Astrology
The Twelve Zodiac Signs
Dates, elements, ruling planets and the full personality profile for every sign of the zodiac — traits, strengths, weaknesses, love, career and compatibility.
Fire · Cardinal · Mars
The one who goes first
Earth · Fixed · Venus
The one who stays
Air · Mutable · Mercury
The one who connects
Water · Cardinal · The Moon
The one who remembers
Fire · Fixed · The Sun
The one who shines
Earth · Mutable · Mercury
The one who refines
Air · Cardinal · Venus
The one who balances
Water · Fixed · Pluto
The one who goes deeper
Fire · Mutable · Jupiter
The one who expands
Earth · Cardinal · Saturn
The one who builds to last
Air · Fixed · Uranus
The one who sees ahead
Water · Mutable · Neptune
The one who dissolves the edges
Common questions
What are the 12 zodiac signs in order?
Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. The order follows the sun's path through the tropical zodiac, beginning at the spring equinox.
How do I know my zodiac sign?
Your sun sign is set by your birth date. If you were born within a day of a cusp, calculate your birth chart with an exact time to be certain which sign the sun had entered.
What is the difference between a zodiac sign and a horoscope?
Your zodiac sign is fixed for life and describes character. A horoscope is a dated forecast based on where the planets are moving now relative to that sign.
Are sun signs the whole picture?
No. Your sun sign is one of three headline placements. Your moon sign describes your emotional life and your rising sign describes how you meet the world — cast a full chart to see all three.
Today's horoscopes·Free birth chart·Compatibility calculator
In short
All twelve zodiac signs with their dates, elements, ruling planets and personality traits — plus love, career and compatibility profiles for each sign.
- If you were born within two days of a sign change, check the exact time before deciding — there are no true cusps, only precise degrees.
- Weaknesses in a sign profile are the strengths overused. Read them as a dosage question.
- Same element signs understand each other; same modality signs collide over method.
- Use the sign pages for the evergreen picture and the horoscope pages for the moving weather.
12
Signs on the wheel
30°
Degrees per sign
4 / 3
Elements and modalities
The twelve-sign zodiac was fixed in Babylon around the fifth century BCE, when astronomers divided the Sun's yearly path into twelve equal thirty-degree segments and named them for the constellations that then sat behind them.
Hellenistic astrologers layered the structure that still governs interpretation: four elements, three modalities, two polarities, and a planetary ruler for each sign. Every modern sign profile is a descendant of that scheme.
Because the equinox slowly drifts, the tropical zodiac used in the West measures seasons rather than constellations, while Vedic astrology keeps the sidereal star positions. Both are internally consistent; they simply measure different things.
Questions Readers Ask
What are the twelve signs in order?
Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces — beginning at the spring equinox.
What decides my sign?
The Sun's position on your birth date. Dates shift by a day between years, so a birthday near a boundary needs the exact time checked.
What do elements and modalities mean?
Elements describe the kind of energy — fire drive, earth substance, air idea, water feeling. Modalities describe how it moves: cardinal starts, fixed sustains, mutable adapts.
Which signs get on best?
Same-element pairs are easiest and trine pairs are smoothest, but the full answer needs both charts, which is what the compatibility report is for.