The twelve signs
A sign is a thirty-degree slice of the ecliptic, not a personality. What it does is colour whatever planet is standing in it — so each of these says how that slice behaves, and leaves the fortune-telling to the readings.
Dates shift by a day either way from year to year, because the Sun doesn't keep to the calendar. If you were born near a boundary, cast the chart — it's free, and it settles the question exactly.
♈︎Aries
20 March – 19 AprilThe first degree of spring — everything here starts before it is ready.
cardinal fire · ruled by mars
♉︎Taurus
20 April – 20 MayFixed earth — what arrives here stays, and takes its time about everything.
fixed earth · ruled by venus
♊︎Gemini
21 May – 20 JuneMutable air — everything here becomes information, and information wants to move.
mutable air · ruled by mercury
♋︎Cancer
21 June – 22 JulyThe solstice sign — it builds inward, and remembers everything.
cardinal water · ruled by moon
♌︎Leo
23 July – 22 AugustFixed fire — the sign that will not be done anonymously.
fixed fire · ruled by sun
♍︎Virgo
23 August – 22 SeptemberMercury working in the material — the sign that notices the seam.
mutable earth · ruled by mercury
♎︎Libra
23 September – 22 OctoberThe autumn equinox — everything here is measured against someone else.
cardinal air · ruled by venus
♏︎Scorpio
23 October – 21 NovemberFixed water — it goes all the way down or it doesn't go.
fixed water · ruled by mars
♐︎Sagittarius
22 November – 21 DecemberMutable fire — it needs somewhere further out to be looking.
mutable fire · ruled by jupiter
♑︎Capricorn
22 December – 19 JanuaryThe winter solstice — it builds for a date past the one it can see.
cardinal earth · ruled by saturn
♒︎Aquarius
20 January – 18 FebruaryFixed air — a held position, arrived at from outside the room.
fixed air · ruled by saturn
♓︎Pisces
19 February – 19 MarchThe last sign — the edges come off everything here.
mutable water · ruled by jupiter