How to read it

What a daily horoscope is, and what it is for

A daily horoscope takes one thing — your sun sign — and reads the day's sky against it. That is a broad brush by design: twelve readings covering everybody. Used well it is less a prediction than a prompt, a question to hold for the day rather than an instruction to follow.

Where each reading comes from

Every sign has a ruling planet and an element, and those two things set the tone. Mars rules Aries, so an Aries reading leans towards action and impatience. The moon rules Cancer, so a Cancer reading turns on mood and home. Saturn rules Capricorn — structure, duty, the long view. The element does the rest: fire signs get momentum, earth signs get the practical, air signs get people and ideas, water signs get feeling. Read yours knowing that, and you can tell which part is the sky and which part is you.

Not sure which sign you are?

The dates are on the buttons above. If your birthday falls on the first or last day of a sign you were born on the cusp, and the exact sign depends on the year and the hour — the sun does not politely change sign at midnight. If that is you, the birth chart tool will settle it, and give you your moon sign at the same time.

Reading more than one sign

Plenty of people read their moon or rising sign alongside their sun and find one of them lands closer. That is not cheating. The sun is your character, but the moon is the part that actually has the day, so a moon reading often feels more like a description of how you are. Below, each sign also has its stones — what they are for, and why that sign in particular.