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Pillar guide · 12 sign profiles

Astrology

Western astrology grew out of Babylonian sky-watching and Hellenistic Greek scholarship. It maps the Sun, Moon and planets onto twelve signs and reads their positions as symbols. This guide explains each sign, its element and modality, and how compatibility is traditionally judged.

Last reviewed Reviewed by Numyra Methodology Desk Methodology Tropical zodiac

Key takeaways

  • Western astrology traces to Babylonian sky-watching (the 12-sign zodiac was fixed by roughly 700 BCE) and was standardized into essentially its modern form by Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos in the 2nd century CE.
  • Every sign pairs one of four elements (fire, earth, air, water) with one of three modalities (cardinal, fixed, mutable) — the same logic this guide's compatibility matrix and Daily Horoscope both use.
  • The Daily Horoscope below updates from a real, live-computed Moon position, not hand-written copy pretending to refresh.
  • Nothing here is medical, financial, legal, or psychological advice — a cultural tradition, presented for reflection.

"Of the means of prediction through astronomy, O Syrus, two are the most important and valid."

— Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos, Book I.1, trans. F. E. Robbins — the opening line of the text that standardized Western astrology
Daily horoscope · updates automatically Today's Moon is in Taurus See what it means for your sign
01 · Zodiac signs

The twelve signs

Each sign pairs an element (fire, earth, air, water) with a modality (cardinal, fixed, mutable). Dates are approximate and can shift by a day in some years.

Aries Mar 21 – Apr 19 Fire · Cardinal Taurus Apr 20 – May 20 Earth · Fixed Gemini May 21 – Jun 20 Air · Mutable Cancer Jun 21 – Jul 22 Water · Cardinal Leo Jul 23 – Aug 22 Fire · Fixed Virgo Aug 23 – Sep 22 Earth · Mutable Libra Sep 23 – Oct 22 Air · Cardinal Scorpio Oct 23 – Nov 21 Water · Fixed Sagittarius Nov 22 – Dec 21 Fire · Mutable Capricorn Dec 22 – Jan 19 Earth · Cardinal Aquarius Jan 20 – Feb 18 Air · Fixed Pisces Feb 19 – Mar 20 Water · Mutable
02 · Compatibility

How two signs relate

Traditional astrology judges sign pairings mainly by element. Same-element pairs, and Fire–Air or Earth–Water pairs, are traditionally read as easy; contrasting-element pairs are read as more different in temperament, not worse.

Compare two signs →
03 · Charts & history

Beyond your Sun sign

Coming soon Birth Chart Calculator Sun, Moon, rising sign and planetary positions from your birth date, time and place. This one needs real astronomical data to build correctly, so it's not live yet — we'd rather ship it right than ship it fake.
Calculator Zodiac Compatibility Compare two signs by element and modality. Methodology How we calculate astrology The tropical zodiac, Placidus houses, and the technical data sources we use.