Zodiac signs and dates
The Sun passes through the 12 signs of the zodiac once a year. See the dates, element, modality and ruling planet of every sign, then open any birthday to see its sign, whether it is a cusp date and the constellation the Sun is in.
The 12 zodiac signs
| Sign | Dates | Element | Modality | Ruler |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | March 21 to April 19 | Fire | Cardinal | Mars |
| Taurus | April 20 to May 20 | Earth | Fixed | Venus |
| Gemini | May 21 to June 20 | Air | Mutable | Mercury |
| Cancer | June 21 to July 22 | Water | Cardinal | Moon |
| Leo | July 23 to August 22 | Fire | Fixed | Sun |
| Virgo | August 23 to September 22 | Earth | Mutable | Mercury |
| Libra | September 23 to October 22 | Air | Cardinal | Venus |
| Scorpio | October 23 to November 21 | Water | Fixed | Pluto |
| Sagittarius | November 22 to December 21 | Fire | Mutable | Jupiter |
| Capricorn | December 22 to January 19 | Earth | Cardinal | Saturn |
| Aquarius | January 20 to February 18 | Air | Fixed | Uranus |
| Pisces | February 19 to March 20 | Water | Mutable | Neptune |
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Your Moon and rising signs
Your Sun sign comes from your birth date alone. Your Moon sign and your rising sign also need your birth time and place.
Questions about the zodiac signs
The tropical zodiac is the one that Western astrology uses. It splits the path of the Sun into 12 equal parts of 30 degrees. The first part starts at the March equinox, so the signs follow the seasons and not the stars.
Each sign lasts about 30 days, and the Sun changes sign around the 20th or 21st of most months. The exact moment moves by a few hours every year. The dates on this page are the days on which the Sun spends most of the day in the sign, counted over the years 1950 to 2030 in the time zone of Toronto.
A cusp date is a date on which the Sun changes sign in some years. A person born on a cusp date can have either sign, depending on the year and the hour of birth. 27 of the 366 birthdays are cusp dates.
No. The signs were named for the constellations about 2000 years ago. Since then the Earth's axis has wobbled slowly, which is called precession, and the stars have moved against the seasons. Today the Sun is in front of the stars of Pisces at the March equinox, which is the start of Aries.
The Sun passes in front of 13 constellations, and one of them, Ophiuchus, is not a sign. In 2026 the Sun is in front of Ophiuchus from November 30 to December 18. Tropical astrology does not use it, because its signs are 12 equal parts of the year.