The Lot or Part of Fortune

by Robert Hand
Copyright 1996 by Robert Hand (info@robhand.com)
Posted in the Newsgroup alt.astrology in February and March 1996.
Author's Introduction
What I am going to do here is something similar to what I have been doing on
Prodigy. I am going to be talking about the discoveries and lore of ancient and
medieval astrology. The main difference between these postings and those on
Prodigy is that these will be a bit more technical. I know that not everyone on
Alt.Astrology is an expert but actually you don't need to be much of an expert to
understand the old astrology. Those who could justifiably be called "experts" in
modern astrology actually have to learn as much as the beginners. The concepts
are quite simple, but become complicated in the putting together. But this should
not be a surprise. This is just as true of modern astrology. Anyhow here is my first
note.
The Lot or Part of Fortune
Part 1
Most astrologers have encountered the Part (or Lot as the Greeks called it) of
Fortune, but have little idea of what to do with it. The modern literature on the
subject is of little help tending to make it an extremely abstract symbol,
something "karmic." To complicate things further, it is now clear that for
approximately 50% of all people the Part of Fortune is usually computed
incorrectly, namely those persons born at night between sunset and sunrise. I'll
come back to that in a moment. The Part of Fortune is computed in the following
manner:
Day Births: Fortune = Ascendant + Moon - Sun
Night Births: Fortune = Ascendant + Sun - Moon
These formulae should be interpreted as in this way: compute the longitudes of
Aries Add 0 . Libra Add 180 the Ascendant, Moon
and Sun as measured
Taurus Add 30 . Scorpio Add 210 from 0 degrees of
Gemini Add 60 . Sagittarius Add 240 Aries. This is done
according to the table
Cancer Add 90 . Capricorn Add 270
below.
Leo Add 120 . Aquarius Add 300
Let's say someone has an Ascendant of 20 Virgo, a Moon of 4 Aries, and a Sun at
Virgo
17 Aquarius.Add
An150 . Pisces
Ascendant of 20 VirgoAdd 330a Descendant of 20 Pisces. Since
means
the Sun is between the Ascendant and the Descendant, this is a night birth so we
use the night birth formula.
Ascendant 20 Virgo + 150 = 170
Sun 17 Aquarius + 300 = 317
Moon 4 Aries + 0 = 4