Today we’ll dive into the lands of ancient Hellenistic astrology and understand the deeper meanings of the Part of Fortune and Part of Spirit. To understand anything in life we must understand its essence first; peel off its outer layers, dissolve the boundaries and understand what it holds within itself that makes its form and shape along.
Astrology is actually all about math, showing cycles within cycles tracing the passage of time; our natal charts are essentially a spiritual study of all that has been already consumed by time. We derive the divisional charts and things like the destiny points through formulas, and the Parts too are derived from formulas; and in order to understand the output or answer of any formula, and be able to apply it in appropriate ways, we must first understand the variables and inputs that created that answer. There is quite a bit of misconceptions on what these Parts mean, which often stems from just not knowing how they are actually calculated and what they encompass within themselves, so let’s dive deeper and at the end I’ll also guide you through an example of how the Parts may play into your life by discussing one of its most mystical and harder to understand placements: the Part of Fortune in the 12th house.
A cornerstone of Hellenistic astrology is the consideration of Arabic Parts, also known as the Hermetic Lots, or kleroi. These are a form of astrological analysis dating back to Babylonian, Hermetic, or Magian (The Magi, who may have heard of as “the three wise men” from the Bible) astrology before the first century B.C. The Parts, or Lots, are derived from through mathematical calculations using certain planets or angles in an astrological chart, with the esoteric understanding of the zodiacal positions of the celestial bodies.
The Part of Fortune is one of the seven Hermetic Lots attributed to Hermes, the mythical author of the Panaretos, and it is considered to be the most important one of the parts; and along next to it, the Part of Spirit is often used to gain a deeper understanding – in other words, both usually are interpreted together to provide a fuller understanding of one another.
The Part of Fortune is known as the Lot of the Moon, showing our unconscious, our body and how we are physically connected to this earth, our luck and fortune and where our personality shows up to bring us abundance and fulfillment in life. The Part of Spirit is known as the Lot of the Sun, showing the conscious, our spirit, the intellect and action, the promethean fires moving us forward.
Both the Parts use the three main points of our chart – Sun, Moon and Ascendant – for their calculations, though they show and calculate different things; and the formulas vary depending on whether the native is born at night or during the day.
So let’s go through each first in greater depth.
Part of Fortune, Lot of the Moon
For day births: PoF = Ascendant + Moon – Sun
For night births: PoF = Ascendant + Sun – Moon
So the first thing we see is that for day births, your Part of Fortune essentially calculates the distance from your Sun to your Moon and then adds it to your Ascendant. And if you were born at night, your Part of Fortune calculates the distance from your Moon to your Sun, which is then added to your Ascendant.
In other words: The Part of Fortune always begins its calculation with what was illuminated at your time of birth. If you were born at night, it is the Moon who was your ruler and illuminary body in the sky; and for daily births, it is your Sun that was rising high.
Let’s dive deeper.
As I mentioned, the Part of Fortune is known as the Lot of the Moon – so it speaks of the Moon (and her position at your time of birth), so to understand what the Part of Fortune means for you we must understand the role of the Moon first.
The Moon is the lineage of our soul, the seed of which we are born, the deepest part of us, what holds us and fulfills us most deeply, our faith and our roots, our emotional world and our physical also – because just like Moon we wax and wane in our bodies also; this is why we may often look to the natal Moon for hints of wellness and health.
The Moon is closely tied to the material world, and the changes of cycles – it is the cycles of the land, the soil within which things begin and then go back to all five elements, and within her cycles we also come to a deeper esoteric truth: that the waning is always held by the waxing, and even when we can’t see the Moon she is still there seeing us, being in her fullness.
And what happens when we are born? Well, the soul comes into a physical body – which is our Ascendant – and this Ascendant shows the path of our life, the path of body moving towards desire, which is the 7th house of the otherness. The otherness is the hands of others that we’ll hold and love and connect to, and it is precisely because of others’ hands that we come to understand our own hands, our skin and flesh. This life, essentially, allows us an opportunity for a deepening – and it is through the otherness, relationships and love, that we deepen in self knowledge.
With the calculations of the Part of Fortune our attention was drawn towards the variation between the night and day chart calculation – but these are actually not different in essence. Why? Well, what does the Sun during day and the Moon during night have in common? Both are the ruling luminaries – both are the generating lights in the sky. So in other words – in both calculations we start from the point of light.
And then what does the Sun at night and Moon at day have in common? They are dark – so the Part of Fortune then ends its distance at the place of dark.
And here is where we are leaning into the esoteric concept marrying light into dark, spirit into matter – because light is spirit, and dark is matter.
Light is the spirit, it is the intangible, it is something we may feel or sense but can’t quite “capture” or put into form. We feel it on our skin as the sun touches us with warmth, but we can’t really touch it. And we don’t really have human control over light neither, it just is as is.
Dark relates to matter in esotericism, because it is the soil, the body, the womb of which all can be born.
So what the Part of Fortune calculates is essentially the movement from spirit to matter and adds it to your Ascendant i.e. pinpoints it on the path of your life – in where and how your body moves.
It shows where for you things began at your birth to then bring you into matter; it is the clay of which your body was formed, and your life came into the physical; this is why the Part of Fortune is the Lot of the Moon, because it speaks of your incarnation, to materialize something into the physical.
If the Part of Fortune is the clay and body, the Part of Spirit is the fire moving you; yet the Part of Fortune was the one most important in ancient astrology because without the body holding the fire of spirit, we cannot exist here. The Ascendant signifies these two coming together, joining in union and marriage for us to be born – which is why both Parts use the Ascendant as key in their calculations. The Ascendant is the actual human: the coming together of clay and fire.
The Part of Fortune speaks of the Moon, and as the Moon is the deepest part of ourselves, through it we see where we’d feel most at ease and fulfilled and happy in heart – this is what the fortune is: happiness. It also shows how we are physically connected to our surrounded world, and has influence on matters related to the body and the work of our hands.
Many people look to the Part of Fortune when they have questions of “where is my luck, where is my wealth” – but what is luck? The key to this kind of fortune that is held within your life is not necessarily about money or lottery tickets – it is deeper than this. Sure, for some people it is connected to financial abundance, but for others their luck is something else – perhaps they are lucky with kindness, compassion, spiritual wisdom, holding the key to esoteric knowledge.
The part of fortune is about acceptance of one’s luck, and having peace and acceptance with your life. Because the higher truth is that our body doesn’t belong to us – it belongs to our soul and our soul belongs to God, to that which is higher than all of us, into whose hands we are held even though we’ll never see his face.
We are only the pen in the hands of the creator, and written through us is how we also play a role in other people’s lives for their own lights to shine. Because life isn’t necessarily about us – we are also the candles for others, the lights for others, this life is about interconnection and interdependence and hands holding hands, and through others we too are held and our destiny fulfills itself. God speaks to us through others, and we all becomes fulfilled prayers for others on our paths.
The key to anyone’s fortune, shown per the Part of Fortune, is focusing on building your character through your path of life (Ascendant), because that’s kind of all you can somewhat control in this life; so it is about being grateful, kind and humble. And it is about accepting your fortune as it is and as it comes and being grateful for it – because perhaps your fortune is you being kind to people, or making friends, or spreading joy or being wise and a lantern to people illuminating their paths. Whatever it is and however it shapes, it is about understanding that this fortuna is much bigger than us as bodies and individuals, and there is a natural unfolding of our life which weaves into itself a much bigger purpose serving others also.
Let’s now move to the Part of Spirit, and what is the fire moving us forward.
Part of Spirit, Lot of the Sun
The Part of Fortune was the Hermetic Lot of the Moon, and the Part of Spirit is the Hermetic Lot of the Sun, and what is the Sun?
The Sun is the spirit – it is the fuel of life, the awareness and consciousness that peels that layers off our bark so that we release our true essence. It is the promethean fire that moves us forward.
The Moon rules the first chamber of the heart where life is received, and the Sun rules the second chamber of the heart which is when blood pumps out and we become alive. The Sun is where consciousness resides, and in esotericism it connects to Christ consciousness or the impulse of love through which we are born.
So how is the Part of Spirit calculated?
For day births: PoS = Ascendant + Sun – Moon
For night births: PoS = Ascendant + Moon – Sun
As you see, it is similar but instead of calculating the distance beginning from the birth illuminary, it begins with the opposite i.e. it moves from dark to light, from matter to spirit. This is why it is called the Lot of the Sun.
This then shows that essentially, the Part of Spirit shows your spirit, your core essence, your vitality, your intellect, your consciousness. It is your promethean fire moving you on your path of life towards the things you choose to do and actions you want to make. If the Moon is the lineage of our soul and the soil, the Sun is our fuel of life, it is our spirit and what moves us.
The Part of Spirit represents the inner self and innermost core of an individual – the essence of who they are, the beyond the surface personality and reflects the more authentic self that seeks expression throughout one’s life path.
Astrologically, the Part of Spirit may also be seen as a point that reveals insights into an individual’s higher purpose or calling; and the higher purpose is often connected to spiritual growth, unique creative self expression, authenticity, and pursuit of meaningful and soul centered experiences.
The Part of Spirit also relates to our spiritual essence because of its deeper connections to the Sun – it signifies the deeper, transcendent aspects of the self that go beyond the material and mundane concerns of everyday life. This spiritual essence may manifest in various ways but it is essentially what aligns the individual with their quest for meaning and spiritual path.
The Part of Spirit signifies what we you admire and aspire to, what this light and spirit within us pulls us towards and through our unshakeable faith (because what we admire essentially shows what we have faith in) we embody it and inspire others along the way also.
So let’s put it all together now through an example – and we’ll go into one of the harder placements to understand: Part of Fortune in the 12th house.
Part of Fortune in the 12th House:
This is a mystical and often harder to understand placement because the 12th house has long mystified some astrologers. Essentially, this is the house and place where all goes to disappear, including our own knowing; but does that mean our fortune has disappeared somewhere in the depths of oceans? Nope. It usually actually shows depth of spiritual fortune and wealth, which as we know is actually the real wealth. But let’s understand this further.
What is the 12th house?
To understand the 12th house, or any house, we need to understand its previous one because this is what led to our now. The 11th house is one of the kama houses, i.e. houses of desire, and it holds some of our highest inspirations, dreams, hopes and goals, which involve in some shape or form how we also show up in the world and affect and engage with humanity overall. So in the 11th house, we have been through the majority of the natal wheel and now it’s all come together for the final “test” of how we’ll act when we are on the big stages of life – who are we when we get what we want, what is our character really made of and how have we walked our path towards it, what change are we actually making in this world and how selfless are we? The 11th house shows us whether we remained humbled and kind and with gratitude along the way, and especially when we rose in life and how we acted then towards others. Remember that the 11th house is still traditionally Saturn ruled, so it is about the virtues, integrity and discipline.
And once we get what we want through that 11th house, once we get the desires in our human hands, now it’s time to open up our palms and let it all go – because the 12th house is the house of the opening, allowing and detachment; it is whether desires can dissolve and be let go of, because whatever desires haven’t dissolved will be the ones pushing us to re-incarnate as the Ascendant, the house following the 12th, is the new entering of the body propelled because of the unfulfilled desires of the past.
The opening of our palms and surrender is how we step into the 12th house. This is the house where all goes to disappear – whether in deep oceans where boundaries dissolve, in foreign lands by crossing borders and seas, in quiet sacred places like monasteries, in deep sleep (as this house rules our deep sleep), or when we pull the curtains and engage with our beloved (which is why this house rules hidden bed pleasures or secret affairs and “losing ourselves” through intimacy).
This house is one of the moksha houses, or water houses, which are 4th, 8th and 12th – and these are all water houses ruling the soul on some level, the connection to spirit and the divine and the flow of life. In the 12th house is all that is hidden yet happening continuously even when we don’t really see nor know nor even feel it – just like in depths of oceans we don’t always see nor even feel things as big waves but it doesn’t mean there is no sound or even movements.
The 12th house things happen continuously within us because this is a house of the unconscious – which is why it rules deep sleep and prayers and meditations also. And when I say sleep, I don’t mean “dreaming” because it’s not really dreaming sleep – it is the kind of sleep which doesn’t even have dreams, there is nothing, there is no knowing, because this is a house of the unknown things which still move us in body.
It’s the house of the “I don’t know”. It’s the house of our hidden intentions and motivations and all that needs to be brought to our conscious, though it rarely fully is. It’s the house of the surrender, trust and faith in that which is greater than us and that whose face we’ll never see. But things in this house are always happening – even in our mundane world, we get money and then spend it, so the “going away” of money is the 12th house. This house is about what we don’t see, what lays hidden beyond the veils. The 12th house is the place where we exit the physical, and if we have let go of the attachments and desires, we’ll be able to be born into a different world of experience.
Having your Part of Fortune in the 12th house is about coming into one with all of humanity. This is a very zen position, very mystical because essentially it shows that “when you lose yourself you find yourself”. It is about dissolving the ego and becoming non-judgmental towards all experiences; it is about becoming fluid, flexible, and leaving the ego driven ambitions behind in order to become more – more open, more united, more one with all. It is about trusting the interconnection of all and everything – becoming the higher expression of Neptune, which is unconditional love and transforming others through your pure and open heart.
And when you are able to walk such a path of trust, faith and generosity, others see this and become inspired by this; they too wish to become ego-less in order to become as happy as you, as open as you, as loving as you. They see that it is okay to let it go and trust life, and have nothing to prove, letting go of the inner and outer borders that separate us. They see through you that it is okay to open up the palms, because only through this beauty holds us, magic holds us, love holds us – and all the mysticism of life reveals itself to us.
On a practical level, and through the higher manifestation of this placement, you may essentially illuminate all that which people can’t see. You carry a lantern for people, and you show them what they haven’t seen yet need in order to come into fullness and be able to liberate themselves of what holds them back. Your fortune unfolds when you do this kind of work for others, and your fortune unfolds through the invisible realms i.e. you are divinely guided and protected. Foreign lands, especially overseas, can be very fortunate for you; caring for those more vulnerable, going to monasteries, nurturing your faith and trusting life to hold you, and allowing yourself for desire or spiritual yearning too to transform you, to fall deeply into unconditional love and deep intimacy without boundaries, charity and humanitarian work, are all beneficial.
With the Part of Fortune in your 12th house, House 12, you thrive in that which is hidden, mystical and felt though not always touched. You yearn for these mystical experiences in life that open you and allow you to expand your sensory body to touch the intangible and untoucheable; and you carry deep spiritual wisdom perhaps from many life times – particularly if you have a strong Jupiter and spiritual nakshatras/constellations, and other key spiritual or esoteric or occult placements. The purpose of these gifts as designated by your Part of Fortune is to help others reveal what is hidden in the collective subconscious or even unconscious.
You reveal. You illuminate. You bring light to the shadow. You are people’s lantern.
A Part of Fortune here makes one who guides others toward dissolving boundaries, being ego-less, deeper understanding, faith, unity, closeness with spirit and the divine, and you are often a bringer of spiritual calm into people’s lives. You may carry an aura of deep acceptance, faith and trust which soothes people’s minds, hearts and souls.
Since the Part of Fortune directs us to the path that will lead us to optimizing financial abundance, prosperity, and security in our lives, this placement shows that you may find your financial fortunes when your intention is to reveal, illuminate, and bright light to the unseen. You will find your fortune and prosperity when you help others reveal what was otherwise hidden. More than anything, this life isn’t about finding “fortunes” – it is about finding God.
Having your Part of Fortune in the mystical 12th house shows that essentially your fortune reveals itself when you let go of expectations and just let life unfold for you in its natural flow – let go of the hows and just trust your path, trust the unfolding of your life. This is a very zen position, it’s the path of the mystic, it’s the divine sacred union and marriage, so it’s about deep trust, surrender and the deep pleasures and happiness from what deeply fulfills our heart, which has nothing to do with the material possessions nor statuses nor man made identities and sparkles.
As with all other Part of Fortune placements, this too depends on whether it is a night birth or day birth. And of course, it all depends on the sign and other placements in the chart, because Part of Fortune alone cannot tell you much and it is not meant to be read in absolute – everything in the chart is interrelated, so nothing can be read as an absolute.
But in general, having a 12th house Part of Fortune becomes very powerful if you were born on a New Moon – because it then endows you with incredible spiritual insight and light, powerful imagination and connection to spirit, and amazing creative and artistic talents and gifts. It gives you potent creativity and if you choose to be an artist you will have inspired creativity and ideas that you can shape into beautiful things.
This placement can show serious creative talents, gifts and skills, as well as beautiful charitable nature and virtues. You see form in the formless, you see beyond the veils and how all moves within things; there is a natural understanding of the spiritual realms and the interconnection of all in life, and how threads weave and shape. You see colours in the voids, and you hear the soul songs of whales, or from times beyond times before times. A 12th house Part of Fortune with a New moon birth is a powerful indicator of an incredible, innovative, and original artist.
Part of Spirit in the 1st House:
And if you were born on a New Moon with 12th house Part of Fortune, then your Part of Spirit would most probably be placed on your Ascendant.
This further shows your innovative and creative and courageous spirit – you have basically put your spirit in your body and will pave your own path of life in a way that inspires all around you; and you will leave sparkles for people along their way also. What drives you in life is your free spirit, and your body moves through that pure desire of heart and soul – it moves towards the otherness. As the 1st house is ruled by cardinal fire – you may carry a fire or candle for others to feel inspired by on their paths and infuse them with life force energy, so they may feel really motivated around you or suddenly have ideas sparkled within their own psyche through your presence in their life.
This placement shows that your core essence and vitality are related to your sense of self and authenticity, because this is also what will allow you to bring light to others and illuminate their own paths in the 12th house. And being born on a New Moon shows a new phase of your soul evolution, so you come with a power house life force, passions and desire for authenticity. This placement shows you may exude a palpable sense of energy and self-confidence, projecting your spirit outwardly for the world to witness and be inspired by. Your approach to life is often marked by a strong sense of individuality, courage, initiation and an innate ability to make a lasting impression on others.
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Cover art by Eugene de Blaas, The Serenade, 1910.