Lilith Sign Calculator

Black Moon Lilith is the empty focus of the Moon's elliptical orbit around Earth, also called the lunar apogee. It is a mathematical point rather than a physical body. In astrology, it marks where you instinctively refuse to comply, exiled desire, and the parts of yourself that will not be domesticated.

Mean Lilith is the averaged position of the lunar apogee, smoothed over its natural wobble. True (or Osculating) Lilith is the instantaneous apogee at the exact moment of birth, before any averaging. Because the lunar orbit is perturbed by the Sun, True Lilith can differ from Mean by up to 30° in either direction. Most contemporary astrologers work with Mean; traditionalists who want the literal orbital geometry use True.

Different calculators use different Lilith variants without always telling you. Cafe Astrology uses Mean Lilith by default. Astro-Seek lets you pick. Some Vedic tools default to Sidereal Lilith, which shifts the position by roughly 24° (one sign earlier) in 2026. If two calculators show different signs, check which variant each one used; that is almost always the explanation.

Black Moon Lilith is not a planet. It is a geometric point, the apogee of the Moon's orbit. There is also Asteroid Lilith (1181), which is a real asteroid in the main belt but is a different body with a different interpretive tradition. When someone says 'Lilith' without specifying, they usually mean Black Moon Lilith.

For the sign alone, no. Lilith moves slowly enough (about 40° per year) that your birth date is usually enough to place it in a sign unless you were born on a day it changed signs. For the house, yes: Lilith's house depends on your Ascendant, which requires an exact birth time and birth location.

Lilith represents the part of the self that refuses containment. Drawing on the Sumerian lilitu, the rabbinic myth of Adam's expelled first wife, and the folk succubus, the astrological Lilith marks exiled desire, autonomy, and the rage under the polite answer. In a chart, Lilith by sign describes the style of refusal and by house describes the life area where it plays out.

The English astrologer Sepharial introduced the lunar apogee reading in his 1918 book The Science of Foreknowledge. Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson expanded its use mid-twentieth century. Demetra George's 1992 Mysteries of the Dark Moon brought Lilith into contemporary archetypal astrology. Melanie Reinhart and Ariel Guttman wrote influential references in the 2000s.

Mean Black Moon Lilith moves prograde at about 40.7° per year, spending roughly nine months in each zodiac sign and completing a full circuit in 8.85 years. True Lilith moves more erratically because of lunar perturbations and can briefly retrograde.

Mean Lilith does not retrograde; it moves uniformly forward. True (Osculating) Lilith can apparently retrograde for short periods because it tracks the actual perturbed orbit. Asteroid Lilith (1181) retrogrades like other asteroids.

Lilith contacts between two charts are often intense and slow to resolve. Lilith conjunct a partner's Venus, Mars, or Moon by tight orb frequently produces a relationship that feels taboo or magnetic in ways neither person can fully articulate. A dedicated Lilith synastry view is planned as a separate tool; for now, compute each partner's Lilith individually and compare the signs and houses.