Entrada solemne de Dios en su templo

I used to use Arabian Parts a lot in horary. I now use them less and less, as I find that in most charts they tell nothing of major significance - and in horary we are not concerned with minor significance. Yet there are circumstances when it is worth taking a look at one of them. In most questions, an Arabian Part will not give the main answer. So resist the impulse to calculate ever more recondite Parts in the hope that one will suddenly transform your judgement.Itwon't.

An Arabian Part is a point in the chart that gives information about a specific subject. There are hundreds of such Parts, cast for anything from apricots to the death of kings to facilitating fraudulent marriage. The Part is calculated by taking the distance between two points (usually two planets) and extending that distance from a third point (usually the Ascendant). The most valuable and most often used of Parts is thePart o/Fortune, orFortuna.This is cast by measuring the distance from the Sun to the Moon and then extending that distance from the Ascendant. If the Sun is at 10Taurus and the Moon at 25Taurus, there are15

degrees between the Sun and Moon, so Fortuna will be 15 degrees from the Ascendant, travelling anticlockwise.

Most software will present you with a list of Arabian Parts for any chart. But if you are still using the page of the software that gives you this and other infor- mation, you haven't been paying attention: stop it! Calculating Parts is not diffi- cult, but the exercise involved may be sufficient to deter you from using them unnecessarily.

More importantly, the way the Parts are presented in computer programs is wrong. What the software gives is a list of whichever Parts happen to be in close aspect to a planet in that chart. If the Part of Lentils is conjunct Saturn it will appear on the list - regardless of the fact that the question is 'Will she marry me?' and lentils have nothing to do with it. That some random Part happens to be in aspect to a planet is irrelevant. Itdoes not mean that the Part is therefore signifi- cant in that chart.

The correct use of Parts is to decide which Part we are interested in, calculate it, and then see what it and - most importantly - its dispositor are doing. They mayor may not be in aspect to a planet.

THE CALCULATION

If

All our degree measurements (6 Aries,17 Cancer, etc) are measurements of celestial longitude. They tell us how far round the ecliptic a point is. A planet at12Taurus is in the second 30-degree chunk of the zodiac (which chunk we call Taurus) and is 12degrees into that 30-degree chunk.

When we are measuring the distance from one planet to another, counting how many degrees there are between them, we are measuring their distance apart in celestial longitude. But rhinking, 'The distance berween rhem is 3 signs and degrees' is clumsy and invites error. Itis much easiertowork in absolute longitude. This is the distance something is from 0 Aries, but is expressed as a number of degrees, not as so many signs and so many degrees. Our example planet at12 Taurus is at 42 degrees of absolute longitude. To reach it, srarting from 0 Aries, we musr rravel rhrough the 30 degrees that make up Aries, then another12degrees of

Taurus: 42 degrees in all.

The absolute longitude of 0 degrees of each sign is:

0 180 30 ITt., 210

n

Learn this table.

So a planet at 14 Leo has an absolure longitude of120 degrees (0 Leo) + 14 degrees =134 degrees. A planet at 8 Pisces has 330 degrees (0 Pisces) +8 = 338 degrees.

The business of the distance berween planetI and planet2, rhen adding

rhis distancetothe Ascendant (or some other point) can be expressed more simply as Asc+planet2 - planet1.

ARABIAN PARTS II7

Suppose we wishtocalculate the position of Fortuna in a chart where the Sun is at17.34Leo, the Moon is at4.52 Libra and the Ascendant is22.36Virgo.

The formula Fortuna is Asc+Moon - Sun.

Asc is 22.36Virgo. o Virgo is150degrees, +22.36=172.36 Moon is at Libra. oLibra is180degrees, +4.52=l84.52 Sun is at17.34Leo. oLeo is120degrees, +17.34=l37.34 Asc+Moon: 172.36 184.52+ 356.88

Note the number in the minutes column: 88 minutes. There are only60 minutes in one degree, but ignore that arithmetical nicety here. If you avoid changing the minutes up into degrees (leaving them here as 88) you ensure that you can take away the third part of the formula without problem. Treat each side of the point as a separate sum, even if you have over100in the minute column. This will keep you clear of the usual errors with this calculation.

Asc+Moon: -Sun:

356.88 137.34 219.54

So Fortuna is at219.540of absolute longitude.

Look at the table of absolute longitudestofind the biggest number that is less than

21 9.54.

It is 210,which isa Scorpio. So Fortuna is in Scorpio.

Take this210away from its absolute longitude of219. 54:

219.54 210.00-

9.54

Note: you can add or subtract360.00at any time during this calculation if it will make the sum easier. Ifyou find that the number you have to subtract is bigger than the number you got by adding the other two together, add360to the number you got from the addition. If the number you end up with when you've finished the sum is bigger than360,subtract360from it. If your final total gives you a number of minutes greater than60,subtract60from it and addI to the number of degrees.

Let's do another one. Suppose we want to find the Part of Resignation and Dismissal, the formula for which is Saturn +Jupiter - Sun. Suppose Saturn is at

17.54Aries, Jupiter at4.58Taurus, the Sun at20.17Sagittarius.

Saturn+Jupiter:

Sun:

17.54 34.58 +

51.112 note the minutes column

51.112

260.170- we can't do this, so add 360.00

51.112 360.000+

411.112 now we can subtract the Sun

411.112 260.17 - 151. 95

So the Part is at15I.95°of absolute longitude.

This is degrees and minutes, though, not degrees and decimals. So now we must adjust the minutes column:95minutes =I degree and35minutes.

So15I.95= 152.35.

What is the biggest number less than this in the table?

150.So the Part is in Virgo.

152.35 150.00 -

2.35

So the Part is at2.35Virgo.

As a little practice will soon show you, this calculation is far simpler than it might seem. I have had many students professing their innumeracy, but all have learned to do this without too much anguish.

ARABIAN PARTS II9

Using the Parts

It is a general principle that Parts don't do, they are done to. They don't cast aspects (a Part is nothing but a point in space: it has no light and so cannot cast an aspect); they have aspects cast to them. Suppose Jupiter is exactly square the Part of Marriage: whatever Jupiter signifies is putting a strain on the marriage; this does not show that the marriage has any effect on Jupiter.

That said, certain Parts in certain circumstances can act as if they were casting aspects. If my significator applies to oppose the Part of Resignation and Dismissal, this is testimony that I may lose my job. What the Part is doing here is marking the time of an event, much as a milestone marks a place on a road, rather than showing the event itself. If the milestone tells me it is roo miles to town, I may decide to stop for some dinner; this does not mean that the milestone has made me stop for dinner. But this is a quibble: in the chart the link between Part and action can be regarded as direct.

If you are taking an aspect to the Part to show an event, stick to conjunction and opposition. Other aspects are unlikely to give the event unless there is strong, congruent testimony elsewhere.

Consider the strength of Parts as with a planet: they are affected by combus- tion, aspects from planets, and so forth. Be cautious with gauging strength from house placement: if the Part of Work to be Done is in the 12th, does it mean it is weak, or does it suggest working with large animals?

Keep to the point. Do not introduce Parts unless they are directly relevant to the context. If the question is 'When will I marry?' the Part of Death conjunct Lord 7 does not mean you will marry an axe-murderer. It does not mean anything at all: it is not relevant and should not be used. If the question is 'I am terminally ill; will I marry before I die?' the Part of Death might well be relevant.