The Sagittarius sign guide
- Dates
- November 22 – December 21
- Element
- Fire
- Modality
- Mutable
- Ruled by
- Jupiter
Sagittarius is the mutable fire sign, ruled by Jupiter, and it closes out fall. The Sun passes through it from about November 22 to December 21, though both ends of that range shift from year to year.
Sagittarius strengths and weaknesses
The symbol is the Archer, a centaur with a drawn bow, and it fits a sign that likes a distant target. Ask a Sagittarius a simple question and you'll often get the answer plus the story of how they found it out. Jupiter rules the sign, and in traditional astrology Jupiter is the planet of growth and belief, which is why Sagittarius descriptions lean so hard on travel and big questions.
The optimism is real. A Sagittarius expects things to work out and usually talks other people into expecting it too. The flip side is overpromising: saying yes to the trip and the side project in the same week, then finding the calendar can't hold all of it.
Fire signs run on enthusiasm, and mutable signs change direction easily. A Sagittarius will happily rewrite a plan everyone else thought was settled, and they'll tell you exactly what they think of the old one. Friends tend to call that honesty refreshing. The person on the receiving end of a blunt opinion may call it something else.
The weak spot is follow-through. A Sagittarius can be all in on one plan on Monday and on a different one by Thursday, with good reasons for both. The fix is unglamorous. Pick one promise and keep it after the excitement wears off. At work the same pattern holds: give a Sagittarius autonomy and a mission they believe in, and micromanagement wears them down fast.
A Sun sign covers only part of a chart. If you're a Sagittarius who never feels restless, look at your Moon and your rising sign, which needs an exact birth time. A Cancer Moon or a Taurus rising, for example, often reads as far more settled.
Don't quite see yourself in Sagittarius? For most people, the Moon or Rising sits in another sign. Find my Moon and Rising free
Sagittarius dates and exact start times
Most lists say November 22 to December 21. The real start moves because the calendar year and the Sun's circuit don't line up exactly, and leap years pull them back together. We computed the moment the Sun reaches 0° Sagittarius on NASA's DE440s ephemeris and checked each one against JPL Horizons. They agree within a few seconds.
Look at 2028. The Sun enters Sagittarius on November 21, a date most lists still give to Scorpio. That isn't rare: in US Eastern time it happens in 12 of the 23 years from 2008 to 2030. If you were born on November 21, your birth time decides your sign.
The December boundary is steadier. Since 2012 the Sun has entered Capricorn on December 21 (US Eastern) every year, and our run shows that holding through 2030. So a December 21 birthday is Sagittarius only until that moment: 3:50 p.m. EST in 2026, 9:42 p.m. EST in 2027 and 3:20 a.m. EST in 2028.
When the Sun enters Sagittarius | Year | US Eastern time | Universal Time |
|---|
| 2026 | Nov 22, 2:23 a.m. EST | Nov 22, 07:23 UT |
| 2027 | Nov 22, 8:16 a.m. EST | Nov 22, 13:16 UT |
| 2028 | Nov 21, 1:54 p.m. EST | Nov 21, 18:54 UT |
The Thanksgiving dip in Sagittarius birthdays
Between 2000 and 2014, 8.08% of US births fell from November 22 to December 21. That's 5,023,366 of 62,187,024 births in the Social Security Administration counts published by FiveThirtyEight, ninth of the twelve signs and a little under an even share for a 30-day stretch.
November 23 to 28 were six of the 17 quietest birth dates of the whole year, at 9,875 to 10,486 births a day against an average of 11,350. Thanksgiving always lands between November 22 and 28, and the likeliest reason is that fewer inductions and C-sections get booked around a holiday.
December 19 averaged 12,446 births, the fourth-busiest date of the year, and December 20 averaged nearly the same at 12,440. Both sit just ahead of the winter holidays.
Jupiter dates and Sagittarius eclipses
Jupiter takes about 12 years to circle the zodiac, so its visits to its own sign are spaced that far apart. Its last stay ran from November 8, 2018 to December 1, 2019, and the next one begins October 22, 2030.
Before then, Jupiter moves through Leo from June 30, 2026 to July 25, 2027 (the Jupiter in Leo dates, sign by sign). Leo is a fellow fire sign, a trine away from Sagittarius, which astrologers count as one of the easier angles. Jupiter then spends July 26, 2027 to August 23, 2028 in Virgo, square to Sagittarius, the angle astrologers read as friction.
Eclipses skip the sign for a long while. Going by the dates in NASA's solar eclipse catalog and its lunar companion, with the Sun and Moon positions on JPL data, no eclipse falls in Sagittarius between the total solar eclipse of December 4, 2021 and the partial solar eclipse of December 5, 2029.
What a Sagittarius needs from a partner
Sagittarius tends to fall for people with different experiences, and a good argument is more likely to attract than repel. Space matters. A solo trip usually isn't a sign they want out, though partners still need to agree on how much time apart works.
Traditional pairings put Sagittarius with the other fire signs, Aries and Leo, and with the air signs, but the Sun is a rough guide here. Astrologers read love through Venus. A Sagittarius with Venus in Scorpio tends to want intense closeness, while one with Venus in Sagittarius puts independence first. Read what each Venus sign means for the rest.