Aquarius Dates of Birth

Your Zodiac sign (also called sun sign or star sign) is decided by the position of the sun at the moment of your birth, as seen from Earth. The sun takes a year to travel through the twelve Zodiac signs, but it's not exactly a year of 365 days. The time it takes is closer to 365.25 days. That's why we have leap years.

     Every fourth year we add a day to the calendar, the 29th of February, making that year 366 days. Actually, there's an additional rule, to make it more precise with the actual movement of earth and the sun: the starting year of a new century is not a leap year, unless it's evenly divisible by 400. So, 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was.

     The leap years make the dates of each Zodiac sign change slightly. Normally, Aquarius starts on January 20 and ends on February 19, but that's just the mean. In reality it changes slightly in a four year period from one leap year to the next.

     Here are the leap years of the last century:

1904 1908 1912 1916 1920

1924 1928 1932 1936 1940

1944 1948 1952 1956 1960

1964 1968 1972 1976 1980

1984 1988 1992 1996 2000

2004 2008 2012

     If you were born on the 20th of January or the 19th of February, you have to check if you're really an Aquarius or not. It never differs more than a day in each direction. The start of Aquarius is almost always on the 20th of January, and the end of it on the 18th or 19th of February. People born on other dates need not be concerned.

Cusp or not

If you were born on January 20th, your sun may be on the very cusp (the starting point) of Aquarius, or right by the end of Capricorn. If you were born on the 18th-19th of February, your sun might be at the very end of Aquarius or at the cusp of Pisces. You need to check your exact horoscope, because on those dates it depends on what time of day you were born - and in what place.

     It's particularly important with this check If you were born far away from Greenwich, England, since that's the base for the dates given for Aquarius.

     You can get your exact horoscope computed for free on several websites. Go here to find instructions and links to them: Your own horoscope.

     Now, If you were born on January 20th at a time when your sun is at the very end of Capricorn, you probably have a mixture of Capricorn and Aquarius in your character. It's a Capricorn inclined to be more of an Aquarius. If your sun is at the very start (cusp) of Aquarius, though, you're definitely a Aquarius - and a firm one at that.

     If your sun is at the very end of Aquarius, you may show personality traits of both Aquarius and Pisces, but If you were born at the very start of Pisces, no matter how early in it, you're most definitely an Pisces.

     That's because each sign is the most powerful at its beginning, its cusp.

Decans

The strongest is not equal to the most typical, though. A Zodiac sign is its most typical at the part of it (decan) corresponding to its quality: cardinal, fixed or mutable. Each Zodiac sign is one of the four elements fire, earth, air, and water. It's also one of the three qualities. So, four elements and three qualities make twelve possible combinations.

     Aquarius is the fixed air sign. That means its most typical part is the middle one - the ten degrees making its second decan, 10°-20° Aquarius. That corresponds approximately to the dates February 1-10. If your birth date is within this range, you're likely to be a very typical Aquarius.

     If you were born in late January, the 21st-31st, you're still an Aquarius, but with character traits comparable to those of Libra (the cardinal air sign). If you were born on February 11-29. you have some tendencies similar to those of Gemini (the mutable air sign).

     Astrology is rather complicated, when dealt with seriously.

     But the most important thing to decide is what sign you are. So, If you were born on January 20th or February 18th-19th, please have your correct horoscope calculated to be sure of your sun sign.

© Stefan Stenudd