Full context:   The Zodiac was designed at its inception as a means of astronomical distribution. The incline of the Earth's orbital plane around its axis in relation to its plane of revolution around the sun is its true baseline. An angle of 23°26' separates the plane of the celestial equator and the plane of the ecliptic. Their east and west intersections mark the Vernal Point (0° Aries) and its opposite (0° Libra). The solsticial points (0° Cancer and 0° Capricorn) mark the maximum distance north and south of the sun in relation to the equatorial plane. Each of the four quadrants thus defined is subsequently divided into three equal parts on the ecliptic, that is to say, along the circle of traced by the sun in its apparent revolution around the Earth. This schema was devised in order to take into account the latitude of the planets and their variations in relation to the ecliptic.