabling messages to get across the continents in hours rather than weeks, the George Washington Bridge, linking New York City and New Jersey, opened (April 30, 1889), The Simplon Tunnel opened as the world's longest railroad tunnel at 12 miles; it linked Italy & Switzerland through the Alps (May 19, 1900), and the first Air passenger service began on May 2, 1919):

Vertical (Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, designer of the Eiffel Tower (born Dec 15, 1832); Edward Whymper, the first to climb the Matterhorn (born April 27, 1840); and Spiderman wannabe, daredevil Daniel Goodwin, wearing a "Spiderman" costume, scaled the outside of Chicago's Sears Tower in 7½ hours on May 10, 1981):

Ephemeral (Johannes Kepler discovered the Law of Harmonics on May 15, 1618):

Circular (Ferdinand Magellan began the first voyage to successfully circumnavigate the world in a little less than two years (Oct 31, 1517); Amelia Earhardt's first solo flight across the Atlantic (5/20/1932), and the first transatlantic flight by a US Navy seaplane (May 8, 1919); New York's La Guardia airport officially opened to the public (March 31, 1940), Steve Newman became the first man to walk around the world (April 1, 1987):

Across/Over Water: The first woman American Olympic gold medalist Gertrude "Trudy" Ederle swam the English Channel (August 6, 1926), Jean Lussier became the first person to go over the Niagara Falls in a rubber ball (July 4, 1928) and Cyclist Bryan Allen flew across The English Channel in the manpowered Gossamer Albatross (June 12, 1979) or:

Across Town, Mars in Taurus is there insisting the connection is made and the goal reached: The first streetcar service began in New York City on November 26, 1832; or:

Around the World: The first around the world service by a single airplane was begun by Pan Am on June 28, 1947; or:

On The Way to Alderbaran: Pioneer 10 was launched from Cape Kennedy (March 2, 1972. On board, was a plaque designed by Carl Sagan & Frank Drake with details of civilization on Earth. The craft headed to Jupiter and then continued into deep space long past expectations. In 2001 contact was re-established with the craft 7.29 billion miles distant and enroute toward the constellation Taurus. Contact was again made in 2002. Pioneer is expected to reach the red star Aldebaran in Taurus in about 2 million years.

Sound, Music, Communications, and Publishing Milestones and Births
The very first phone call was made with Mars in Taurus on March 10, 1876, with Alexander Graham Bell's famous words, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you." And as a matter of fact, Mars in Taurus as the 'active throat' or 'motivated voice' is prominent in the evolution of sound and music, as well as in the world of communication and publishing. Many successful publications, shows, and artists debuted with it or were born with it. Here are some highlights:

Mars in Taurus is literally and figuratively ground-breaking. Its 'unearthing' and 'cutting-through' quality has shown itself in the April 18, 1906 (@ 5:12 AM) San Francisco Earthquake, the great dustbowl storm of May 13, 1934, the discovery of the Ruins of Pompeii (April 1, 1748), the beginning of the building of the Panama Canal (Jan 1, 1880), the archaeological unearthing of an army of 8,000 life-size clay figures created more than 2,000 years ago for the Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (July 11, 1975), and in the fact that four major US Gold Rushes (dates/sources to be inserted) and The Oklahoma Land Rush all with Mars in Taurus:

The very first Life Insurance Policy was issued with Mars in Taurus on May 22, 1761: The Moon was in Capricorn that day:)

Milestones in Slavery, Labor, and Freedom
The history of slavery in the world and in the US where it was so intimately and embarrassingly linked to the establishment and building of America's economy, is also traced through Mars in Taurus cycles. On:

Mars in Taurus is extreme: Many positive advancements and heartbreaking tragedies in Civil Rights, race relations, and firsts for Blacks, played out when Mars was in Taurus or were achieved by those with it natally:

The Dark Side
At his best, he's elegant and enduring- but at his worst, Mars in Taurus is nothing short of the ultimate connoisseur of cruelty. He's presided over some of the most famous crimes (The Great Train Robbery: May 22, 1868 and The Great 'Grain' Robbery: Feb 27, 1972), and the darkest and most violent moments in history. He is in the charts of both the perpetrators and victims of heinous crimes, as well as in the horoscope of J. Edgar Hoover (Jan 1, 1895), whose life's work was to solve them, that is when he wasn't busy pursuing his own personal vendettas.

Three young children famous for their murders had Mars in Taurus: The Lindbergh Baby (June 22, 1930) (whose body was discovered 22 months later when Mars in Taurus), Lisa Steinberg (May 14, 1981) (Joel Steinberg was convicted of Man Slaughter on Jan 30, 1989 with Mars in Taurus) and Jon Benet Ramsey (Aug 6, 1990), the latter two had Mars in hard aspect to their Sun.

The holocaust unfolded under the steady insistent hand of Mars in Taurus, beginning with the births of Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889) and Adolf Eichman (March 19, 1906) and continuing with: Herman Goering's warning to all Jews to leave Austria (March 26, 1938), The Germans' beginning construction of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp (Feb 21, 1940), The formulation of the "Final Solution" at Grossen-Wannsee, outside Berlin (Jan 20, 1942), the first arrival of Jews at Auschwitz and the adjoining Birkenau camp (Feb 27, 1942), and the uprising at the Nazi Treblinka concentration camp where some 600 prisoners staged a revolt. Only 40 survived (Aug 2, 1943).

The Manhattan Project was initiated (Feb 29, 1940), FDR signed executive order 9066 giving the military the authority to relocate and intern Japanese-Americans (Feb 19, 1942), and the first US Atomic Weapons were tested at Los Alamos (July 16, 1945).

Other notable violent Mars in Taurus moments in Criminal history include:
Billy the Kid murdered (July 14, 1881), Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot 48 times and killed (May 23, 1934), Bugsy Seigel was murdered (June 20, 1947), and Patty Hearst kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (Feb 4, 1974). The kidnapping resulted in Randolph Hearst meeting the demands of The SLA by announcing the establishment of a $2 million food program, 'People in Need' (Feb 19, 1974).

Yod-da Yod-da Yod-da:
The Mars Stations of 1973 and 2005- Will it be déjà vu all over again?
There were three transits of Mars in Taurus during President Nixon's tenure: March 6- April 18, 1970; Feb 10- March 26, 1972; and Aug 12-Oct 29, 1973 then Mars retrograded back to 25 Aries and finally, Dec 24, 1973 -Feb. 27, 1974.

As a Capricorn with Virgo rising, the first two of them were quite helpful to him with remarkable manifestations. If we read a roster of all that took place on his watch during those transits: signed a bill banning cigarette ads on radio and television (April 1, 1970), re-established diplomatic relations with China (Feb 17, 1972), The Equal Rights Amendment was passed (March 22, 1972), the endangered Species Act was signed (Dec 28, 1973), he seems more of a Liberal by today's standards.

But the last one did him in:
The most recent retrograde of Mars in Taurus was in 1973/74. I remember that Autumn and Winter very well. How could you not? The Watergate fiasco was unraveling Nixon's presidency at a breakneck speed (two of the key players, H.R. Halderman and John Ehrlichman both have Mars in Taurus and as is often the case, the most dramatic sequence of their lives played out on the Mars Transit of 73/74), Henry Kissinger was sworn in- the first Jewish Secretary of State (Sept. 22, 1973), Vice President Agnew was forced to resign (Oct 10, 1973), The Arab Oil Embargo began; Those long lines for gas were a sight to behold (Oct 17, 1973), The Yom Kippur War took place (Oct 6, 1973), the "Saturday Night Massacre" in which Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resigned rather than fire special Prosecutor Archibald Cox (Oct 20, 1973), and after being ordered to do so, President Nixon released the 1st White House tapes on Watergate scandal (Oct 26, 1973). The rest is history.

On September 19, 1973, Mars stationed at 9°Ý15' almost forming a Yod to Mercury at 8 Libra and Neptune at 4 Sagittarius. By mid October, Mars at 5° did form a Yod to Pluto and Neptune, in fact, it was a double Yod if you count the one between Saturn in Cancer and Mars in Taurus forming the double quincunx to Neptune in Sagittarius. No wonder there were so many dramatic events under the fated life-altering energies so associated with the Yod.

In Dynamics of Aspect Analysis, Bil Tierney states: "As an apex planet, Mars could suggest that this individual might have to sever ties from the past or directly break away from former comforting securities during this appointed time of self-confrontation, He is to one-pointedly focus all his attention upon this new path and learn to adapt rapidly….he could become quite energized to work hard and become industriously busy with this enterprising phase of his life. But if mismanaged, (this yod) could have fateful consequences of a crucial nature due to the rash or disruptive actions on the individual's part. He needs to learn corrective ways of channeling his self will." Mr. Tierney's brilliant analysis can be applied to the collective as well as the individual.

In '73, Mars was the focal point to Libra and Sagittarian planets: The Yod that will be in place in October 2005 with Mars in Taurus quincunxing Jupiter in Libra and Pluto in Sagittarius, was in place on May 5, 1507, one of the dates given for Anne Boleyn's birth (it is impossible to verify data, but the fact that the Yod with Mars in aspect to those planets/signs as they were in '73 along with her sun just past Algol (at 19 Taurus back then) sq. Saturn sure makes sense in light of her role as catalyst in the course of history).

Can it be that this coming Fall we will experience a round of intense drama that surpasses anything we've seen in recent years? I think so. What can we expect? Well, with Mars at the apex of that Yod opposite Venus in Scorpio in mutual reception, the sky's the limit. I think there will likely be an energy crisis with an oil shortage (if not massive burning of oil fields), Mars will station on VP Cheney's Uranus and then station direct at 8 Taurus on his Sun in December as it squares the asc/desc of GW Bush. My feeling is that one way or another this administration will be brought down similar to the way that Nixon's was 32 years ago, and that the economy will take a big hit and then need to reinvent itself just as it did after the shaky mid-late 1970's.

Be careful what you wish for...
Through studying Mars in Taurus, particularly the retrograde cycles, we learn about the very nature of survival, lust, greed, gluttony, and will. There's hardly a deadly sin that Mars in Taurus hasn't specialized in. But he's so very talented too. Perhaps the lesson for us during this next transit, is to hone our talents and align with our highest selves so that we can better use the energy to create rather than destroy.

By the way, I became a professional astrologer on July 4, 1992. Mars was in Taurus.

Who knew?

The Quotable Mars in Taurus

"Too Much of A Good Thing is Wonderful" - Liberace

"We Are Living in a Material World and I am a Material Girl" - Madonna
("Material Girl" was written by Peter Brown and Robert Rans)

"To the victor belongs the spoils"- Senator William L. Marcy (inspired Pres. A. Jackson's "Spoils System)
"When I mature my course I am immovable"- Andrew Jackson

"There are mysteries which men can only guess at, which age by age they may solve only in part."
- Bram Stoker

"I Can't Get No Satisfaction"
"You Can't Always Get What You Want"- Mick Jagger

"Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it tries to stir up friendly feeling?" - Bertrand Russell

"Every successful revolution puts on in time the robes of the tyrant it has deposed"
- Barbara Tuchman
"To a historian, libraries are food, shelter, and even muse" - Barbara Tuchman

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion"
- Henry David Thoreau

"The history of almost every civilization furnishes examples of geographical expansion coinciding with deterioration in quality." -Arnold Toynbee
"Of the 20 or so civilizations known to modern Western historians, all except our own appear to be dead or moribund, and, when we diagnose each case ... we invariably find that the cause of death has been either War or Class or some combination of the two."
-Arnold Toynbee

"We are all born mad. Some of us remain so." - Samuel Beckett

"No particular man is necessary to the state. We may depend on it that, if we provide the country with popular institutions, those institutions will provide it with great men." - Thomas Babington Macaulay

"Mr. Watson come here, I want to see you."
- Alexander Graham Bell on March 10, 1876, the first words spoken on the telephone.

"Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away
If you can use some exotic booze, there's a bar in far Bombay" - Sammy Cahn

"As a rule, there is no surer way to the dislike of men than to behave well where they have behaved badly." - Lewis Wallace

"Million Dollar Baby" is the only one (film nominated for best picture 2004) that challenges America's current triumphalist daydream. It does so not because it has any politics or takes a stand on assisted suicide but because it has the temerity to suggest that fights can have consequences, that some crises do not have black-and-white solutions and that even the pure of heart are not guaranteed a Hollywood ending.
- Frank Rich, NY Times, Feb. 2005

Sources:
All birthdates Astrodatabank AA-C ratings
With the exception of:
Budd Friedman (from him to me)
Astrud Gilberto (from her to me in 1982),
Hannelore Hahn (from her to me) and
Antonio Carlos Jobim (from him to me in 1983)

Historical events: www.decades.com/ByDecade/
People Magazine's first published cover was March 4, 1974, however, it was on the newsstands the week before on Feb 25, 1974 (I remember!)

Dynamics of Aspect Analysis by Bil Tierney, pages 159/160

© Shelley Ackerman, 2005.
No parts of this article may be used or reprinted without written permission from the author.

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