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HISTORY OF THE LOTS 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 Egypt ian, 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 our best 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 the complement to it, the '''Lot of Spirit''' (or '''Part of spirit'''.) After the fall of the Roman Empire , all of the classical legacy, including Astrology , fell to the Abbasid Arabs and Persians . Islamic astrologers translated all the sources they could find 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. And this number does not even include all of the lots of Paulus . Beginning in the tenth century, many Arab 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 (or Part 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 charts. MEASURING THE ''LOT OF FORTUNE'' Lilly's Part Of Fortune is calculated as Ascendant + Moon - Sun . That is, the degrees of distance (going in the direction of the signs) between the Sun and the Moon is calculated and then that same distance is measured from the point of the Ascendant. The resulting location is called the ''Part of Fortune.'' The same procedure was used by the Arabs and by Hellenistic astrologers to calculate the ''Lot of Fortune'' but there were two major differences:
THE ''LOT OF SPIRIT'' If the ''Lot of Fortune'' deals with material well-being, the body, fortune and health--all allotments given to a person by fate--the ''Lot of Spirit'' represents the initiative taken by that person themselves, or what use is made of what is given. The ''Lot of Spirit'' is the reverse of the Lot of Fortune, giving the following formulas:
THE '' HERMETIC LOTS'' The Hermetic Lots are the lots that were used by Hellenistic astrologers such as Vettius Valens and Paulus Alexandrinus . These formulas can be found in Paulus (see reference below.) REFERENCES
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