15 Comments »

naim malik said:

hi chris,
enjoyed your video, please post more when you get time.
only one hitch. i’m not sold on on the diurnal/nocturnal thing for the POF. have researched deeply using both systems and at the moment favour ptolemy.
if you could convince me otherwise using particular case studies, i would like to be corrected and set straight.
tho’ its preferable to give a large sample of charts, for the sake of clarity and space i offer up in ptolemy’s defence the POF of Alex Haley, author of ‘Roots’…
in house 4. strong directions of MC,jupiter and venus to the part at time of publication. transits equally strong.
on the other hand, progressions/transits to the nocturnal POF look weak.
anyway, keep up the good work,
naim.
- October 8 2007 at 3:32 pm
Chris Brennan (author) said:

Thanks for you comments on my video Naim! I appreciate it.
I’m writing a book right now in which I deal with this issue concerning the Lot of Fortune, and in it I have a number of case studies in which I demonstrate the case for flipping the calculation for the Lot of Fortune for day and night charts. I think that one of the only ways that this kind of case can be made properly is to test the lots within the context of some of the ancient time-lord techniques that they were originally used in. In my book I will outline some of these techniques, and I think that the case that I make will be quite compelling.
From a historical perspective there was also one other view with respect to the Lot of Fortune calculation. The most widespread tradition that was derived from Dorotheus and Valens was to flip the calculation for day and night births, and virtually everyone used this calculation. Then there was Ptolemy who didn’t flip the calculation for day and night births, but he never really had any followers in doing that until the early English traditiontion (ie. Lilly).
There was a third tradition though that isn’t very well known. Valens quotes a passage from Petosiris which seems to say that you use the diurnal calculation for the Lot of Fortune in a day chart, and then you use the nocturnal calculation in a night chart- but only if the Moon is above the horizon at that time. If the Moon is below the horizon at night then you use the diurnal calculation for Fortune. Since this passage was directly quoted from Petosiris, who was one of the principle authorities in the Hellenistic tradition, one would assume that it would have carried a lot of weight back then. But for some reason no one ever seemed to mention this variation elsewhere. I have only been able to find one example chart from the 1st century which may be employing this rule. Even Valens, who quotes this passage from Petosiris, seems to disregard it in the rest of his example charts in the Anthology.
Anyways, I thought that you might find that interesting, or useful food for thought.
- October 8 2007 at 3:58 pm
naim said:

thanks for a thoughtful reply. i see the logic of using the oldest techniques to figure something as old as the lot of fortune. as i still got a lot to learn i naively thought applying modern methods would ‘crack’ it’s meaning. whoops…
also its interesting to learn of the diverse opinion among the older sources regarding usage.
being from a muslim background, the arab contribution has always interested me, but i get the sense they went on a bit of a ‘part’ overdose. kind of like they just found an i pod and kept pressing ’shuffle’ over and over just for the fun of it…how do you view this?
naim.
- October 9 2007 at 4:27 pm
sara said:

Hi,
I wanted to ask u if u think that Justin Timberlake and Britney spears
reuniting in the future? If yes when?
Can u please make an analyse on Britney and Justin relationship. He has Sun
in Aquarius and Moon in Sagittarius; she has Sun in Sagittarius and Moon in
Aquarius. They are soul mates. December 2008 Jupiter will conjunct Britney
and Justin’s shared Venus. Is there a chance for them to reconnect??????? He
is currently dating Jessica Biel. Will they break-up soon?
Thank u
- October 10 2007 at 7:15 am
Chris Brennan (author) said:

Hi again Naim,
It is true that the number of Lots were expanded greatly during the Arabic tradition. There is this famous quote from al-Biruni that is often referred to where he says that the number of Lots “multiply daily”, or something to that effect.
So there was great interest in the concept in the Arabic tradition and they developed or augmented many lots that were not in the previous traditions, but on the other hand we can already see that by the later Hellenistic tradition there were quite a few lots in circulation as well. In the Olympiodorus commentary on Paulus’ Introduction they mention something like 100 Lots that were in use to some extent in the late Hellenistic tradition, in addition to the 7 ‘hermetic’ lots. So it seems like there was some sort of elaboration on the concept even then, and then it was simply carried on to its logical conclusion in the later traditions.
The large number of Lots can make things quite confusing sometimes though if they are employed all at once. I prefer to stick with the main seven usually, although I am very interested in looking into some of the developments and advancements in astrology that were carried out in the Arabic tradition as well.
- October 10 2007 at 12:35 pm
Chris Brennan (author) said:

Hi Sara,
Honestly I haven’t looked at Britney Spear’s chart for a while, so I don’t really know. I will see if I can get around to writing another article about her at some point in the future, and then maybe I can give you an answer.
- October 10 2007 at 12:37 pm
james said:

Thanks for this very useful information;
You wrote: ” I prefer to stick with the main seven (lots) usually…”
May you be so kind as to list them for me/us?
james
- October 11 2007 at 9:53 am
james said:

Mighty nice of you to take the time; I had previously seen these Lots in Rob Hand’s article on the Part of Fortune (Part 4), but was not sure if they were identical;
Again thanks and hoping to read your book in the near future
james
- October 12 2007 at 12:08 pm
Chris Brennan (author) said:

Sure
The Lot of Fortune – Associated with the Moon
• Diurnal: From the Sun to the Moon, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
• Nocturnal: From the Moon to the Sun, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
The Lot of Spirit – Associated with the Sun
• Diurnal: From the Moon to the Sun, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
• Nocturnal: From the Sun to the Moon, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
Lot of Necessity – Associated with Mercury
• Diurnal: From Mercury to the Lot of Fortune, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
• Nocturnal: From the Lot of Fortune to Mercury, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
Lot of Eros – Venus
• Diurnal: From the Lot of Spirit to Venus, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
• Nocturnal: From Venus to the Lot of Spirit, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
Lot of Courage – Mars
• Diurnal: From Mars to the Lot of Fortune, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
• Nocturnal: From the Lot of Fortune to Mars, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
Lot of Victory – Jupiter
• Diurnal: From the Lot of Spirit to Jupiter, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
• Nocturnal: From Jupiter to the Lot of Spirit, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
Lot of Nemesis – Saturn
• Diurnal: From Saturn to the Lot of Fortune, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
• Nocturnal: From the Lot of Fortune to Saturn, and then the same distance from the ascendant.
- October 12 2007 at 11:51 am
D. said:

I liked the video, please do some more.
So my lot of fortune switches from house 4 in pisces to – house 6 in aries, conjunct my aries mars. Gotta go google that.
Thanks for the mini-class.
- October 14 2007 at 7:28 am
Colleen Walsh said:

Thank you for producing such an clear description of how to calulate the lot of fortune.
I do hope that you will produce more of them.
Like right now I am having trouble setting up diurnal charts.
I must have done a 1000’s of them decades ago, but something is now different. I know what the math formula is but the transiting sun is now located almost 180 degrees from where it used to be in my diurnal charts.
In the past I could calulate a diurnal chart for my birthday and the transiting sun on my birthday would always be located in the 5th house, which is where it is placed in my natal birthchart. Now it is in the 11th house and I have Leo rising instead of my natal capricorn ascendant on the day of my birthday. Weird. Can you explain why?
Good Luck in your future endevors of producing some more videos.
Cheers!
Colleen
- November 4 2007 at 4:59 pm
Astrology Explored » Blog Archive » The Part the Part of Fortune Played on Super Tuesday said:
[...] If you’d like to check out how the Part of Fortune is calculated, check out this video by Chris Brennan: [...]
- February 6 2008 at 6:00 pm
Whole Sign Houses » The Horoscopic Astrology Blog said:
[...] You may note that the degree of the MC and the IC can actually fall in other whole sign houses besides just the 10th and the 4th, because in the whole sign house system these points move around in a way that is similar to the vertex or the Lot of Fortune. [...]
- December 10 2008 at 12:09 pm
Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol Features Astrology » The Horoscopic Astrology Blog said:
[...] for the Lot of Fortune or Part of Fortune, which looks like a circle with an X through [...]
- December 29 2009 at 2:50 am
Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol Features Astrology » AstroDispatch.com » Astrology Around The Web said:
[...] for the Lot of Fortune or Part of Fortune, which looks like a circle with an X through [...]
- December 29 2009 at 5:17 am

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