This is a series of weekly columns written by Robert Hand for StarIQ in the years 2000/2001. Bit by bit he explores the workings of astrology, its relationship with science, magic, language and consciousness. He explains about horary and traditional astrology as well as humanistic and psychological astrology. He presents his view of astrology as revealed to him in his long studies. A very interesting approach worth reading and comtemplating.
Most astrologers have encountered the Part (or Lot as the Greeks called it) of Fortune, but have little idea of what to do with it. The modern literature on the subject is of little help tending to make it an extremely abstract symbol, something "karmic." To complicate things further, it is now clear that for approximately 50% of all people the Part of Fortune is usually computed incorrectly, namely those persons born at night between sunset and sunrise.
In the beginning Mesopotamian astrology was much like that of other cultures, a simple examination of the heavens for omens that might affect the kingdom. Often these observations of omens would include weather phenomena intermixed with true astronomical ones. What made the Mesopotamians different is that they began at an early time to make systematic observations of phenomena with an eye to finding regular patterns in the heavens that might correlate with patterns in human events.
The following article is the (edited) transcript of a talk Robert Hand gave at the Astrological Conference 2005 of the British Astrological Association in York, UK.
