The zodiac is divided into 360 equal degrees, marked out into into twelve signs of thirty degrees each, counted from 1 (there is no "0" degree, just as there is no Year "0" in our calendar). One degree contains 60 minutes and each minute contains 60 seconds of longitudinal arc (in Indian Jyotish astrology even smaller subdivisions are employed). Degrees themselves have meanings, distinguished from and often quite different from the meaning of the sign and decan under which they are subsumed. Traditional astrology refers to various classes of degrees, which are held to affect the native according to their natures. These are:

Light (Lucid) degrees

Smoky degrees

Dark degrees

Void degrees

Deep (Puteal or Pitted) degrees

Masculine degrees

Feminine degrees

Anaretic degrees

Critical degrees

Azimene degrees

Fortunate degrees

Equipollent degrees

Equal Power degrees