December 23 zodiac sign
December 23 places the Sun at about 1° Capricorn, among the sign’s first degrees, where Saturn rules both sign and decan and the cardinal earth energy is fresh and very determined.
Sun signCapricorn
- Sun at 0°–3° Capricorn
- 1st decan · Saturn
- Near the cusp
December 23 in profile
Early Capricorn is the sign in its most concentrated form. The first decan has Capricorn as its own sub-sign, so Saturn speaks twice: patience, responsibility, a respect for time and effort. At 1° the energy is new and emphatic, eager to build. The date is Capricorn in almost every case; only someone born far from Greenwich time needs to check a chart for Sagittarius. A December 23 Capricorn starts life with an unusually clear sense of duty.
In love they move carefully and then mean it. Flirting is understated: a well-timed dry joke, a remembered detail, an offer to help with something practical. They are drawn to competence and steadiness. Once committed, they show love through reliability, turning up on time, fixing the leaking tap, planning holidays a year ahead. Grand speeches embarrass them.
Rest has to be earned in their mind, which makes it hard to take. They relax best once the to-do list is done, and the list is rarely done. A quiet routine helps: a long bath at the same hour, a walk in cold air, a book in a favourite chair. Scheduling rest like a meeting sounds dull, yet it is the one method they actually respect.
Capricorn near the cusp
In every year from 1930 to 2040 the Sun was in Capricorn for the whole of December 23 in Greenwich time (UTC). The change of sign happens within a day of this date, though, so a birth in a time zone far from UTC (New Zealand, Hawaii or the Pacific) can fall in Sagittarius. If that is you, the birth chart calculator settles it from your time and city.
Calculated by Lunonis from the same ephemeris code as our charts (astronomy-engine, checked against Swiss Ephemeris): geocentric, tropical zodiac, true equinox of date. Times are UTC: add or subtract your time zone’s offset, which can move the change to the day before or after.
Your Moon sign depends on the year
The Sun is in the same place on December 23 every year; the Moon is not. It changes sign every two and a half days, so people who share this birthday can have any of the twelve Moon signs. Here is where it was on December 23 in recent years, from 00:00 to 23:59 UTC (an arrow means it changed sign during the day).
- 2017Aquarius → Pisces
- 2018Cancer
- 2019Scorpio → Sagittarius
- 2020Aries
- 2021Leo
- 2022Sagittarius → Capricorn
- 2023Taurus
- 2024Libra
- 2025Aquarius
- 2026Gemini → Cancer
Compatible signs for a Capricorn
Sun-sign compatibility starts from the element. Capricorn gets on most easily with its own element and with the two sextile signs, and feels the strongest pull from its opposite. The full charts decide how a real pairing feels.
A gift for a December 23 birthday
Warmth for quiet evenings: a heavy wool blanket and a good cushion for the reading chair, with a promise to keep one evening a week free of plans.
Asked about December 23
What zodiac sign is December 23?
December 23 is Capricorn. In Greenwich time the Sun is in Capricorn all day in every year from 1930 to 2040; only a birth in a time zone far from UTC can fall in Sagittarius.
Is December 23 a cusp birthday?
Only just. December 23 is next to the day the Sun changes sign, so it is Capricorn in UTC but can be Sagittarius for births in far eastern or western time zones. There is no blend of the two: a chart with the birth time and city gives one sign.
What decan is December 23?
December 23 falls in the 1st decan of Capricorn. In the triplicity system we use, that decan belongs to Capricorn and its ruler Saturn, which colours the Capricorn Sun with a little of Capricorn.
Your birthday is only the Sun
A December 23 birthday tells you where the Sun was. The Moon, the Rising sign and eight more planets each sit somewhere of their own, and they depend on the year, the hour and the place. The free calculator shows all of them.