Almost everyone feels lucky at some time or another. It’s a dopamine rush waiting to happen: holding a winning lottery ticket, getting a killer deal from a deck in a game of cards, finding a 20 dollar bill on the ground. We logical, rational people even hold space in our minds and hearts for totems that might bring us luck. The lucky horseshoe, four-leaf clovers, rabbits’ feet, our favorite coffee cup, to name a few. In our logical minds, we also doubt luck, ours and the concept in general. But what if luck really does exist in a way we could see and tap into? The universe gives us an edge, if we just tap into it.
Last year, Robin and I started an interesting experiment. We began to look for astrological indicators that would show us how -- and where -- we were lucky, and we began to chase that luck. Predicting lucky days yielded some interesting results. At one point, Robin managed to score five free tickets to the local Renaissance fair, which she'd already decided not to attend because the $35 individual ticket price was out of our budget! We had so many tickets we were actually able to go twice and even give a ticket away.
One of the most intriguing and powerful turned out to be an astrological point called the Lot (or Part) of Fortune. So what exactly does the Lot of Fortune indicate? It's sort of a zone of success/satisfaction. When you dive into your Lot of Fortune energies, it feels like life gives you a big return on your efforts.
You achieve success that feels greater than the amount of work you put in.
There's a sense of having found your sweet spot, settling into activities that feel like just the right fit for your personality and gifts.
Like a pilot getting into the cockpit of a favorite fighter jet. The seat is just molded just right to your backside. The controls feel good under your hands.
Medieval Middle Eastern astrologers equated the Lot of Fortune with a sense of gratitude for being alive, like you'd finally found your right place on the planet.
Life doesn't feel like such a struggle when you engage in these activities.
Do people ever comment on an area in your life where you seem to be skilled with relatively little effort even though many others struggle to produce the results you do?
What feels easy or natural for you that other people say is really hard?
Even if you're kind of like, why can't everyone do this?
Our experience is that, once people learn about their Lot of Fortune, a whole lot of weirdly positive results suddenly make sense. They're able to put more energy into these rewarding areas and stop pushing so hard to do things that don't yield such good fruit. Many people who feel successful in their career turn out to be working a job that is at least tangentially related to their Lot of Fortune. In the words of former NFL player and sports commentator Chris Collinsworth, “it helps you avoid the tough sledding.”
This article includes instructions for identifying your Lot of Fortune, even if you don't know your birth time. It's pretty powerful!
Important note: Classically, the Lot of Fortune is also associated with physical health. So if you're experiencing a lot of health challenges, your Lot of Fortune might be weak or afflicted. We'll be talking on our Patreon (@Spiritsaid) about how to address that.
Where does the Lot of Fortune come from?
The first written mentions of the Lot of Fortune occur in Hellenistic astrology writings from about the beginning of the common era. This and other lots were expanded in the hot bed of astrological fusion in medieval Persia, India, and what is now Iran and Iraq. The 1980s astrological renaissance reintroduced modern audiences to these important concepts. And the good news is that we all have them. Everyone can tap into them.
If you wanted to calculate the Lot of Fortune manually and you were born when the sun was above the horizon (a day birth), you would count the degrees from the sun to moon in your birth chart. If you were born at night, with the sun below the horizon, then you reverse that, counting the degrees from the moon to the sun.
You then move that many degrees forward from your ascendant (the degree on the horizon at your birth time, labeled AC or ASC on your birth chart.)
The house that you land in is home to your Lot of Fortune. The activities associated with that house are the ones where your “luck” is most active. Don't worry if you're not an astrology expert. There's a free 1-Page Astrology Keyword Cheatsheet available at this link that gives a simple list of each house and its significations.
If you'd like to see the calculation in action, we recommend the Astrology Podcast video "The Lot of Fortune and Spirit in Astrology." It demonstrates how the lot is calculated and gives a great deal more information on how to interpret it.
But really, you don't need to understand any of this to find your Lot of Fortune. The helpful internet is there to calculate it for you. Our directions below will walk you through it.
Once you find your Lot of Fortune, pay attention to the house where it falls, and if you know your birth time, what sign it's in. The house indicates what types of life activities come easy for you and where your efforts will be rewarded. When you put extra energy into those, you get a lot of bang for your buck. And if you're struggling with feeling like you haven't found your purpose, or it's hard to find things that make you feel good, your Lot of Fortune House activities are great places to start!
If you know your birth time, the sign that your Lot of Fortune falls in will show you what energies or approach to those activities yield the best results.
For example, Robin has her Lot of Fortune in her 5th house, which is the house of creative activities, romance, and children. She was very successful working with teenagers for 25 years as an SAT tutor. And she is a knitter, crocheter, beadworker, painter, designer, and seamstress, often picking up creative skills in just a couple of weeks that take others months or years to master. Every time she puts in effort to do something creative, it always seems to turn out well.
The sign where her Lot of Fortune falls is Cancer, which involves nurturing, healing, and giving emotional support. So although Robin is fortunate in any sort of creative endeavor, she gets an extra boost when she concentrates on things that are healing and uplifting. For example, if she tries to make earrings just so she can sell them, that doesn't turn out quite as well. But if she concentrates on making earrings that feel healing or enjoyable for her to wear, she gets much better results.
So once you figure out your Lot of Fortune house, you can start diving into those lucky activities. And if you're fortunate enough to know your birth time within an hour or so, you can then fine-tune the approach to get the most good fortune out of what you do.
It's important to keep a few things in mind when you're working with your Lot of Fortune.
First, not everyone has an equal amount of fortune. We all have a gift to be naturally fortunate at the activities of one of the 12 houses, but some people are going to be naturally great while others will achieve a more modest success. For example, although Robin receives a great deal of social encouragement and approbation over her creative activities, she's not very successful at converting them into monetary gain.
In other words, you can find more “luck” by working with your Lot of Fortune, and life should feel easier and smoother. However, it doesn't magically wipe away all of your challenges, and there may be some areas in which you are not so fortunate. That's another article for another day.
Second, it is possible to improve your Lot of Fortune, especially by tuning into other locations where it might be better than your natal timezone or current place of residence. In our Patreon, we will be talking about how you can relocate your chart and use astrological remediation to improve your “luck,” so stay tuned. There's an upcoming public lecture on this. So sign up for the email list at the bottom of this page to get notified.
But for now, it's worth analyzing your life to see if you consistently experience greater fortune in certain areas of the world. Perhaps there's a favorite vacation spot where good things always seem to happen to you. Or perhaps life just seems easier when you go visit a family member in a different time zone. Robin and I ended up moving off of the West Coast when we realized that Robin's Lot of Fortune was permanently weakened there. Her health is much better as soon as she gets out of the Pacific time zone!
An interesting note about all of this: while modern astrology tends to focus on personality and psychology, ancient astrology was also concerned with living better and safer, avoiding hardships brought on by external forces. The Lot of Fortune is part of this practical tradition, which makes it so helpful for living a better life.
Want to find the Lot of Fortune in your chart?
Go to the website astro-seek.com Traditional Astrology Calculator
Enter the birth date, location, and, if you have it, the birth time. (If you have an approximate birth time like morning or the early evening, just get as close as you can and remember that you might have to experiment to find the correct sign (email us if you need help with this.) If you can't narrow down the birth time at all, see directions 5 and 6 below.)
Once you've generated the chart, look for the symbol that is shaped like a circle with an X in it (like a railroad crossing sign). That is your Lot of Fortune.
Take note of the house and sign it falls in.
If you don't have a birth time at all, enter 7am along with the location and date of your birth.
If you don't know the birth time, the Lot of Fortune is either in the house indicated by the circle with the X or in the house indicated by the circle with the vertical line (that’s the Lot of Spirit, which we’ll discuss later). Since the calculation is different depending whether you were born in the day or in the evening, if you don’t know whether you’re looking at a day or night birth, it could be either one.) Read through the house significations for each of those houses and figure out which one of the two feels like a luckier or easier spot for you. That one is the house of your Lot of Fortune.
So how can you leverage this in your own life?
Try this exercise:
Identify a few of your current or past activities that relate to your Lot of Fortune house and sign if you know it. How have you already reaped extra success or good fortune in these?
Consider what extra action or activity you could add. What could you do to bring more emphasis on this life area?
Spend a week or two focusing more attention on it, and see what happens. Are you happier, more at ease, or have you reaped some extra rewards?
After trying this, ask yourself how your life might be different or better if you did more of this.
Note: everyone's Lot of Fortune is colored by other parts of the chart: its ruler, aspects from other planets, its relation to the ascendant or other angles. So you may have to do a little tweaking to figure out how exactly to leverage your Lot of Fortune energy. That's part of the lifelong study of making your astrology work for you.
So let's look at an example
Let's say a woman discovers she has her Lot of Fortune in the 4th house in Leo. The 4th house is related to home, family, ancestry, agriculture, and mining, among other significations. The sign of Leo is about expressing your passions, sharing your interests, and finding an audience.
Let's say she's been trying to launch a singing career by performing at local open mic nights but with little success. Performing in public venues might be great for somebody who has a Lot of Fortune in the 10th or 11th houses, but with a 4th house lot, this person might find much greater success if she started hosting performances in her own home or the home of an acquaintance with a nice piano and a big living room or some music-loving friends. Perhaps she could consider an agricultural setting, say a harvest festival at a local farm. She could leverage her family and see if anyone has a connection with a recording company or a musical venue. Maybe, instead of singing what she hopes will be a popular cover of somebody else's song, she should concentrate more on expressing herself and writing her own music (Leo is about self expression, not about copying other people's art). Or, if she's not a songwriter, she could concentrate on songs from her family's history or culture since the 4th house is associated with ancestors.
Pinpointing the Lot of Fortune House and sign provides a plethora of suggestions beyond the conventional wisdom about how to launch a recording career or find an audience.
It may not turn into a multimillion dollar recording contract, but adding activities or actions that relate to the Lot of Fortune house and sign will leverage her greatest success, whatever her highest potential turns out to be.
It's not all on you alone
We hope this has helped you understand a little bit about the Lot of Fortune, how to recognize your own and others, and how to leverage it in your own life. Feel free to leave a comment below or email us if you have thoughts or questions.
If you feel like you want some help, we do Lot of Fortune consultations for clients. This is a great graduation gift for high schooler or college student who's about ready to head out on their own into the world. Understanding your Lot of Fortune is a huge help when choosing a major, or deciding between multiple job offers in different locations. Can you imagine if somebody had been able to tell you right out of high school what college major would give you the most success and happiness, and where on the planet you should be looking for a job? That would have transformed Steve's and Robin's working careers!
Go forth and be fortunate!
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