Photo: pexels
If you're new to astrology, start here.
By Emily Francos — Written on Aug 29, 2019
You may know your own zodiac sign because someone told you, but you might not be familiar with how many signs there are in astrology or the meaning of each.
Each zodiac sign is unique in its own special way.
Every zodiac sign has a planetary ruler, a relative tarot card and constellation. Each is compared to energy (cardinal, fixed or mutable) and to an element (fire, earth, air, and water).
There are 12 zodiac signs that fall into a certain order. For 12 sections of the wheel, we create four sections and divide it into four parts.
Each group contains three signs. The first energy for each element will always be cardinal, then fixed, then mutable.
You find your zodiac sign by matching up your birthday with the Sun Sign that coincides with that day.
So, here is some information about what zodiac signs are in general.
Each zodiac sign, they belong to one of the four elements, Earth, Air, Fire, and Water.
These elements basically represent the type of energy, personality traits, emotions, behavior, and thinking their particular zodiac signs will have.
Fire Signs
Fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) are very passionate and can be temperamental. If you are a fire sign, you will notice that you get upset and angry really quickly, but you do forgive others easily. You are self-aware, intelligent, idealistic, and creative while you are an inspiration for others.
Water Signs
Water signs (Cancer, Pisces, Scorpio) can be ultra-sensitive and emotional. You also can be very mysterious and intuitive. As a water sign, you love intimacy and deep conversations. You are always there for their loved ones.
Earth Signs
Earth signs (Taurus, Capricorn, Virgo) are very grounded. They are down to earth, you can say. If you are an Earth sign, you are more than likely very conservative and realistic. But your downfall may be that you are very emotional. You are practical, stable, and loyal. You will always stand by others during their time of need.
Air Signs
Air signs (Gemini, Aquarius, Libra) are very rational people that are social and love communicating and having relationships with others. You are very intellectual, you are deep thinkers, friendly, communicable, and analytical.
You love to attend social gatherings, read good books and have philosophical discussions. Also, you enjoy giving others advice.
ARIES (March 21 - April 19)
Your strengths include being confident, enthusiastic, optimistic, courageous, determined, honest, and passionate.
Your weaknesses may include being moody, short-tempered, aggressive, impulsive, and impatient.
You probably like being comfortable, buying new clothes, taking on leadership roles and physical challenges, while you may dislike being inactive or delays. You don't like it when your talents are wasted.
Aries, you are most likely continuously looking for a challenge. You like to always be going, so downtime is not in the cards for you.
You are one of the most active zodiac signs. You have great organizational skills and approach everything you do with speed and focus.
You will not back down from anything.
TAURUS (April 20 - May 20)
Taurus, some of your strengths might include being patient, devoted, practical, responsible, stable, and reliable.
Some of your weaknesses may be that you are possessive, uncompromising, and stubborn.
You may enjoy cooking, listening to music, romance, working with your hands, and gardening, where you dislike having complications, insecurities of any kind, and any sudden changes.
Taurus, you are very practical and are a very grounded person. It's important for you to be surrounded by beautiful things and love.
You are a very tactile person who is also very sensual. You are one of the most reliable zodiac signs. You are able to see things from a realistic and practical perspective.
GEMINI (May 21 - June 20)
Gemini, you are very curious, adaptable, affectionate, and gentle, while your weaknesses are being nervous, indecisive, and inconsistent.
You probably like reading books, talking with people around you, looking at magazines and listening to music.
You probably don't like being confined to a small space, being alone, or any sort of routine or repetition.
When you are with other people, you are very expressive and quick-witted, while in other certain situations you can become very serious and thoughtful.
CANCER (June 21 - July 22)
Cancer, some of your strengths include being loyal, emotional, persuasive, highly imaginative, tenacious, and sympathetic.
Some of your weaknesses may include being moody, pessimistic, manipulative, suspicious and insecure.
As a Cancer, you may like relaxing, helping loved ones, enjoying time with friends, art, and home-based hobbies, where you may hate strangers, opening up about your personal life, and any type of criticism.
You can be very sentimental and intuitive, while also being very hard to get to know.
You can be very sensitive, sympathetic to others, and emotional. You may even find that you have a harder time fitting into the world around you, which comes from being a water sign.
LEO (July 23 - August 22)
As a Leo, you are very passionate, warm-hearted, cheerful, humorous, generous, and creative. You may even have noticed that some of your negative traits are that you are stubborn, self-centered, inflexible, lazy, and arrogant.
You like to be admired, have expensive things, have fun with your friends, be surrounded by bright colors, taking holidays, and going to the movies or plays.
But, Leo, you do not like facing reality, especially the reality that is difficult. You always want to be the center of attention, so when you are not, you get upset pretty quickly. You also do not like being ignored.
Leo, you are a natural leader. You can sometimes be excessively dramatic, self-confident, creative, and dominant.
You probably have many friends and more than not, you are the one who starts getting everyone together. You quickly take the initiative so that you can get things done quickly.
VIRGO (August 23 - September 22)
Virgo, some of your strengths are that you are seriously hardworking, practical, kind, analytical and loyal, while also being shy, overly worried and overly critical, and you don't give yourself enough downtime to relax and have fun.
Your likes include reading, spending time in nature or with animals, cleanliness and healthy foods, but you really dislike asking someone for help, being put under a spotlight, or rudeness in general.
Virgo, you are always looking for a deep sense of humanity and you are always paying close attention to some of the smallest details.
You are very well-organized and conservative in your life choices. Yes, you may be constantly checking over all the little details because you are afraid to miss something, but you have to watch out so you don't become too concerned and overly critical so that you can actually get stuff done.
LIBRA (September 23 - October 22)
Libra, you are very cooperative, gracious, fair-minded and social, where you can be a bit indecisive, you can hold a grudge, you can be full of self-pity every now and again, and you avoid confrontations like the plague.
You like to share with others around you, spend time outdoors, gentleness, and harmoniously. You hate anything to do with violence and injustice while loathing loudmouths and conformity.
You are very fair and peaceful. You hate being alone, so partnership is very important for you. You may find that you are always on the search for balance, which could be between justice and equality, but you want to avoid conflict at all cost.
SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21)
Scorpio, you are super brave, resourceful, passionate and stubborn all at the same time. You can also be jealous, secretive, distrusting, and violent.
You like facts and truths, being right, teasing others, passion, and having long-time friends, where you don't like it when others are dishonest, passive-aggressive, or telling secrets.
Scorpio, you are very determined. You never stop looking for an answer until you find out the truth.
You most likely live to experience and express your emotions because emotions are very important for you.
You are probably very calm and cool in appearance, but you can be fierce as a leader.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22 - December 21)
Sagittarius, you are super funny, idealistic and funny. You love to travel, you love the freedom you have to travel, philosophy, and being outside.
Your weaknesses may include being impatient, promising more than you are capable of, and you will say things without filtering it sometimes.
You also hate being constrained, the reason why you like the freedom to go anywhere you want, over the top theories, and very clingy people, while also dispising details.
You are the zodiac sign that travels the most. You like to keep an open mind and your sights on the prise.
Finally, enthusiasm cannot put anyone own. You are someone that will help others smile when they are going through a lot of tough decisions and times right now.
CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 19)
Capricorn, your strengths consist of being very self-controlled, having good manners, self-discipline, and responsible, while your weaknesses are that you can sometimes be unforgiving, condescending, a know-it-all, and you can expect the worst.
You like to uphold traditions, listen to music, and spend time with your family, while you probably dislike almost everything at some point in your life.
Capricorn, you are a very independent person, where your independence will help you get far in life and in the plans, you set your mind to.
You are always willing to learn from your mistakes and get to where you want to be through all your hard work and determination.
AQUARIUS (January 20 - February 18)
Aquarius, you are so original. You are super progressive and super independent as well while you are trying to avoid situations where you can be uncompromising, temperamental and tries to keep your emotions to yourself.
You do like to help others, fight for what you think is right, have intellectual conversations, listen to others, and having fun with friends.
You absolutely hate it when someone breaks their promise to you, any situation where it is dull or boring, limitations, being lonely and getting into quarrels.
Yes, you can be shy and quiet but you can also be off the wall eccentric and energetic.
You are very much a person that thinks deeply about everything you do, and you easily solve problems because of your intellect.
You may also find that you need some time alone to yourself every now and again because it will give you the time to refocus yourself.
Remember, the world is full of opportunities and all you have to do is keep your mind open and look for something that keeps you motivated.
PISCES (February 19 - March 20)
Pisces, you are so full of compassion, you are so gentle, and wise beyond your years.
Yes, you can be overly trusting sometimes, and even sad and fearful.
Sometimes you just like the idea of escaping reality and have some time alone.
You dislike know-it-alls very much, as well as being criticized, and any type of cruelty.
Overall, you love being surrounded by people from all walks of life.
You are so selfless, you thrive on helping others without expecting anything in return.
You are never judgmental and you are always willing to forgive someone for their mistakes, but don't let yourself become a martyr or be taken advantage of through your hospitality.
Emily Francos is a writer who covers astrology, pop culture and relationship topics.