August is Leo's month until its last week. People born from 1 to 22 August are Leo and people born from 23 to 31 August are Virgo. The change is from fire to earth and from display to detail: the sign that wants to shine is followed by the sign that wants things done properly. For birthdays on the 22nd, 23rd and occasionally the 24th, the year decides.

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The moment the Sun enters Virgo, for each birth year

Universal Time (UTC). Add or subtract the time zone of the birthplace.

The decans of August

Leo to the 22nd, Virgo from the 23rd

Leo is fixed fire, ruled by the Sun, and stands for vitality, pride, loyalty and creative self-expression. Virgo is mutable earth under Mercury: observant, modest, skilled and inclined to improve whatever is in front of it. Astrologers describe the pair as the performer and the craftsman. One supplies the confidence to begin something in public, the other the patience to get it right in private.

22, 23 or 24 August

The usual date is the 23rd. In the 101 birth years from 1940 to 2040 the Sun entered Virgo on 23 August in 75 years, on 22 August in 24 and on 24 August in only 2, by Universal Time. The two late cases are both in the 1940s, and the early ones gather in recent decades. Someone born on 22 August is most often a Leo and someone born on the 23rd most often a Virgo, with the table giving the exact time for each year.

August Leo and August Virgo

Most August people are Leos, and the traits given to them are the familiar ones: big-hearted, cheerful, protective of friends, fond of an audience and wounded by being ignored. The Virgos at the end of the month are a change of key. They are described as practical, discreet and exact, quick to notice what is out of place and more comfortable helping than being praised. Both signs are hard workers. Leo works for the applause and Virgo for the result.

August in the Calendar and the Sky

August was Sextilis, the sixth month, before it was renamed in honour of the emperor Augustus. Its birthstone is the peridot, with spinel and sardonyx as alternatives, and its flowers are the gladiolus and the poppy. The Perseid meteor shower, the best known of the year, peaks around 12 and 13 August. In the north it is late summer and harvest time, in the south the last full month of winter.

Frequently asked

What zodiac sign is August?

Leo from 1 to 22 August and Virgo from 23 to 31 August.

Is 23 August Leo or Virgo?

Virgo in most years. The Sun entered Virgo on 23 August in 75 of the 101 years from 1940 to 2040 and on 22 August in 24.

What is the August birthstone?

The peridot; spinel and sardonyx are also used. The flowers of August are the gladiolus and the poppy.

August birthdays, day by day

The two signs

Zodiac signs, month by month