Astrological Forecasts

I have recently become most fascinated by the Part of Fortune. It appears to be one of those items, like the star based Lunar Mansions, to be older than the 12 signs of the zodiac. It is basically an equation,  whereby we take the degree of the Ascendant and add it to the Moon, and then subtract the Sun from the total.  The result is the Part or the Lot of Fortune.

The ancients considered this to be a very special location because it marked the place that is equidistant to the Sun and the Moon.  According to Firmicus Maternus, it was said to show amongst other things, ‘the quality of the life, the amount of inheritance,  and the love between men and women.’ A pretty powerful spot indeed!

The Part of Fortune is said to have been handed down to us by the same man that is said to have brought us the written word,  Hermes- Thoth. He is said  to have lived 9000 years before Christ was born.

It does two great things. It marks the phases of the Moon by moving around the chart as the month goes on. For example, at the New Moon it will be placed in the first house. At the first quarter, it will be placed in the 4th house, and by the full Moon it will be placed in the 7th house, and so on. For more on the Parsfortuna and the phases,  Thomas Decker does a fabulous job of exploring this on his great blog http://altairastrology.wordpress.com

Here is a chart drawn for an midnight on the day of a New Moon.

( Click here for larger chart )

Notice that the Part of Fortune is in the first house almost 90 degrees  away from the Moon who is in the 4th with the Sun.

According to Firmicus Maternus, it was Abraham who said that the Part of Fortune was the ‘place of the Moon.’

Bonatti said that the Part of Fortune acted like an extra  ‘ascendant of the Moon.’

At midnight on the day of a new Moon,  we see the Moon in the 4th house, just beyond the Sun.

As the long night journeys towards day,   the Moon will edge ever closer and closer  to the  Part of Fortune.

By 4:00 AM  we see the Moon moving upwards towards the Part of Fortune.

( Click here for larger chart )

As we can see in the chart to the left, the Moon is now in the 2nd house and heads closer and closer to the Part of Fortune.

Finally as dawn approaches, the Moon draws ever closer to the Part of Fortune. The chart below  is drawn for the wee small hours when there is light but the Sun has not popped up above the horizon.

Notice  just minutes before the Sun actually rises, we see the Moon is just  below the Part of Fortune also within minutes.

( Click here for larger chart )

At the very moment that the Sun crosses above the eastern horizon  (when the Degree on the Ascendant is one and the same as the Sun), the Part of Fortune will be on the exact same degree as the Part of Fortune.

( Click here for larger chart )

So what is all the fuss? Well, as we know from the old game of ‘telephone’ where one game player whispers something to another, and then another person does the same, and then another and another,  all the way around the room how different the original message winds up being by the time it reaches the last game player.  Well, we can imagine how much affectation can happen with a little equation over 9000 years! Evidently, some where along the way, the idea of ‘sect’ became important. This idea is where the Moon becomes the light of night, and the Sun the light of day. This was obviously a big deal by the time Christ was born.  Many ancients, said that if a person is born at night, that the formula had to be changed to satisfy this idea of the Moon being in charge at night. Thus some ancients, amongst them, Paulus, Firmicus, and Bonatti, said in order to find the Part of Fortune for the night born amongst us, the formula will be ASC + Sun – Moon.

Sounds logical, doesn’t it?

There is one big problem with this idea. If the switch has to be made for those born at night, then we lose this beautiful tie between the Moon, the ASC and the Sun.

We all agree what the formula was for day births, and that the Moon will be exactly with the Part at the moment the Sun crosses the horizon, because we all agree that by then it is day time. However, if we draw up the chart for just one minute before dawn using ASC + Sun – Moon, what we see is that the contact with the Moon is thrown off, completely and the Part of Fortune falls way into the 12t house, thus losing both the marking of the phase of a new Moon, but even worse, the Place of the Moon is thrown way off!!

( Click here for larger chart )

Riddle:

How on earth does this mark the Moon???

Answer:

It doesn’t.

Now just to make sure you are paying attention. Here is the chart for the Part of Fortune on the very same day using the acceptable formula but just one minute, later….Which begs the question, if the ancients agree that the Part of Fortune is to be the ‘place of the Moon, doesn’t the switch blow this tie altogether ? In other words, if we switch for night time, then we wind up with at 6:54 am in San Francisco, one minute before dawn, the Part of Fortune is in the 12th house, and one minute later it is in the first house?

( Click here for larger chart )

When citations don’t make any sense, then I have to question authorities.

Claudius Ptolemy and William Lilly sayeth not to switch. Both have come to be dismissed by many in the field of astrology. In the case of Ptolemy, this may be just because he was so overrated for 1400 years or so. However, in saying we should not switch formulas for night births, it would seem he is being true to Abraham’s statement that the Part of Fortune is the ‘place of the Moon.’

November may start out stormy in Scorpio, but it ends on a bright note with Sagittarius.  You can progress in the same way.  The dark and the light are both required, especially for that twilight in which a lot of us writers do our thing.  Have a powerful, strongly rooted and brilliantly productive month!  Heads up! (continue reading…)