An interesting horary

I had posted this chart in a horary group in Facebook but thought it might be of interest to others, so here it is with some additional comments about the use of 12th-parts and of the lord of the hour from the method of Masha’allah.

Where are the missing prescription sunglasses?

On a recent Saturday my wife told me she was unable to find her prescription sunglasses which she had worn the day before. She uses them for driving or otherwise being out in bright sunlight. We both searched the house and the car and they were nowhere to be found, so she asked me to cast a chart to horary find the missing glasses. Data: Orange, CT USA, 12:08 pm EDT, 23 Sep 2017. It is a Saturn day during a Mercury hour. Below is the chart with Regio Houses.

My wife is the querent. Her rulers are Jupiter (Sag rising) and the Moon (co-ruler of querent). The missing possession is shown by the 2nd house of movable goods: Capricorn, ruled by Saturn. The “modern” planet Pluto is Rx in Capricorn in the 2nd house and describes the missing item.  Both Pluto and Capricorn are associated with dark places, and sunglasses essentially shield the eyes from the sun, creating the equivalent of a dark place. The fact that Pluto in the 2nd is Rx suggests that the item will return. In addition, my wife’s co-ruler Moon mutually applies to sextile Pluto Rx in the 2nd, suggesting the return.

The 12th-part of the Ascendant lies at 18 Capricorn 17 in the 2nd house. This makes sense because her intention (shown by the 12th part) is to find a missing movable possession which she hopes will return to her in the 1st house (Saturn, ruler of the 2nd, lies in the 1st.  Interestingly, Mercury (ruler of the 7th, me, her husband) at 18 Virgo 29 is in partill trine with the 12th-part of the Ascendant at 18 Capricorn 17, and she hopes that I will be able to help her find the missing glasses by means of astrology.

Saturn (the glasses) lies in the 1st house and is disposed by Jupiter, ruler of the 1st. I took this to mean that the glasses would return to her, but there is no applying aspect between Jupiter or the Moon (the querent’s rulers) and Saturn (the glasses). However, Saturn lies in Sagittarius (ruled by Jupiter) and Jupiter lies in Libra (the exaltation of Saturn), so there is a mutual reception between 2nd ruler Saturn and 1st ruler Jupiter.

The 4th house can indicate the location of the missing item. The 4th cusp is ruled by Jupiter (the querent’s ruler also) which occupies Libra in the 11th of friends. Jupiter is disposed by Venus which rules the 11th cusp, so the glasses could be with a friend.

We had visited some friends the night before, so I suggested that she call to see if she left her glasses at their house. Sure enough our friend found the glasses on top of the sideboard in the dining room. Initially my wife was reluctant to call our friend because she was convinced that the sunglasses were in our home. She couldn’t imagine having worn her outdoor sunglasses in our friend’s house the evening before. In fact, she was surprised when our friend told her he had found her glasses, as probably indicated by Jupiter in the 11th of friends mutually applying to oppose Uranus in the 5th of fun times with friends. This opposition perfected in 1 degree 5 minutes, which equates to an hour and 5 minutes after the time of the question (12:08 pm), that is, 1:13 pm, which is about the time she made the phone call to our friend.

The Moon’s trine to Neptune probably shows my wife’s inattention or forgetfulness in mislaying the glasses. In addition, because a retrograde Neptune (which is not used in traditional horary) lies in the 4th Whole Sign house, it could signify the returning missing glasses, in which case the Moon’s applying trine to Neptune in under 1 degree could symbolize her locating the glasses within about an hour.  Furthermore, the Moon applies to sextile the Part of Fortune in the 2nd of movable goods. Many traditional authors regard Fortuna as as an indicator of missing possessions.

I’m still a little puzzled about why there are not clearer indications via an aspect between significators about the return of the glasses.  It must be that the mutual reception between Saturn and Jupiter, with 2nd ruler Saturn placed in the 1st house, is sufficiently strong evidence of their return.  In addition, the hour ruler Mercury is quite strong conjunct the MC and applies to trine Saturn in the 1st, which is an indicator of their recovery. Futhermore, the Sun and Moon are both above the horizon, and the Sun sextiles the Ascendant from the 10th Regiomontanus house.

She asked the question at 12:08 pm and called our friend within 2 hours of asking the question. I was unable to cast the chart right away because we were busy doing something. Unfortunately I did not note the time when she called our friend and located the missing glasses, but it was most likely between 1 pm and 1:30 pm.

The Lord of the Hour

Masha’allah makes use of the Lord of the Hour to find hidden or misplaced things. In Ben Dykes translation of Masha’allah on horary, he writes about the discovery of a hidden or lost thing (italics mine):
“If someone were to ask you about a lost or hidden thing, whether he would find it or not, look at the Ascendant, to its Lord, and the Lord of the hour. If the Lord of the Ascendant and the Lord of the hour were in angles, he will find his thing. But if they were in the dark domiciles—that is, in domiciles which do not aspect the Ascendant—he will not find it. And if the Lord of the hour or the Lord of the Ascendant were in the Ascendant, his thing is already with him, and not lost. But if one or both of them were in the seventh, he will find it after several days. And if the Lord of the hour or the Lord of the Ascendant aspected the Sun, he will find it. And if the Moon aspected him, it will be better; and wherever the Lord of the hour is, there will be the things.”

In this chart, the Lord of the hour is Mercury, which is angular (conjunct the Virgo MC). Mercury aspects the 1st house by a Whole Sign square, and it applies to trine Saturn (2nd ruler) in the 1st house within about 3 degrees. The Moon in Scorpio applies to sextile the Lord of the hour in Virgo.

Interestingly, Masha’allah also says that if the hidden thing is in the house, then the astrologer should look to the sign on the Ascendant to determine the place where it is located: air signs = the roof; fire signs = walls; water signs = the foundation of the house; and earth signs = the floor. In this chart, fiery Sagittarius rises, suggesting that the sunglasses are near a wall.  I had initially read Jupiter, ruler of the 4th, in Libra (an air sign) to mean that the eyeglasses were on a shelf or tabletop in the house of a friend. In fact they were found on top of a sideboard which was situated against a wall of the dining room.

Further use of 12th-parts:

Out of curiosity I calculated the 12th parts of the 2nd house cusp (movable goods) and 4th house cusp (hidden or buried valuables):

• 12th-part of 2nd cusp at 2 Cap 14 = 26 Capricorn 56. Note the Asc-ruler Jupiter (the querent) applies by partill square to this 12th-part of the 2nd house cusp. Jupiter in Libra is also received by Saturn, ruler of this 12th-part, in Saturn’s exaltation. This is an indication that the querent will quickly locate the missing item. Jupiter also rules the 4th cusp of buried treasure.
• 12th-part of 4th cusp at 20 Pis 56 = 11 Scorpio 11. Thus, the 12th-part of the 4th cusp of hidden treasure is in partill trine with both the Moon (co-ruler of the querent) and the Regiomontanus 12th house cusp, which symbolizes hidden places and locations distant from the home. This appears to indicate that the querent (Moon) will locate the missing valuable in a place outside the home.