the-astrology-book

Arabic Parts
Biruni, who is one of Bonatti’s sources, lists 143. Al-Biruni advocated a rational
astrology based on actual astronomical verities and expressed doubt bordering on
scorn with regard to horary astrology, which he likened to sorcery. In discussing the
parts (which he calls Lots), he complained, “It is impossible to enumerate the lots
which have been invented for the solution of horary questions and for answering
enquiries as to prosperous outcome or auspicious time for action; they increase in
number daily.”
This proliferation led to the superficial and promiscuous abuse of the parts by
shallow practitioners who did not appreciate that the parts were never intended to
replace the testimony of the primary figure. Accurate delineation of the parts depends
on accurate delineation of the figure.
The history of the parts predates their Arabic usage, stretching back to the Hellenistic
Period, perhaps as early as 300 B.C.E., and, conceivably, even to Greco-Babylonian
times. Thus, the name “Arabic” Parts is a misnomer. The parts are found in
Dorotheus’s Pentateuch (first century C.E.) and in the Liber Hermetis, which Wilhelm
von Gundel and Le R. P. Festugière regard as a pre-Islamic Hellenistic Hermetic text
exemplifying Egyptian temple astrology of an era possibly as early as the third century
B.C.E. Thus, the “Arabic” Parts might better be called Hermetic or Egyptian Parts.
The rather vague handling of the Part of the Sun and the Part Hyleg by Bonatti,
Albumasar, and Al-Biruni also implies that the parts originated in pagan times.
Bonatti, drawing on Albumasar and Al-Biruni, seems intentionally vague in merely
mentioning that the Part of the Sun was relevant to “faith, prophesy and the culture
of God.” He does not elaborate on this in any way. Al-Biruni, who gives symbols for
many of the parts, indicates the Part of the Sun, which he calls the Part of the Daemon,
as a circle with two horns—as a crescent emerging from behind a disk. The
glyph resembles the head of a medieval Roman horned demon; a figure not originally
regarded as evil. In light of the well-attested fact that much of the astrological lore of
Albumasar, Al-Biruni, Messahalla, and others came from the polytheistic Hermetic
Sabian community at what is today Harran, Iraq, there has been a long-standing
assumption on the part of some esotericists that the medieval astrological tradition
was a vehicle for preserving the Hellenistic pagan Hermetic gnosis. This assumption
appears correct. The reticence of both the Muslim and Christian writers (such as
Albumasar, Al-Biruni, and Bonatti) was probably due to their wish to avoid censure
by their respective religious authorities. The daemon referred to in the name Part of
the Daemon may well be the Neoplatonic—Hermetic Agathodaemon, which was the
chief deity of the pagan Sabians.
Another part that receives vague treatment by Bonatti is the Part Hyleg. Bonatti
says that it is the root of the other parts and can exist without them, but they cannot
exist without it and that “the ancients could have said more about it had they
wanted but refrained from doing so because it was involved with other things.” This
statement is the very epitome of obscurity. The key to the mystery of this part is to
determine how it is found and how it got its name. It is calculated as the line extending
from the position of the conjunction or prevention (i.e., the new or full moon)
prior to birth to the position of the Moon at the time of birth and then projected from
[42] THE ASTROLOGY BOOK