The Lots of the Chart

The Arabic parts, or lots, are points calculated from the positions of other factors in a chart: most familiarly the Part of Fortune, derived from the positions of the Ascendant, Sun and Moon. Despite the name they are Hellenistic in origin; the Arabic astrologers received them from the Greek tradition, greatly expanded the list, and it is through Arabic and then Latin transmission that they reached the later West.

Each part is defined by a formula, so many degrees from one point as another is from a third, and marks a sensitive place in the chart said to concentrate the affairs it is named for: fortune, spirit, marriage, children, death and hundreds more.