Degrees of the zodiac
0° Leo
Leo at 0° — 1st decan, bound of Jupiter.
- Degree
- 0° of Leo (the 1st degree of the sign)
- Decan
- 1st decan, 0°–9°59′
- Decan ruler (Chaldean)
- Saturn
- Decan sign (triplicity)
- Leo
- Egyptian bound
- Jupiter
- Degree-theory sign
- Aries
- Status
- The ingress degree — the very first of the sign
Every sign is thirty degrees wide, and a placement's exact degree changes how the sign reads. A planet at 0° Leo is not simply "in Leo" — it sits in a particular decan, inside a particular bound, at a early point of the sign. An early degree of a sign is the sign at its rawest — the quality arriving, not yet tempered by the ones it has passed through.
The decan: Saturn's ten degrees
Degrees 0 to 9 of Leo form the 1st decan. In the Chaldean order this decan is ruled by Saturn, which adds limit, patience and the work that earns it to everything Leo already does.
By the triplicity system the same ten degrees belong to Leo, the same sign again — so this decan is the sign at its most concentrated. Read together: Leo's i will, delivered with Saturn's limit.
The bound: Jupiter's degrees
The Egyptian bounds divide each sign into five unequal stretches, each governed by one of the classical planets. 0° falls in Jupiter's bound. In traditional practice the bound ruler is a quieter but real influence — it describes the working conditions a planet meets at this exact degree, and it is one of the reasons two planets in the same sign can behave so differently.
Degree theory: the Aries degree
Modern degree theory runs the twelve signs through the thirty degrees, so every degree carries a second sign's flavour. 0° is a Aries degree — the first sign, and it behaves like one. In Leo, that reads as Leo's i will coloured by Aries's i am: two different instincts sharing one degree — warmly, expressively, with the whole of itself, but with Aries's instinct underneath.
Degree theory is a modern layer rather than a traditional one, and astrologers differ on how much weight to give it. It is most convincing when a chart has several planets on the same degree number.
The ingress degree
Zero degrees of any sign is the sign at its purest and least experienced. A planet at 0° Leo has just crossed in from Cancer and carries none of the sign's later refinement — the quality is undiluted, sometimes to the point of caricature. In cardinal signs especially, this is a degree of beginnings, and things that start here tend to start decisively.
A planet at 0° Leo
What this degree does depends entirely on which body is sitting on it. The Sun at 0° Leo is an identity; the Moon at 0° Leo is a need; Mars there is a way of fighting. Start with the body, then add the degree:
Your birth chart report gives every placement to the exact degree and minute, so you can look yours up here.