Guide

Zodiac sign colors

The color each sign is given today, how far the popular lists agree, and the very different colors the astrologer William Lilly gave the signs in 1647.

The colors of the 12 signs

The colors at least three of four popular lists give each sign, and the colors William Lilly gave the signs in 1647.

Aries
Red (all four lists)
Lilly, 1647 “white mixed with red”
Taurus
Green (three of the four lists)
forest green, green, deep green
Lilly, 1647 “white with citrine”
Gemini
Yellow (all four lists)
Lilly, 1647 “white mixed with red”
Cancer
Blue and silver (three of the four lists each)
deep blue, pale blue, light blue, silver
Lilly, 1647 “green or russet”
Leo
Gold (three of the four lists)
gold, deep gold
Lilly, 1647 “red or green”
Virgo
Brown (three of the four lists)
Lilly, 1647 “black speckled with blue”
Libra
Blue and pink (three of the four lists each)
blue, pink, pastel pink
Lilly, 1647 “black or dark crimson, or tawny colour”
Scorpio
Black (all four lists)
Lilly, 1647 “brown”
Sagittarius
Purple (all four lists)
purple, plum
Lilly, 1647 “yellow or a green sanguine”
Capricorn
Brown and gray (three of the four lists each)
Lilly, 1647 “black or russet, or a swart brown”
Aquarius
Blue (all four lists)
light blue, blue, turquoise, aquamarine, electric blue
Lilly, 1647 “a sky colour with blue”
Pisces
Green (all four lists)
seafoam green, light green, green, green-gray
Lilly, 1647 “white glittering colour”

Swatches are this site’s renderings of the named colors. Each list’s own words

Where zodiac colors come from

There is no official list of zodiac colors. Magazines, astrology sites and shops each publish their own, usually without saying where the colors came from. So we compared four widely read popular lists, from mindbodygreen, YourTango, Color Meanings and Eggradients, and counted how many give each color. The chart above shows the colors at least three of the four agree on, and four lists compared gives each list's own words.

All four agree on six signs: Aries is red, Gemini yellow, Scorpio black, Sagittarius purple, Aquarius blue and Pisces green, though Pisces gets seafoam, light or plain green. For the other six, three of the four lists share a color: green for Taurus, gold for Leo and brown for Virgo, and two colors each for Cancer (blue and silver), Libra (blue and pink) and Capricorn (brown and gray).

Colors by element

Grouped by element, the modern colors follow a pattern. The fire signs get the warm and royal colors: red for Aries, gold for Leo, purple for Sagittarius. The earth signs get green and brown, with gray for Capricorn. The air signs get yellow, pink and blue, and the water signs blue or silver, black and green. The zodiac sign calculator gives each sign's element.

William Lilly’s colors of the signs

Astrology gave the signs colors long before the modern lists, but not the same ones. In Christian Astrology (1647), a classic textbook of Western astrology, William Lilly lists "the colours of the planets and signs". Aries and Gemini are "white mixed with red", Taurus "white with citrine", Cancer "green or russet", Leo "red or green", Virgo "black speckled with blue", Libra "black or dark crimson, or tawny colour", Scorpio plain "brown", Sagittarius "yellow or a green sanguine", Capricorn "black or russet, or a swart brown", Aquarius "a sky colour with blue" and Pisces "white glittering colour".

Only three signs keep something of Lilly’s color in today’s lists: Aries its red, Capricorn its brown and Aquarius its blue. The same passage gives the seven classical planets colors too, shown below. The quotations follow the 1659 edition transcribed on Wikisource, in modern spelling.

Your chart’s colors

The color people usually mean is their Sun sign's, the sign in horoscopes. A palette can follow more of the chart: the colors of your Moon and rising signs, from the big three calculator, or of your Venus sign, the planet of taste and beauty. The birth chart shows every placement at once.

Sources

Modern lists: mindbodygreen (Sarah Regan, April 27, 2024), YourTango (Eugene Aldridge, updated July 18, 2022), Color Meanings (Jacob Olesen, August 23, 2025) and Eggradients (October 3, 2026), each read on October 6, 2026. Traditional colors: William Lilly, Christian Astrology (London, 1647), "The colours of the Planets and Signs", from the 1659 edition on Wikisource. The swatches are this site's renderings of the named colors.

Four lists compared

Each list’s colors for every sign, in the order it gives them.

Sign	mindbodygreen	YourTango	Color Meanings	Eggradients
Aries	red	red	red, orange, yellow, white	red
Taurus	forest green	green	pink, pastel blue, purple	deep green
Gemini	yellow	yellow	yellow, bright green, blue	yellow
Cancer	deep blue	white, silver	silver, white, pale blue, gray, cream	light blue, silver
Leo	orange	gold	gold, yellow, orange, purple, red	deep gold
Virgo	brown	green, brown	green, brown, muted yellow, orange, red	earthy shades
Libra	pink	pink, blue	blue, pastel pink, pistachio green, lavender, peach orange	blue
Scorpio	black	black	black, blood red, crimson, maroon, deep purple, navy blue	black
Sagittarius	purple	purple	purple, dark blue, plum	purple
Capricorn	gray	brown, gray	brown, black, white, gray	brown
Aquarius	light blue	blue	blue, turquoise, aquamarine, white, bright gold	electric blue
Pisces	seafoam green	light green	green, indigo, blue-gray, green-gray	seafoam green

mindbodygreen (Sarah Regan, April 27, 2024); YourTango (Eugene Aldridge, July 18, 2022); Color Meanings (Jacob Olesen, August 23, 2025); Eggradients (October 3, 2026). Read October 6, 2026.

Lilly’s colors of the planets

The same passage of Christian Astrology gives each of the seven classical planets a color.

Planet	Lilly’s words	Signs it rules
Saturn	“black”	Capricorn, Aquarius
Jupiter	“a colour mixed with red and green”	Sagittarius, Pisces
Mars	“red, or iron colour”	Aries, Scorpio
Sun	“yellow or yellow purple”	Leo
Venus	“white or purple colour”	Taurus, Libra
Mercury	“sky colour or bluish”	Gemini, Virgo
Moon	“a colour spotted with white and other mixed colours”	Cancer

Questions

What color is my zodiac sign?

In the four popular lists we compared: Aries red, Taurus green, Gemini yellow, Cancer blue or silver, Leo gold, Virgo brown, Libra blue or pink, Scorpio black, Sagittarius purple, Capricorn brown or gray, Aquarius blue and Pisces green. All four agree on Aries, Gemini, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aquarius and Pisces.

Are zodiac colors traditional?

The modern ones are not. Each popular list is its own, usually without a source. Older astrology did give the signs colors, but different ones: William Lilly's Christian Astrology (1647) gives Aries white mixed with red, Virgo black speckled with blue and Pisces a white glittering colour.

What are the colors of the planets in astrology?

In William Lilly's list of 1647: Saturn black; Jupiter a colour mixed with red and green; Mars red, or iron colour; the Sun yellow or yellow purple; Venus white or purple; Mercury sky colour or bluish; the Moon a colour spotted with white and other mixed colours.

Which zodiac signs share a color?

In the modern lists, Taurus and Pisces are both green, though in different greens: forest or deep green for Taurus, seafoam or light green for Pisces. Cancer, Libra and Aquarius all have blue, and Virgo and Capricorn brown. In Lilly's list, Aries and Gemini share white mixed with red.