Three Skies
The same birthday, measured by three great traditions. Western astrology, Indian (Vedic) astrology and the lunar mansions of Baghdad each read the sky in their own way. Baghdad knew all three: Greek books, Indian astronomy and Persian astrology met there in the 8th century.
Step 2 · your result
Western astrology counts the signs from the spring equinox. Indian (Vedic) astrology counts them from the fixed stars. Baghdad knew both. Enter your birthday above to fill in all three.
Western ζῳδιακός
tropical zodiac
Your character in this sky
Enter your birthday above to see it.
Sun sign. Your core self: will, energy and the way you shine. This is the "sign" most people mean.
Moon sign. Your inner life: feelings, needs and what makes you feel at home. The Moon changes sign every two or three days, so it often differs from your Sun. Not the same as your rising sign.
Rising sign (ascendant). The sign rising on the eastern horizon at the minute and place you were born: how you meet the world and how others first see you. It changes about every two hours, so it needs your birth time and birthplace.
Indian (Vedic) ज्योतिष
sidereal zodiac, Lahiri
Your character in this sky
Enter your birthday above to see it.
Birth nakshatra. Your Moon's star station, one of India's 27, cousins of the 28 mansions. It is read for temperament, and used for choosing names and matching couples.
Moon sign. In India this is your main sign (janma rashi): it describes the mind and emotions, and daily horoscopes there are read from it. Not the same as the lagna (rising sign).
Sun sign. The same Sun, counted from the fixed stars. In India it stands for the soul, authority and the father.
Rising sign (lagna). The same rising degree, counted from the fixed stars. In India the lagna is the starting point of the whole chart.
Baghdad بغداد
the 28 mansions of the Moon
Your character in this sky
Enter your birthday above to see it.
Birth mansion. The Moon's station at your birth, one of 28, read the Baghdad way: the theme your nature returns to. Step 3 below tells you more about it.
The nakshatra and mansion readings are modern ones, drawn from each station's traditional name and meaning. They describe tendencies, not events.
Step 3
Calculating…
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Your nature
Your gifts
Watch for
A theme your life returns to
A modern reading inspired by the station's traditional name and meaning. It describes tendencies, not events to come.
In the tradition, a night for
Better left for another night
Why do they differ?
Both traditions use the same twelve signs, but they start counting from different places. Western astrology starts at the spring equinox, the point where the Sun crosses the equator in March. Indian astrology starts from the fixed stars.
Two thousand years ago the two starting points were almost the same. But the Earth's axis wobbles slowly, like a spinning top, and the equinox point drifts backwards against the stars by about one degree every 72 years. The Greek astronomer Hipparchus noticed this drift around 130 BCE. Today the two zodiacs sit about 24° apart, so most people's Vedic Sun sign is the sign before their Western one.
Baghdad's lunar mansions are a third measure: 28 stations of the Moon rather than 12 signs of the Sun. The Indian nakshatras are their cousins, 27 stations along the same path.
Neither system is "right". They are two rulers laid along the same sky.
Questions people ask
Your moon sign is the zodiac sign the Moon was in at the moment you were born. The Moon changes sign every two to three days, so it often differs from your sun sign. Enter your birthday on this page to see it in both the Western and the Vedic zodiac.
Western astrology counts the signs from the spring equinox; Indian (Vedic) astrology counts them from the fixed stars. Because the Earth's axis slowly wobbles, the two starting points now sit about 24 degrees apart, so most people's Vedic sun sign is the sign before their Western one.
A nakshatra is one of the 27 star stations of the Moon in Indian astrology, each 13°20′ wide. Your birth nakshatra is the station the Moon was in when you were born. The 28 lunar mansions of Baghdad astrology are its close cousins.
A lunar mansion (manzil) is one of 28 stations the Moon passes through each month, roughly one per night. The astronomers of Baghdad used them to describe a birth and to choose good nights for a task.
No. The date alone gives your sun and moon signs, your nakshatra and your lunar mansion. Add your birth time and birthplace to see your rising sign; if the Moon changed station on your birthday, the time also settles which one is yours.
