Chart basics · Beginner
Solstice
The two moments a year when the Sun reaches its farthest north or south, at 0° Cancer and 0° Capricorn.
At the June solstice the Sun is at tropical 0° Cancer and at the December solstice at 0° Capricorn. Ptolemy called Cancer and Capricorn the solstitial signs and Aries and Libra the equinoctial ones; later astrologers call all four the cardinal signs.
Sources
- NASA Space Place: What causes the seasons? (opens in a new tab) technical
- Ptolemy, Tetrabiblos I.11, “Of Solstitial, Equinoctial, Solid and Bicorporeal Signs” (Robbins translation, 1940) (opens in a new tab) historical
- Astrodienst AstroWiki: Solstice (opens in a new tab) practitioner
Written for Cool Moon Facts in its own words. An astrology source documents what astrologers believe or practise; it does not establish that astrology works.