Reading a graha's degree
Every graha sits at a degree of its sign, 0° to 30°, and that one number says a great deal.
- 6-minute lesson
- Basic course: Jyotish Shishya
- Vedic astrology
- A sign is 30°
- Its place in the whole circle
- What the degree decides
A first look at the lesson
The zodiac is a circle of 360°, so each of the 12 signs is 30° wide. A graha is never just "in Taurus": it is at a degree (ansha) of Taurus, from 0° where the sign begins to 30° where it ends. One degree is split into 60 minutes, written ′.
Count the signs before it, 30° each, then add the degree. That is the graha's longitude, 0° to 360° from the start of Aries.
Words in this lesson
More lessons on this subject
- Five ages in a sign (Baladi)By its degree a graha is an infant, a youth, an adult, old or dead; even signs run the other way.
- The edges of a sign: sandhi and gandantaA graha on the join between two signs is unsettled; where water meets fire the join is a knot.
- How close: degrees between grahasGrahas in one sign work together; the fewer degrees between them, the more they blend.
- Vargottama: the same sign twiceWhen the degree puts a graha in the navamsha of its own sign, it is vargottama and strong.
Your first lesson takes about five minutes
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