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THE PART OF FORTUNE

 

Dane Rudhyar

 

The Part of Fortune as an Index of Evolving Soli-Lunar Relationship

The exact origin of the system of Arabian Parts does not appear to be very well known. The system was presumably developed during the Middle Ages by the Arabs whose great culture was then emphasizing mathematical concepts and geometrical art. It was adopted by the astrologers of the classical era in Europe, especially by John Gadbury. Its use, however, has always been rather limited and out of the vast number of Parts listed by Gadbury, only the Part of Fortune has ever been commonly accepted by European astrologers. It has been used in most cases, with little understanding of its real meaning and of its function in an "organic" approach to the interpretation of a birth-chart. And its name alone — and in general the term "Part" — reveals how narrow the understanding has been.

The concept of astrological Parts has indeed very little significance unless it is seen as a most valuable adjunct to the theory of "cycles of relationship." A Part is simply a practical means to evaluate, at any moment of a cycle of relationship created by the motions of two celestial bodies, the status and purpose of this relationship. It is a moving index recording the progress of the relationship — one that is quite similar to any index used today in the process of making graphs of the ever-changing balance between two or more types of constantly increasing and decreasing activities. It is a mathematical expression of the dynamic relationship between two moving bodies; and the "coordinates," with reference to which the graph is plotted out on paper, are the horizon and the meridian.

Horizon and meridian are the essential indicators of the position of an observer on the surface of the earth. They may be said to constitute a frame of reference for all individual experiences. If we remember what has been stated in the second chapter  of this book — viz. that any cycle of relationship between two celestial bodies presupposes a third factor, the earth, which originally conditions the goal of the relationship — then, we will readily see that this framework of horizon and meridian states explicitly the character of this third factor. For instance, the lunation cycle has only meaning in terms of the powers of perception of earth-creatures who witness its unfoldment in the night sky; and the "solar" impulse (or tone), released at the new moon and allowed to work out its power through the intermediary of concrete "lunar" structures, has as its essential purpose the filling of the need of these earth-born organisms. What we are seeking in this book is actually a better understanding of particular persons; and in order to establish accurately the character of their needs and reactions, we have to determine precisely the place on earth where these particular persons live. This place is defined by its horizon and meridian.

Thus, the astrologer takes as a frame of reference the horizon and meridian of the birthplace, and he charts the progress of the soli-lunar relationship in relation to it. The technique for this is extremely simple. The soli-lunar relationship is measured in astrological symbolism by the angular distance (in longitude) between the two moving "Lights." This angular value is 0° at the new moon and 180° at the full moon. All that is necessary therefore is to take the angular value of the soli-lunar relationship at any moment of the lunation, and add or subtract it to the longitude of the eastern end of the horizon, the Ascendant. When the moon is waxing the soli-lunar angle is added, and when the moon is waning it is subtracted from the longitude of the Ascendant, if, for instance, birth occurs at the "first quarter" phase and the Ascendant is Aries 1°, the longitude of the index of the soli-lunar relationship is 90 degrees farther in the zodiac, or Cancer 1°. But if birth occurs at the "last quarter" phase, the longitude of the index is to be found 90 degrees before Aries 1°, which means at Capricorn 1°. This index is what is called the "Part of Fortune," and I shall give presently the simple rule for calculating quickly its zodiacal position.

If the polar axis of the earth were at exact right angle to the plane of the earth's revolution around the sun (the "ecliptic") the zodiacal longitude of the meridian would always be 90 degrees distant from that of the horizon in all birth-charts, if this were the case then the soli-lunar index (the Part of Fortune) would be found:

at new moon  ......  conjunct the Ascendant, or first house cusp.

at first quarter  ......  conjunct the Nadir point, or fourth house cusp.

at full moon   .......  conjunct the Descendant, or seventh house cusp.

at last quarter   .......  conjunct the Mid-Heaven (Zenith) or tenth house cusp.

Then, the index would move through the first three houses, as the moon waxes from new to first quarter phases; through the fourth, fifth and sixth houses, as the moon increases her light to full; through the seventh, eighth and ninth houses, as the light decreases up to last quarter phase; and through the tenth, eleventh and twelfth houses, as the moon gradually vanishes into the light of dawn. The correspondence between the four periods of the lunation previously described and the four quarters (or sectors) of the birth-chart would be perfect.

This, however, can occur only when the person is born at, or very near, the equator, or when some signs of the zodiac happen to be rising. The higher the latitude of birth, generally speaking, the greater the difference between the actual value of the horizon-meridian angle, when measured in terms of zodiacal longitude, and the theoretical 90° value. As a result the soli-lunar index does not fall exactly on the fourth house cusp at the first quarter phase, or on the tenth house cusp at the last quarter phase, but instead on one side or the other of the meridian line. However, at new moon the index is always conjunct to the Ascendant, and at full moon, conjunct to the Descendant.

To clarify the above stated points, let us take as an illustration the birth-chart of the great Germanic philosopher Count Hermann Keyserling. He was born in Esthonia — then a province of Czarist Russia — July 20, 1880, at about 9:36 P.M. local time. The horizon extended at his birth from Pisces 9° in the east, to Virgo 9° in the west. The sun was below the horizon in the sixth house at Cancer 28°, and the moon was moving up to the zenith in the sky, being placed at Capricorn 14° in the eleventh house. This means that Keyserling was born a little more than one day before full moon, a very befitting time for a man whose life has been devoted to the task of human understanding — a man who wrote: "My doctrine stands for the living soul as opposed to the concept of abstract man. It is from this point of view that it formulates all the old questions anew." (My Life and My Work.)

The "living soul" (in a narrow sense at least) is the moon, as opposed to the "abstract" or rather archetypal man, represented by the sun. And in Keyserling's chart, the moon stands alone above the horizon (the sun and all the planets being invisible below the horizon), thus in a position of commanding importance, as the Light-giver in the sky of the philosopher's personality. In such a case of emphasized lunar activity it becomes very necessary to evaluate properly and fully the character of the soli-lunar relationship. To say that the moon is nearly full is not quite enough; to say the sun and the moon are "in opposition" is still less exact, for the angular distance by which the soli-lunar relationship is short of being an exact opposition (180°) is quite large (14 degrees). I find it essential then to seek a precise definition of this soli-lunar relationship in such a way that its effect upon, or association with, the other factors in the chart can be estimated, in so far as it relates to the individual personality being analyzed. And to this end we calculate the zodiacal position of the soli-lunar index, or Part of Fortune.

We know, to start with, that it will be found in the sixth house of Keyserling's birth-chart, because the index, at exact full moon, is always conjunct to the Descendant (seventh house cusp); and the moon being only 14 degrees short of being full it would have to be in the sixth house, unless the person had been born near one of the poles. To calculate easily the exact zodiacal degree of the Part of Fortune, one adds the longitude of the moon to that of the Ascendant, and subtracts from the sum the longitude of the sun. And for the sake of simplicity, the problem can best be worked out as follows:  

Ascendant's longitude:          12th zodiacal sign + 9° (Pisces 9°)

plus Moon's longitude:         10th zodiacal sign + 14° (Capricorn 14°)

equals                                    22  zodiacal signs + 23°   

or                                           21  zodiacal signs + 53°

minus Sun's longitude          4th zodiacal signs + 28°

equals                                  17th zodiacal signs + 25°

or                                             5th zodiacal sign + 25°

The soli-lunar index is located at Leo (the fifth sign of the zodiac) 25°. It is thus not only in the sixth house, but placed nearly half-way between Mercury and Mars.

 

In order to illustrate the effect of the zodiacal distortion caused by latitude upon the house position of the soli-lunar index, the charts of Lenin and Trotsky are also given as examples. In both cases the relationship of the moon to the sun has gone past the last quarter phase; but in Lenin's case the index of the relationship falls in the ninth house, instead of in the tenth (where it would be if the earth's axis were perpendicular to the ecliptic). In Trotsky's case the index is in the tenth house, but quite far from the Mid-Heaven. Its position between the conjunct and retrograde Mars and Neptune, and in opposition to the sun, provides a remarkable symbol of the Russian revolutionists's career and of his uncompromising (and tragic) stand which led to his death — as we shall see when we come to study the meanings of contacts between the Part of Fortune and the planets.

 

The Part of Fortune as an Index

of Personality and Happiness

At this point, an illustration taken from the field of acoustics should provide us with a new approach to the Part of Fortune, which should bring forth many valuable indications. A musical tone, such as is produced by a violin or a trombone, contains a "fundamental" and a great number of "overtones." The number, the position, the relative intensity of these overtones, and their relationship to the fundamental, are the main factors responsible for the "timbre" or tone-color of the instrumental tones. They differentiate a middle-C played on a violin, from the same note produced by a trombone. Moreover, the instrumental tone as a whole constitutes a release of energy; and this energy is spread out unequally between fundamental and overtones. We may thus say that a pattern of distribution of energy is created which characterizes the timbre or instrumental character of the tone.

In astrology, the zodiacal position of the natal sun symbolizes the  "fundamental" of a man's character, purpose and destiny — the sun being also the source of the dynamic potential which sustains all the organs and functions of the man's total personality; thus, in our acoustical analogy, it is the muscular energy projected into the sound by the player of the instrument. The moon, on the other hand, represents the power responsible for the building of these particular organic structures (the pattern of "overtones") through which the solar potential is distributed and made to operate. "Life," being the outcome (the working out) of the soli-lunar relationship, is the instrumental tone itself, in its entirety, while the concrete instrument (the wood and strings of the violin, the brass of the trombone) corresponds to the sum-total of earth-materials which a human being inherits from his parents and assimilates from his food and from the air he breathes.

The "pattern of distribution" of sound-energy which characterizes the timbre of the instrumental tone can be actually seen — for instance, as the sound track in a modern film. It is seen as a complex wave-pattern. And this wave-pattern can be said to correspond to that complete cycle of motion described by the index of the soli-lunar relationship — the Part of Fortune — as it records the progress of the lunation cycle along the circumference of the astrological wheel. Any one position of the Part of Fortune represents one point in the wave-pattern of a complete soli-lunar relationship — a lunation cycle. And because this soli-lunar relationship is actually the foundation for the elusive and capricious factor which is named "personality" (the "It" of movie-stars, lovers and dictators!), the Part of Fortune is the most characteristic indication of the type of "personality" which an individual may succeed in developing and projecting.

Let me say at once that I am giving here to the term "personality" a meaning which differs from that it had in my book The Astrology of Personality (1936) and in other writings — also in the books of the psychologist Carl Jung, when he spoke of "the integration of personality." The personality is the human being considered as an organic whole of activities, psychological as well as physical; but "personality" — used as when one says: "This man has personality!," or when one speaks of "stage-personality" — refers to the special quality and radiation which emanates from the personality of a particular individual. In the first case, one speaks of an entity; in the second, of a quality projected by this entity.

The phase of the moon at birth (the lunation birthday) enables the astrologer to discover the essential character of the soli-lunar relationship and of the power of "life" as these are in themselves; but the actual location of the Part of Fortune in an individual birth-chart reveals, besides, the particular and strictly individual way in which this life-force is received and used by the particular person, born at a particular point on the earth-surface — which means, subject to the influences of a particular environment (geographical and social-cultural). And it is the character of this reception and use of the life-force which determines whether or not an individual displays "personality" — and the nature of that display.

The Part of Fortune synthesizes the three factors with which we must deal, if we are to get a clear and complete grasp of the cycle of the soli-lunar relationship: sun, moon and earth-locality. Likewise the factor of "personality" is an expression of the relatedness of all functions, organs and faculties in the realm of "life" which go to make a complete person. Personality in this sense, is the tone-quality and timbre of the whole person. It is also the way this whole person resonates to "life," and to the internal and external confrontations which are challenges to greater living.

If now we consider the Part of Fortune from the point of view of action, we can define it as the focal point for the expression of the power generated by the soli-lunar relationship. This power manifests, as we already saw, in various ways — as sex, as love, as personal magnetism, as radiant health; in short, as any and all kinds of personal expression which pertain to the level of human activity where the dualism of "life" reigns supreme. And because it is also at this level that we can discover the root of what men call "happiness," the connection between the Part of Fortune and the individual's capacity for happiness — and the special nature of his happiness — becomes explainable.

Happiness is a state of being or consciousness which depends upon the ease with which "life" operates within the total organism (body and psyche). Ease brings happiness; disease results in pain, sorrow and unhappiness, and any hindrance to the flow of life-energies through glands, muscles, nerves or psycho-mental functions produces a condition of disease, however slight or temporary it may be. Congestion, then inflammation, result from the damming up of life-energies; and the opposite of congestion — improper vitalization of tissues or psychic structures — leads to deterioration and disintegration, infection and decay.

If happiness depends upon ease of function, it should be very important for a person to be able to determine the type of activity in which his life-energies can flow with the greatest amount of ease. Such a determination would be instinctive and spontaneous if men lived in a "natural state'' with a minimum of hereditary sins to pervert the normal rhythm of their personal development. But men live in society, and men have collectively the wondrous ability to remember the past of their race, to "bind time" and condense the memory of human achievements in the fabric of a civilization. This gift is man's glory . . . and every person's curse. It means that the accumulated power of tradition, race-memories and race-karma challenges at birth and especially throughout the years of youthful development, every natural life-instinct which a human person has within him. This challenge may mean accelerated and super-normal growth, and the development of faculties of great mental-spiritual significance; but it may also end in repressions, frustrations and almost ineradicable disease of body or psyche. It may have either of these results, or both at the same time — a point never entirely to be forgotten.

What astrology can help us do is to discover consciously what our thwarted instincts are often no longer able to reveal with convincing clarity to our confused ego. It can also show us quite conclusively the basic reasons why, in our particular case, the life-force no longer flows with ease — thus, the causes for the absence of full and vibrant happiness in our life. Whether or not we will be able to remove these causes is another matter. It is even possible that, from the point of view of the spirit, they serve — at least for a time — a useful purpose. Nevertheless it is man's privilege to tread the "conscious way"; and astrology, if properly handled, can provide us with the substance of conscious understanding. It can bring every man, who is ready, to the full moon illumination which transfigures the instinctual and unconscious energies of "life" — and of all that belongs to the realm of duality — into the power of creative meaning. It can make of men, subservient to the transitory and illusion-laden power of social-cultural structures, aspirants upon the path to buddhahood — this highest symbol of the perfect full moon illumination.

And we may note here that Gautama, the Buddha was born, reached Illumination, and died at the "full moon of May." In the deepest sense, he symbolizes the raising of "new moon" instinct to the clarity of "full moon" consciousness, of unconscious Nature to conscious Meaning, of sexual love into compassion, of cultural perfection into spiritual fulfillment.

The problem of happiness is, however, more complex than it might appear from the preceding definition of the term "happiness." What makes it complex is a fact, already stressed on two occasions in this book: the fact that "life" and the soli-lunar relationship which symbolizes its basic processes, can be approached from two opposite points of view. "Life" can be approached from the point of view of illumination which the full moon bestows upon the individual who experiences it in a truly positive manner.

The normal way for most human beings today is to follow the line of least resistance — the path of maximum biological and psychological ease — and to approach all factors within the realm of "life" and duality with the impulsive, instinctual unconsciousness characterizing new moon beginnings. These life-factors include not only health, organic behavior, sex, personal feelings; they refer to all types of social and cultural activities displayed in the building of traditional structures according to passively accepted standards and patterns, the full and creative meaning of which is not even inquired into by the builder — artist, politician or religious organizer.

But there is another way — the full moon way, the conscious way which begins with clear vision and an objective awareness of the purpose and meaning of the entire cycle or field of "life" as far as the individual's capacity for living and seeing goes. Both these ways deal with the soli-lunar relationship and can be interpreted by the lunation birthday. Both deal with "life" — but they deal with its powers from opposite starting points. Both deal with happiness; but the meaning of the term "happiness" changes as the individual treads either the new moon path in at least relative unconsciousness, or the full moon path in the consciousness that seeks to formulate itself through words and symbols, and thus release seeds of creative significance to inspire the tomorrows that will come.

When I defined happiness in terms of ease of function, the definition was correct enough, generally speaking. But what has been emphasized so far is the type of happiness and of life-functions which develop along the path of the waxing moon. Happiness has been made almost synonymous with organic and social well-being. But there is another kind of happiness which implies a very different rhythm of individual activity. It is an essentially lucid and conscious, perhaps even deliberate happiness born of a full moon type of illumination and develop through creative and individual strivings toward the realization of full significance in one's life and one's creations. This happiness does not depend primarily — certainly not exclusively — on organic well-being (physiological, psychological and cultural), It depends above all upon the expression of creative power — not upon the mere satisfaction of the procreative instinct. It manifests in the strange alchemy in which the concentration needed to overcome pain blends with a kind of winged exaltation, tension is combined with the ecstasy of release, and light embraces darkness that form may be born. No single word is really adequate to describe this type of happiness which grows along the full moon path; but the simplest and perhaps the best that can be used is: "joy."

The Part of Fortune is not able directly to reveal the nature and individual characteristics of such a creative and lucid joy, for this Part refers above all to the type of activities which develop along the path of the waxing moon. The Part of Fortune is conjunct to the Ascendant — the astrological symbol of all beginnings — at the new moon. The cycle of the Part of Fortune (from the Ascendant to the Nadir, then to the Descendant and the Zenith, and back to the Ascendant) begins and ends thus with the new moon. But there is a point which is the polar opposite of the Part of Fortune: a point which is on the Ascendant at the time of the full moon, and thus on the Descendant at the time of the new moon. If astrology takes no account of this point it is because astrology has not yet understood the meaning of full moon beginnings. We shall call this point, the "Point of Illumination."

This Point of Illumination circles around the wheel of houses and the zodiac exactly as the Part of Fortune does, only its longitude is always opposed to that of the latter, and it is always found in the opposite house. The two moving points are constant polar opposites — just as in the Chinese symbol characteristic of the "Book of Changes" (the I Ching) we find the dark and the white figures rotating in constant embrace within the circle. This symbol is the typical hieroglyph of "life" — and of all processes in the realm of duality.

This realm as conceived by the ordinary individual, is the realm of unconscious energy and instinctual activity. Yet it need not remain so. Time also, as I said at the very beginning of this book, operates normally in unconsciousness. Its commands surge, as unconquerable tides, from the depths of man's generic unconscious. Men are swayed hither and thither by this "wheel of time," which is fate. Yet they need not be. The human individual can emerge from his bondage to "objective time" into the illumined and creative field of "subjective duration." Time can become "individualized." The true yogi learns, according to the Patanjali Sutras, how to let his mind dwell in the most fleeting moment and how to give to that moment a human individual meaning which is as complete as that which emerges from the eons of collective racial evolution. And spirit can express itself in the realm of duality as well as in that of multiple integration, provided the power born of dualism is assimilated by the individual in a state of full consciousness and individualization.

This is not metaphysics. It is psychology — the psychology of long ago, and centuries yet ahead. And astrology can be a stepping stone on the path of development of such a psychology — a "full moon" psychology, for individuals on the long road toward the illumined life. 

What we called the Point of Illumination is an index to the possibility there is for any individual to tread this "conscious way" — or, as the Chinese have it, Tao. It is on this way that the meaning of the vision or understanding revealed at the full moon unfolds; and meaning unfolds as it is adequately formulated in a word (or logos). It unfolds through the waning period of the lunation provided the individual has met the full moon in a positive manner, and succeeds in keeping such an attitude of mind. The act of formulating meaning is the essence of conscious and lucid creativeness. Joy is born in the soul of individuals who perform such an act successfully and with ease.

Creative joy, however, is in essence (though not always in its  outer manifestations) the polar opposite of organic well-being. The  complete manifestation of happiness — the most inclusive meaning of this term — must include both poles. "Life," too, cannot be said to be lived in the fullness of human power unless it synthesizes the two opposites of the new moon and full moon. And no individual can reach the state of plenitude of being, in whom  the complementary types of activity and awareness symbolized by the Ascendant and the Descendant are not integrated. Likewise the subjective radiance and projections of "personality" remain always one-sided elements until they are harmonized with the objective understanding and the sense of compassionate relationship which should polarize them.

In terms of practical astrological  technique, the above statements simply mean that the Part of Fortune, as an index to the individual nature of the factors of personality and happiness in a person's life, reveals only, as it were, one half of the possibilities open to that person. It is nevertheless the half which is so predominant in the average individual of our day, even in the most cultured circles, that it naturally attracts the most attention. I shall therefore stress it by describing the characteristic meaning of the Part of Fortune in each house and zodiacal sign; and I shall conclude with a brief study of the meaning of contacts which may occur in a birth-chart between the Part and the planets.

However, it should be made clear that this characteristic meaning of the Part of Fortune includes that of the Point of Illumination, which is always opposed to it, just as any reference to the Ascendant of a chart necessarily implies a reference to its polar opposite, the Descendant. Indeed the positive meaning of the Part of Fortune in the houses above the horizon (that is, after full moon) is essentially determined by the significance of the Point of Illumination which, then, has begun to assert its characteristics. On the other hand, the negative meaning of the Part of Fortune above the horizon is the result of the progressive deterioration of the basic solar energy (or "tone") after the full moon climax of the lunation has been passed. Such a negative meaning, however, need hardly be stressed; just as, for instance, one need not emphasize the gradual loss of physical stamina after the "change of life" in the forties; for then the essential factor to concentrate upon is the possibility of growth in individual consciousness and the development of the social and spiritual fruits of the previous decades of the life.

There are three ways in which the position of the Part of Fortune in a natal chart can give information concerning the personality of the individual and the best ways in which he can operate in society, seek happiness and release his vital energies: the Part of Fortune's position in one of the natal houses, its position in one of the zodiacal signs, and the contact it may make with one or more planets.

The position of the Part in one of the twelve houses give indications which must be similar to those we receive from the study of the eight lunation types of personalities; but here we are dealing with a twelve-fold classification instead of an eight-fold.  Besides, as we saw already, the factor of birth-latitude introduces significant variations which may reflect the collectively accepted patterns of relationship between individuals of high-latitude origin and their society. For instance, a person born in a far northern country would be a crescent moon type, yet have his Part of Fortune in the first house, if signs of the zodiac are densely filling this house. This could be the case when "signs of short ascension" are rising; these are Capricorn and the following signs in the northern hemisphere, while Cancer and subsequent signs are "signs of long ascension" — but signs of short ascension in northern latitudes become signs of long ascension south of the equator.

As a result one should be able, at least ideally, to balance and integrate the information provided, in an individual's birth-chart, by the lunation type and the house position of the Part of Fortune. The house position refers more to the strictly individual factor in the matter of personal happiness, and in general of personal psycho-biological reactions to recurring life-situations — reactions which influence deeply the way a person meets the challenges of everyday life. The lunation type characterizes, by contrast, the depth-responses of a person to is or her basic destiny. Moreover, the house position indications should always be interpreted in relation to any contact which the Part of Fortune makes with a planet.

Here I must stress that these indications referring to the Part are very personal ones and have often a highly subjective character. The Part of Fortune may refer to the individual's wealth and "good fortune" but this is not its most significant meaning, certainly not its primary meaning.

The meanings listed in the following must therefore be taken only as general indications of possibilities open to the person to whom the Parts' house position refers. But I should add here that, as the Part of Fortune alters its position with reference to the horizon of a particular locality only by 12 to 15 degrees during a day (the moon's increases in longitude minus the sun's), it usually remains in the same house during at least one day. Thus the Part's house position can be determined approximately even if the hour of birth is unknown.

 

The Part of Fortune in the Houses

First House

This refers normally to a new moon type of person. The position therefore embodies the characteristics of the type. Generally speaking, success and happiness should come to the individual who places himself and his unique achievements (however unimportant they may seem to others) at the very foundation of his adjustment to society and environment. This need not mean pride but rather a strongly individual and personally responsible way of meeting life-situations. It means self-assurance, but also the will to fill a need of destiny and to do so in the new way indicated by a personal evaluation of the problems to be faced (President Johnson). The danger is to retire within one's self and/or to feel separated from other human beings.

Second House

Much depends here upon whether a new moon type or a crescent moon type is involved — and it could even be a first quarter type. The person should feel the urge to draw to himself "social substance"—money, possessions, inherited cultural values, etc. — and feel happy in doing so, especially if he needs it to make more concrete and efficacious his sense of being an "individual." He may and should seek support and sustainment in his endeavor to make a mark upon his environment. He could be a good manager, especially if his sun and moon form a sextile (60°) aspect. An outstanding illustration of this position of the Part was the great educator Dr. Maria Montessori who developed a new approach to the child and to the way of fostering its individual unfoldment.

Third House

This position indicates usually the ability to meet the obstacles found in the person's immediate environment and to deal effectively with the problem of evaluating and assimilating intelligently the intellectual and cultural values which surround the growing adolescent. In endeavoring to achieve these ends and to communicate one's ideas or feelings to others one normally should find happiness. In certain cases, when this natural tendency is frustrated by circumstances the mind may turn tense, ruthless and destructive. Everything centers around a struggle of wills or ideologies. The tendency in early years is to seek an "Exemplar" and to follow his course of action, then to try to go one step further. In the birth-chart of the composer-pianist Franz Liszt, which will be studied later in this book the Part of Fortune is in the third house, not far from the sun. He passed much of his life giving concerts from country to country, impressing upon the musicians of his day his new ideals, another instance is Joseph Stalin — also Conrad Adenauer.

Fourth House

The feeling for home and roots, and the search for an adequate basis for personality integration on which to build personal ambition, should be most important. Happiness will require a feeling of stability, a sense that one is in touch with lasting values and solid concepts, and not alone in such a realization. In some great individuals (Walt Whitman is an instance), stability may be found entirely within, yet the need to discover others who share this way is still basic. "Home" requires an Other; and true personality integration a larger frame of reference, a community which gives sense and purpose to individual efforts. The Point of Illumination is then in the tenth house and represents the possibility of finding fulfillment in a broader way through identification with a social, professional, national whole. President Kennedy is a significant illustration of this fourth house position of the Part of Fortune.

Fifth House

The momentum of personal growth is high and the creative or emotional energies of the person tend to overflow, in one way or another. Happiness seems to be the result of this instinctive or egocentric pouring of oneself into one's community. Emotional elation may be found in creative artistic activity (George Gershwin, Charles lves — two outstanding composers), or in a will to power (Jay Gould, for instance, and de Gaulle). The gambling urge is usually present, in one form or another.

Sixth House

This means in most cases a birth rather close to the full moon. The original impulse of the cycle is reaching its apex, and the person is nearing the crest of a wave, and often hastening to complete, perfect, or thoroughly understand whatever has been started in the past. Thus happiness may be found in work, self-improvement, self-discipline, technical excellence of formulation. A man with such a position of the Part is usually, consciously or not, inspired by a cultural-social or political past in which he finds happiness. He wants to bring to a conclusion and also to transform this past so as to make it responsive to a new vision, of which he senses himself to be the herald. He usually thrives in periods of crisis when traditions are being challenged by a restless society. Count Hermann Keyserling as a philosopher, J. P. Morgan as heir to a banking tradition which he developed further, are interesting illustrations of this situation.

Seventh House

This means birth soon after full moon, though it may also include individuals of the disseminating type. Happiness is found, positively, in bringing into the clearest possible light important relationships and negatively, in breaking away from those "marriages" (at any level) or alliances, which have not brought fulfillment and a vaster consciousness of existence. Human relationship is, in either case, the factor which triggers all great individual illumination. In a negative sense, the person therefore may feel too great a concern for, or subservience to, the fact of experiencing relationship. Feeling this to be the case, he may focus his yearning for relationship upon some absolute and transcendent "Thou."

Eighth House

This house traditionally refers to death, rebirth or regeneration. But it deals just as much with the use being made of the energies which are born out of all types of relationship, and particularly which result from contractual agreements — the latter being 'the very substance of "business." Our modern world is basically resting upon contracts made by individuals, and/or groups; but these contracts are frequently changing — made, dissolved, remade. This applies even to modern marriages and to those partnerships of work which, in the past, had a permanent character. The individual with the Part of Fortune in the eighth house may be greatly involved in problems of management; but this term, management, has gained an immense field of application. A Hindu guru, like Meher Baba, whom his followers consider a "divine incarnation," deals also with the proper management of the devotional energies which are placed at his disposal by his chelas; and the Mikado Mutsu-Hito who was the founder of modern Japan managed effectively the power invested upon him by his tradition. Wendell Wilkie, who realized the factual inevitability of the "one world" of humanity, belonged also to this category.

Ninth House

Such a position of the Part stresses the tendency to seek happiness in processes of self-aggrandizement. But such processes may be founded upon either ego-centric, willful ambition or a deep study of the meaning of social and psychological laws. It may show an eagerness for distant travels, for discovering "the way other people live." It could lead to a yearning to lose one's ego in a vast religious Movement, a transcendental realm of being. Statesmen such as Jefferson, Bismarck,  Lenin, Hitler, Nehru found it "easy" to identify themselves with the archetypal life of their countries, as these were being built or rebuilt. Carl Jung found his "happiness" in the deep study of psychological processes in their period of crisis and reorientation.

Tenth House

Here we deal with the "professional man." In a deeper sense, the individual with the Part in this house accepts to fulfill his role in society — a role which has usually been formulated by past generations. In the cases of Victor Hugo and Dante, these men rejoiced in fulfilling the Poet's function. In a Trotsky type of person, the individual acts uncompromisingly as the Revolutionist. If a Mussolini, he accepts to incarnate the Caesar archetype. In Einstein we see the new kind of mystic seer in the field of higher mathematics which, though seemingly so remote, can have the most concrete applications. Yet this identification with a social function or "destiny" is never fully significant and creative unless the human being is also a real "person" deeply rooted in the very ground of individual self-hood (Point of Illumination in the fourth house).

Eleventh House

In its positive aspect, this house may be interpreted as the "Indian summer" of the cycle — the transfiguration of personal consciousness having become not only aware of large collective issues, but able to participate in significant endeavors to renew and transform traditional values and institutions. In a more negative sense, this house refers to mere dreams or to ideals which are not attuned to the rhythm of human evolution. The person born with the Part of Fortune in this section of the space surrounding his birth may seek happiness in dreams, or compensation for personal complexes in revolutionary or anarchistic activities which do not meet "the needs of the times." He can also be a pioneer and reformer of social, cultural or spiritual values. Darwin, the father of the modern theory of the evolution of the species, and Mahatma Gandhi — at once dreamer, prophet and statesman — are significant examples.

Twelfth House

This house refers fundamentally to the final products of a cycle of activity. Socially speaking, such products are represented by institutions and traditions and by all the collective psychological "ghosts" of the culture of the society as well as by the harvest of many generations' striving. The Part of Fortune in this house may point to the person's ability to enjoy, or to suffer significantly from these last products of his culture's cycle. The individual may also find happiness in accepting and thus transforming or dissolving his own Karma. He may also condense, as it were, within himself this harvest of a cycle and become a "seed"; in other words his achievements may become the foundation of a new cycle. In an "occult" sense, he may even reach personal immortality, so that what he is as a formed mind is able to survive the disintegration of the physical body. Many, but not all, of the personalities belonging to the balsamic type have their Part of Fortune in the twelfth house; others have it in the eleventh. To the first category belong Luther, Thomas Paine, Washington, Kant, William James, Pope Paul VI.

 

The Part of Fortune in the Zodiacal Signs

From what has been said previously it should be evident that the position of the Part of Fortune in the signs of the zodiac depends primarily upon the zodiacal position of the Ascendant — thus, upon the exact hour and minute of birth. The zodiacal position of the Ascendant (its longitude) changes rapidly, covering the whole zodiacal circle in approximately one day; likewise, the Part of Fortune passes through all the signs of the zodiac in less than twenty-four hours, for its longitude is at any time that of the Ascendant plus that of the moon and minus that of the sun.

This means, practically speaking, that every day the Part of Fortune comes into conjunction to every planet at some time of the day. We saw already that it is conjunct to the moon every morning at sunrise; it is therefore also in opposition to the moon when the sun sets at the western end of the horizon (the Descendant) — which means also that what we called the Point of Illumination is conjunct to the moon at sunset.

The traditional meaning of every sign of the zodiac in astrology is widely known, and a reformulation of these meanings in the light of twentieth-century thinking has been given in my book The Pulse of Life. What is to be stressed, with reference to the present approach, is that every sign and degree of the zodiac is simply a symbolic characterization of a particular type of orientation and response to the constant outpouring of life-potential from the sun. As I see it, neither sign nor degree of the zodiac has anything to do with stars or constellations (except in the sense of structural correspondence between all complete cycles.) The Zodiac is a symbolic "frame of reference" for the interpretation of the seasonal dynamic adjustment of a receptive earth to a bestowing sun. It symbolizes the yearly series of angles of incidence of solar rays — thus the character of the fecundation of the earth (with all the organisms dwelling upon it) by the sun.

If then, we find that the Part of Fortune is located, let us say, in Aries, this means that the individual's capacity for personality-radiation, happiness and ease in social functioning can be said to be molded by the characteristic impulse (the "tonality")  of the sun — or more accurately, by the characteristic response of the earth to the sun — during early spring. On the other hand if, as in the cases of Lenin and Keyserling, the Part is in Leo, then the typical Leo traits should help us to define the path of personal ease and happiness for these individuals. Lenin proved to be a great statesman and a ruler of people; Count Keyserling loved to function as a mental overlord, as the director of a group of aristocratic minds — as did also Victor Hugo, who has the same configuration.

In the case of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Part of Fortune is located in Aquarius and in the fifth house; while in Richard Wagner's chart it is also in Aquarius, but in the tenth house, and in Stalin's chart, at the cusp of the fourth house. The lunation birthdays of these men differ but the zodiacal substance of their happiness and the magnetic emanations of their personalities reveal the Aquarian quality associated with social-cultural awareness and a self-confident eagerness for reform. The Aquarian characteristics establish a significant astrological link between these three persons, though their charts are entirely unlike. What this kind of link points to may seem a subtle personal factor to some students of astrology; yet, subtle as it may be, it defines the "tonality" of an individual's search for happiness and for personal ease of freedom of operation.

It is because the man who reaches the object of this search actually radiates a mysterious something which attracts success to him, that the name "Part of Fortune" was given to the index of the soli-lunar relationship. For, as New Thought has taught us (even if with a great deal of youthful ebullience!) wealth, success, health, happiness are the varied results of a deep sense of ease, which in turn indicates a rhythmic flow of life-energy. There can be no such flow where there is not a vibrant, steady and ineradicable faith (instinctive or conscious) in the abundance of that infinite potential of Life which, to the astrologer, is the sun, and to the religious soul, God.

The zodiacal position of the Part of Fortune is not as obvious a factor as its house position, or the lunation birthday. It is less obvious, because it cannot be ascertained without knowing the exact degree rising at birth. But just because of that, it deals — like the Ascendant — with the deepest characteristics of the self in expression. Indeed, to know accurately a person's substance of happiness is much like knowing the unique and characteristic way (Ascendant) in which he can work out his purpose of destiny. Such a knowledge should preferably remain secret — and thus the usual practice of letting everybody know the exact moment of one's birth is rather unwise, psychologically — though very convenient for astrologers! What should best remain a mystery is, however, not the signs in which the Ascendant and Part of Fortune are located, as much as the exact degrees on which they are placed. The symbols of these degrees give a key to the nature of the active nucleus of a man's spiritual Identity as it is expressed in and through the person's character and identity.

The Part of Fortune in ARIES

Ease of functioning and happiness come with the exercise of the power of initiative, and with a confident plunge into experience. The individual should let himself be guided by intuition and see himself as the activator of new social-cultural impulses. He tends to identify his personality with such a creative impulse. He will feel frustrated and unhappy if his way to do so is blocked. Examples: Francis Bacon, George Washington, Clara Barton, Isaac Newton, Louis Pasteur, Albert Einstein, Frederic Chopin, Will Levington Comfort.

The Part of Fortune in TAURUS

The fervent characteristics of springtime are also found here, but the individual has a more steady, self-assured and even obstinate type of personality. He loves, consciously or not, to deal with social collective or occult power, and he must see definite material results if he is to be happy. The main desire is to bring whatever has been in the past to a new evolutionary level in response to the need of the times. It is to become an agent of evolutionary forces — or, we might say, the "mother" of tomorrow. Examples: Martin Luther, Goethe, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, Prince Bismarck, Leon Trotsky.

The Part of Fortune in GEMINI

The mind is quick to learn and avid for knowledge. Happiness results from the ability to spread oneself out and to contact everything. The deepest illumination comes through philosophical and religious studies, or by becoming identified with some broad Cause or social organization. Unhappiness results mainly from a sense of confinement and of intellectual confusion. Examples: Queen Victoria, the Duchess of Windsor, Rudolf Steiner, Henry Wallace, Dmitri Shostakovich.

The Part of Fortune in CANCER

Happiness is essentially reached at home, or in any field of well-defined and focalized activity. The sense of home may however be extended to a nation, to a social class or a religious organization. Normal satisfaction and ease of operation are found where personal and particular points of view are followed; but illumination is reached through personal identification with some greater social or spiritual Whole. Examples: Karl Marx, Mary B. Eddy, Shelley, Czar Nicholas II, Adolf Hitler — and the national charts of England and U.S.A. (chart with Sagittarius rising).

The Part of Fortune in LEO

To feel at ease, outflowing and happy, the individual must express himself emotionally and project his personal feelings into everything he touches. He must also have someone else to impress. Happiness becomes creative joy as great ideals are being served and the life-energy is canalized and sublimated into creations, inventions, visions which have collective significance. Examples: Oliver Cromwell, Victor Hugo, Sigmund Freud, Pierre Curie, Adolf Shoenberg, Keyserling, Lenin, Benes, President Johnson.  

The Part of Fortune in VIRGO

The personal search for happiness and self-realization operates through intellectual analysis, self-criticism, introversion, and the use of crises in overcoming obstacles. Reliance upon technique and set procedures of work, and the perhaps ruthless exclusion of everything that does not fit perfectly, seem necessary if integration and personal success are to be reached. In other cases, absolute devotion and self-surrender are seen as the only key to realization and happiness. Examples: Jacob Boehme, Mahatma Gandhi, Benito Mussolini, Wendell Wilkie.

The Part of Fortune in LIBRA

Happiness, in this case, is deeply affected by the course of intimate associations, by social factors, or by the intrusion of spiritual forces into the personality. There is an eagerness to impersonate great ideals, or even God! — often as a result of psychological uncertainty when faced with society, or of over-sensitiveness. The tendency to dramatize oneself, to assume social attitudes in order to reach one's ends and inner security, is often in evidence. Examples: The Persian Prophet, the Bab; the Mikado Mutsu-Hito, Franz Liszt, Meher Baba, the Duke of Windsor.

The Part of Fortune in SCORPIO

The search for happiness and personality-integration is interwoven with the problem of the proper use of power. Power, here, may mean sexual power, or the power derived from a deep identification with collective (or "occult") human energies. It deals always with the ultimate fruits of some type of association. Illumination comes as a result of an inner fecundation by some definite spiritual Power. Examples: Lord Byron, Jay Gould, Walt Whitman, Pope Pius XI, Carl Jung.

The Part of Fortune in SAGITTARIUS

This position indicates a strong desire for vaster mental horizons as well as for a life away from particular traditions and limitations. The tendency is to deal with large issues, often with some degree of fanaticism or in terms of purely abstract, general principles, perhaps without an adequate sense of perspective and realism. In the highest cases, however, joy is experienced in giving a creative form to abstractions in literature, in intellectual formulation and in scientific investigation. Examples: The great astrologer, John Gadbury; the literary genius and social rebel (the Romantic woman of many famous loves) George Sand; the poet Baudelaire; the builder of the British South-African empire, Cecil Rhodes.

The Part of Fortune in CAPRICORN

There is a profundity, and at times austerity or transcendence, in the individual's search for happiness. The personal life tends to flow in depth rather than in width, but often with an exalted quality. The sense of social or spiritual responsibility may be dominant. It may lead to the belief in one's unique mission and in one's capacity to incarnate a new type of human individual in whatever sphere one may function — thus to be an examplar in the most personal sense of the term. Examples: Baha'u'llah, whom many consider to have been a Divine Incarnation; Nostradamus, the seer; Annie Besant; Ralph Waldo Emerson; J. P. Morgan the elder—and (probably) Abraham Lincoln.

The Part of Fortune in AQUARIUS

The social idealism and the reforming zeal of the Aquarian type are well known. The Part of Fortune brings these qualities to a very personal focus. Underneath all differences of station, profession, individual temperament and destiny it singles out the person with such a natal characteristic as a contributor to the progress of civilization—however modest, however constructive or destructive the contribution. Examples: Dante, Emmanuel Kant, Robespierre, Ramakrishna, Havelock Ellis, Richard Wagner, Maria Montessori, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin.

The Part of Fortune in PISCES

The sign, Pisces, is an elusive one which produces on one hand, generals, and on the other, mystics and musicians. It indicates a process of collective dissolution, a state of social and cultural crisis in which old forms are destroyed to make room for the new. The index of personality and happiness located there shows the life-force operating almost against itself, in order to overcome itself. The person is contemptuous of lesser things, avid to conquer new worlds. He may achieve his life-purpose through crises, personal or social — through what may seem like miracles to other people. Examples: The scientist-mystic Swedenborg, Napoleon I, Robert Schumann.  

 

The Lunation Cycle

   

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