Western zodiac (Sun sign)
Enter your birth day and month to find which of the 12 Western zodiac signs you belong to, its element, and how astrology describes that sign. You also get a short note for today, which changes daily. No birth year or birth time needed.
Where this comes from
Western astrology took shape in the Hellenistic world around the 2nd to 1st century BCE, building on Mesopotamian astrology; in the 2nd century CE Ptolemy gathered its rules in the Tetrabiblos. The sign here is the Sun sign in the tropical zodiac, looked up from the moment the Sun entered each sign in the birth year when the year is given, otherwise from fixed date boundaries. Reading by the Sun sign alone only became common in the 20th century.
This tool is part of Western astrology. See every tool and article on Western astrology.
Classical allusion
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
William Shakespeare · Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5
Next
Numerology
Your sun sign uses only the birth date. Numerology adds your full name to work out seven core numbers.
Open NumerologyWhere the schools differ
The zodiac used
What no one has shown
Controlled studies have not shown that zodiac signs predict character or events. The reading is written for the whole sign, not for one person.
Read on
Ask Nhật Nguyệt AI
Learn more
How is my zodiac sign worked out?
Western astrology took shape in the Hellenistic world around the 2nd to 1st century BCE, building on older Mesopotamian astrology. In the 2nd century CE, Ptolemy wrote the Tetrabiblos, which pulled those rules together and stayed in use for many centuries.
Over a year, the Sun as seen from Earth travels once around the sky along a path called the ecliptic. This circle is split into 12 parts of 30 degrees each, named after the constellations along the path. Your sign is the part the Sun was in when you were born. Born on 29 November, for example, puts the Sun in Sagittarius (22/11 - 21/12).
The twelve signs fall into four elements, Fire, Earth, Air and Water, three signs to each. Astrology links Fire with drive, Earth with practicality, Air with talk and ideas, and Water with feeling. The signs are also split by three qualities: cardinal signs open a season, fixed signs sit in the middle, and mutable signs close it.
There are two ways to fix the signs. The tropical zodiac, standard in the West, starts Aries at the spring equinox. The sidereal zodiac of Indian astrology follows where the constellations actually are. Because Earth's axis slowly wobbles over the centuries, the two now sit about 24 degrees apart, so sidereal signs begin roughly 24 days later.
Someone born on 29 November is Sagittarius in the tropical zodiac but Scorpio in the sidereal one. This tool uses the tropical zodiac.
The day the Sun enters a new sign shifts by about a day from year to year. Enter your birth year too and the tool uses the moment the Sun actually entered each sign that year, in Vietnam time; with only the day and month it uses fixed dates. Beyond the Sun sign, astrology also looks at the Moon sign and the Rising sign, which need your birth time and place.
| Sign | Born between | Element |
|---|---|---|
| Aries | Mar 21 - Apr 19 | Fire |
| Taurus | Apr 20 - May 20 | Earth |
| Gemini | May 21 - Jun 20 | Air |
| Cancer | Jun 21 - Jul 22 | Water |
| Leo | Jul 23 - Aug 22 | Fire |
| Virgo | Aug 23 - Sep 22 | Earth |
| Libra | Sep 23 - Oct 22 | Air |
| Scorpio | Oct 23 - Nov 21 | Water |
| Sagittarius | Nov 22 - Dec 21 | Fire |
| Capricorn | Dec 22 - Jan 19 | Earth |
| Aquarius | Jan 20 - Feb 18 | Air |
| Pisces | Feb 19 - Mar 20 | Water |
Frequently asked questions
Is my zodiac sign based on my solar or lunar birthday?
The solar calendar. A Western zodiac sign depends only on the day and month of your birth in the Gregorian calendar, with no link to the lunar calendar.
Are zodiac signs the same as the 12 Chinese zodiac animals?
No, they are two separate systems. Zodiac signs change month by month with the Sun's position; the zodiac animals change with the lunar year.
I was born on the boundary between two signs. Which one am I?
It depends on your birth year and time, since the day the Sun changes sign shifts by about a day between years. Enter your birth year too and the tool uses the moment the Sun actually entered the sign that year.
Why does another source give me a different sign?
Usually because it uses the sidereal zodiac of Indian astrology. It sits about 24 degrees off the tropical zodiac, so most people shift back to the previous sign.
What are the Rising sign and the Moon sign?
The Rising sign is the sign coming up on the eastern horizon at your birth, and the Moon sign is where the Moon was at that moment. Both need your birth time and place, so only the Sun sign is worked out here.
Where does the "today" reading come from?
Each element has a set of pre-written lines, and yours changes with the day of the year. It is not calculated from where the planets are today.
Is astrology backed by science?
No. In 1985 the physicist Shawn Carlson published a double-blind test in Nature: astrologers had to match each birth chart with one of three personality profiles, and they picked the right one about a third of the time, no better than chance.