Horary 0056: Where Is Vladimyr the Cat?
Overview
The querent’s strictly indoor cat, Vladimyr, had gone missing soon after they moved to a new house in a new state, and the querent was quite concerned. They suspected he escaped during the move-in process. They wanted to know if he was okay, if he would turn up, and where he was.
I looked at this chart for about 10 seconds before I knew Vladimyr was fine and would be back shortly.
Judgment
The obvious first indication is the Moon in domicile — already the natural significator of wayward beings — not only ruling the 6th house of pets but BANG on the cusp. This was enough indication that he was fine. I described him as in a place that would be “natural for a cat, while maybe not somewhere a human would choose to hang out.” I also added the typical 6th house significations of a laundry or utility room.
I noted Venus, ruler of the 4th and thus significator of the home, co-present in Cancer and bonifying the house, indicating Vladimyr was close to home.
The querent is signified by Saturn, ruler of the ascendant, in the 1st house in Pisces, and the Moon is applying a harmonious trine. This was enough testimony to judge that Vladimyr would return.
I was drawn further into the chart, though, by the imminent contact of the Sun, ruler of Leo (the lion), with Mars in Leo. Both planets are brand new in their sign — indicating a recent change in condition — and powerfully angular, the Sun on the IC in the 4th house of home, and Mars on the descendant like an opponent or counterpart to the querent.
The most tantalizing astrological detail to me was that the sign of Leo is intercepted, meaning the Sun is not taken by a house cusp as a significator of a character in the story. Every time I have seen this with a sign whose ruler can be taken as a natural significator of something relevant, it has provided important secondary testimony. The Sun is traditionally given as a secondary significator of a male player in a relationship horary — which this arguably is, though I would imagine it is usually meant as a human-human relationship — and the contact with the extremely feline-feeling Mars in Leo tipped the scales for me that this must be significant.
I noted that Mars ruled the 3rd house, and I delineated this as “a relationship with a neighbor, whether human or feline.”
The Sun/Mars contact was extremely recent, and so it seemed to describe Vladimir’s present condition. The outcome was given by the coming Moon/Saturn trine; Vladimyr was coming back soon.
Outcome
Three days later, the querent wrote to inform me that Vladimyr was found in a crawl space in the basement connected to a utility cabinet. He had been there for a few days, and the querent was unable to coax him out, even with food and water.
Eventually, the querent wondered if another cat would be more persuasive, so they sent Tito, Vladimyr’s younger brother, whom they noted was a Scorpio rising, and therefore signified by Mars. Tito went to Vladimyr, and then the querent was able to coax them out together. The cats have been eating, drinking, and resting together since then, as has the querent.
Analysis
This is an amazing chart, and I’m happy enough with the results I got on my own, but it was the client’s ingenuity that brought it home.
My delineation of the Sun/L3 Mars contact was pretty good; I knew there was either another cat or a cat lover involved. But in identifying who Mars was, I was only thinking about very general, normal cat situations, wandering the neighborhood, &c. I didn’t intuitively know how “sibling” — certainly a standard 3rd house signification — would fit in. I figured if there was a significant sibling involved, the querent would have mentioned them.
But what the querent knew, and I did not, was that the cat himself had a sibling. I’ll never fail to ask that question again.
It didn’t matter, though. The querent thought to send in the sibling to rescue Vladimyr, and that is indeed how the situation resolved. A gorgeously radical solution.
The other observation the querent made is that they were quite concerned with Vladimyr’s hydration, and the Moon/Saturn trine in water signs described that beautifully as well.
