Arabic Parts & Antiscions

Arabic Parts

This lesson is really a continuation of the previous less, since the Arabic parts and solstice points (or Antiscions) are not planets, but calculated points. The only part that I use consistently is the Part of Fortune. Traditionally, a different POF is calculated for the day and night, but in modern times most astrologers use the daytime POF for both daytime and nighttime births. I have no data to suggest that one is more accurate than the other, so I've been using the daytime POF for both daytime and nightime horary charts. On those infrequent occasions when I do avail myself of other parts, I do so for confirmation, or, as it were, to call a close race...to help decide ambiguous charts (which most of the ones that come my way seem to be!). Because the parts are not, in fact, planets, I do not regard them as the major players in a chart.

The Part of Fortune (often referred to as Pars Fortuna) is very significant in 2nd house matters, though. I always use it in Lost-and-Found charts. Some astrologers regard it as a permanent co-ruler of the 2nd house. I suppose there is no logical reason why it should be more important--or why I should use it more frequently--than other parts...perhaps it's just because my astrology software plants the POF somewhere in every chart by default, and I've come to look for it. Traditionally, though, it is the most favored among the parts.

Ivy Jacobson used The Part of Fortune, Misfortune, Sickness, Marriage, Surgery/Cutting, Death, Danger or Peril, and Legalizing & Weddings. Any decent astrology program will calculate far more than these, and some will even allow you to tweak the manner in which they are calculated. Astrowin calculates 124 parts. (My $300 retail Winstar version 2.31--the current version--calculates "only" 50.) The final word in Arabic parts is probably Robert Zoller's Arabic Parts In Astrology: Lost Key To Prediction.

Marc Edmund Jones gives as good a description of the parts as any I've found. He says, "The 'parts' are secondary horizons, created by taking, from the ascendant, whatever distance is found to lie between two planets, cusps or points in pertinent relationship, always moving counterclockwise around the zodiac."

If we're talking about the Part of Fortune, the two planets used are the Sun and the Moon. We would find the difference between these two planets, and count forward that number of degrees from the chart's ascendant. For the daytime Pars Fortuna, then, the formula is:

POF(day) = Asc + (Moon -Sun)

The nightime part would be:

POF(night) = Asc + (Sun-Moon)

In other words, the daytime POF is the point at which the Moon would be if the Sun (because it rules the day) were on the Ascendant. The nighttime POF is the point at which the Sun would be if the Moon (because it rules the night) were on the Ascendant.

See why I make things easy for myself and just use the datime POF?

To calculate the parts manually, it's easiest to use the eliptic longitudes. These are calculated simply by counting around the eliptic, starting with 0°Aries as 0°, 0° Taurus as 30°, and so forth.

Now let's work through a sample calculation to see how this works. (Then, forever after, let your astrology program do tha calculation for you!) We'll use a chart cast to answer the question, "Should we pursue living in Humboldt County?" My wife and I asked this question. We have been working at finding the right jobs in a more rural area than we presently live in (Los Angeles!), hoping to buy some acreage, raise some animals, grow some food, on a small, personal scale. We visited Northern California over the summer, and loved Humboldt County. An employer in the area was interested in hiring my wife, but we learned from a realtor that real estate prices had jumped considerably higher during the last few months, and that we would get far less bang for the buck than we'd hoped.

I only looked at the POF (11°Gem)when I first read the chart, but had the chart been more ambiguous than it was, I might also have looked at...oh, I don't know, let's say the Part of Travels. We'll calculate the Part of Travels using the formula:

Part of Travels = Asc + (Cusp 9 - Ruler of 9)

I found this formula not ten minutes ago at this web page. I was looking for a "Part of Moving," couldn't find one, and so am using this one.

If we plug these numbers into our formula, we have: Part of Trafvels = 49°13' + (281°05' - 72°48') = 49°13' + (280°65' - 72°48')

I subtracted a minute from the 9 cusp degrees and added it to the minutes so that I could subtract the minutes column, thus:

280°65'
-72°48'
=208°17

So now we have Part of Travels = 49°13' + 208°17' = 257°30' = 17Sag 30

Let's try deriving our own part, using the same strategy. Instead of the 9th house of Travel, we'll use the 7th house, which represent (via derivative houses) the-place-removed-to. So our formula might be Part of The-Place-Removed-Too = Asc + (Cusp 7 - Ruler 7). (You're probably beginning to get an idea of how tempting it can be to get ridiculous with these Arabic parts! Especially in a chart that is as clear as this one.)

POTPRT = 49°13' + ( 229°37' - 314°12') [I'm using Mars as the primary ruler of Scorpio, which I consistently do].

Since I want the absolute distance between the Cusp of the 7 and Mars (moving clockwise to measure that distance, but, remember, counterclockwise project from the Ascendant), I'll simply add 360° to the longitude of the 7th Cusp, and subtract from that the longitude of Mars.

POTPRT = 49°13' + 275°25 = 324°38' = 24Pis38.

Okay, finally, let's look at the chart. With the Sun and the Moon, the 7th of places-removed-to, the chart is radical (by my standards) and fit to be judged.

First of all, that the 7th house cusp is exactly conjunct Serpentis bodes ill. Very ill. Serpentis, as you'll remember from the previous lesson, is the "cursed degree of the accursed sign." Hardly what you want when you're asking about a major move and lifestyle change.

We're ruled by the Moon, and Ascendant ruler Venus. Mars, Pluto, Moon, and Sun are significators of the 7th. The Moon has recently separated from a conjunction with Pluto, suggesting that any hope of a our moving to Humboldt county is a thing of the past. Venus, ruling us, is going to square Mars. Both Venus and Mars are peregrine. Their mutual reception by Ruler and Term isn't strong enough to offer much comfort. To me, this is a pretty clear indication that pursuing the right land/job combo in Humboldt county would not, at this time, be productive.

The Part of Places Removed To trines the Sun in the 7th...a hopeful indication. Furthermore, Venus is about to trine Jupiter (dispositor of the POPRT), another good sign. The POPRT is in the 11th house of Hopes. A third good sign.

The Part of Travels is in the 7th, but conjunct the 8th house cusp. It's ruler, Jupiter, is weakend by retrogradation (but still fairly well dignified). Saturn retrograde in the 1st, hugging the Part of Fortune, suggests delays and disappointments.

On balance, and despite my contrary hopes, the chart suggests eventual success in our endeavor, but not in the area inquired about. I simply do not find enough strong indicators to overrule the chart's main indications:

The following table lists the Arabic Parts calculated by Astrowin. A web search will turn up others.

When entries are purple, reverse the last two terms in night charts.

Antiscia

William Lilly defines the antiscion signs as, "those which are of the same virtue and are equally distant from the first degree of the two tropical signs Cancer and Capricorn and in which degrees where the Sun is, the days and nights are of equal length. For example, when the Sun is in the tenth degree of Taurus he is as far distant from the first degree of Cancer as when in the twentieth degree of Leo. Therefore when the Sun is in the tenth of Taurus, he has his antiscion to the twentieth of Leo, that is he gives virtue or influence to any star or planet that at that time either is in the same degree by conjunction or casts any aspect to it."

In other words, two antiscia are mirror points on the ecliptic, across the summer-winter solstice lines. Thus, the following signs are antiscia of each other:

The easiest way to see this is to look at an equal houses chart, with 0° Aries rising and 0° Capricorn on the Midheaven. 0° Taurus will be on the cusp of the 2nd, 0° Gemini on the cusp of the 3rd, and so on, all the way around. You will see that the solstice line runs vertically up the center of the chart and that if you draw a line perpendicular to the solstice line from each sign to its antiscion, that the midpoint of each sign is either 0° Cancer or 0° Capricorn.

Each degree and minute around the ecliptic has an antiscion, too. This table shows the relationship.

Using this table, and the signs table, you can quickly find the antiscion of any point in a chart. Say the Sun is at 23Scor29. To find the solstice point first find the antiscion sign, in this case Aquarius. The exact degree is:

29°Aqu60' - 23° 29' =6°Aqu31'

I converted 30° Aquarius to degrees and minutes to do the subtraction.

A contrascion (or contra-antiscion, as Lilly called it) is the point 180° away from the anticion.

Uses of the Antiscion

This is one of those horary concepts the usefulness of which I have never fully grasped, and as a result, I almost never look at it. Many astrologers do use it, though. Traditionally, a conjunction with a planet's antiscion is the equivalent of a sextile or trine with that planet. A conjunction with a contrascion of a planet is the same as a square or opposition to that planet.

For example, if Mars opposes the antiscion of a significator, it acts as a malefic upon that significator, hindering a beneficial outcome. If, however, the antiscion of a significator conjoins Mars, and Mars is also a significator (in other words, an accidental benefic), this supports a beneficial outcome. If the antiscion of a significator conjoins Jupiter, this favors a beneficial outcome.

Some astrologers regard only conjunctions as relevant aspects when dealing with antiscia.

End of Lesson 6