Zodiac and Astrological Symbols

Unicode encodes the twelve zodiac signs, planetary symbols, and a range of other astrological and astronomical characters that have been used in star charts, almanacs, and scientific publications for millennia. These symbols span several Unicode blocks and serve both the modern astrological community and the astronomical sciences. This guide catalogs every zodiac and astrological symbol in Unicode, traces their origins, and explains how to use them in digital text.

The Twelve Zodiac Signs

The zodiac signs occupy a contiguous range in the Miscellaneous Symbols block (U+2648--U+2653):

The zodiac signs are among the oldest symbols still in active use. Their origins trace to ancient Babylonian astronomy (circa 500 BCE), where the ecliptic was divided into twelve 30-degree sectors, each associated with a constellation. The symbols we use today were standardized during the Hellenistic period and have remained essentially unchanged for over 2,000 years.

Encoding Pattern

The twelve signs occupy U+2648 through U+2653, a contiguous range of 12 code points in their traditional order starting from Aries. This makes programmatic access trivial:

# Generate all zodiac signs
zodiac = [chr(0x2648 + i) for i in range(12)]
print(" ".join(zodiac))
# ♈ ♉ ♊ ♋ ♌ ♍ ♎ ♏ ♐ ♑ ♒ ♓

# Map sign index to name
SIGN_NAMES = [
    "Aries", "Taurus", "Gemini", "Cancer",
    "Leo", "Virgo", "Libra", "Scorpio",
    "Sagittarius", "Capricorn", "Aquarius", "Pisces",
]

for i, name in enumerate(SIGN_NAMES):
    print(f"{chr(0x2648 + i)} {name}")

Planetary Symbols

Astronomical and astrological planetary symbols are scattered across several Unicode blocks. These symbols predate the zodiac -- they were used by ancient Greek and Roman astronomers and later adopted by medieval alchemists and astrologers.

Classical Planets

The Venus symbol ♀ and Mars symbol ♂ are perhaps the most widely recognized symbols in all of Unicode -- they are universally used to represent female and male, far beyond their astronomical origins. The Venus symbol represents a hand mirror, while the Mars symbol represents a shield and spear.

Modern Planets and Dwarf Planets

Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto symbols were created much later than the classical planetary symbols. Pluto's symbol ♇ is a monogram combining the letters P and L -- the initials of Percival Lowell, who initiated the search that led to Pluto's discovery in 1930.

Astrological Symbols

Beyond planets and zodiac signs, Unicode includes symbols used in astrological chart construction:

Lunar Nodes and Aspects

Additional Astrological Characters

Moon Phase Symbols

Unicode includes symbols for the phases of the Moon:

The text-style moon characters (☽ ☾) come from the Miscellaneous Symbols block, while the emoji moon phases (U+1F311--U+1F318) provide a complete eight-phase cycle.

Astronomical vs. Astrological Usage

These symbols serve two distinct communities:

Modern professional astronomy rarely uses these symbols in publications (preferring spelled-out planet names and numerical designations), but they remain standard in popular astronomy and are ubiquitous in astrology.

Using Zodiac Symbols in Code

Python: Zodiac Sign Lookup

from datetime import date

ZODIAC = [
    ("Capricorn",   (1, 1),  (1, 19),  "\u2651"),
    ("Aquarius",    (1, 20), (2, 18),  "\u2652"),
    ("Pisces",      (2, 19), (3, 20),  "\u2653"),
    ("Aries",       (3, 21), (4, 19),  "\u2648"),
    ("Taurus",      (4, 20), (5, 20),  "\u2649"),
    ("Gemini",      (5, 21), (6, 20),  "\u264A"),
    ("Cancer",      (6, 21), (7, 22),  "\u264B"),
    ("Leo",         (7, 23), (8, 22),  "\u264C"),
    ("Virgo",       (8, 23), (9, 22),  "\u264D"),
    ("Libra",       (9, 23), (10, 22), "\u264E"),
    ("Scorpio",     (10, 23),(11, 21), "\u264F"),
    ("Sagittarius", (11, 22),(12, 21), "\u2650"),
    ("Capricorn",   (12, 22),(12, 31), "\u2651"),
]

def get_zodiac(month, day):
    for name, start, end, symbol in ZODIAC:
        sm, sd = start
        em, ed = end
        if (month == sm and day >= sd) or (month == em and day <= ed):
            return f"{symbol} {name}"
    return None

today = date.today()
print(get_zodiac(today.month, today.day))

JavaScript: Zodiac Emoji Display

const ZODIAC_SIGNS = [
    { symbol: '\u2648', name: 'Aries',       element: 'Fire'  },
    { symbol: '\u2649', name: 'Taurus',      element: 'Earth' },
    { symbol: '\u264A', name: 'Gemini',      element: 'Air'   },
    { symbol: '\u264B', name: 'Cancer',      element: 'Water' },
    { symbol: '\u264C', name: 'Leo',         element: 'Fire'  },
    { symbol: '\u264D', name: 'Virgo',       element: 'Earth' },
    { symbol: '\u264E', name: 'Libra',       element: 'Air'   },
    { symbol: '\u264F', name: 'Scorpio',     element: 'Water' },
    { symbol: '\u2650', name: 'Sagittarius', element: 'Fire'  },
    { symbol: '\u2651', name: 'Capricorn',   element: 'Earth' },
    { symbol: '\u2652', name: 'Aquarius',    element: 'Air'   },
    { symbol: '\u2653', name: 'Pisces',      element: 'Water' },
];

// Filter by element
const fireSigns = ZODIAC_SIGNS.filter(z => z.element === 'Fire');
console.log(fireSigns.map(z => `${z.symbol} ${z.name}`).join(', '));
// ♈ Aries, ♌ Leo, ♐ Sagittarius

HTML: Zodiac Wheel

<div class="zodiac-wheel">
    <span title="Aries">&#x2648;</span>
    <span title="Taurus">&#x2649;</span>
    <span title="Gemini">&#x264A;</span>
    <span title="Cancer">&#x264B;</span>
    <span title="Leo">&#x264C;</span>
    <span title="Virgo">&#x264D;</span>
    <span title="Libra">&#x264E;</span>
    <span title="Scorpio">&#x264F;</span>
    <span title="Sagittarius">&#x2650;</span>
    <span title="Capricorn">&#x2651;</span>
    <span title="Aquarius">&#x2652;</span>
    <span title="Pisces">&#x2653;</span>
</div>

Font Support

Zodiac and planetary symbols have excellent cross-platform support because they are among the oldest symbols in the Unicode standard:

For astrology applications that need guaranteed rendering of less common symbols (Chiron, Lilith, aspects), include Noto Sans Symbols or Noto Sans Symbols 2 in your font stack.

The zodiac and astrological symbols are a fascinating intersection of ancient tradition and modern digital infrastructure. Characters that were carved into Babylonian clay tablets 2,500 years ago now have permanent code points in the Unicode Standard, ensuring these symbols will be readable on every digital device for as long as Unicode exists.