ARIES: The Ram
The tale of the Golden Fleece begins when King Athamas leaves his wife, Nephele, to marry Ino.
In order to secure that her own son would one day become King, Ino plotted to kill Athamas' children, Phrixus and Helle. To that end, she poisoned the crops and when they failed, she bribed the oracles to convince Athamas that he should sacrifice Phrixus in order to save the harvest. Athamas reluctantly agreed to heed the false oracle, but just as he raised the knife over his son on the altar, a golden winged ram appeared, taking both Phrixus and Helle on its back to carry them away.
While they were crossing the water, Helle slipped and fell into the water and drowned.
Phrixus was delivered safely to land. In gratitude to Zeus for having been saved, Phrixus sacrificed the golden ram and gave his golden fleece as a present, to the King. This is the beginning of a legendary myth known as “Jason and the Argonauts: The Quest for the Golden Fleece.” Zeus eventually places the Ram amongst the stars to commemorate the epic journey.
TAURUS: The Bull
Once, there lived Agenor, King of Phoenicia. Agenor had a daughter named Europa who was so beautiful that Zeus fell madly in love with her. Zeus disguised himself as a snow-white bull and blended into the herds that Europa was caring for. Europa was mesmerized by the beauty of the white bull. One day, Europa climbed onto the bull's back and it suddenly started to run away - journeying across many seas. When it reached Crete, Zeus re-assumed his normal form in front of Europa. Zeus had successfully kidnapped Europa and so to commemorate his achievement, he placed a depiction of Taurus amongst the other constellations in the sky. And on Earth, a continent was named after
Europa.
An alternate myth tells of Cerus, a powerful bull who destroyed villages and wreaked havoc until he was tamed by the Spring Goddess, Persephone. Every Spring, Persephone, rides Cerus through the fields setting the flowers in bloom. In the Fall, when their work is long done, Cerus returns to the sky.