What the Part of Fortune is
The Part of Fortune, or Lot of Fortune, is the best known of the lots of Hellenistic astrology, points found by measuring the distance between two chart factors and counting it from a third. Fortune measures the distance from the Sun to the Moon and counts it from the Ascendant. So at a new moon, when the Moon is on the Sun, the Part of Fortune sits on the Ascendant, and at a full moon it sits on the Descendant. Astrologers read it as a point of luck, health and material well-being: where things come to you more easily.
Day and night births
Hellenistic astrologers used a different formula by night. For a day birth, with the Sun above the horizon, Fortune is the Ascendant plus the Moon's distance from the Sun; for a night birth it is the Ascendant plus the Sun's distance from the Moon. Many modern astrologers use the day formula for everyone. The calculator tells you whether you were born by day or by night, uses the traditional rule, and gives the other result when the two differ.
Reading your Part of Fortune
- The sign colors how fortune comes to you.
- The house is read as the area of life where it comes: in the 2nd, money and possessions; in the 10th, career and reputation; in the 7th, partners.
- The ruler. The planet ruling its sign is read as the one that delivers it, so its sign, house and condition add detail.
- Planets on it are read as part of its story.
The Part of Spirit
The Part of Spirit is Fortune's mirror, measured the other way round. Where Fortune is read as the body, circumstance and what happens to you, Spirit is read as the mind and will: your purpose and the things you set out to do. The calculator gives both.