May 21 Zodiac Sign: Taurus or Gemini?
The short answer
People born on May 21 can be Taurus or Gemini: the Sun changed sign during this date in 55 of the 76 years from 1950 to 2025, sitting between 29.1° Taurus and 1.4° Gemini.
May 21 at a glance
| Zodiac sign | Taurus or Gemini (conventional tables say Gemini, May 21 to June 20) |
|---|---|
| Sun position, 1950 to 2025 | 29.1° Taurus to 1.4° Gemini (usually 0.2° Gemini at noon UTC) |
| Decan | third decan of Taurus: Capricorn (triplicity), Saturn (Chaldean), Seven of Pentacles (Golden Dawn); first decan of Gemini: Gemini (triplicity), Jupiter (Chaldean), Eight of Swords (Golden Dawn) |
| Element | Earth (Taurus) or Air (Gemini) |
| Modality | Fixed (Taurus) or Mutable (Gemini) |
| Ruling planet | Venus (Taurus) or Mercury (Gemini) |
| Nearest sign change | On this date in 55 of the 76 years |
What a May 21 birthday means
On May 21 the Sun sits between 29.1° Taurus and 1.4° Gemini in every year from 1950 to 2025, counting every hour of the day in UTC. Its usual noon position is 0.2° Gemini.
That places May 21 in the third decan of Taurus. The modern triplicity system gives this decan to Capricorn, the older Chaldean order gives it to Saturn, and the Golden Dawn tradition pairs it with the Seven of Pentacles. In some years the Sun moves on into the first decan of Gemini during this date, so both apply.
Taurus is an earth sign of the fixed modality, ruled by Venus. Gemini is an air sign of the mutable modality, ruled by Mercury.
May 21 is a cusp date. The Sun changed sign during this date in 55 of the 76 years charted, so someone born on May 21 can be Taurus or Gemini; the birth year and time decide it.
When the Sun changes sign around May 21
Across 1950 to 2025, the Sun entered Gemini on these dates (UTC):
- May 20: 21 years
- May 21: 55 years
If you were born near the change, your birth year and time decide your sign: cast your free birth chart to see it.
Where these figures come from
The Sun's position was charted at 12:00 UTC on every day from 1950 to 2025, and the start and end of each date were placed on the straight line between neighbouring days, which is exact to a small fraction of a degree. The range covers every hour of May 21 in UTC across all 76 years; someone born far from UTC can sit up to about half a degree beyond it. Decans follow two traditional systems: the triplicity system, which gives each third of a sign to the three signs of its element in turn, and the older Chaldean order of faces, which runs through the seven classical planets from Mars at the start of Aries.
Other birthdays
May: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Born on May 21? Vera reads the whole chart, not just the Sun.
Your Sun sign is one line of your chart. Vera casts the rest from your birth time and place, then answers what you actually want to know.