To find your western zodiac sign, match the month and day of your birthday to one of twelve date ranges. A birthday from 23 July to 22 August is Leo, for instance. The year of birth does not change the sign. The zodiac sign calculator returns the sign along with its element, modality and ruling planet.
The twelve date ranges
Each sign covers a fixed span of the calendar:
- Aries 21 Mar to 19 Apr
- Taurus 20 Apr to 20 May
- Gemini 21 May to 20 Jun
- Cancer 21 Jun to 22 Jul
- Leo 23 Jul to 22 Aug
- Virgo 23 Aug to 22 Sep
- Libra 23 Sep to 22 Oct
- Scorpio 23 Oct to 21 Nov
- Sagittarius 22 Nov to 21 Dec
- Capricorn 22 Dec to 19 Jan
- Aquarius 20 Jan to 18 Feb
- Pisces 19 Feb to 20 Mar
Capricorn is the one that wraps the year end, running from late December into January.
Dates on a cusp
A birthday that falls right where one sign meets the next is called a cusp date. The common convention is that each sign runs up to the day before the next sign starts, so a date on a boundary belongs to the sign beginning that day. For example, 23 July is the first day of Leo, not the last of Cancer. The zodiac sign calculator uses these standard boundaries, which match most published charts. Stricter astrology can shift a boundary by a day in some years, but the common dates are what most people use.
What the sign tells you
Beyond the name, each sign has a few traits worth knowing:
- Element, one of fire, earth, air or water, which groups the signs into four families.
- Modality, either cardinal, fixed or mutable, describing how the sign sits in its season.
- Ruling planet, the body traditionally linked to the sign.
Enter a birth date in the zodiac sign calculator to see all of these at once. For the year-based system instead, see how to find your Chinese zodiac sign.