Horoscopes and sacred calendars of many cultures

A birth date can be read in many ways: as a day in the Maya or Aztec 260-day count, a year of the Chinese zodiac, a sign of the Western or Indian zodiac, or a month of the modern tree calendar. Each system has its own history and logic.

The Maya Calendar and Mayan AstrologyThe 260-day Tzolk'in: your day sign (nawal), number, trecena and year bearer. The Aztec TonalpohualliThe tonalpohualli: your tonalli, its number and patron deity. The Chinese ZodiacYour year animal, element and hour animal, from the lunar new year. Western Astrology and the HoroscopeSun, moon and rising sign in the tropical zodiac. Vedic Astrology and the NakshatrasMoon sign, birth star (nakshatra) and lagna in the sidereal zodiac. The 'Celtic Tree Calendar'Robert Graves' thirteen tree months — a modern scheme.

What is a horoscope?

Strictly, a horoscope is a chart of the sky for a particular moment and place — the word comes from the Greek horoskopos, the 'hour-marker' or rising degree. Popular usage has stretched it to any reading of a person's character or fortune from the time of birth. Some of the systems on these pages are astrological in that strict sense (Western and Vedic astrology); others are calendrical, reading the day of birth in a ritual count of days (the Maya Tzolk'in and the Aztec tonalpohualli) or the year in a cycle of animals (the Chinese zodiac). The Celtic tree calendar is a modern literary creation. Each page explains where its system comes from, and the calculators run entirely in your browser.

For the times of rites rather than of births, see the Almanac.