To help frame how the lots were used:

The Ascendant was called the Lot of Basis

The Asc is the foundation of the native's life. It's what the majority of the lots use as a starting point, the base, Basis

Here we have a lot that's not like the others. There isn't a formula for the Lot of Basis (according to Paul)

It's just your 1H

It's just a house being called a lot

Unless the lots were meant to be like houses in the first place

Houses assign topics to areas of the sky based on several factors including relation to sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight

Lots assign topics to areas of the sky based on the distance between planets (most often) in relation to the eastern horizon

They aren't that different

That's not to say they're interchangeable but that they both symbolically use relational positions to divine on WHERE particular topics are found in the sky

Houses cover a massive amount of topics. We're dividing the entirety of life into 12 slices. A lot of weird shit falls between those 12 lines

That broadness is cute till you need to get specific. Hell, people can't even agree what house sex goes in

The Lots are the answer to house debates

Lots basically use a formula to compromise between which planets rule what and where that is in your chart

If you wanna know about olives there isn't a house for that. There IS a lot tho

That's their beauty and utility!

If you've never done horary, there's this really unique struggle of "where tf do I look for this super specific thing???"

The lots are a tool to solve that problem. They can be used in horary when a significator isn't clear but I haven't tried it yet

Takeaways

Lots are a tool to get more specific

You don't always need to get more specific