Horary 0046: Where Is My Cat Bookmark?
Overview
The chart is for a lost object.
The querent was missing a bookmark shaped like a cat with the cat’s name on the back. The initial inquiry did not mention this, but they had been worried they had left it in a library book they had returned.
Judgment
I noted multiple signs that the object was visible and would soon be found.
Most striking was the Moon directly on the midheaven. The Moon is the natural ruler of lost objects, particularly animate ones, and since this one was a totem for an animal, it felt radical. The Moon also rules the 4th, “buried treasure,” which I have come to treat as the second-place significator of the lost object. So, “buried treasure,” but at the top of the sky. Interesting mix of significations, but I reported that this meant the object would be visible.
The main significator of a lost object, to me, is the ruler of the 2nd house, the querent’s possession. This is beautifully signified here by Mercury, natural ruler of words, with cute little cat ears and everything: ☿. Mercury is on the ascendant, rising imminently. I noted this as another testimony of finding the bookmark soon.
More importantly, Mercury is in the 1st house (its joy), a place where it is natural for it to be. I noted that the 1st house can mean the entryway in a lost object horary, but I preferred the interpretation that it was in the querent’s personal space or effects.
This was emphasized by the querent’s significator — Venus, the ascendant ruler — also in the 1st house but in the sign of Gemini, in mutual reception with Mercury in Taurus. The object and the querent want each other back. Venus in the 1st also showed the querent in their own space, as though looking for the object.
I noted the Moon’s next contact was with Venus, followed by Mercury. I told the querent to keep looking in their personal space. “You’ll find it soon,” I signed off.
The querent wrote back, “Sounds promising. I was worried it might be in a book that had gone back to the library.” I responded that the library would be signified by the 9th house, which in this chart is empty.
Outcome
Thirty minutes later, the querent wrote back to report that the object had been found, just barely poking out of a bible on the shelf in their personal office room.
Analysis
I probably shouldn’t offer a one-hour money-back guarantee, should I?
I love how clear the signs were that this was about to happen, particularly the adorable mutual reception between the bookmark and the querent. Even more adorable is Mercury with the little cat ears.
Probably the coolest thing, though, is the way the 4th house ruler on the midheaven signifies “buried, but also visible.” That’s a pretty counter-intuitive thing for a chart to be able to say, and yet it described it perfectly: encased inside a book, but sticking up just enough to see.
