Taurus 23

In the system of Aura-Soma, the color of Taurus is red-orange, and salamanders are the elemental beings of the fire element. You possess an intensity and uniqueness of character (Taurus), and an extreme strong-mindedness that can evoke all kinds of different reactions in other people, helping then potentially to overcome their fear of affirming who they truly are and encouraging them to unite with their inner fire.

The personality of this degree bears a striking, nearly mesmerizing uniqueness that dances and overflows with vitality. It wants to be solely and totally what it is and literally cannot compromise, for trying to be anything less than the whole of itself would only dampen and dull its flame. Here, returning constantly and faithfully to the purity of unadulterated being becomes a means of merging with the totality of spiritual light.

No matter what reactions are directed toward this degree from those outside it, it possesses a strength of character that challenges others to manifest who they are with greater power and directness. The tornado, which is the vortex of personality, is stabilized by the inner staircase that allows us to both walk down in the act of grounding ourselves, and walk up in the act of transcending all that is lower. Thus, the energy of the tornado is harnessed and used without being weakened or repressed, and the salamander is fiercely on fire without burning up. This degree embodies fiery centering—a flame living within form, unyielding and alive.