PART OF FORTUNE:
PART ONE
by ARLENE A. KRAMER
Mankind's fascination with the Sun-Moon-Earth relationship has extended beyond the basic waxing and waning of the Moon (the Lunation Cycle.) For thousands of years, this relationship has been expanded by Astrologers to include the Fixed Stars, the zodiacal constellations, house systems, and the angles (Midheaven, Ascendant, Vertex.) Many of these expanded relationships have been codified and named the Arabic Parts. Perhaps the most familiar of these Arabic Parts, and possibly the most useful, is the Part of Fortune or Pars Fortuna.
Traditionally, the Part of Fortune indicates the area in the horoscope where the owner of the horoscope feels that "good fortune" is smiling on him. To some, "good fortune" means that money abounds, to others it means public recognition and acclaim, and to others, it means love, good health, and good luck. The clue, according to tradition, to the personal interpretation of "good fortune" lies in the sign and house placement of the Part of Fortune.
The Part of Fortune will be the exact amount of degrees and minutes distant from the Ascendant as the Moon is distant from the Sun. So, for example, if the Moon is 73 degrees after the Sun (within the second eighth of the Lunation Cycle), the Part of Fortune will be 73 degrees after the Ascendant. The same example, in zodiacal terms could have the Ascendant at 10 degrees Taurus, the Sun at 00 Gemini, and the Moon at 13 degrees Leo. (This is a distance of the 73 degrees mentioned above.) Because the Ascendant is 10 degrees Taurus, the Part of Fortune is 73 degrees later, or 23 degrees of Cancer. The sign of the Part of Fortune is dependent on the sign and degree of the Ascendant, leading to a wide variety of possible signs for the Part of Fortune on any given day.
The house position of the Part of Fortune, however, depends upon the distance that the Moon is from the Sun. For example, in a natal chart cast for right after the New Moon, the Part of Fortune will be in the First house, because the Moon has not yet moved far from the Sun, and the Part of Fortune is close to the Ascendant. As another example of house position, consider the hours after a Full Moon, when the Part of Fortune is in the seventh house because the Moon is located a little bit more than 180 degrees from the Sun.
There is a possibility that the Part of Fortune will make an aspect to one of the planets in the natal horoscope. Traditionally, conjunctions and oppositions carry the most significance; squares have lesser significance, and trines even less so. The significance is in the nature of the planet aspected, and may be discussed in a future article.
In this and future articles, we will examine the significance of the location of the Part of Fortune by house, by sign, and by planetary aspect. Let us begin by examining the significance of the position of the Part of Fortune as it relates to the houses.
PART OF FORTUNE IN THE FIRST HOUSE:
The person with his Part of Fortune in the first house is a person who was born at or just after a New Moon, and, as such, carries the characteristics of a New Moon personality. He has a strongly individual way of meeting life's situations. If he places himself and his unique achievements out where they will be seen, he should have great success and happiness. This is a person who wants to stand out in his own way. He has the charm and human magnetism of the sign on the Ascendant.
PART OF FORTUNE IN THE SECOND HOUSE:
The person with his Part of Fortune in the second house has the drive, the patience, and the endurance and willingness to use his personal assets, talents, abilities, and efforts to strive for financial success. He feels happy when he draws money, possessions, collections, to himself, and he should not feel guilty about doing so. He needs these things with which to express himself. The Part of Fortune in the second house is good for money. The person has a concern for financial security but he need never worry about it.
PART OF FORTUNE IN THE THIRD HOUSE:
The person with his Part of Fortune in the third house has a need to communicate and a need to relate to his surroundings, community, family. The third house Part of Fortune gives him the ability to fill both of these needs. Often we find this placement in the charts of teachers, writers, speakers, newspaper reporters, and others who express themselves well with words. He is happiest when he can convey his ideas and feelings to others.
PART OF FORTUNE IN THE FOURTH HOUSE:
The person with his Part of Fortune in the fourth house needs a sense of home, roots, security, and stability to be totally happy. This does not mean that he needs a house to call his home. His home can be an ideal, a person, an atmosphere that he can feel is solid and solidly behind him. He can then go on to find fulfillment in a tenth house professional identification. These people are usually very patriotic with strong feelings for home, homeland, and parents. The Part of Fortune in the fourth house usually means that the person will be wealthy in the last third of his life.
PART OF FORTUNE IN THE FIFTH HOUSE:
The person with his Part of Fortune in the fifth house has creative and emotional energies overflowing. He needs to express these, and finds great satisfaction in creative or artistic activity.
He is attracted to adventurous enterprises. He has luck with speculations and with children. This person has strong abilities in creative fields of art, drama, theater, music, literature, and invention. He needs to pour himself into what he is doing, and he needs appreciation and applause.
PART OF FORTUNE IN THE SIXTH HOUSE:
The person with his Part of Fortune in the sixth house was born just prior to a Full Moon. He is interested in self-improvement and self-discipline so that he can function with such efficiency that he does not have to pay attention to the daily details of life. His mind is on bigger things. Here is a person who seeks the injustices in life so that he may serve to improve others' lives. He can serve people who are confined to hospitals or prisons, or fight for animals' rights, or lead a group of workers in a labor union. This is Virgo's house. Think of doctor, nurse, veterinarian, soldier, sailor.
PART OF FORTUNE IN THE SEVENTH HOUSE:
The person with his Part of Fortune in the seventh house was born soon after a Full Moon. He is a person who is so idealistic that he wants to see only the best in everything, in every person, in every situation, even in every problem. He is looking for quality in all his relationships because he is really seeking personal illumination. He would like to know his purpose in life. His personality shines through his relationships and partnerships. The Part of Fortune in the seventh house might lead to partnerships with wealthy people.
PART OF FORTUNE IN THE EIGHTH HOUSE:
The person with his Part of Fortune in the eighth house is like a walking testimonial to eighth house matters if he uses this placement correctly. He is interested in the occult, has good powers of regeneration and rejuvenation, and can be an expert at investigation, research, detective work. He can keep a secret so well that he is like an international diplomat, and he can indeed earn a living this way. This person can also make a living based on the talents and abilities of others, as a theatrical agent or manage other people's money. This person is usually very attractive, due to personal magnetism.
PART OF FORTUNE IN THE NINTH HOUSE:
The person with his Part of Fortune in the ninth house usually finds expression through travel, philosophy, higher education, philosophical thought, spirituality, or publishing. He may find his fortunes far from home. This person can profit through and from people at a distance. His studies bring insights to him which he uses to help other people. This is a person who can be a natural clairvoyant as well. Most of this person's labors are mental. This is a person who is always broadening his vistas and expanding his education
PART OF FORTUNE IN THE TENTH HOUSE:
The person with his Part of Fortune in the tenth house knows, deep down, that he must fulfill his role in society. He chooses a field where he can be a Professional Person. This person needs a place in the outside world, where his status and position is high and his name is associated with the field that he is in. This is the house of recognition and public standing, of career and ambition, of success and responsibility. Remember, this is Capricorn's house, so the person whose Part of Fortune is here is not afraid of hard work and effort if there is a goal to be reached.
PART OF FORTUNE IN THE ELEVENTH HOUSE:
The person with his Part of Fortune in the eleventh house is usually way ahead of the time in which he lives when it comes to his mentality, his dreams, hopes, goals, and his view of the world. This is a person who thinks in terms of Brotherhood, altruistic unity, Humanitarian values. He wants to do things that benefit society as a whole. This is why he sometimes sees himself as a reformer of sorts, improving social, cultural, or spiritual values in those around him. He wants better conditions for his community as well as for humanity.
PART OF FORTUNE IN THE TWELFTH HOUSE:
The person with his Part of Fortune in the twelfth house has a unique opportunity to transform or dissolve his own Karma. This is a person who has mediumistic talents and the gift of prophecy. His dreams often give him answers. His flair for spirituality, mysticism, illusion, and fantasy can be productive in film, television, and works of fiction. Though he may not know it when it happens, his enemies will frequently change their attitude from hostility to neutrality, and sometimes even to benevolence. He is generally unaware of his good fortune. The person with his Part of Fortune in the twelfth house is treated well by health-care professionals.
The Part of Fortune's meaning, just like a planet's meaning, is sensitive to house placement, as just shown. It is also sensitive, just like a planet is, to the sign of the zodiac in which it finds itself. In a future article, as we continue our investigation of the meanings of the Part of Fortune, we will look at the Part of Fortune in each of the twelve signs.
Part of Fortune and Planets
The last few Advanced Astrology columns have been devoted to the Part of Fortune, or Pars Fortuna, as an outgrowth of the Lunation Cycle. The Part of Fortune was described in its relation to the house placements and sign placements. Just as with any other zodiacal sensitive point, the Part of Fortune can also be defined in its relationship to other zodiacal elements, such as the planets.
Any planet in conjunction with the Part of Fortune will yield an increase in the potency of that planet. This is the aspect most clearly seen. A planet in opposition to the Part of Fortune will yield a form of detachment in the use of that planet. A planet in square to the Part of Fortune sometimes indicates that the planet is involved in the drive to achieve the happiness promised by the Part of Fortune. Trines to the Part of Fortune indicate that the way is made easy for the person to find his happiness and success. Remember, please, that it takes the whole chart to tell you the potentials in a person's life. Let us look at some examples of the meanings of a planet as it makes major aspects with the attributes of the Part of Fortune.
Sun and the Part of Fortune: When you see a horoscope where the Sun is conjunct the Part of Fortune, remember how we arrive at the Part of Fortune. The Ascendant and the Moon and the Sun itself combine to show us where the avenue to happiness, success, and sheer joy is located. We look to the house, we look to the sign, and now we look to the planet to tell us more. When the Sun is conjunct the Part of Fortune, the person can shine with his whole being in response to the solar illumination.
Moon and the Part of Fortune: If a person is born at sunrise, the Part of Fortune will be conjunct the Moon; if he is born at sunset, the Part of Fortune will be opposite the Moon. Remember how we arrive at the Part of Fortune! The emotional nature, nurturing nature, security themes, or public life will be an avenue for achieving Part of Fortune happiness and success.
Mercury and the Part of Fortune: If Mercury is with the Part of Fortune, this person will use his mental faculties and an intellectual approach in finding his happiness and success. He will also find it extremely easy to communicate, either in speech or writing.
Venus and the Part of Fortune: If Venus is with the Part of Fortune, the potency of Venus will be enhanced, and the person will have tremendous personal charm. He will probably also be good looking. Harmony and balance come easily to him.
Mars and the Part of Fortune: If Mars is with the Part of Fortune, the potency of Mars will be enhanced in its more positive forms. The person with this conjunction will exhibit assertive and pioneering qualities instinctively. He will be able to focus on one endeavor at a time, and work at it by himself to completion.
Jupiter and the Part of Fortune: If Jupiter is conjunct the Part of Fortune, the potency of Jupiter will be enhanced in all of its positive forms. The person with this conjunction will be naturally optimistic, certain that all situations will turn out fine, and in general happy with every day as they take him closer to success and wealth and joy.
Saturn and the Part of Fortune: If Saturn is conjunct the Part of Fortune, the potency of the positive attributes of Saturn will be enhanced. The person with this conjunction will have a serious approach to life, with a sense of determination to fulfill his destiny, and a sense of responsibility to the world. Both Benjamin Franklin and George Washington had this conjunction.
Uranus and the Part of Fortune: If Uranus is conjunct the Part of Fortune, the potency of Uranus will be enhanced. The person with this conjunction will be innovative, original, unique, and inventive. This conjunction might even indicate a potential for learning Astrology. This person would also have gifts and talents when involved with scientific technology and computers.
Neptune and the Part of Fortune: If Neptune is conjunct the Part of Fortune, happiness and success will come easily to the person who uses Neptune in positive ways. Positive outlets are those of metaphysics, spiritual work, the arts, music, marine life, underwater exploration, and space exploration.
Pluto and the Part of Fortune: If Pluto is conjunct the Part of Fortune, the potency of Pluto will be enhanced in its positive forms. The person with this conjunction can find happiness and success in all forms of detective work, ranging from crime solving to investigating the atom, from studying genetic engineering to manipulating DNA to cure cancer and AIDS. He can study the mysteries of life in order to transform and improve life on Earth for all mankind.
Just as planets in one's natal horoscope interact with the horoscopes of others (his Jupiter on my Moon, etc.) so does the Part of Fortune. Next week, we will conclude our study of the Part of Fortune in the natal horoscope with an investigation of this relationship.
Part of Fortune in the Signs
In every beginners' class that I teach, I repeat and repeat, "The planets have the POWER; the signs tell HOW; the houses tell WHERE." These phrases mean that the planet you are investigating tells what kind of activity will take place; the sign describes the zodiacal style which characterizes the activity; the house describes the area of life in which this activity will take place.
In our investigation of the Part of Fortune so far, we have seen that the Part of Fortune is an outgrowth of the Lunation Cycle in relation to the Ascendant of the horoscope. The Part of Fortune, or Pars Fortuna, is therefore a three-dimensional Sensitive Point in the horoscope, but it is not a planet. It is a place where we can find happiness, experience gain, and feel fortunate, in accordance with the house and sign it inhabits. We have already seen the manifestation of the Part of Fortune in each of the twelve houses. Now let us look at the manifestation of the Part of Fortune in each of the twelve signs.
Part of Fortune in ARIES: The characteristic style of the sign Aries is action: boldly, confidently, self-assertively. Aries exercises initiative. The person with the Part of Fortune in Aries will achieve happiness and success through innovative and creative efforts.
Part of Fortune in TAURUS: The characteristic style of the sign Taurus is productivity, with a need to perceive tangible results. The person with the Part of Fortune in Taurus is cautious and practical in his pursuit of happiness and success.
Part of Fortune in GEMINI: The characteristic style of Gemini is to reach out and communicate. The person with the Part of Fortune in Gemini uses his communication skills and his ability to learn as he pursues happiness and success.
Part of Fortune in CANCER: The characteristic style of Cancer is warm, nurturing, and maternal. The person with the Part of Fortune in Cancer seeks security in the domestic circle. For him, security is essential for happiness and success.
Part of Fortune in LEO: The characteristic style of Leo is showy, grand, and generous. Leo has self-assurance and leadership ability. Leo acts self-expressively, dramatically, and creatively. The person with the Part of Fortune in Leo needs recognition from others to feel happy and successful.
Part of Fortune in VIRGO: The characteristic style of Virgo is intellectual, analytical, conservative, and always seeking perfection. The person with the Part of Fortune in Virgo uses his mastery of details to attain happiness and success.
Part of Fortune in LIBRA: The characteristic style of Libra is one of beauty, balance, fairness, and justice. The person with the Part of Fortune in Libra seeks his happiness and success in relationships such as marriage and partnership.
Part of Fortune in SCORPIO: The characteristic style of Scorpio is secretive and intense. For the person with the Part of Fortune in Scorpio, no plan or plot is too complex to use in his pursuit of happiness and success.
Part of Fortune in SAGITTARIUS: The characteristic style of Sagittarius is adventurous and expansive. The person with the Part of Fortune in Sagittarius will achieve happiness and success by reaching out to vaster mental and philosophical horizons.
Part of Fortune in CAPRICORN: The characteristic style of Capricorn is serious and hard-working. The person with the Part of Fortune in Capricorn will find his happiness and success through hard work, determination, and achievement of goals.
Part of Fortune in AQUARIUS: The characteristic style of Aquarius is idealistic, innovative, and unique. The person with the Part of Fortune in Aquarius will find his happiness and success by making a contribution or invention that is of benefit to all.
Part of Fortune in PISCES: The characteristic style of Pisces is spiritual and mystical. The person with the Part of Fortune in Pisces will find happiness and success by concentrating on higher ideals.
We all know that there are positive and negative attributes to every planet and sign. (Determined is positive; obstinate is negative, etc.) The Part of Fortune, located in a sign, mitigates the negative attributes inherent in that sign. While the sign placement of the Part of Fortune, as described above, is important, it is my personal opinion that the house placement of the Part of Fortune, as described in previous articles, is far more important.
