the-astrology-book

Arabic Parts
An ancient Arabian zodiac. Reproduced by permission of Fortean Picture Library.
Lights (a traditional term for the Sun and the Moon) is 85°29’. When this distance is
added to the ascendant, the part is found to be at 67°53’ or 7 Gemini 59.
Should the figure be nocturnal, however, the Part of Fortune is found from the
Moon. Thus, the distance from the Moon to the Sun, in the order of the signs, is
found to be 274°31’. This distance, projected from the ascendant (12 Pisces 30)
locates the part at 257°01’ or 17 Sagittarius 01.
In traditional astrology (that practiced in Europe until the mid-seventeenth
century), the Arabic Parts were used for several purposes. First, they were used in
horary figures to assist in judgment when the planetary testimony was obscure. One
circumstance in which this seems to have been done was when, in a horary figure, one
planet is the significator of a matter and another planet applies to some aspect of this
significator. In such a case, the astrologer may not know if the second planet will hinder
or assist the business. The astrologer might take the distance from the aspect in
question to the significator and—making an Arabic Part of this distance—project it
from the ascendant or other relevant house cusp (say, the third, if the business is about
travel, siblings, etc.). The astrologer would then judge whether the application was
[40] THE ASTROLOGY BOOK