February 18 at a glance
- Zodiac sign
- ♒ Aquarius
- Element and modality
- air, fixed
- Ruling planet
- Uranus
- Place in the sign
- Day 30 of Aquarius; Pisces starts 1 day later on the calendar
- Decan
- 3 of 3, ruled by Libra (February 9 to 18)
- Cusp
- Aquarius to Pisces
- Birthday number
- 18 reduces to 9 (1 + 8 = 9)
- February birthstone
- Amethyst
Ask about the zodiac sign for February 18
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The Pisces ingress, and a planet found on this date
Pisces opens at 330 degrees of ecliptic longitude, in the last stretch of the northern winter. The calendar table puts that on February 19, but in some years the Sun's real arrival is a day earlier, which is why a one-day argument about this birthday is common.
February 18 has an astronomical footnote that few other dates have. On February 18, 1930, the astronomer Clyde Tombaugh identified Pluto on photographic plates at Lowell Observatory, and astrologers since have treated Pluto as the modern partner of Scorpio. The discovery was announced a few weeks later, in March.
Is February 18 a cusp date?
As one of the last days of Aquarius, a fixed air sign, the tradition reads the birthday as the sign at its most reflective, already leaning toward the compassion of Pisces. The popular name for the seam is the Cusp of Sensitivity, and as with all cusp names it varies between authors. What it comes to practically is that a chart will say which side you were on.
The standard table gives Aquarius. The change from Aquarius into Pisces can reach February 18 in some year and time zone within 2000 to 2050, so a birth on this date can belong to either sign.
Across 2000 to 2050 (51 years) the Sun entered Pisces on these UTC dates: February 18 in 36, February 19 in 15.
Within those years the entry into Pisces fell on February 18 between 05:40 and 23:50 UTC; on February 19 between 00:20 and 08:30 UTC. Clocks in populated time zones run from UTC-10 to UTC+12, so the same instant can read as the day before or the day after, and your birth time and birth place decide which side of it you were born.
| Year | Sun enters Pisces |
|---|---|
| 2027 | about Feb 18, 21:30 UTC |
| 2028 | about Feb 19, 03:20 UTC |
| 2029 | about Feb 18, 09:10 UTC |
Born near that moment? The sun sign calculator takes your year, time and time zone.
The Aquarius decan for February 18
February 18 falls in decan 3 of Aquarius, February 9 to 18, ruled by Libra. Each sign is cut into three decans of about ten days, ruled in turn by the sign itself and the next two signs of its element.
Libra, an air sign like Aquarius, governs the third decan. That stretch is traditionally the most social and fair-minded of the three, with a liking for harmony. The decan is an old refinement of the sign and matters only if the Sun was in Aquarius at your birth.
Birthday number 9 for February 18
The day 18 reduces to 9: 1 + 8 = 9. No step lands on a master number.
An 18 reduces to 9 (1 + 8), the last single digit and the number numerologists tie to endings and giving. In Hebrew numerology 18 is the value of the word chai, life, which is why gifts are often made in multiples of 18 in some communities. Both readings sit comfortably with a date at the tail end of a sign.
The February birthstone
Birthstones follow the month and not the day, so a birthday on February 18 shares Amethyst with every other February birthday. See February birthstones.
February 18 zodiac questions
Which sign owns February 18, Aquarius or Pisces?
Aquarius on the usual calendar and Pisces if the Sun had already crossed at your birth. The ingress counts on this page show how often the crossing fell on February 18.
What happened on February 18 in astronomy?
Pluto was identified on photographic plates on February 18, 1930. The public announcement came in March, and the object was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006.
Why do people call February 18 a cusp birthday?
Because the Sun's entry into Pisces can land on this date, so a birth can fall on either side of it. The ingress table shows the UTC dates; the label does not mean you carry two signs at once.
Dates next to February 18
Other February dates with their own page: February 22.
A birthday date is one piece of the chart
Our astrologers read the Moon, rising sign, houses and transits that a date cannot show.
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