Scorpio 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, Scorpio starts on October 23 and ends on November 21, 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 23rd of October or the 21st of November, you have to check if you're really a Scorpio or not. It never differs more than a day in each direction. The start of Scorpio must be within the 23rd of October, and the end of it between the 21st and 22nd of November. People born on other dates need not be concerned.

Cusp or not

If you were born on October 23rd, your sun may be on the very cusp (the starting point) of Scorpio, or right by the end of Libra. If you were born on the 21st or 22nd of November, your sun might be at the very end of Scorpio or at the cusp of Sagittarius. 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 Scorpio.

     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 October 23rd at a time when your sun is at the very end of Libra, you probably have a mixture of Libra and Scorpio in your character. It's a Libra inclined to be more of a Scorpio. If your sun is at the very start (cusp) of Scorpio, though, you're definitely a Scorpio - and a firm one at that.

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

     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.

     Scorpio is the fixed water sign. That means its most typical part is the middle one - the ten degrees making its second decan, 10°-20° Scorpio. That corresponds approximately to the dates November 2-12. If your birth date is within this range, you're likely to be a very typical Scorpio.

     If you were born in late October, 23rd to 31st, you're still a Scorpio, but with character traits comparable to those of Cancer (the cardinal water sign). If you were born on November 13th to 22nd, you have some tendencies similar to those of Pisces (the mutable water 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 October 23rd or November 21st-22nd, please have your correct horoscope calculated to be sure of your star sign.

© Stefan Stenudd