The twelfth and last sign of the zodiac, usually dated February 19 to March 20: a mutable water sign ruled by Neptune and, traditionally, Jupiter, read as imaginative and compassionate.
Pisces at a glance
Pisces, the twelfth sign, ends the zodiac: when the Sun leaves it at the March equinox, the cycle begins again with Aries. It is a water sign, with Cancer and Scorpio, and a mutable sign, one of the four in which one season dissolves into the next. Modern astrology gives it Neptune, the planet of dreams and dissolving boundaries, and tradition Jupiter. Its symbol is two Fishes tied together and swimming opposite ways, and its polarity is the receptive one. The tradition gives it the feet, the part of the body that touches the ground. Its opposite is Virgo, and the two form the axis of surrender and order.
The Pisces character
The tradition reads Pisces as the sign where boundaries soften. Water makes it feeling and intuitive, Neptune makes it imaginative and spiritual, and the mutable mode makes it adaptable, sometimes to a fault. A Pisces is described as compassionate, artistic, gentle and deeply empathetic, able to feel what others feel and to imagine what others cannot, and drawn to music, art, spirituality and helping those in need. As the last sign it is often said to carry a little of every sign before it. Its difficulties are the same openness without edges: escapism, confusion, trouble saying no and a habit of being carried by others' moods. Astrologers often give Pisces the lesson of boundaries that protect its gifts.
Pisces in love
In love Pisces is read as romantic, tender and devoted, a sign that loves wholeheartedly and imagines the best in a partner. It wants a deep emotional and even spiritual bond, and it can idealize someone until reality arrives. The water signs Cancer and Scorpio share its depth, and the earth signs Taurus and Capricorn are its friendliest, giving its dreams a steady shore. Virgo, the opposite sign, is the complement of imagination and precision, each able to ground or soften the other. Gemini and Sagittarius square Pisces, which the tradition reads as a clash between its depth and their restlessness. Two whole charts say far more than two Sun signs.
Pisces at work
The tradition points Pisces toward work that uses imagination or compassion: music, film, art, photography and writing, healing and therapy, nursing and care, charity and spiritual work, and anything connected with the sea. It is read as an intuitive, kind colleague who senses the mood of a room and works best where empathy is valued. Harsh, highly competitive environments are said to wear it down. Many astrologers suggest that a Pisces thrives with a creative outlet and a practical structure around it, and that its best work often looks effortless because it comes from feeling.
Pisces beyond the Sun sign
A planet in Pisces is read as working through feeling and imagination. Pisces rising gives a gentle, dreamy and sensitive manner; the Moon in Pisces deep, porous feelings and strong intuition; Venus in Pisces, the sign of Venus's traditional exaltation, selfless and romantic love; and Neptune in Pisces, a placement of everyone born from about 2012 to 2025, a generation read as sensitive and imaginative. The birth chart calculator shows all of your placements. Below are the Pisces dates for the coming years, its relation to every other sign, its three decans and when the slow planets pass through it.
Pisces season dates
Pisces season is the part of the year when the Sun is in Pisces, and anyone born in it is a Pisces. By the US Eastern calendar it began on February 18 or 19 in the years 1950 to 2049, and ended between March 19 and March 21, when the Sun moved on into Aries: the dates shift by a day with the leap-year cycle and the time zone. Times are US Eastern, to the minute; almanacs can differ by a minute.
How Pisces relates to each sign by the traditional rule: signs of the same element (four apart) and of friendly elements (two apart) are read as easy, squares and quincunxes as friction, neighbors and opposites as mixed. A whole chart says far more than two Sun signs.
All four popular lists we compared give Pisces green (seafoam green, light green, green, green-gray). William Lilly gave Pisces “white glittering colour” in 1647, and its traditional ruler, Jupiter, “a colour mixed with red and green”.
Each sign splits into three decans of ten degrees, about ten days of the Sun's stay. The modern system gives each decan a sign of the same element; the older one gives it a planet in the Chaldean order, and the Golden Dawn a tarot card.
When Jupiter, Saturn and the outer planets pass through Pisces: everyone born in those years shares that placement, with its retrograde loops counted as one stay.
Jupiter next in Pisces 2033 to 2034Last there 2021 to 2022.
Saturn next in Pisces 2052 to 2055Last there 2023 to 2026.
Uranus next in Pisces 2087 to 2095Last there 2003 to 2011.
Neptune not in Pisces again before 2100Last there 2011 to 2026.
Pluto next in Pisces 2043 to 2068
Pisces in the sky
In 2026 the Sun stands in front of the constellation Pisces from Mar 12, 2026 to Apr 18, 2026, about a month later than the sign's dates: the signs are measured from the equinox, which has drifted west against the stars since the zodiac was named.
Pisces is usually dated February 19 to March 20, the part of the year called Pisces season, which ends at the March equinox, when the Sun enters Aries. From 1950 to 2049 the Sun entered Pisces on February 18 or 19 by the US Eastern calendar, so birthdays around those days, and around March 19 to 21, are worth checking to the minute.
What is Pisces's element and ruling planet?
Pisces is a water sign of the mutable mode. Modern astrology gives it Neptune and tradition Jupiter. Water is read as feeling, the mutable mode as adaptability, and Neptune as imagination and dreams, which together give Pisces its sensitivity and empathy.
Which signs are most compatible with Pisces?
By the traditional rule, Cancer and Scorpio, the other water signs, and Taurus and Capricorn, in the friendly element of earth. Virgo, the opposite sign, is read as the meeting of imagination and precision.
Why is Pisces two fish?
The constellation has been drawn since antiquity as two fish tied together by a cord, swimming in different directions; in one Greek story they are Aphrodite and Eros, who became fish to escape a monster. The tradition reads the pair as the sign's two pulls, toward the world and away from it.