Pisces Zodiac Sign: Dates, Symbol, Myth, and Traits

The Pisces zodiac sign runs from February 19 to March 20, the last sign of the zodiac year and the one that carries us straight into the spring equinox. If your birthday lands in that window, Pisces is your Sun sign. If you are stargazing, the Pisces constellation is the faint V tucked between Aquarius and Aries, near Pegasus.

We treat the zodiac the way the Farmers’ Almanac always has: as a calendar tool with deep folklore roots, not a fortune-telling system. Here is the plain-English guide to Pisces, with the myth, the constellation, and the traits readers ask about every February.

Not sure which sign is yours? See the full zodiac dates here.

When Is Pisces Season?

Pisces season opens on February 19 and closes on March 20 each year. That makes Pisces the twelfth and final sign of the zodiac, the one that bridges late winter and early spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

The closing date is not arbitrary. Pisces season ends on the day the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading north, which is the spring equinox. Aries season picks up the moment Pisces hands off. For a tidy yearly anchor, read our guide to the spring equinox and the first day of spring.

The Pisces Symbol: The Two Fish

The astrological symbol for Pisces is the glyph that looks like two curved brackets joined by a line. It represents two fish swimming in opposite directions, tied together by a cord at their tails. That cord is the whole story. The fish pull against each other, but they stay bound.

Astrologers often read the pair as the push and pull most Pisces readers recognize in themselves: dreaming versus doing, giving versus protecting, escaping versus showing up. Whether or not you take the symbolism at face value, the image is one of the oldest in the zodiac, and the cord is what sets Pisces apart from a single-fish sign.

The Mythology of Pisces

The Pisces story most often told in Western astrology comes out of Greek myth. Pisces is said to represent Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty and love, and her son Eros, who transformed themselves into fish to escape the fire god Typhon. A fearsome foe to all of the gods, Typhon was known as the “father of all monsters.” One day, after many years of enmity, Typhon imprisoned Zeus, the father of the gods, in a cave guarded by a dragon.

When other gods came to rescue Zeus, Typhon grew angry and attacked Mt. Olympus, the home of the gods. To shield themselves from his rage, each of the gods took on different shapes. Zeus became a ram, Apollo a crow, Hera a cow, and Aphrodite and Eros became fish. The mother and child tied their tails together with a cord so they wouldn’t lose each other. They were protected by Poseidon, god of the sea.

One version of the tale sets the leap into the Euphrates River, which is why some retellings tie Pisces to the rivers of the ancient Near East rather than the Aegean.

The Greek version is the one that traveled into modern astrology, but it is not the oldest. Long before Aphrodite and Eros, the Syrian goddess Atargatis was depicted with a fish-form lower body and worshipped near the same Euphrates waters. Many scholars see Atargatis as an earlier source for the fish iconography the Greeks later folded into the Pisces story. The cord-bound pair we know today is a layered inheritance, not a single invention.

Pisces Personality Traits

People born during this period have Pisces as their Sun sign. Proponents of astrological determinism believe that people born under the same Sun sign share certain character traits. Pisces people are most often described as sensitive, idealistic, generous, imaginative, shy, naive, creative, and compassionate.

Astrology writers commonly add a few more to that list:

• Intuitive. Reads the room before anyone says a word.
• Empathetic. Feels what other people are feeling, sometimes too much.
• Dreamy. Imagination runs ahead of the schedule.
• Escapist. The flip side of dreamy. Pisces is the sign most often warned about avoidance.
• Devoted. Loyalty to family, friends, and causes runs deep.

One honest caveat. Sun-sign personality traits are folklore that has been polished by thousands of years of repetition, not a measured science. Plenty of Pisces readers will see themselves in this list and plenty will not. Take what is useful, leave the rest.

The Pisces Constellation

There are 86 stars in Pisces, the brightest of which are often depicted as two fish tethered to the same point. The constellation also includes one Messier Object: the spiral galaxy Messier 74. Messier Objects are bright deep-sky objects identified primarily by French astronomer Charles Messier during the 18th Century.

Pisces is a faint constellation. None of its stars are first-magnitude bright, which is why you will not stumble onto it from a porch light. The head of the western fish is marked by a small ring of stars known as the Circlet, the easiest pattern to pick out once your eyes adjust.

The constellation also holds one of astronomy’s most important reference points: the First Point of Aries, the spot where the Sun crosses the celestial equator at the spring equinox. Because of a slow wobble in Earth’s axis called precession, that crossing point has drifted out of the constellation Aries and now sits inside Pisces. According to NASA and other astronomy sources, the First Point of Aries is expected to drift on into Aquarius around the year 2600.

How Can I See Pisces?

Pisces reaches its high point for the night at about 8 p.m. local standard time in early December. But you’ll need a dark sky away from light pollution.

Locate the Square of Pegasus. Then look for Pisces to the left of it: the entire constellation looks like the letter V. The Circlet at the head of the western fish sits just below the Square of Pegasus, and the rest of the V opens out toward Aries.

Use a clear, moonless night for the best chance. Binoculars help if you want to spot Messier 74, which sits near the brighter star Eta Piscium.

Pisces Compatibility

Compatibility charts are the part of astrology readers either love or laugh at. Treat the pairings below as folk tradition, not relationship advice.

• Most often paired with: Cancer and Scorpio, the other two water signs. Tradition says shared element makes for easy emotional reading.
• Earth-sign anchors: Taurus and Capricorn are said to ground a Pisces who tends to drift.
• Trickier matches: Gemini and Sagittarius, the two mutable signs that pull in different directions from Pisces.

Real relationships are built on attention and effort, not on Sun signs. The folklore is fun, the work is yours.

Pisces Birthstones

Because Pisces spans two calendar months, it carries two sets of birthstones.

• February (Feb 19 to Feb 28 or 29): amethyst, the purple quartz long associated with clarity and calm.
• March (March 1 to March 20): aquamarine and bloodstone. Aquamarine for the sea-blue Pisces water motif, bloodstone for courage and grounding.

Famous Pisces

Plenty of household names fall inside the Pisces window, which astrology fans like to point to as proof of the dreamy-creative pattern. The names below are widely documented Pisces birthdays.

• Albert Einstein (March 14)
• George Washington (February 22)
• Steve Jobs (February 24)
• Rihanna (February 20)
• Dr. Seuss, born Theodor Geisel (March 2)

Of course, sharing a birthday window with a famous name does not transfer the talent. Treat the list as fun trivia, not destiny.

The Spring Equinox and Pisces

Pisces is the bridge sign. Its season ends on the spring equinox, the day the Sun crosses the celestial equator and daylight finally catches up with night. That makes Pisces the only zodiac sign whose closing date is anchored to a moment of the calendar most people actually mark. See our full spring equinox guide for the exact time and date this year.

There is a bigger Pisces story behind the equinox, too. Because of precession, the spring equinox point has been sitting inside the constellation Pisces for roughly the last 2,150 years. That long stretch is what astrologers and historians call the Age of Pisces. We have been in it for the entire common era and most of the era before it. Astronomers expect the equinox point to drift into neighboring Aquarius around the year 2600, the moment commonly used to date the start of the so-called Age of Aquarius. Whether you take the ages as cultural metaphor or astronomical fact, the constellation we are reading about is the one our calendar has been quietly resting against for two thousand years.

Astronomy vs. Astrology

The Pisces story sits in two worlds at once: a real, mappable constellation in the night sky, and a sign on the astrology wheel. The constellation moves at the slow pace of precession. The sign is fixed to the calendar, the same dates every year.

Astronomy measures. Astrology interprets. The Almanac respects both. We publish exact dates, lunar phases, and equinox times because the math is the math. We also keep folklore alive because tradition is a planning tool too, when the reader decides what to do with it. For a deeper look at the two side by side, see our companion piece on astronomy vs. astrology.

Join The Discussion!

Is Pisces your zodiac sign?

Do you believe in the character traits listed above?

Let us know in the comments below!

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Pisces Zodiac Sign FAQ

What are the Pisces zodiac sign dates?

The Pisces zodiac sign covers birthdays from February 19 through March 20. The closing date is fixed to the spring equinox, when the Sun moves from Pisces into Aries.

What is the Pisces symbol?

The Pisces symbol is two fish swimming in opposite directions, tied together at the tail by a cord. In the Greek myth, the cord represents Aphrodite and her son Eros staying bound to each other after they transformed into fish to escape Typhon.

What element and ruling planet does Pisces have?

Pisces is a water sign with a mutable quality, meaning it closes out a season. The modern ruling planet is Neptune; the traditional ruling planet, before Neptune was discovered, was Jupiter.

What are the Pisces birthstones?

Pisces straddles two calendar months, so it has two birthstone sets. February-born Pisces share amethyst as their birthstone. March-born Pisces share aquamarine and bloodstone.

Is the Pisces constellation easy to see?

Not really. Pisces is a faint constellation with no first-magnitude stars. You will need dark skies away from light pollution, and the easiest way in is to find the Square of Pegasus first, then look for the V-shape of Pisces just below and to the left. The Circlet, a small ring of stars marking the head of the western fish, is the most recognizable pattern.

Is astrology the same thing as astronomy?

No. Astronomy is the measurement-based science of stars and planets. Astrology is the older tradition of reading meaning into those positions. The Pisces constellation is real and has drifted with precession over thousands of years. The Pisces zodiac sign is a calendar tradition tied to fixed dates. We cover both because both have a place in how people plan and pay attention to the sky.

What is the Age of Pisces?

The Age of Pisces is the roughly 2,150-year stretch during which the spring equinox point has fallen inside the Pisces constellation. We are still in it, but precession is slowly carrying the equinox point toward the constellation Aquarius. Astronomers commonly use the year 2600 as the rough transition into the next age.