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Part of Fortune

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Origin 100 BCE to 200 CE

The Part of Fortune, or Pars Fortunae, is the best known of the Arabic lots or parts, mathematical points derived from three chart factors rather than a physical body. It is calculated from the positions of the Sun, the Moon, and the Ascendant, and it locates by sign and house where worldly wellbeing, ease, and good fortune tend to flow most naturally in the life. The formula changes with the sect of the birth: for a day chart the Ascendant plus the Moon minus the Sun, and for a night chart the Ascendant plus the Sun minus the Moon, so that the relationship of the two lights is projected from the rising degree. The Part of Fortune shows where body, mind, and spirit come into alignment, where a person finds prosperity, health, and a grounded sense of joy. Its house placement points to the area of life through which fulfillment and material blessing are most readily found.

Facts
Origins
Origin Period
100 BCE to 200 CE 1Tradition: Hellenistic astrology in Greco-Roman Egypt
Place of Origin
Greco-Roman Egypt 1
Attributions
Calculation
Day: Ascendant plus Moon minus Sun; night: Ascendant plus Sun minus Moon 2
Attestation
Meaning in the Attesting Source
Locates where worldly wellbeing and good fortune flow most naturally 2
Learn More
The Part of Fortune Among the Planetary Points

The Part of Fortune, kleros tyches in Greek and pars fortunae in Latin, is the most important of the Hellenistic lots: a point calculated from the positions of three others, most commonly the Ascendant plus the Moon minus the Sun in a day chart, with the Sun and Moon reversed at night. It appears in this list among the planets because most modern software plots it as a chart point alongside them, but it is a derived position and not a body. Ptolemy is the only one of the major Hellenistic authors to discuss the lots at any length, and he uses this one alone, taking it for the body, health and material circumstances of the life; other authors, Vettius Valens and Paulus Alexandrinus among them, use a much larger set. The atlas treats the lots as a group in their own section, where the formula and the wider family of parts are set out.

Robert Hand and Robert Schmidt's Project Hindsight translations, discussed more fully under the Arabic parts, were instrumental in reviving the wider Hellenistic doctrine of lots beyond the Part of Fortune alone for English-language readers in the 1990s; before that revival most twentieth-century Western astrology retained only Fortune, calculated with the day formula applied unreversed at all times, from what had once been a much larger and sect-sensitive Hellenistic technical apparatus.

The Day and Night Reversal, and Why It Matters

The sect reversal, computing the lot one way for a day chart and the reverse for a night chart, is the feature that most clearly marks the Part of Fortune as belonging to the Hellenistic system rather than to modern practice. It follows from the doctrine of sect, in which the Sun leads by day and the Moon by night, and the lot is measured from the leading luminary. A good deal of twentieth-century astrology dropped the reversal and used the day formula for all charts, which produces a different point for roughly half of all births; the revival of Hellenistic technique since the 1990s has largely restored it. This is one of the clearest examples in astrology of a technical detail being lost in transmission and then recovered from the primary sources, and it is a useful reminder that the tradition is not a single continuous doctrine but a text history with gaps.

Robert Hand's introductory material accompanying the Project Hindsight translations in the 1990s, discussed at greater length under the Arabic parts, was among the most widely read English-language sources explaining the sect-reversal principle to a modern audience, and much of the astrological software written since has built the reversal in as a selectable option rather than a forced default, which means the two conventions, reversed and unreversed, now coexist in current practice rather than one having fully displaced the other.

Calculation and Notation

The Part of Fortune is computed from the relative positions of the Sun, the Moon and the Ascendant, using a formula that Hellenistic sources such as Vettius Valens describe as reversing direction between day and night charts, a distinction most modern calculators still preserve. It is a core technique of Hellenistic astrology described in the ancient sources, and it proved unusually durable, remaining in practical use through the medieval period and into the seventeenth century, when William Lilly discussed it under the name Fortuna in his Christian Astrology at a time when most of the other Hellenistic lots had already dropped out of Western practice. Its glyph is a cross or X set within a circle, related in form to the plain circled cross used for the planet Earth but distinguished by the diagonal, rotated placement of the cross, a distinction still followed in the astrological typefaces used by modern chart-drawing software.

The technique nearly vanished from Western practice along with the rest of the Hellenistic lot system until an organised project of translation, begun in 1993 by Robert Schmidt, Robert Hand and Robert Zoller under the name Project Hindsight, rendered Vettius Valens and other Hellenistic authors into English and restored the Part of Fortune's original calculation methods and context to a wider modern audience of astrologers.

Correspondences & Relations

Placed in House

10th House, Houses

The Part of Fortune in the tenth house is read as fortune through vocation and standing. Astrologers describe well-being found in achievement and a public role, and good that comes through responsibility, reputation and the visible work of a life.

11th House, Houses

Astrologers read the Part of Fortune in the eleventh house as fortune through community and hope. The tradition describes well-being found among friends, groups and shared aims, and good that arrives through the future one builds with others.

12th House, Houses

The Part of Fortune in the twelfth house is read as fortune found in the inner life. Astrologers describe well-being that comes through solitude, compassion and surrender, and good that arrives quietly, from retreat, imagination and the unseen.

1st House, Houses

The Part of Fortune is an Arabic Part calculated from the Ascendant, Moon and Sun, and astrologers read it as a point of ease and natural flourishing. In the first house it is read as fortune found through the self: well-being that comes from simply being oneself, a natural vitality and presence, and good that arrives through one's own initiative and manner.

2nd House, Houses

The Part of Fortune in the second house is read as fortune through resources and worth. Astrologers describe ease in earning and holding, a good instinct for the tangible, and a sense of well-being tied to material security and self-reliance.

3rd House, Houses

Astrologers read the Part of Fortune in the third house as fortune through the mind and connection. The tradition describes well-being found in communication, learning and the immediate world, and good that comes through words, curiosity and everyday exchange.

4th House, Houses

The Part of Fortune in the fourth house is read as fortune found at home. Astrologers describe well-being rooted in family, place and a private base, a sense of ease that grows from belonging and secure foundations.

5th House, Houses

Astrologers read the Part of Fortune in the fifth house as fortune through joy and creation. The tradition describes well-being found in romance, play, children and creative expression, and good that arrives when a person follows pleasure and the heart.

6th House, Houses

The Part of Fortune in the sixth house is read as fortune through work and service. Astrologers describe well-being found in useful daily effort and good health habits, and a sense of ease that grows from being needed and doing things well.

7th House, Houses

Astrologers read the Part of Fortune in the seventh house as fortune through partnership. The tradition describes well-being found in relationship and cooperation, and good that arrives through others, marriage and the meeting of the self in the other.

8th House, Houses

The Part of Fortune in the eighth house is read as fortune through depth and shared resources. Astrologers describe well-being found in intimacy, transformation and joint holdings, and good that comes through what is merged, inherited or profoundly changed.

9th House, Houses

Astrologers read the Part of Fortune in the ninth house as fortune through meaning and travel. The tradition describes well-being found in higher learning, foreign places and a personal philosophy, and good that arrives when a person widens the horizon.

Placed in Sign

Aquarius, Zodiac Signs

Astrologers read the Part of Fortune in Aquarius as well-being found through freedom and community. The tradition describes fortune that arrives through independence, originality and a place among equals working toward shared aims.

Aries, Zodiac Signs

The Part of Fortune is an Arabic Part drawn from the Ascendant, Moon and Sun, and astrologers read it as a point of ease and natural flourishing. In Aries well-being is read as found through initiative and courage: fortune that arrives when a person acts on their own behalf, meets life directly, and follows the drive to begin.

Cancer, Zodiac Signs

The Part of Fortune in Cancer is read as well-being found through nurture and belonging. Astrologers describe fortune rooted in home, family and emotional security, and good that grows from caring and being cared for.

Capricorn, Zodiac Signs

The Part of Fortune in Capricorn is read as well-being found through discipline and achievement. Astrologers describe fortune that comes by way of patience, responsibility and the steady building of standing.

Gemini, Zodiac Signs

Astrologers read the Part of Fortune in Gemini as well-being found through the mind and communication. The tradition describes fortune that comes by way of words, learning, curiosity and versatile connection with the world.

Leo, Zodiac Signs

Astrologers read the Part of Fortune in Leo as well-being found through creative expression and the heart. The tradition describes fortune that arrives when a person creates warmly, loves generously and dares to be seen.

Libra, Zodiac Signs

Astrologers read the Part of Fortune in Libra as well-being found through harmony and relationship. The tradition describes fortune that comes by way of partnership, fairness and the cultivation of beauty and balance.

Pisces, Zodiac Signs

The Part of Fortune in Pisces is read as well-being found through compassion and surrender. Astrologers describe fortune that grows quietly from imagination, faith and a tender, boundless connection to others.

Sagittarius, Zodiac Signs

Astrologers read the Part of Fortune in Sagittarius as well-being found through meaning and expansion. The tradition describes fortune that grows from travel, learning and the pursuit of a wider truth to live by.

Scorpio, Zodiac Signs

The Part of Fortune in Scorpio is read as well-being found through depth and renewal. Astrologers describe fortune that arrives through intimacy, transformation and the courage to face and use what is hidden.

Taurus, Zodiac Signs

The Part of Fortune in Taurus is read as well-being found through steadiness and the senses. Astrologers describe fortune that grows from patience, comfort and the building of durable, tangible security.

Virgo, Zodiac Signs

The Part of Fortune in Virgo is read as well-being found through useful work and discernment. Astrologers describe fortune that grows from service, skill and the careful improvement of the daily task.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Originates in Language

Latin, Languages

Pars Fortunae in the Latin tradition, rendering the Greek kleros of the Hellenistic lot doctrine.

Source Introduction to Astrology (Eisagogika)Paulus Alexandrinus

Related To

Part of Fortune, Arabic Parts

The atlas holds the lot twice: here among the calculated chart points, and at the head of the Arabic lots, where its formula and its reversal between a day chart and a night chart are recorded.

Source Introduction to Astrology (Eisagogika)Paulus Alexandrinus

Symbolized By

Part of Fortune, Religious Symbols

The symbol's own cited description identifies its glyph as that of this planet.

Source A History of Western AstrologyNicholas Campion
Sources
1. A History of Western Astrology
Nicholas Campion, Continuum, 2009vol. 1, on the formation of horoscopic astrology in Greco-Roman EgyptView the Source
2. Introduction to Astrology (Eisagogika)
Paulus Alexandrinus, 378
Tetrabiblos
Claudius Ptolemy, W. Foulsham, 1900Book III, on the Lot of FortuneView the Source
Astronomica
Marcus Manilius, Harvard University Press, 1977On the lots in the horoscopeView the Source
Anthology (Anthologiarum Libri Novem)
Vettius Valens, B.G. Teubner, 175the lots and the day and night reversalView the Source
Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune
Chris Brennan, Amor Fati Publications, 2017the recovery of the sect reversal in the lotsView the Source

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