Hermetic Lots

greek: Παναρετός (Panaretos)

Definition

The Hermetic Lots are the main set of seven lots — calculated points in a chart — in Hellenistic astrology. The tradition credits them to Hermes Trismegistus and gives one to each classical planet: the Moon's Lot of Fortune, the Sun's Lot of Spirit, Mercury's Lot of Necessity, Venus's Lot of Eros, Mars's Lot of Courage, Jupiter's Lot of Victory, and Saturn's Lot of Nemesis. Each is worked out from three points — most often the rising degree plus two planets — and the formulas flip between a day birth and a night birth.

In Tradition

Astrologers use the seven Hermetic lots — also called the Lots of the Panaretos ("All-Virtuous") — to frame the kinds of questions each planet naturally raises. Brennan, Crane, Holden, and Greenbaum, drawing on Vettius Valens, Paulus Alexandrinus, and Hephaistio of Thebes, derive the lots of the benefic planets from the Lot of Spirit and those of the malefic planets from the Lot of Fortune, with Mercury's Lot of Necessity bridging the two.

In Practice

You start with the Lots of Fortune (built from the Moon) and Spirit (built from the Sun), flipping each formula depending on whether the birth was by day or by night. The other five follow: the Lot of Eros (Venus, derived from Spirit), Necessity (Mercury, from Fortune), Courage (Mars, from Fortune), Victory (Jupiter, from Spirit), and Nemesis (Saturn, from Fortune). For each lot you read its sign and house, the condition of the planet that rules it, and any planet sitting with it or aspecting it. Fortune anchors the body and material life; Spirit anchors will and vocation; Eros covers desire and love; Necessity, compulsion and what cannot be escaped; Courage, boldness and conflict; Victory, success and triumph; Nemesis, retribution and consequences. Hellenistic time-lord systems — zodiacal releasing especially — use Fortune and Spirit as their starting points, and Valens treats the house holding the Lot of Fortune as the anchor for reading material outcomes.

Historical Origin

The seven-lot Hermetic system is attested in Vettius Valens' Anthologiae Book II (c. 145-175 CE), Paulus Alexandrinus' Introductory Matters Ch. 23 (4th c. CE), and Hephaistio of Thebes' Apotelesmatica Book II. The credit to Hermes Trismegistus reflects the Hellenistic-Egyptian Hermetic tradition. The doctrine was carried forward by the Arabic transmission, where dozens of further Arabic Parts were worked out, and recovered in modern English through Project Hindsight, Holden, Crane, Brennan, and Greenbaum.

Etymology

Origin: Greek. Meaning: Of or attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Etymology

Further Reading