A standing department

The Zodiac.

Five thousand years of looking up, treated seriously: history from Babylon, myth from Greece, pictures from everywhere. No horoscopes, no predictions. Sources, always.

The Twelve Origins Iconography The Sky The Tools

♈︎ Aries · ♉︎ Taurus · ♊︎ Gemini · ♋︎ Cancer · ♌︎ Leo · ♍︎ Virgo · ♎︎ Libra · ♏︎ Scorpio · ♐︎ Sagittarius · ♑︎ Capricorn · ♒︎ Aquarius · ♓︎ Pisces · ♈︎ Aries · ♉︎ Taurus · ♊︎ Gemini · ♋︎ Cancer · ♌︎ Leo · ♍︎ Virgo · ♎︎ Libra · ♏︎ Scorpio · ♐︎ Sagittarius · ♑︎ Capricorn · ♒︎ Aquarius · ♓︎ Pisces ·

The Twelve

each sign read as literature: its myth, its sources, its pictures

All twelve monographs →

01 ♈︎ Aries the ram of the golden fleece Mar 21 to Apr 19 02 ♉︎ Taurus Zeus, disguised, swimming to Crete Apr 20 to May 20 03 ♊︎ Gemini one twin mortal, one divine May 21 to Jun 20 04 ♋︎ Cancer the crab that pinched Heracles Jun 21 to Jul 22 05 ♌︎ Leo the lion no blade could cut Jul 23 to Aug 22 06 ♍︎ Virgo Astraea, last immortal on earth Aug 23 to Sep 22

07 ♎︎ Libra the claws that Rome made scales Sep 23 to Oct 22 08 ♏︎ Scorpio the scorpion that felled Orion Oct 23 to Nov 21 09 ♐︎ Sagittarius Pabilsag, Babylon’s archer-god Nov 22 to Dec 21 10 ♑︎ Capricorn the goat-fish of the god Ea Dec 22 to Jan 19 11 ♒︎ Aquarius Ganymede, cupbearer of the gods Jan 20 to Feb 18 12 ♓︎ Pisces Aphrodite & Eros, escaping as fish Feb 19 to Mar 20

Tropical zodiac. Boundary dates vary by a day with the year.

The Tools

two working references, sourced not predictive

Find your sign

Zodiac Signs and Dates

The full table of tropical date ranges, a birthdate finder, and an honest note on how the boundaries drift from year to year.

Open the finder →

Read a pairing

Zodiac Compatibility

How the tradition reads two signs together by element, modality, and aspect: a checker that shows its working rather than a percentage.

Open the checker →

Essays

the department’s permanent collection

All zodiac essays →

Latest in the department The Lion Before Hercules: Leo From Babylon to Nemea The deep myth of Leo: Babylon's Great Lion in MUL.APIN, the Nemean beast Hercules strangled and skinned, and how one lion travelled from Sumer to Nemea. ZOD Culture Editorial Team · 13 July 2026

leo Leo Dates, Traits, and Mythology Leo runs July 23 to August 22, at the height of summer. A guide to its dates, the Nemean Lion, and Regulus, the royal star at the heart of the constellation. capricorn Capricorn Dates, Traits, and Mythology Capricorn runs December 22 to January 19, opening at the winter solstice. A guide to its dates, the Sumerian sea-goat, and the Tropic of Capricorn. scorpio Scorpio Dates, Traits, and Mythology Scorpio runs October 23 to November 21. A culturally literate guide to its dates, cusp drift, traditional traits, Babylonian myth, and Ophiuchus.

The Chart

practice, read as history

Start here

What a Birth Chart Actually Is

A diagram of the sky at the minute you were born: planets on the ecliptic, houses on the horizon. How to read one, and what it has meant for two thousand years.

Forthcoming

Synastry

Do We Match? Two Thousand Years of Asking

Marriage elections in Dorotheus, doctrine in Vettius Valens: compatibility has a very long paper trail.

Forthcoming

Nativities

The Emperor’s Birth Chart

Kepler, court astrologer in spite of himself, and what a nativity meant when states commissioned them.

Forthcoming

The Sources

the primary texts, in modern editions

MUL.APIN

Babylonian star compendium, c. 1000 BC

trans. Hunger & Steele

Enūma Anu Enlil

Babylonian omen series, 2nd millennium BC

tablets, British Museum

Phaenomena

Aratus of Soli, c. 270 BC

trans. Kidd

Tetrabiblos

Claudius Ptolemy, 2nd century AD

trans. Robbins, Loeb

Carmen Astrologicum

Dorotheus of Sidon, 1st century AD

trans. Pingree