Arabian Parts

Arabian Parts, or Arabic Parts (from the Latin word pars) fall under the heading of
sensitive points as they are not actual heavenly bodies, yet their position can be
calculated within a horoscope. The Arabian parts actually pre-dated the emergence
of astrology in Islamic societies. Hellenistic astrologers called them lots, and
some ancient astrologers used them extensively.
Arabian parts are used in horary astrology today, with some use in natal, medical,
and predictive mundane astrology.
Contents
1 History
2 Method
2.1 Calculation
3 See also
4 Weblinks
5 Bibliography
6 Notes and References
The lots are a very ancient astrological technique which can be traced back to pre-
Hellenistic sources. Their origin is obscure; they could originally be Babylonian,
Ancient Egyptian, Magian, Persian or Hermetic, but by the time of Dorotheus of
Sidon in the first century A.D. (and probably earlier) they had become an
established tenet of Hellenistic astrological practice.
One of the best informational sources for the lots is the Introduction to astrology
by fourth-century astrologer Paulus Alexandrinus and the Commentary on this work by
sixth-century philosopher Olympiodorus the Younger. Paulus used a dozen or so major
lots for almost every aspect of his analysis. The most important of these were the
Lot of Fortune (or Part of Fortune) and its complement, the Lot of Spirit.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, all of the classical legacy, including
astrology, fell to the Abbasid Arabs and Persians. Arab astrologers translated
sources from Greek and produced many of their own astrologers who wrote a
considerable amount in Arabic on astrology. Although it is not clear whether the
number of lots began to proliferate in late Antiquity or whether it was purely the
product of the fascination the Arabs had for them, Arabic manuscripts show an
explosion in the number of lots that were used over the next several centuries. The
inordinate increase is noted by the Arab commentators themselves. In The
Abbreviation of the Introduction to Astrology, Persian astrologer Abu Ma'Shar (787-
886) describes no less than 55 lots, although it's clear that these are only the
ones he considers significant. This count does not even include all of the lots of
Paulus.
Beginning in the tenth century, many Arabic manuscripts were translated into Latin,
becoming the means by which Classical astrology found its way back to Europe.
Medieval astrologers, most notably the major 13th-century Italian, Guido Bonatti, a
contemporary of Dante, assumed it was the Arabs who originated the concept of the
lots, and hence they came eventually to be called the "Arabic parts".
By the time of William Lilly, only the Lot of Fortune continued to be used by
astrologers, although in a manner that would be considered strange by ancient
practitioners. Lilly's methods with what he called "Fortuna" have continued in
modern astrology, although rarely used and usually misunderstood. The Lot of
Fortune mainly appears today in horary practice.
Method
Astrologers over the centuries have used hundreds of Arabian parts, involving
different sorts of calculations. Essentially they are arithmetically derived points
located on the Ecliptic. Most Arabian parts in use today are calculated by taking
the longitudinal distance between two planets or house cusps believed to have some
influence over a matter of interest, and projecting it from the ascendant or
midheaven. Astrologers disagree on whether day- and night-charts should involve
different calculations. In a day chart, however, the Part of Fortune is calculated
by taking the distance in degrees (according to the order of the signs) from the
sun to the moon, and then adding that distance to the degrees of the ascendant. In
a night chart, one starts with the moon and determines the number of degrees from
the moon to the sun, then adds that number to the degrees of the ascendant.
Calculation
To calculate the Arabian parts (more details can be found under the individual
headings), the degree of a sign must be converted into an absolute degree from 0
degrees Aries. This means that an ascendant at 9 degrees Leo equates to 129
degrees, the sun at 4 degrees Taurus to 34 degrees and the moon at 6 degrees
Aquarius to 306 degrees. For a daylight birth the part of fortune is calculated by
adding the position of the moon to the ascendant and subtracting the position of
the sun. In the above example, that would result in a total of 401 degrees. Because
there are only 360 degrees in the zodiac, 360 is then subtracted from this sum,
which gives a final result of 41 degrees, which is equivalent to 11 degrees Taurus.

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Arabian Parts, or Arabic Parts (from the Latin word pars) fall under the heading of

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