# Zodiac & Astrology

Cakeday shows zodiac and astrology information for each birthday, including the Western zodiac sign, Chinese zodiac animal, and ascendant (rising sign).

## Western Zodiac

Each birthday automatically displays the corresponding Western zodiac sign based on the solar date. All 12 signs are supported with their standard date ranges:

- **Aries:** March 21 - April 19
- **Taurus:** April 20 - May 20
- **Gemini:** May 21 - June 20
- **Cancer:** June 21 - July 22
- **Leo:** July 23 - August 22
- **Virgo:** August 23 - September 22
- **Libra:** September 23 - October 22
- **Scorpio:** October 23 - November 21
- **Sagittarius:** November 22 - December 21
- **Capricorn:** December 22 - January 19
- **Aquarius:** January 20 - February 18
- **Pisces:** February 19 - March 20

For lunar birthdays, the zodiac sign is determined by converting the lunar date to the solar equivalent.

## Chinese Zodiac

When the birth year is recorded, Cakeday shows the Chinese zodiac animal based on the lunar year cycle. The 12 animals are:

- Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake
- Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig

The Chinese zodiac follows a 12-year cycle. Each animal is displayed with its emoji and localized name (e.g. **🐉 Dragon**). If no birth year is entered, the Chinese zodiac is not shown.

## Ascendant Sign

The ascendant (also called the rising sign) is the zodiac sign that was on the eastern horizon at the time and place of birth. It provides a more complete astrological profile beyond just the sun sign.

To calculate the ascendant automatically, three pieces of information are required:

- **Birth year:** Required because the ascendant depends on the exact birth date.
- **Birth time:** Set via the time picker in the birthday edit screen.
- **Birth city:** Selected from Cakeday's built-in city database (about 31,000 cities across 244 countries and regions), searchable in any language or script (e.g. 上海, 東京, São Paulo). It provides the geographic coordinates needed for the calculation.

When all three are provided, Cakeday uses **AstroCore** to compute the ascendant automatically. The result appears in the detail view alongside the sun sign.

If you already know someone's ascendant but do not have their exact birth time, you can select it manually from the edit screen. A dropdown lists all 12 zodiac signs for manual selection.

## Manual Astrology Placements

Beyond the ascendant, you can record a friend's chart by hand under **More Info → Astrology** in the edit screen (see [Birthday Management](/docs/en/birthday-management)). Sixteen placements are available, each a dropdown of the 12 signs:

- **Planets:** Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
- **Angles & points:** Midheaven, Descendant, Imum Coeli, North Node, South Node, Chiron, Lilith

Opposite points fill in automatically: choosing a **Descendant** sign sets the sign opposite the ascendant, the **Imum Coeli** mirrors the **Midheaven**, and the **South Node** mirrors the **North Node**. If you change one of these to a sign that isn't the true opposite, Cakeday shows an inline reminder ("Doesn't match the opposite point…") but still keeps your choice.

These placements are entered by hand and are separate from the computed Astro Chart beta below.

## Astro Chart Beta

When **Extra Content** is enabled in Appearance Settings, Cakeday can also show optional Astro Chart beta content on birthday detail pages. Chart positions, houses, and degree values require a birth year, birth time, and birth city. House display can use different house systems, with Placidus selected by default.