Where is my cat? How to find a lost animal with horary astrology.
- Emma Gardiner
- Aug 8
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 10
Real horary chart example:
“Where is my tabby cat? Where is she and is she ok? Will she come home?!”
This horary astrology story is being shared with the client’s kind permission - all personal details have been anonymised.
One summer morning, I received a message from a client in need of an urgent horary consultation. Their cat had been missing for two days, and they needed help to find her. The querent (the person asking the question) had been away overnight and asked their neighbour to drop by their house to check on the cat. When the neighbour opened the door the following morning, the cat spooked and ran off.
This is the chart I cast for the moment I received and understood the question:
Let’s find the cat.
Firstly, we need to identify the planetary significators of the cat. As the 6th house rules small animals in astrology, we look here first. In this chart, the 6th house falls in Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, which is also the natural planetary significator for cats.(1) The cat is also signified by the Moon, as it is a natural significator of anything lost.(2)
Is the cat OK?
Saturn is in Aries, the sign where it experiences its fall, which shows that the cat has ventured out of her home and entered a place where she doesn’t belong. Traditional authors agree that a planet in its sign of fall signifies sorrow, prison and difficulty. Having just entered Aries and almost reached the second degree of the sign, Saturn’s condition is already matching up with the querent’s report of the cat being missing for two days, and it’s likely that she has been in the same location for that duration.(4)
Saturn is also conjoined Neptune, the planet associated with blurriness and obscurity. This shows that the cat escaped because she was confused, and that she is probably still disorientated and doesn’t know how to get home.
A striking factor of the chart is that Saturn is located in the 8th house, the house of death, loss and worry. At first look, any astrologer would feel immediate concern, but other factors must be considered before a conclusion is drawn. Both Saturn and the Moon are safe of applying aspects, and transfers of light, of planets that would cause harm; namely the radical 8th house ruler (Jupiter), the turned 8th house ruler (the Sun), planets in the turned 8th house (Mars), and the ruler of the turned 6th house of illness (Mercury). Therefore it’s most likely that the cat will evade injury, but she is still in danger as her planet is debilitated.
Where is the cat?
As aforementioned, the cat is co-signified by the Moon. The Moon is in Libra, which is not necessarily a debilitated position, but it is ‘peregrine’ at this particular degree, which, like Saturn’s sign placement, shows the cat is unfamiliar territory.
The Moon and Saturn also share other similar conditions. They are both in cardinal signs, which are associated with close proximity. On the other hand they are also in houses associated with inconspicuity and hiding (the Moon is in a cadent house and Saturn is in a dark house),(3) but the Moon in the 3rd house of neighbours indicates that the cat hasn’t gone far and is within the local area. The Moon and Saturn are both slow in motion (moving 11°54′ and 1′ a day respectively) which also means that the cat has not travelled a distance, is not wandering around, and has stayed in one place since running off.
To narrow down the cat’s possible location, we can draw information based on the kinds of places the signs and planets symbolise. Aries, the sign where Saturn is located, describes areas that are unfrequented (where people can easily hide), building sites, newly worked land, places for grazing sheep, and sandy or hilly ground.(5) Libra, where the Moon is, signifies barns and outhouses, where wood is cut, and also sandy or hilly ground.(6) We can also look to the 4th house, as it signifies the terrain where the cat is. The 4th house in Scorpio signifies places of crawling insects, gardens, derelict houses, muddy ground and stagnant water.(7) Ruined and decaying places are likewise to the signification of the 8th house where Saturn is located.
If the cat was lost in a residential area and has likely not gone out of the neighbourhood, we can pick out what places match these descriptions in the local area.
I asked the querent if there were any such places in the vicinity, and they said that there were some unoccupied houses nearby that were currently undergoing building work. I said it’s very possible that the cat could be there.
Will the cat be found and will she come home?
I said to the querent that they should receive news of the cat within three to seven days or weeks, based on two key aspects. Firstly, the Moon’s next aspect is a sextile to the ascendant (the querent) in 6°33′.(8) This is an indication of finding the cat or receiving information about her as the Moon is coming from 3rd house of neighbours and messages. Secondly, the 3rd ruler Venus (dignified in Taurus and strongly positioned in the 10th house which it also rules) is separating from a square to the ascendant and immediately applying to sextile Saturn (the cat) in 3°19′. This is another indication of a messenger, neighbour, or someone of vantage reuniting the querent with the cat.(9) A dignified benefic in a friendly aspect with the significator of the lost cat is a really good indication of a fortunate outcome.
Outcome
Three and a half days later, the querent receives a message from a neighbour with a photo of the cat sitting in the window of a local, unoccupied house that was being torn apart by builders! Later that day the querent went in with the owner of the house and found the cat hiding under the floorboards, very dusty and very hungry.
On the day the cat was found, the 3rd ruler Venus perfected the sextile with the 6th ruler Saturn, and the cat was indeed spotted by a neighbour who informed the querent by a message (all significations of the 3rd house). The Moon also transited the 4th house of the horary and perfected a square aspect to the ascendant. The 4th house also signifies the querent’s own home, so the Moon’s entry into this part of the chart along with its hard aspect to the ascendant shows the cat’s return through effort and endurance.
Lilly, W., Christian Astrology: 1647; p.60; (hereafter, CA).
Lilly assigns lost animals to the Moon: “For beasts strayed, or fugitives, or any thing lost. The significator is the Moon, [etc.]”CA, p.323.
The 6th, 8th and 12th houses are ‘dark houses’ in traditional astrology because they do not make a Ptolemaic aspect to the ascendant, and are therefore points of invisibility to the 1st house (the querent).
Per day, on average, the Moon moves 13° approx. and Saturn 2′ approx. Any speed below this is considered slow in motion.
CA, p.93.
CA, p.96.
CA, p.97.
On the topic on lost animals, Lilly writes: “the Moon apply to the ascendant; the Moon in the ascendant, it is restored without trouble of pain;” CA, p.323.
The 10th house is associated with positions of visibility and power.
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