the concept of "well disposed"

1
Hi everybody,

Recently I've been reading Bonatti On Arabic Parts translated by Robert Zoller again for some specific parts such as pars rationis, pars saphiens etc. which I am interested in.

In this book I frequently see the traditional term "well disposed" is used as a condition in describing many of the arabic parts in sentences like "The part should be well disposed and ruler of the ascendant..." But it is sometimes also used together with other attributes such as fortunate, strong, aspected by benefics etc. so that I find myself in confusion as to how I must understand what a part's being well disposed really means.

One of my best guesses is that it means one of the five rulers of the point where the part occupies should aspect the part itself preferably by trine or sextile in order for it to be called well disposed, but I am not sure.

I will most appreciate any experienced comments.

2
I might be wrong so correct me if I am:-

Most probably "well disposed" means good aspects from the Arabic Part's rulers to the Part (i.e. the 5 dispositors of the Arabic Part, esp. the almutem) and don't forget the planets/points that make up the Part itself.

Strong probably means accidentally dignified (e.g. angular, elevated, ???). We do not have essential dignities for parts e.g. we cannot say that Part of Fortune is dignified in Aquarius or wherever...(unlike planets). Be careful with strong/weak house position though... If we always define 6th house as unlucky, Part of Fortune in 6th will always be defined as unlucky but at the same time it can mean luck with employees and small animals (which apparently is a contradiction).

Remember that the Part itself can be taken as the first house and hence the planets' positions are renumbered e.g. the 11th house (whole sign) from the Part of Fortune is the place of acquisition (Vettius Valens). Having the ruler of Part of Fortune in the 11th is a plus.

By the way, when delineating Parts, remember that for Parts with the formula :-

Asc + Planet1 - Planet2

is also a reflection of the phase of planet1 and planet2. For example, for Part of Fortune (Asc + Moon - Sun, reverse by night) is also a reflection of the phase of Sun and Moon. If you define angular Part of Fortune as being strong and fortunate, you are also saying that having hard aspect between sun and moon is also strong and fortunate! (to get Part of Fortune close to angular houses, sun and moon must be close to square or opposition aspect).

3
Another thought:-

Well disposed could also mean that the dispositors are in good condition. According to some medieval astrologers (or implied by some medieval astrologers), it is important for the parts to be in good condition but it is MORE important for the dispositors to be in good condition e.g. it's good to have the parts angular but it is more important for the dispositors to be angular. A part cannot function well when all its dispositors (5 dispositors) are all cadent or combust or retrograde or ...

For me the aspects between the dispositors and the part are more important. Dispositors of a part that are in aversion (do not aspect) to the part will "switch off" the part.

Let us take Part of fortune as example:-

Part of Fortune in:-
Angular house = native seeks wealth actively
Succeedent house = native seeks wealth if it fits with his principles/plans
Cadent house = native does not seek wealth as his prime motivation (though he may well be a millionaire!).

All dispositors of Part of Fortune do not aspect Part of Fortune, wealth is "switched off", i.e. native does not receive wealth or wealth does not seek native.

Dispositors aspect Part of Fortune, there is potential wealth depending on the dispositors' conditions (and other things as well)...e.g. domicile dispositor of Part of Fortune trines Part of Fortune and let that domicile dispositor be Jupiter (Greater Fortune) in Pisces (in rulership) - freaking good!!! With mangled Saturn squaring dispositor of part of fortune may mean that some of the acquired wealth will be taken away.

4
Astrojin,

Thank you so much for the input. Great!

I re-checked the book and noticed that almost each paragraph starts with "..if the part is well disposed..such and such happens" and continues with "..but if it is impeded.." thereby implying that a part's being impeded is the opposite of its being well disposed.

So I formulate the concept as below:

A part is well disposed :

- if at least one of its rulers or constituent planets aspect it [required for functionality]

- if it is not afflicted (impeded)

- more so, if its dispositor(s) are not afflicted, strong and fortunate

- more so, if the relative house position of the Part's ruler is good (i.e ruler's being in the 6th, 8th, or 12th sign from the part should be considered bad)

where afflictions are mainly a part's being cadent, combust, in hostile aspect from malefics (unless that malefic is a constituent planet itself; for instance, for pars rationis mercury and mars are constituent planets and aspect by mars to the part is desirable in its own right. So it is not harmful in this case.)

My understanding is such that lack of fully meeting the aforementioned conditions does not outright disqualify a part in regard to being considered well-disposed, but degrades it to, say, moderately disposed if the term applies.

It is of course not well disposed if none of the above conditions are met.

Best,

Sigma