♋︎ Sun at ~11° Cancer · second decan · Mercury

July 3 zodiac sign: Cancer, second decan

If you were born on July 3, your sign is Cancer, the water sign ruled by Moon: the Sun is in Cancer on this date in every year from 1980 to 2030. The Sun sits about 11° into Cancer on this date, in the second decan, where Cancer's core takes on a Mercury flavour. Here's what the date fixes, and what only your birth time can tell you.

Your sign: Cancer

The cardinal water sign that protects what it loves and remembers everything.

A Cancer Sun is built around emotional intelligence. You feel the room before anyone has spoken; you know who's about to cry, who's lying, and who's having a bad week. This is a real gift. It's also exhausting. The world doesn't have an off switch for empathy, and you absorb things you didn't sign up to absorb.

The date fixes the Sun; the year and hour fix the rest. A Cancer born July 3 with the Moon in Taurus runs on a different inner weather from one with the Moon in Cancer: see Cancer Sun, Taurus Moon. Your rising sign needs the birth time; the twelve Cancer Sun combinations show what each one changes.

Cancer dates, traits & compatibility → · What a Cancer birth chart looks like →

In the US (2000–2014), an average of 11,690 babies were born on each July 3, rank 95 of 366 dates; Cancer is number 3 of 12 signs (8.84%). What's the most common zodiac sign?

The Moon on July 3, 1980–2030

Across the 51 years from 1980 to 2030, the Moon at noon UTC on July 3 was most often in Leo (7 years) and least often in Taurus (2 years). Unlike the Sun, the Moon sign depends on the birth year. On July 3, 2026, the Moon stays in Aquarius the whole UTC day.

In 21 of those 51 years (41%) the Moon changed sign during July 3 itself, so in those years the birth time decides the Moon as well as the rising sign. Cells with an arrow mark them, with the UTC time of the change. The Moon was exactly full on July 3 in 1993, 2012, and 2023, and new in 1989 and 2008.

Find your birth year. One sign means the Moon spent the whole UTC day there; an arrow means it changed sign that day, at the UTC time shown: born before it, the first sign; after it, the second. The Moon sign calculator settles it in seconds; your birth chart adds the rising sign and houses.

Times in UTC: a birth late in the evening in the Americas, or early in the morning in Asia, can fall on the neighbouring UTC date.

July 2026: full moon July 29, 2026, Aquarius · new moon July 14, 2026, Cancer.

Your decan: the second decan of Cancer

Each sign is divided into three 10° decans, and each decan has a sub-ruler that shades the sign's core. Degrees 10–20 of Cancer belong to Mercury: how you think, learn, communicate, and process information. Read it as Cancer with a Mercury accent — the water core is unchanged, the emphasis moves.

Decan tarot card · Golden Dawn attribution

Three of Cups

Friendship · Celebration · Community. The card assigned to this ten-degree slice of the zodiac — a birthday card in the same sense a sun sign is a birthday sign: one lens on the date, not a verdict.

Read the Three of Cups in full on My Day Check →

All the tarot cards for July 3: decan, sign, ruling planet and year card →

What the date can't tell you

The Sun is one placement out of ten. Your Moon sign changes every two to three days, so Cancers born on July 3 in different years have different Moons; your rising sign changes every two hours and needs a birth time and place. Those two carry most of what people mean by "personality" in a chart.

Born July 3? Add your year, time and place

Your Moon and rising depend on the year and hour. Computed here in a few seconds — then your full chart with a preview of its reading, no sign-up.

Or browse the twelve possibilities: Cancer Sun with each Moon → · just my Moon sign · how the free birth chart calculator works

Classic matches for a July 3 birthday

By sun sign, Cancer pairs most easily with Scorpio, Pisces, Taurus, Virgo. Sun-sign compatibility is the coarse layer; the couple reading compares both full charts.

Common questions

What zodiac sign is July 3?

July 3 is Cancer, the cardinal water sign ruled by Moon. The Sun sits at roughly 11° Cancer on this date, in the second decan.

What decan is July 3?

The second decan of Cancer (10°–20°), sub-ruled by Mercury. Decans divide each sign into three 10° slices; the sub-ruler adds a second flavour to the sign's core — here how you think, learn, communicate, and process information.

What tarot card is July 3?

In the Golden Dawn system each decan has a minor arcana card: for the second decan of Cancer it is the Three of Cups (friendship, celebration, community). It's a birthday card in the same way a sun sign is — one lens, not a verdict.

What Moon sign is someone born on July 3?

It depends on the year, and in 41% of years on the hour too. For example: in 1980, Pisces; in 1990, Scorpio; in 2000, Cancer or Leo; in 2010, Pisces or Aries; in 2020, Sagittarius. Over 1980–2030 the Moon on July 3 was most often in Leo. A birth time and place pin it down.

Does everyone born on July 3 have the same chart?

No. They share the Sun in Cancer, but the Moon changes sign every two to three days, the rising sign every two hours, and the outer planets by year. Two people born July 3 in different years can have almost nothing else in common in their charts.