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Part of Fortune
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The Part of Fortune, or Lot of Fortune, is not a body but a calculated point — the best known of the lots, or "parts", that ancient astrologers derived from the distances between planets. It takes the relationship between the Sun and the Moon and carries it onto the Ascendant: the Part of Fortune stands as far from the Ascendant as the Moon stands from the Sun. It is the Moon's own lot, as the Lot of Spirit is the Sun's.
How it is calculated
In a day chart (Sun above the horizon) the formula is Ascendant + Moon − Sun. Many ancient authors, Vettius Valens among them, reverse it in a night chart: Ascendant + Sun − Moon. Ptolemy and, later, Lilly took it the same way by day and by night; the charts here follow the older practice of reversing it by night, in keeping with sect. A quick check: at a New Moon the Part of Fortune falls on the Ascendant, and at a Full Moon close to the Descendant.
Because it is tied to the Ascendant, the Part of Fortune moves round the whole chart in a day, about a degree every four minutes, so it depends on an accurate birth time.
Its place in astrology
The Part of Fortune rules no sign and holds no dignity of its own. As Lilly puts it, it casts no aspects, though planets aspect it. What matters is where it falls — its house, whether it is in an angle or a weak place — the planets that aspect it, and above all the condition of the planet that rules its sign, its dispositor, which is said to deliver what the Part promises.
How it is read
Traditionally it signifies the body and health, material fortune and the circumstances that befall a person rather than the choices they make. Lilly judged that a Part of Fortune well placed in a strong house and aspected by the benefics inclines toward good fortune in wealth, while one in a weak house or afflicted asks for more effort in those matters. Modern astrologers often read it more broadly, as the area of life where a person tends to find ease, well-being and a sense of things going their way: in the 10th, through career; in the 5th, through creativity and pleasure; in the 11th, through friends and groups.
In transit
Transits to the natal Part of Fortune are usually read lightly, but a major planet crossing it, or its dispositor, can mark a period when health, money or general fortune come into focus.