The Lots – General guideline

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Auguste Bouché-Leclercq (1842-1923) received his doctorate in philosophy in 1872 and was from 1873-1878 professor of ancient literature at the philosophical faculty of Montpellier. He became professor of ancient history in Paris in 1887, member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 1898 and officer of the Legion of Honour in 1903. He retired in 1918 and died in 1923 at Nogent-sur-Marne.
Bouché-Leclercq’s research centred on the ancient history of religion and the history of Hellenism. He wrote important works about the Ptolemaic dynasty and the Seleucid Empire and translated the works of German historians into French, for example, 1883-1885 the 'Geschichte des Hellenismus' by Johann Gustav Droysen.
In 1899 he wrote 'L'Astrologie grecque' easily found on several pdf sites. Interesting as he is drawing from the original texts. Google and free translation.
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“We have been able to see that the Zodiac (Signs) taken in itself, as a collection of signs, has only a secondary importance in adult astrology. It is mainly used as a measure for the position planets and the direction of their aspects. Even in this respect it is most often replaced by the circle of geniture (Houses).
However, the planetary realms embedded in its outline offer a variety unmatched by the sketchy locations of the planets masked under theological names in the circle of progeny, and they associate the signs with all the influences emanating from the planets.
The planets are the real Mothers of astrology, the spinners of destiny. It is the list of their modes of action that the astrologer must always bear in mind. Ptolemy has it erected for the use of his disciples: they modified and lengthened it after him, without exhausting the subject. Demophile counts and classifies in any order eleven planetary modes of action, each planet having all the more beneficent energy as it realizes a greater number of these conditions and is "rejoiced" more.

“Firmicus, also spent a lot of time detailing the properties of places in the II* book of his manual, for the use of beginners, further reveals the depths of the truth to his dear Mavortius. “Indeed,??? he says, “it is not true that the parents or the life of the parents 'are in the place which is in quadrat aspect with the horoscope, or that the seventh reveals the spouse; or the fifth, the sons; the eleventh, friends, and the sixth, health, etc.
So what should be done? Leave there the twelve places arranged in the order we know and calculate separately, without worrying about regular divisions, the place where to place each of the rubrics piled up in the traditional places. These new places, this is how Firmicus calls them, for lack of such a convenient equivalent for the Parts.

Do we want to find the "place of the father"? It is necessary to address the symbol of paternity, to Saturn, to measure the distance from the Sun to Saturn for a diurnal offspring, from Saturn to the Sun for a nocturnal offspring, to transfer this distance to the left of the Horoscope (ASC) and to point the place of paternity at the place where the arc thus added ends. If it is the place of the mother, we count the distance from Venus to the Moon for a diurnal offspring, from the Moon to Venus for a nocturnal offspring, and we operate in the same way.

In Chapter IX, p.309

To be in good shape, a planet must be in one or more of the following conditions (reordered in logical order):

1) In relation to the Houses
a) It has to be in a favorable position with regard to the Horoscope, that is to say on a center (especially in MC.) or in auspicious aspect (trine-sextile).
b). Not to be in a "lazy" place, that is to say without aspect with the ASC, rule implied in the previous one,
Note: A Lot conjunct the ruler of the ASC would also be auspicious.

2) In relation to the Zodiac
a) It has to be in a “solid??? sign symbol of stability and calm.
Note: Not sure here if it means Earth or Fixed signs.
b) Being in a same-sex sign and quadrant,
- vs. To be in one of the domains that belong to him, domicile, trine, hypsoma (,"hidden place"; pl. hypsomata) is a Greek word indicating the Ecliptic high point of a celestial body, as seen from Earth (geocentric perspective). or confines (terms), decans.
c) Don't be in depression (Note: Detriment or Fall)

3). Compared to other planets
a) In the absence of own domain (Rulership or Exaltation) to be in the domain of a friendly planet: (1) sympathetic by (diurnal-nocturnal); (2) sympathetic by sex; (3) sympathetic absolutely, as benefic in the chart.
b) To be in a situation such that it is neither in conjunction, nor in opposition, nor in quadrat aspect with an evil planet, especially with an evil planet of contrary aspect.

4) In relation to its proper motion and to the Sun (phases)
a) To be in direct motion and not retrograde.
b) To be in the eastern phase, if it is a masculine planet, in the western phase for a feminine planet.
This is a refinement overlooked by Ptolemy, although it is within the logic of the doctrine. Ptolemy is satisfied to say, in a general way, that the planets are more energetic in the east and in direct motion.

5) To be with his luminary
a) in other words, in its Sect. (Sun by day / Moon by night)
b) the male planets being above the horizon by day, and the others by night.
c) To be either out of the solar rays (at more than 15°), or in the heart of the Sun, degree for degree.
Note: Some will agree on 17 degrees for combustion and within 17 minutes in the heart of the Sun (Cazimi).

After having exposed these rules, the same compiler or any glossator has taken up some of them in a table of the four “Joys??? or “favorable testimonies??? planets.
The first joy is to have the planets in the places assigned to them in the circle of the offspring (Houses)
The second, to have them in their Zodiac domiciles (Rulership or Exaltations)
The third and fourth relate to the lunar phase and duality (masculine or feminine). It is a classification test like so many others. This once again confirms the superiority of "places" over "signs", the defeat of Chaldean or Greek symbolism by the more complicated symbolism of the "Egyptians".

More on this subject here on Skyscript
http://www.skyscript.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5523
Blessings!