Lunar Astrology: The Part of Fortune, Part II

August 9, 2005 by admin

Lunar Astrology: The Meaning and Use of the Part of Fortune

In the previous article we established that it is best to follow Ptolemy’s lead on calculating the Part of Fortune and not reverse it in nighttime charts (to recap, the formula is PoF = Asc + Moon – Sun). This is because the reversed Part of Fortune is actually a whole new part with a different meaning, the Part of Spirit. While the Part of Fortune is concerned with physical riches and the physical state of one’s soul (remember that in traditional thought, the soul itself is a physical entity), the Part of Spirit is concerned with spiritual riches and one’s inclination to the spiritual life. Thus, we cannot confuse the two Parts, and must keep them separate.

The fact that the two most important Parts in a chart are mirror images of one another is extremely important from a spiritual perspective. I will cover the spiritual implications of the reversal and the relationship between the Part of Fortune and the Part of Spirit in a subsequent article. For the moment, I simply quote these words from Meister Eckhart: “The Soul has two eyes – one looking inwards and the other outwards. It is the inner eye of the soul that looks into essence and takes being directly from God.” The Part of Fortune, then, is the outward-looking eye, the rays of which go outward into the world (again, traditionally, the eyes emanated divine light toward objects, not vice versa as the scientists assure us today).

The Part of Fortune in the Chart

In the natal chart, the Part of Fortune will show us the physical nature of the soul. Think of it as a bodily faculty, like sight or hearing. Look at its house position and the state of its dispositor, which is probably even more important than the state of the Part itself. We can identify very spiritual individuals from the Part of Fortune and its dispositor. Typically, the dispositor will itself rule several important planets in the chart. This means that the soul governs the other physical and mental faculties of the native, which is ideal, and correspondingly rare.

Bonatti says that the Part of Fortune “signifies the life, the body, and also its soul, its strength, fortune, substance, and profit, that is: wealth and poverty, gold and silver, heaviness or lightness of things bought in the marketplace, praise and good reputation, and honours and recognition, good and evil, present and future, hidden and manifest; and it has signification over everything.” That last bit being particularly unhelpful, the very comprehensiveness of Bonatti’s list is interesting. In it, he basically combines the roles of the Sun, Moon, and Ascendant, the three of which on some basic level, do have “signification over everything.”

Regardless of the discussion about the Part’s role in describing the soul, it will always describe the material fortunes of the native. Bonatti ultimately says that the Part signifies “good fortune,” or presumably its lack in the native’s life. Ultimately, the signification of the Part is external, and the spirituality that it describes is that which shines through the native’s exterior. In traditional philosophy, and in an ideal world, there is no disconnect between the external and the internal – one’s appearance mirrors one’s essence. The Part of Fortune reflects that reality, that the inner reality is always tied in with the outer.