Anaeretic Lot

Definition

The Anaeretic Lot — anairetikos klēros (Greek ἀναιρετικὸς κλῆρος, "killing Lot") — is a calculated point in Rhetorius's expanded system of Lots, held to signify a violent death when the Moon or the malefics regard it. Unlike the anareta, which is the destroying planet itself, this is a fixed projection-point worked out by formula, a place in the chart rather than a body.

In Tradition

Rhetorius gives the computation in his Compendium: measure from the ruler of the Ascendant up to the Moon, then project that span from the rising degree, reversing the direction for a night birth. He directs the astrologer to watch whether the Moon sees this Lot, since the configuration was read as a mark of a violent end. The Lot draws on the same anaireta vocabulary — anairetēs, "destroyer" — found across the Hellenistic killing-significator doctrines. Rhetorius's particular contribution is to fix that significator as a Lot rather than a transiting body or a ray.

In Practice

To set the Lot, measure from the ruler of the Ascendant to the Moon by day, reverse the direction by night, and project that arc from the Ascendant. Then note which bodies regard the resulting point — Rhetorius singles out the Moon and the malefics. Treat this as a piece of the historical length-of-life and killing-significator apparatus, examined for testimony alongside the other markers the tradition used. It is the part of the chart the old astrologers consulted on the manner of death, not a verdict to pronounce over anyone living.

Historical Origin

The computation is given in Rhetorius of Egypt, Astrological Compendium (chapter 54; in James H. Holden's translation, p. 41), which states that the Lot of the Anaeretic Star runs from the Ascendant's ruler up to the Moon, cast from the rising degree and reversed by night, and is examined for a violent death.

Etymology

Origin: Greek. Meaning: killing or destroying Lot.

Further Reading

• Rhetorius of Egypt, Astrological Compendium
• Chris Brennan, Hellenistic Astrology