Mars in Taurus: Drive, Anger and Desire

Slow to start, relentless once moving; hard to provoke, and slow to cool down once truly angry. Mars is a personal planet; in a chart it stands for drive, desire, how you get angry and how you go after what you want. This page covers the core of Mars in Taurus, then “How you act and get things done”, “Anger and conflict”, “Desire, pursuit and competition”, with our own calculations: how common this placement is and how long each visit lasts.

Mars in Taurus at a glance

The core of Mars in Taurus

The best image for Mars in Taurus may be a bulldozer: slow to get going, and very hard to stop once it is moving. Taurus is a fixed earth sign ruled by Venus, concerned with stability, accumulation and physical comfort, while Mars wants speed and competition. The two rhythms do not match well, so traditional astrology places Mars in its detriment here. That does not mean a lack of drive. The energy simply takes a different form: a slow start, a long reserve of stamina and the ability to keep working at one thing quietly for years.

These people are not easy to provoke; you can needle them again and again and get only a slight frown. But once someone truly crosses the line, the anger settles in deep and lasts a long time, and it is harder to calm than the anger of people who explode. What they care about are tangible things: money, time, their body, their own territory. Having those taken away angers them far more than being yelled at. Learning to speak up while they are only mildly annoyed is an important lesson for this placement. Otherwise, after keeping it in for too long, even they may not be able to say which incident finally made them snap.

How you act and get things done

Their working rhythm is steady, slow and solid. They dislike last-minute changes of plan and prefer to think the steps through first and then follow them in order. Hands-on work, cooking, gardening, managing money or any skill that builds up over time, the kind of thing with results you can touch, shows off their stamina especially well. The drawback is that they need time to get started, and the more others push, the more stubborn they get. Give them a clear goal and enough time to prepare, and what they hand in is often the most reliable work on the whole team.

Anger and conflict

Their threshold for anger is high, and most of the time they seem even-tempered, maybe even a little slow to react. In fact they do notice; they are just holding it in. Past a certain point, some small thing may suddenly set them off, and onlookers are baffled, but it is really every old grievance coming due at once. When angry, they do not necessarily shout. More often they stop moving, stop giving ground and stop responding, becoming a wall. In a conflict, forcing them to take a position on the spot rarely works; given time, they can slowly loosen up.

Desire, pursuit and competition

Their desires lean toward the senses and toward ownership: good food, things that feel nice to the touch, things that can be saved and kept. In romance they are in no hurry, often building a relationship through long, steady companionship, walking you home again and again. Their competitiveness is not showy; rather than fighting to be first, they guard their own position and do not let anyone take it. Their ability to build material security is strong, and they are willing to save or practice for a long time toward a concrete goal.

Mars in Taurus: men and women

Men with Mars in Taurus

Traditionally, a man with Mars in Taurus is described as steady, enduring and practical. His courtship is not flashy; he is more likely to show care through actions, like fixing something that is broken or taking you to a favorite restaurant he keeps to himself. He has plenty of stamina but hates being rushed. His possessiveness may be stronger than it looks from the outside, and he quietly guards the people and things he considers his own.

Women with Mars in Taurus

A woman with Mars in Taurus is often described as drawn to men who are stable, dependable and have a good sense of how to live well, and she has little admiration for big talkers. Her own drive is slow and substantial; the things she wants, she saves for and works toward bit by bit. She is very attuned to physical comfort and sensory pleasure, and she only truly commits once a relationship feels safe and grounded.

Traditional astrology often discusses Mars separately for men and women; these are the common descriptions. In practice the whole chart matters, and gender is only one angle.

Strengths of Mars in Taurus

• Lasting stamina: They can work at one thing for a long time without getting bored. Long after everyone else's enthusiasm has faded, they are still there steadily at it, and they are often the ones who stay to the end and collect the results.
• An even keel: Small things do not upset them and their moods do not swing much. In tense situations they help steady the people around them, acting as the team's ballast.
• Does what they say: An idea only counts once it becomes something real. They are good at managing money, crafts and everyday life, and they usually deliver on what they promise.

Blind spots of Mars in Taurus

• Long warm-up time: They are slow to react to change and need time to get going. When a decision has to be made on the spot, they can miss the moment, or become even more stubborn under pressure.
• Anger kept inside: They rarely mention discomfort, so it builds until it all comes out at once. The other person has no chance to react and no idea which incident started the problem.
• Hard habits to break: Once a method works for them, they do not want to change it. Sticking to the old way after circumstances have changed can leave them quietly paying the price.

Advice for Mars in Taurus

Your slowness is a kind of strength, and you do not have to strain to keep up with other people's pace. Two things are worth practicing, though. First, say what bothers you while it is still small, instead of waiting until you cannot hold it in. Second, every so often, check whether the way you insist on doing things is really better or just familiar.

How common is Mars in Taurus?

Calculated by our engine for noon Taipei time on every day from 1950 to 2030 (Moon stays sampled every two hours).

Mars spends 50 days in a sign on average and turns retrograde a little more than every two years, going back and forth in the same sign for as long as 204 days. So the chance of having Mars in Taurus is not the same from year to year. About 7.7% of people born 1950–2030 have Mars in Taurus, and 8% of them were born while Mars was retrograde.

Mars in the twelve signs

Aries · Taurus · Gemini · Cancer · Leo · Virgo · Libra · Scorpio · Sagittarius · Capricorn · Aquarius · Pisces

Other planets in Taurus

Sun · Moon · Mercury · Venus · Mars · Jupiter · Saturn · Uranus · Neptune · Pluto

The Sun in Taurus is what people mean by "being a Taurus"; see Taurus. Read each planet's sign together with its house; the in-depth chart reading covers both. Back to Planets in Signs