Astrology
Lot of Marriage
Direct answer
Lot of Marriage: The Lot of Marriage is a calculated point that ancient and medieval astrologers found from Saturn to Venus in a man's chart and from Venus to Saturn in a woman's, laid off from the Ascendant, and read for marriage.
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At a glance
- Also called
- part of marriage, arabic part of marriage, marriage lot, part of marriage of men
- In astrology
- The seventh house is the place of marriage in every source the Almanac holds.
- Found in
- Astrology
- Related
- Lot of Eros, Lot of Love, Seventh House, Hermetic Lots
The Lot of Marriage is a calculated point that ancient and medieval astrologers found from Saturn to Venus in a man's chart and from Venus to Saturn in a woman's, laid off from the Ascendant, and read for marriage.
A structural orientation; exact placements depend on the chart or technique being discussed.
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What is the Lot of Marriage?
The Lot of Marriage is one of the topic lots of Greek and medieval astrology. Unlike the other lots on the Almanac's pages, its formula turns on the person's sex rather than on day and night:
- For a man: from Saturn to Venus, laid off from the Ascendant, by day and by night alike. - For a woman: from Venus to Saturn, by day and by night alike.
The pair assumes a marriage between a man and a woman, and a chart whose sex is known. No one is asked their sex here, and no one's partner is assumed, so this lot is reported as history and not cast. The lot it does use for love is Eros, which has one formula for everyone.
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The formula
Measure the arc from the first planet to the second, forward through the signs, and add it to the Ascendant.
The worked example, the same invented day chart on every lot page (longitudes counted from 0 Aries in brackets): Ascendant 10 Libra (190), Sun 20 Aries (20), Moon 5 Gemini (65), Mercury 2 Aries (2), Venus 14 Taurus (44), Mars 8 Leo (128), Jupiter 25 Sagittarius (265) and Saturn 12 Capricorn (282). The Sun is above the horizon, so it is a day chart.
- A man's chart, from Saturn to Venus: Ascendant 190 + Venus 44 - Saturn 282 = -48, plus 360 is 312, which is 12 degrees of Aquarius.
- A woman's chart, from Venus to Saturn: Ascendant 190 + Saturn 282 - Venus 44 = 428, less 360 is 68, which is 8 degrees of Gemini.
Why Saturn and Venus
In the old texts Venus is the planet of love and union and Saturn the planet of binding, duty and time. The lot measures the distance between them and runs it in opposite directions for the two partners. One reading of that, the Almanac's and not the ancients': each partner sees the same bond from the other side.
Other old rules for marriage
The Almanac's library holds several other ways astrologers judged marriage, all reported here as history.
- The seventh house is the place of marriage, and its sign and planets describe it (Dorotheus, Firmicus Maternus, al-Qabisi).
- Thomas Burgoyne, a nineteenth-century occultist, looks to the Moon and Venus in a man's chart and to the Sun and Venus in a woman's, and says the first planet the Moon reaches after birth describes the future wife.
- Burgoyne also counts the planets near the seventh cusp as the number of marriages, and gives the double-bodied signs, Gemini, Sagittarius and Pisces, a second marriage.
Every one of these rules assumes a husband and a wife, and several claim to count or predict marriages. The Almanac does neither.
What the Almanac does instead
A love reading on the Great Almanac weighs Venus, the Moon, Mars and the Sun first, and, if the traditional layer is on, can also use the Lot of Eros, Paulus's lot of desire and friendship, found from the Lot of Spirit to Venus. Eros has the same formula for everyone, so it can be read without knowing a person's sex or assuming whom they love. Like every lot it is read as a topic, never as a forecast of a marriage, a partner or a date.
The story behind Lot of Marriage
The formulas are given by Vettius Valens and in Dorotheus of Sidon's second book, and the medieval Latin authors repeat them as the part of marriage of men and of women, which Bonatti attributes to Hermes. None of those passages is in the Almanac's library, so the formulas are stated in their usual modern form. What the library does hold is the place of marriage: the seventh house, in Dorotheus, Firmicus Maternus and al-Qabisi alike.
Lot of Marriage in astrology
Al-Qabisi gives it wives and marriage, contests, opponents and partnerships, which is why the same house holds both partners and open enemies.
Lot of Marriage in practice: an example
In the worked example, a man's Lot of Marriage would fall at 12 degrees of Aquarius and a woman's at 8 degrees of Gemini: the same chart gives two answers, depending on a fact the chart does not hold.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Astrology
- Aliases
- part of marriage, lot of marriage astrology, arabic part of marriage, marriage lot, part of marriage of men, part of marriage of women
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
See Lot of Marriage in your personal almanac
Lot of Marriage in a book is one thing; Lot of Marriage in your own birth chart is your life. The Oracle casts your real chart and tells you what it means for your love, your work, and your year ahead, in conversation. Your first ten written questions are answered free.
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Related terms
More in Astrology
- Natal Chart
- Ray Casting
- Succedent House Emphasis
- Accidental Dignity
- Birth Chart
- Decan
- Esoteric Astrology
- Heliacal Setting
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Common questions
What is the Lot of Marriage?
The Lot of Marriage is a calculated point that ancient and medieval astrologers found from Saturn to Venus in a man's chart and from Venus to Saturn in a woman's, laid off from the Ascendant, and read for marriage.
How do you calculate the Lot of Marriage?
In a man's chart, the Ascendant plus Venus minus Saturn; in a woman's, the Ascendant plus Saturn minus Venus. Neither reverses by night.
Can the Lot of Marriage tell who or when I will marry?
No. The old authors read marriage from it, but no chart can say whether, when or whom a person will marry, and the Almanac never claims to.
Why does the Almanac not show my Lot of Marriage?
Its formula depends on the person's sex and assumes a husband and a wife. The Almanac does not ask anyone's sex and does not assume whom anyone loves, so it uses the Lot of Eros instead, which has one formula for everyone.
