The Lot or Part of Fortune
Part 2
In the first
installment of this series of notes I described the method for computing
the Part of Fortune and said a bit about what it meant, that it was the
key to understanding the native's prosperity and career. In this
installment I will go further into its symbolism and say more about its
proper use according to the Greeks.
As I have said, the Part of Fortune is a primary indicator of
prosperity, but it is more than that. It is created out of the
longitudes of the Sun, Moon, and Ascendant, and therefore is composed
out of the three of the most important places in the chart (only the
Midheaven outside of these three is as important) and as a result
becomes as important as they are. In modern astrology there is a
tendency to regard the Part of Fortune as a minor point in the chart,
but this was not the case with ancient astrology.
In ancient astrology the Ascendant is the primary indicator of the
physical body and health. The Moon is also a very important secondary
indicator about the body. But there is a difference between them. The
Ascendant was considered to be the body at its most physical, material
level. The Moon was the living aspect of the body, in fact soul, but
soul incarnated in a physical body. The Part of Fortune, being composed
of both of these along with the Sun, is also an indicator of the living,
physical body and its relationships with the physical and social world
in which the native lives. Its capacity to signify prosperity comes from
this. If the Part of Fortune is in good condition, the relationship
between the native and the physical and social world in which he or she
lives is one that supports the native and enables the native to live
well. If the Part of Fortune is in poor condition, the native has a
harder time living in relationship with the world that supports the
native. The same can also be said about the relationships of the Part of
Fortune and health.
However, in the case of both significations one must keep in mind that
no one indication in the chart, not even the Part of Fortune, can be
taken by itself as a total indicator of any area of life. For health one
must also look at the Ascendant, its ruler, the Moon and its ruler. Also
the sixth and eighth houses as indicators of illness and death
respectively have strong indications for health. For material prosperity
one should also look at the second house, the tenth house, and their
rulers.
That said, however, the Part of Fortune is well placed when there are
benefics or dignified planets in the same sign with it (the fact that
"sign" is referred to here is very important as will be seen later on),
or these same kinds of planets aspect the Part of Fortune. [Note: if the
terms "benefic" and "dignified" are strange to you, they will be
explained at the end of this article.] Also it was said to help the Part
of Fortune if it was in a sign that was ruled by benefics, and any point
in a chart is helped by being in a sign ruled by a dignified planet.
The Part of Fortune is not so well placed if it is in a sign with
malefics, especially if the malefics are debilitated. Squares,
oppositions, and conjunctions with malefics are also not considered to
be very good. As a modern astrologer I would have to say that such
indications do not mean poverty or bad health so much as they mean that
the native will have to work harder or has a narrower range of possible
routes to success. But given those two considerations, the results can
still be very positive.
As my concluding comment in this installment, let me say that the Part
of Fortune is not merely a point like the planets or the nodes. It is
the start of a house system. The sign of the Part of Fortune is the
first house of the Fortuna system, and the first house of the Fortuna
system extends from 0 degrees to 30 degrees of the sign in which the
Part is located. And each of the other houses of the Fortuna system also
extend from 0 degrees to 30 degrees of their respective signs. In the
next installment I will describe what the ancients said should be done
with these houses.
Terms Used:
Benefic
A planet which easily produces results which would be generally considered favorable or "good." Whether these results really are good for the native will only become clear over time. Certainly benefics produce a desired result more easily in most situations than malefics (see next entry). The natural benefics are Venus, Jupiter, the Sun by trine or sextile aspects, and any planet that is well aspected and dignified (see note).
Malefic
A planet which does not easily produce results which would be considered "good". Generally speaking malefics are not so much "bad" as it is that they require more thought, more consciousness, and more skill at managing life than the benefics require in most cases. In fact the two main malefics, Mars and Saturn, are necessary for building character and strength. But either of these handled without consciousness leads to less than fortunate results. The natural malefics are Mars, Saturn and the Sun by conjunction only.
General Comment about Both Benefics and Malefics
Ultimately whether a planet is a malefic or a benefic depends upon a number of factors. Planets that are naturally one or the other can be converted into their opposite by other circumstances in the chart. One cannot assume that Venus and Jupiter will always produce good results, and that Saturn and Mars will always produce bad results. This is a old classification and must be taken somewhat freely. In the end I like Ptolemy's definition of the terms best. According to Ptolemy, a benefic is a planet whose natural influence leads to moderation and balance. A malefic is a planet whose natural influence leads to extremes and imbalance.
Dignified and Debilitated
Planets may be dignified (made stronger) and debilitated (weakened) in a variety of ways. In this article I mainly refer to dignity and debility by signs. Planets are dignified when they are in signs in which they rule or are exalted. They are debilitated when they are in signs opposite these. Any regular beginning text of astrology will list these signs. There are other dignities and debilities as well. See Lee Lehman, Essential Dignities, Whitford Press.
Copyright 1996 © by
Robert Hand.
Our thanks to tees.reitsma@astronet.idn.nl (Tees Reitsma) for initiating
contact with Mr. Hand and securing his permission to post this material
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Mr. Hand has been doing translations of ancient and medieval astrology
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