Zodiac Sign Dates for All 12 Signs
The boundaries move by a day or two every year, and that is astronomy.
Zodiac dates shift by a day or two from year to year, and that is astronomy rather than sloppy tables. The Sun enters a sign when it reaches a point in the sky, and that moment does not follow our calendar. Born on a boundary day, you get your answer from a chart calculated for your time and city.
The scale
All twelve zodiac date ranges
Every range is the usual published one, laid on a single twelve month axis and tinted with the tone of its element. Capricorn is drawn twice because it steps over New Year.
- Fire
- Earth
- Air
- Water
Modality and ruling planet of every sign
| Sign | Dates | Element | Modality | Ruler |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ♈︎ Aries | March 21 – April 19 | Fire | Cardinal | Mars |
| ♉︎ Taurus | April 20 – May 20 | Earth | Fixed | Venus |
| ♊︎ Gemini | May 21 – June 20 | Air | Mutable | Mercury |
| ♋︎ Cancer | June 21 – July 22 | Water | Cardinal | the Moon |
| ♌︎ Leo | July 23 – August 22 | Fire | Fixed | the Sun |
| ♍︎ Virgo | August 23 – September 22 | Earth | Mutable | Mercury |
| ♎︎ Libra | September 23 – October 22 | Air | Cardinal | Venus |
| ♏︎ Scorpio | October 23 – November 21 | Water | Fixed | Mars and Pluto |
| ♐︎ Sagittarius | November 22 – December 21 | Fire | Mutable | Jupiter |
| ♑︎ Capricorn | December 22 – January 19 | Earth | Cardinal | Saturn |
| ♒︎ Aquarius | January 20 – February 18 | Air | Fixed | Saturn and Uranus |
| ♓︎ Pisces | February 19 – March 20 | Water | Mutable | Jupiter and Neptune |
Born near an edge
Count my exact degreeBorn on a boundary
There is no such thing as being born on a cusp.
At any given second the Sun stands in exactly one sign, never between two, so you have one sun sign and always did. The cusp story survives because tables round to whole days. A birth time settles a boundary birthday to the minute.
The twelve
What each zodiac sign is like
Twelve characters standing behind the twelve date ranges.
Questions
Asked most often about zodiac dates.
My sign is different in two different tables. Which one is right?
Neither, until your birth year is taken into account. Most published tables print an average boundary and quietly drop the rest, which is fine for the middle of a sign and useless at the edges. Calculate the chart for your date, time and city, and the answer stops being a matter of which site you opened.
Why do the dates move at all?
Because a year is not a whole number of days. The Earth takes about three hundred sixty five and a quarter days to go around the Sun, so each ordinary year the boundary drifts about six hours later, and each leap year it jumps back. Over a four year cycle the same sign change can land on two different calendar dates.
Do these dates work in the southern hemisphere too?
Yes, the dates are identical everywhere on Earth, because they describe where the Sun is, not what the weather is doing outside your window. The seasonal imagery attached to the signs comes from the northern hemisphere and simply does not match your seasons. Your sun sign is the same, the metaphors need translating.
Where next
The date gives you a word. The chart gives you a paragraph.
A sun sign is the one placement everybody knows and the thinnest one on its own. The rest of the sky at your birth is where the recognisable material tends to sit.
Find your exact signAll twelve signsWhat a sun sign is
Read here as a language of symbols. Medical, legal and financial questions belong with a professional.
