The 12 Zodiac Signs: Dates, Elements and Traits

Ask someone "what's your sign?" and they will name one of twelve, from Aries to Pisces. Your sun sign is the sign the Sun was moving through on the day you were born, and in Western astrology it is the one most people mean. This guide gives you the dates of all twelve signs, their elements and the traits tradition gives them. To get your own, enter your birthday in the zodiac sign calculator.

A quick honest note: astrology is a tradition, not a science. Tests of whether sun signs predict personality or events have found nothing. People enjoy it for reflection, conversation and its imagery, and that's the lens we use here.

Zodiac sign dates

These are the usual tropical zodiac date ranges.

Sign	Dates	Element	Modality
Aries	21 March to 19 April	Fire	Cardinal
Taurus	20 April to 20 May	Earth	Fixed
Gemini	21 May to 20 June	Air	Mutable
Cancer	21 June to 22 July	Water	Cardinal
Leo	23 July to 22 August	Fire	Fixed
Virgo	23 August to 22 September	Earth	Mutable
Libra	23 September to 22 October	Air	Cardinal
Scorpio	23 October to 21 November	Water	Fixed
Sagittarius	22 November to 21 December	Fire	Mutable
Capricorn	22 December to 19 January	Earth	Cardinal
Aquarius	20 January to 18 February	Air	Fixed
Pisces	19 February to 20 March	Water	Mutable

These dates move by a day in some years. The Sun doesn't enter each sign at the same moment every year, because a calendar year isn't exactly 365 days (leap years pull it back). So a sign can start on the 20th one year and the 21st another. If your birthday falls on the first or last day of a sign, a fixed table might be wrong for you, and the exact moment of birth, with the time zone, is what settles it.

Elements and modalities

The twelve signs sort in two ways.

Elements (four groups of three):

• Fire (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius): energetic, enthusiastic, bold.
• Earth (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn): practical, grounded, patient.
• Air (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius): curious, social, full of ideas.
• Water (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces): emotional, intuitive, protective.

Modalities (three groups of four), describing how a sign acts:

• Cardinal (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn): starters, who begin each season.
• Fixed (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius): steady, who hold the middle of a season.
• Mutable (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces): adaptable, who close a season and lead into the next.

Every sign has a different pairing of element and modality, which is why there are exactly twelve.

The twelve signs and their traditional traits

• Aries (the Ram): direct, courageous and quick to act. Said to be impatient at times.
• Taurus (the Bull): steady, sensual and loyal, with a love of comfort. Also stubborn, they say.
• Gemini (the Twins): curious, talkative and quick-witted. Can be restless.
• Cancer (the Crab): caring, protective and deeply attached to home. Can be moody.
• Leo (the Lion): warm, generous and confident, and enjoys being seen. Can be proud.
• Virgo (the Maiden): careful, practical and helpful. Can be a perfectionist.
• Libra (the Scales): fair-minded, charming and drawn to harmony. Can be indecisive.
• Scorpio (the Scorpion): intense, private and determined. Can be secretive.
• Sagittarius (the Archer): optimistic, adventurous and honest. Can be blunt.
• Capricorn (the Sea-Goat): disciplined, ambitious and responsible. Can be serious.
• Aquarius (the Water Bearer): independent, inventive and humanitarian. Can be aloof.
• Pisces (the Fish): imaginative, gentle and empathetic. Can drift into escapism.

Descriptions this broad can fit almost anybody, which psychologists call the Barnum effect. That is worth remembering when a horoscope seems uncannily accurate.

Tropical versus sidereal

The table above is the tropical zodiac, tied to the seasons: 0 degrees of Aries is the March equinox. It is the one used in most Western astrology. Vedic (Indian) astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, which is measured against the stars and sits roughly 24 degrees behind the tropical one. That means a Vedic sun sign is usually the previous sign to the Western one. Someone who is a Leo in Western astrology is typically a Cancer in Vedic astrology. The calculator uses the tropical zodiac.

Sun, moon and rising

Your sun sign is only one part of a full birth chart. The moon sign is where the Moon was, and is said to reflect emotions. The rising sign (or ascendant) is the sign on the eastern horizon at the minute you were born, and it needs your time and place of birth. Astrologers say a chart reads best with all three, but the sun sign is the part that needs only a date.

What about Ophiuchus and the 13th sign?

You may have seen headlines that there are really thirteen signs. The Sun does pass through the constellation Ophiuchus each year, but the zodiac of astrology divides the Sun's path into twelve equal 30-degree parts, tied to the seasons rather than to the constellations' uneven sizes. So astrologers don't count a thirteenth sign. It is a quirk of how the tradition is defined, not a discovery that changes it.

Born on the cusp?

If you were born within a day or two of a change of sign, you may have heard you are "on the cusp". In traditional astrology you have one sun sign or the other. Which one depends on the exact moment the Sun moved that year and the exact time and place of your birth. The zodiac sign calculator works out the Sun's real position for your year and, when the Sun changed sign on your birthday, shows the exact moment so you can compare it with your time of birth.