Earth · cardinal
Capricorn zodiac sign
In Western astrology, Capricorn stands for responsibility, endurance, and building for the long term.
In everyday language it's just called your zodiac sign. What's meant is your sun sign: the sign the Sun was in when you were born.
Das Zeichen Capricorn. Das gleichnamige Sternbild steht heute woanders, tippen zeigt es.
- Planning for the long term and carrying responsibility
- reliability, clear goals, and visible progress
- sharing tasks and keeping your own standard realistic
Capricorn: strengths and challenges
The two sides traditionally attributed to this sign.
Strengths
Capricorn plans for the long term, takes on responsibility, and stays with a task even when quick success doesn't come.
Challenges
It gets difficult when the bar for achievement gets too narrow, control crowds out any lightness, or responsibility can no longer be shared.
Which responsibility genuinely belongs to you, and which one can you clearly hand off?
Capricorn in love and relationships
Capricorn often shows closeness through reliability and practical support. That lands strongest when affection, doubts, and limits get put into words too.
Capricorn at work
At work, their strengths are structure, responsibility, and thinking in long arcs. Delegating and setting a realistic end point guard against mistaking responsibility for doing it all alone.
Getting along with Capricorn
Be reliable, come prepared, and state expectations clearly. Feelings and undertones shouldn't disappear behind the next goal in the process.
Horoscopes for Capricorn
From today's general impulse to your personal year-ahead preview.
Today's impulse for Capricorn
A concrete impulse for the day and a question that needs no invented backstory.
Read todayNext 14 daysYour personal preview
Concrete transit dates for your own birth chart — with an actual date, not a generic sun-sign text.
Open the previewNext 12 monthsYour year at a glance
The longer transits from Jupiter to Pluto, their date ranges, and the days they turn exact.
Open the year aheadBlock time for what matters most
reserve a fixed slot for the top task instead of just a line on the list.
Which responsibility genuinely belongs to you, and which one can you clearly hand off?
When does the Capricorn zodiac season begin?
The Sun is in Capricorn from December 21, 2026 at 09:50 PM CET to January 20, 2027 at 08:30 AM CET.
The Sun's next entry into Capricorn is on December 22, 2027 at 03:42 AM CET — about 6 hours later than this year.
Why the exact time matters
Listings like "21 May to 21 June" are just rules of thumb. The entry shifts by a few hours every year. If your birthday falls close to the sign change, your birth year, time, and time zone decide — that's why Leitstern calculates the Sun's position.
Element, Ruler, and Origin
The astrological assignment
- Element
- Earth
- Quality
- cardinal
- Ruler
- Saturn
This assignment appears in Ptolemäus, Tetrabiblos I,17 to 19.
Where the name comes from
Capricorn is a hybrid creature, part goat and part fish, that already appears in Babylonian star lists (Mul.Apin). Saturn as ruler is in Ptolemäus, Tetrabiblos I,17.
Sign and constellation aren't the same today: Western astrology counts tropically from the spring equinox, while the constellations slowly drift because of the precession of Earth's axis.
There's more than your sun sign
Your sun sign only shows the Sun. The Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars and — with an exact birth time — the Ascendant round out the picture. Calculate the key positions for free from your birth details.
Calculate my birth chartWhich signs are compatible with Capricorn?
As a rule of thumb, the same or complementary elements make for an easier start. Opposite signs and signs with a very different core nature can be just as attractive, but usually need more attunement.
Often easier together
Here, pace, expression, or needs tend to be more alike.
TaurusBuilding things patiently and creating reliabilityBoth signs share the element Earth. Similar ideas about reliability and everyday routine build a stable base. Change still shouldn't get postponed forever.
VirgoLooking closely and finding solutions that actually workBoth signs share the element Earth. Similar ideas about reliability and everyday routine build a stable base. Change still shouldn't get postponed forever.
ScorpioGetting to the bottom of complex issuesEarth brings steadiness and practical reliability, Water brings closeness and a feel for nuance. Clear words keep care and expectation from getting mixed up.
PiscesSensing subtle moods and connecting things creativelyEarth brings steadiness and practical reliability, Water brings closeness and a feel for nuance. Clear words keep care and expectation from getting mixed up.Often needs more attunement
Here, pace, expression, or needs tend to differ more often. Clear agreements help.
AriesStarting things boldly and getting decisions movingBoth signs are cardinal. Both want to set the direction. If who's in charge stays unclear, competing over the next decision comes easily.
GeminiPicking up new things fast and explaining them clearlyCapricorn and Gemini don't share the same basic language right away. Things get clearer once both say what they mean by closeness, reliability and a good next step.
CancerCreating closeness and noticing what people needCapricorn and Cancer are opposite signs. The differences themselves can be what attracts and shows new sides; over time it takes clear agreements about pace, closeness and decisions.
LeoCreating things and carrying others alongCapricorn and Leo don't share the same basic language right away. Things get clearer once both say what they mean by closeness, reliability and a good next step.
LibraBringing different interests together fairlyBoth signs are cardinal. Both want to set the direction. If who's in charge stays unclear, competing over the next decision comes easily.
SagittariusSeeing the big picture and giving people confidenceCapricorn and Sagittarius often set different priorities and work at a different pace. That can be enriching once expectations get said out loud instead of assumed.
AquariusThinking independently and designing new solutionsCapricorn and Aquarius often set different priorities and work at a different pace. That can be enriching once expectations get said out loud instead of assumed.For a personal comparison, the sun sign alone isn't enough. Synastry checks the planets in both birth charts and shows the actual angles.
Compare two birth chartsFrequently asked questions about Capricorn
In 2026, the Sun is in Capricorn from December 21, 2026 at 09:50 PM CET to January 20, 2027 at 08:30 AM CET. These times are calculated from orbital data. They shift by a few hours every year because the solar year isn't a whole number of days. Listings with only calendar days are therefore rules of thumb.
That's decided by the exact moment of birth, not just the calendar day. It takes the date, the time, and the time zone that belongs to the birthplace. The calculated position of the Sun always falls in exactly one sign.
Capricorn belongs to the element Earth and has cardinal quality. The classical ruler is Saturn. This assignment is recorded in Ptolemäus, Tetrabiblos I,17 to 19.
Traditionally, signs of the same element, plus complementary element pairs, are read as an easier start. The opposite sign, Cancer, is read more as an attracting but demanding contrast. A closer comparison needs the planets from both birth charts.
Capricorn often shows closeness through reliability and practical support. That lands strongest when affection, doubts, and limits get put into words too. For a personal picture, Venus, Mars, the Moon, and the aspects across the whole birth chart are considered too.
Yes. In everyday language, "zodiac sign" means the sun sign — the sign the Sun was in at the moment of birth. The Moon sign, the Ascendant, and the other planets are additional parts of the birth chart.
More about your birth chart
More zodiac signs
Straight to the next sign profile and its impulse for today.