Signs
Zodiac signs
Zodiac signs are twelve sections of the chart wheel. In a symbolic reading, a sign describes the style in which a planet’s theme may be expressed.
Brief explanations help you read without specialist knowledge. Astrological terms describe a symbolic method, not scientifically established personality traits.
The ecliptic is the Sun's apparent path across the sky over a year, seen from Earth. Astrologers divide it into twelve equal 30-degree segments starting from the point where the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading north (the March equinox) — these are the tropical zodiac signs used in Western astrology: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. Which sign a given ecliptic longitude falls in is simple arithmetic once that longitude is known (longitude divided by 30 degrees, rounded down, indexes the sign) — the same calculation this project's own reports run for every planet and chart angle.
The traits commonly attached to each sign — Aries as assertive, Taurus as steady, and so on — come from a long tradition of symbolic association with the four classical elements (fire, earth, air, water) and three modes (cardinal, fixed, mutable), not from any property of the stars a sign is named after. Notably, the tropical zodiac used here is defined by the equinox point, not by the visible constellations of the same names — a distinction often missed in casual descriptions of astrology, and worth stating plainly since it is easy to check.
A sign is always read together with a placement: see "Planets in the natal chart" for what occupies a sign, and "Astrological houses" for the separate, horizon-based division layered on top of the zodiac.
The traits commonly attached to each sign — Aries as assertive, Taurus as steady, and so on — come from a long tradition of symbolic association with the four classical elements (fire, earth, air, water) and three modes (cardinal, fixed, mutable), not from any property of the stars a sign is named after. Notably, the tropical zodiac used here is defined by the equinox point, not by the visible constellations of the same names — a distinction often missed in casual descriptions of astrology, and worth stating plainly since it is easy to check.
A sign is always read together with a placement: see "Planets in the natal chart" for what occupies a sign, and "Astrological houses" for the separate, horizon-based division layered on top of the zodiac.