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// ASTROLOGY BASICS

The 12 Zodiac Signs and Their Traits, Explained

DECODE.SYS · Astrology 101

Your Western (tropical) zodiac sign is determined entirely by your birth date — nothing else. It's assigned by which of twelve roughly month-long date ranges your birthday falls into, a system that's been stable for centuries. The date-range part is simple, verifiable calendar fact. What each sign supposedly says about your personality is tradition and folklore, not something any study has demonstrated — worth knowing going in, and worth enjoying anyway.

All 12 signs and their date ranges

Aries

Mar 21 – Apr 19

Bold, direct, first to start and first to get bored waiting for everyone else.

Taurus

Apr 20 – May 20

Steady, sensory, allergic to being rushed into anything.

Gemini

May 21 – Jun 20

Curious, quick, already three conversations ahead of this one.

Cancer

Jun 21 – Jul 22

Protective, intuitive, remembers everyone's context better than they do.

Leo

Jul 23 – Aug 22

Warm, expressive, genuinely happier when the room is having a good time.

Virgo

Aug 23 – Sep 22

Precise, useful, already noticed the thing you were about to point out.

Libra

Sep 23 – Oct 22

Diplomatic, aesthetic, weighing both sides longer than anyone asked for.

Scorpio

Oct 23 – Nov 21

Intense, private, notices what people are actually saying underneath it.

Sagittarius

Nov 22 – Dec 21

Direct, adventurous, allergic to small talk and small plans alike.

Capricorn

Dec 22 – Jan 19

Disciplined, patient, playing a longer game than most people realize.

Aquarius

Jan 20 – Feb 18

Independent, idea-driven, three steps ahead and mildly bored explaining why.

Pisces

Feb 19 – Mar 20

Empathetic, imaginative, absorbs a room's mood faster than it can absorb theirs.

Why the dates aren't always exactly the same everywhere

You may have seen slightly different boundary dates on different sites — that's real, and it's because the exact moment the sun crosses into the next constellation shifts by up to a day depending on the year, due to how the calendar and the solar year don't divide evenly. Most sources round to the same commonly-used dates, which is what we've used above.

Your zodiac sign is just the start. DECODE.SYS pairs it with your lucky numbers, lucky stone, lucky hour, and moon-cycle day — all computed from your actual birthdate.

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Frequently asked

What's the difference between a "sun sign" and my full birth chart?
Your sun sign (what most people mean by "my zodiac sign") is based only on your birth date. A full birth chart also factors in the exact time and location of your birth, and includes many more placements — moon sign, rising sign, and so on — which is a much more involved calculation.

Can my zodiac sign change?
No — like your life path number, it's fixed to your birthdate and stays the same for life.