A missing object horary

Not long before Christmas (2023) my friend Patrick telephoned to ask help in finding a missing object. He frequently travels by train from his home in Connecticut to New York City. For this reason he usually purchases a multiple-trip ticket, which gives a discount over buying a ticket for an individual trip. He was unable to find his most recent train ticket which had about $90 worth of travel remaining on it. Normally he keeps the ticket in his wallet, but it was not there. He had recently been to New York and recalled the train conductor stamping his ticket in the train, but he couldn’t recall the conductor giving the ticket back to him. He wondered whether he had somehow lost the ticket on the train. Here is the horary chart for the moment of the question. My computer was set for Placidus houses at the time.

Virgo is on the cusp of the 1st and 2nd houses, making Mercury the significator of the querent and the missing item. There is an early degree rising and Saturn occupies the 7th house, suggesting that I may have some difficulty interpreting the chart, which proved to be true.

The fact that Mercury ruled both the 1st and 2nd, the querent and the missing ticket, seemed positive since it indicated a close connection between them but I wanted to find a positive aspect between Mercury and another planetary significator. The Moon, which can co-rule the querent or the missing object, is important in all horary charts, but in this case the Moon and Mercury were not applying to an aspect.

Next I looked for aspects to relevant house cusps. The Moon was applying to oppose the 2nd cuspand at the same time conjoin Neptune, which seemed to indicate continued difficulty or confusion in locating the missing ticket. On the other hand, Mercury Rx (the missing ticket) was applying to sextile Saturn, its dispositor, and then to trine the 1st house cusp (the querent). This aspect seemed more positive, indicating the possibility of finding the ticket but perhaps after some time (Saturn can signify delays). In addition, one of my early horary teachers, Joan McEvers, used to say that a Retrograde significator often means that the missing object will return (Rx = going backward). I was also struck by the fact that the antiscion of Mercury was at 24 Sag 40′ in an almost exact square to the 2nd house cusp. Based on these factors, I told my friend that he would probably find the ticket but it might take some time.

The next question was where to look for the missing ticket. Mercury signified the ticket. It was ruler of the 2nd cusp and of the Part of Fortune. Mercury in Capricorn, a cardinal Earth sign, suggested a low dark place, perhaps related to something he uses for work. Mercury was not far from the Sun, but in a different sign, and I wondered whether Mercury was being obscured by the light of the Sun.

I asked if he might have put it in a briefcase on the train. He said he had taken his briefcase to NYC but had searched it and could not find the ticket there. I then asked if he might have put it in his home office, perhaps in a drawer or under some papers on his desk. He said he had searched those places and no ticket was to be found.

I noted that Mercury occupied the 5th house, which made me think of children and recreational areas. His son is grown and lives in another state, so children did not make sense, so I asked if he could have put the ticket in a place in his home used for recreation or entertainment. Again, he said he had searched and found nothting.

The 4th house can indicate the nature of the place where a missing object is located. Mars rules the 4th cusp and occupies Sagittarius in the 4th house. This made me think that the ticket was in his home (4th house), somehow low down (Scorpio, a water sign) but also with a Sagittarian emphasis — perhaps near heat or fire, or a place of entertainment, but I was at a loss as to what this might mean in my friend’s home. Mars also rules the 9th house (long distance travel) and is disposed by Jupiter in the 9th, which I thought was related to it being a train ticket but which also prompted me to asked if the missing ticket could be in his car. He said he had searched the car and could not find the ticket there.

We concluded our conversation with me saying that I thought he would eventually find the ticket but the process would go slowly and with some glitches and that I wished that the clues garnered from the chart had been more helpful in locating the missing object.

The outcome was that several days later he and his wife were planning to visit their son in a neighboring state. He recalled that he had purchased some gifts for his grandchildren on his most recent trip to New York City and left them in the shopping bag in an out-of-the way corner of the dining room. To his surprise the missing ticket was at the bottom of the shopping bag, hidden from view by the gifts. He called to tell me the news and now the importance of the 5th house as signifying children made sense.