September zodiac sign: Virgo, then Libra at the equinox

September: the harvest and the balance

September splits at the equinox, the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading south and day and night are close to equal everywhere. Before it, the month is Virgo, the sign of the harvest: sorting, refining, preparing. After it, Libra begins, and the image of the scales comes straight from that balanced day.

Virgo and Libra are neighbors with very different instincts. Virgo, mutable earth, looks at what is wrong and fixes it. Libra, cardinal air, looks at what is unfair and balances it. Both have high standards; Virgo aims them at the work and Libra at the relationship.

Is your September birthday Virgo or Libra?

September 1 to 21 is Virgo in every year and September 24 to 30 is Libra in every year, on any mainland US clock. The doubt is only about September 22 and 23, because the equinox moves by about six hours each year. On the Eastern clock it has landed on September 22 in more of the years from 1970 to 2035 than on September 23, the opposite of what many tables suggest. The day table and the year table below settle it for any birthday.

September zodiac signs, day by day

On the US Eastern clock, September 1 to 21 is always Virgo and September 24 onward is always Libra. In between is the change: from 1970 to 2035 the Sun entered Libra on September 22 in 38 of the 66 years and September 23 in 28. On the change day itself, a birth before the moment in the year table below is Virgo and a birth after it is Libra.

When Libra begins each year, in Eastern time

The Sun's entry into Libra slides about six hours later each year and jumps back after a leap day. The next two are September 23, 2027 at 2:00 am Eastern, then September 22, 2028 at 7:40 am Eastern. Times are good to within 15 minutes. For Central time take one hour off, for Mountain two and for Pacific three, which can move the change to the day before; the sign page lists the same moments in UTC.

September birthdays, by date and stone

Labor Day, the first Monday of September, always falls in Virgo, a fitting sign for a holiday about work. The September birthstone is the sapphire, traditionally a stone of wisdom and fairness, which suits both a Virgo's judgment and a Libra's sense of justice.

September Virgos are in the sign's second and third decans, ruled by Venus and Mercury in the old Chaldean order and read as the most refined and the most analytical slices of the sign. September Libras sit in the first decan, ruled by the Moon, which tradition reads as a gentler, more sensitive Libra.

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