Here is an example of a recent horary question from my practice, asked by someone whose son had lost his duck. Whilst it might contain some unfamiliar and distracting technical language, I hope it shows you how this form of astrology provides a marvellously practical tool for addressing daily practical concerns. In the future I will post examples of greater gravity than this one! If you’d like to ask a horary question yourself, this can be done here.
Client and Querent: R.J.
Question posed (immediate circumstances): whilst walking around _ Park looking for the duck, “in a very peaceful ‘zen’ mood".
Astrological Considerations:
Strictures: none
Planetary Day: Jupiter
Planetary Hour: Saturn
Querent:. R.J. - Moon in Virgo in the 2nd, peregrine.
Quesited: Duck, Jupiter, ruler of the 6th house of small animals, in Scorpio, retrograde and peregrine.
Other Significators: M, R.J.’s son, whose duck it is, also Jupiter, as ruler of the 5th house.
Moon: Normally given to lost objects, but in this case is R.J., as querent.
Moon’s last aspect: opposition Neptune, before that, trine Saturn.
Moon’s next aspect: sextile Jupiter, the Duck.
Personal context: R.J.’s son, M., got a duck for his birthday, which seemed to settle in well after two nights in an enclosed run, so she was let out. Having had one settled night of freedom, she disappeared the next one. The questions was posed the morning after this night. Fences had been set up at the two entry points to the property, but one had been taken down the night before to get passed and then accidentally not put back up. He looked briefly in the park, then, after a morning coffee with a friend, L,, R.J. came back to search the park, when he asked this horary.
Radicality established: Moon in Virgo is R.J., but the combination of Cancer and Virgo seems right for a pet duck, particularly the Cancer, given the strong Cancerian signatures in the Duck’s chart (drawn for the time of getting the animal). Moon in 2nd house of lost objects appears apt, except this is an animal not an object! Jupiter, the duck, being peregrine is highly apt - she is confused, wandering, dislocated from home. Being retrograde, this shows her as being on the back foot, and perhaps trying to return home. A complete lack of hard aspects to Jupiter suggests she is okay, and hasn’t been hurt or harassed. The hour ruler, Saturn, is a mystery, though its role as last Lunar aspect is perhaps interesting.
Judgement: Yes, you will find the duck, probably in a damp area around the property or nearby, and in 4 hours.
This was obtained by the application of Moon and Jupiter. That the Moon, the querent R.J, is going straight to the Duck’s significator by sextile, a very positive omen. She should be found in 4 hours as the Moon in succeedent house and mutable, suggests a middling time unit (minutes, hours or days). Jupiter in the 4th suggests she’s at home somewhere. Jupiter is peregrine, so she’s lost and confused, feeling discombobulated without a home. The mutual application (Jupiter applying retrograde towards the Moon applying directly) suggests a quick and unexpected recovery, and thus also supports the choice of the middle until of time.
Jupiter’s placement in water shows she will be somewhere wet - and given Jupiter’s 4th house placement, this could well be down in the ‘dell’ of the owner’s property, which is low and damp. In terms of compass direction, Jupiter being in the 4th house suggests she is towards the South, perhaps reinforced by being in Scorpio, the direction of cold and damp.
Outcome: The duck was returned to R.J. by friend L at 4:40pm on the same day, 4 hours and 3 minutes after the question was posed.. He’d seen her in the surf opposite his house, a few hundred meters South, after coming out of the ocean himself.
Reflections and Questions to ponder:
The direction of L’s house is slightly W of South.
Jupiter’s placement in a water sign seems to have been pointing to the sea, the nearest body of water to R.J.’s property.
How is the involvement of a friend shown in the chart. Presumably he is shown as Mercury, ruler of the 11th house of friendships yet it appears Mercury plays no part is the resolution of the significators, as far as I can see.
Deborah Houlding states that mutually applying significators suggests a sudden, unexpected reunion - which this very much was.
The ‘how it was lost’ is an academic question, but interesting to see Moon (as co-significator of the lost duck) separating from Saturn, which Lily says suggests forgetfulness. One of R.J.’s children had forgotten to put back up the fence (Saturn) when he came back home the night before, possibly providing an escape route for the duck.