Scorpio Zodiac Sign

Scorpio is the eighth sign of the zodiac, symbolized by the Scorpion (♏︎). In the tropical zodiac, the Sun is in Scorpio from about October 23 to November 21 in US Eastern Time; the start date moves by a day between years. The Scorpio zodiac sign is Fixed Water, ruled by Pluto and traditionally by Mars.

Scorpio at a glance

• Dates (usual): October 23 – November 21 (US Eastern Time)
• Symbol: The Scorpion
• Glyph: ♏︎
• Element: Water
• Modality: Fixed
• Ruling planet: Pluto (modern); Mars (traditional)
• Polarity: Negative / feminine (yin, receptive)
• Opposite sign: Taurus

Born near the start or end of Scorpio? Check your Sun sign in your birth chart

Scorpio covers 210° to 240° of ecliptic longitude, counted from the point where the Sun stands at the March equinox. Our calendar year and the Sun's yearly cycle are not the same length, and leap days pull the calendar back into step, so the moment the Sun reaches 210° drifts by some hours each autumn. The times below come from NASA JPL Horizons ephemeris data. Across 2020–2030 in US Eastern Time, Scorpio began on October 22 in five years and on October 23 in six. Its last day was November 21 six times and November 22 five times.

Born on one of these change days? Then the date is not enough: your birth time and place decide it. The 210° point is the first degree of Scorpio, so at the moment you were born the Sun sat in one sign only, Libra or Scorpio, never both.

Time zones add a twist. A change shortly after midnight Eastern Time still falls on the previous calendar day in Pacific Time, and an evening Eastern change is already the next day in UTC. The 2025 row shows the second case: 11:51 PM on October 22 in New York was 03:51 on October 23 in UTC. People often call these birthdays "cusp" birthdays, but sitting near a boundary does not blend two signs into one personality. Enter your birth time and city in the birth chart to check your Sun sign.

Astrologers read the Scorpio sign through three ingredients: Water, the Fixed modality and its two rulers. Libra opens autumn as a Cardinal sign and Sagittarius closes it as a Mutable one, so Scorpio holds the middle of the season, and the tradition reads Fixed signs as the ones that keep and concentrate what has already started. Water adds feeling and receptiveness. Mars, the classical ruler, brings directness, and Pluto, assigned to Scorpio in the 20th century, is read by modern astrologers as a pull toward what lies beneath the surface.

Astrology is an interpretive tradition, not a scientifically validated method, so read the lists below as themes to test against your own life rather than a description you must fit.

Strengths in the tradition

• Focus (Fixed): Once a goal is chosen, Scorpio is associated with seeing it through, like the friend who keeps chasing a refund long after everyone else has given up.
• Steadiness in a crisis (Water and Mars): Astrologers describe a sign that stays level when plans fall apart and is willing to name the hard fact everyone is avoiding.
• Looking beneath the surface (Pluto): The tradition links Scorpio with reading the fine print and asking the second, more pointed question.
• Loyalty (Fixed Water): Trust is given slowly, and once given it tends to last.

Challenges in the tradition

• Slow to let go of a hurt (Fixed Water): An old disappointment can stay on file for years after others have forgotten it.
• Privacy that reads as distance (receptive Water): Keeping plans and feelings close can leave others unsure where they stand.
• Hard to back down (Fixed and Mars): Walking away from a stalled project or conceding a point in an argument does not come easily.

Scorpio is Latin for "scorpion" (the Greek name is Skorpiós), and the glyph is ♏︎. People born with the Sun here may be called Scorpios or Scorpionic.

Greek myth gives the scorpion two stories. In one, a giant scorpion stung Orion, which is said to be why the constellation Orion sets as Scorpius rises. In the other, a scorpion frightened the horses of the Sun into bolting while the inexperienced youth Phaethon was driving them.

The sign takes its name from the constellation Scorpius, but the two are different things. Twelve equal divisions of the ecliptic come from Babylonian astronomy of the first millennium BC; the constellations behind the names are uneven, and Scorpius covers only a fifth of the ecliptic longitude that Virgo does. The ecliptic also crosses Ophiuchus, which pushes in between Scorpius and Sagittarius, a fact sometimes misreported in the press as a "change" to the list of signs. On top of that, precession of the equinoxes, whose discovery is attributed to Hipparchus around 130 BC, moves the tropical signs against the stars, and so against the sidereal zodiac, by about 1.4° per century. The tropical Scorpio is always the exact 30° slice from 210° to 240°.

In relationships, astrologers read Fixed Water as selective and devoted. The tradition pictures a Scorpio who would rather have three people they can call at 2 AM than thirty they wave to, and who shows care through discretion: keeping a secret, remembering what matters to the other person, showing up. When the tradition talks about element harmony, it points to the shared Water of Cancer and Pisces.

At work, the same mix is read as concentration on long, tangled problems. Research, troubleshooting, audits and confidential projects match this profile in the tradition, especially when the role offers autonomy and full ownership of a task. Busy open-plan chatter and shallow multitasking run against it.

For most birthdays the date alone settles your Sun sign; if you were born on October 22–23 or November 21–22, check the time as described under Scorpio dates. Even then, the Sun is only one placement. A full chart adds the Moon, the planets, the Ascendant and the twelve houses.

Take an example chart with the Sun in Scorpio, the Moon in Aquarius and Aries rising. An astrologer would set a private, persistent Water Sun beside a Fixed Air Moon and a Cardinal Fire Ascendant, so the first impression could be quick and outspoken even though the core is guarded. The Moon in Scorpio is a separate placement with its own page, read for emotional needs rather than for the sign as a whole. The rising sign, or Ascendant, is the degree of the ecliptic rising at the time of birth, so it depends on the clock.

To see your Sun, Moon and rising sign together, enter your birth date, time and city in the free birth chart calculator; no sign-up is needed.

Scorpio comes after Libra, the Cardinal Air sign of the Scales, and before Sagittarius, the Mutable Fire sign of the Archer. Compare elements and rulers across all zodiac signs.

FAQ

What are the dates for Scorpio? Usually October 23 to November 21 in US Eastern Time. The Sun entered Scorpio late on October 22 in 2025 (already October 23 in UTC) and on October 23 in 2026 and 2027; exact times are in the table above.

Which planet rules Scorpio? Modern astrology gives Scorpio to Pluto, a rulership added in the 20th century. Traditional astrology gives it to Mars, which also rules Aries.

Is Scorpio a water sign? Yes. Scorpio is the Fixed Water sign and shares the Water element with Cancer and Pisces.

How this page was made

Prepared by the Astrolivo editorial team from the Wikipedia articles on Scorpio (astrology), astrological signs, planets in astrology, the zodiac, and astrology and science, plus NASA JPL Horizons ephemeris data for the Sun's ingress times, and fact-checked against them. Astrological meanings are given as the tradition's readings.