What's your zodiac sign?

What it's for

Quickly find the (Western) zodiac sign for a date of birth, with its symbol and element (Fire, Earth, Air, Water).

Note

Signs use traditional astrological dates. This is entertainment content: astrology has no scientific value.

The dates aren't the same every year

The signs divide the year's wheel into twelve parts, and each crossing happens when the Sun, seen from Earth, passes a certain point. That moment doesn't fall at the same minute every year: it shifts by a few hours, because the real year isn't a whole number of days, which is the reason leap years exist. The dates usually used, and used here too, are the traditional ones, rounded to the day.

The practical consequence concerns anyone born on the very day of the crossing between one sign and the next: in that case the «right» sign depends on the time and place of birth as well, and two different tables can give two different answers. It isn't a calculation error, it's that the boundary falls inside the day.

The twelve signs and the four elements

Aries, Leo and Sagittarius are Fire; Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn are Earth; Gemini, Libra and Aquarius are Air; Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces are Water. The elements repeat in order all the way round the wheel, so signs of the same element are always four places apart: it's a regular structure, and knowing it is enough to work out any sign's element without learning them by heart.

Why your sign «doesn't match» the stars

Here's something curious and checkable: the zodiac signs were fixed over two thousand years ago, and since then the Earth's axis has slowly shifted (it's called the precession of the equinoxes, one full turn in about 26,000 years). The result is that today, on the day astrology says «Aries», the Sun sits in front of the constellation of Pisces. Astrology has always used the signs, which are fixed divisions of the calendar, not the constellations, which are large and unequal: they're two separate things, and it's why every so often somebody «discovers» a thirteenth sign.

Nearby tools

For the Chinese zodiac, which goes by years rather than days, there is Chinese zodiac. For the exact age from a date of birth Age calculator, for days lived Days lived and for the Moon's phases Moon phases.