A thief broke into the house of a friend of mine and stole two pieces of jewellery. He is asking if horary can tell him anything about the thief or the incident in general.

I cast this chart:



So, the problem is which significator I should use for the thief. According to Frawley, I must look first for a planet that is peregrine, in its detriment or its fall AND in a an angle or the 2nd house. Here we have two candidates, Venus and the Moon.

Our next choice would be the ruler of the 7th. Here it's Jupiter, retrograde on the cusp of the 6th.

Finally, Mercury as the natural ruler of thieves.

My question is: Do you agree with this method?

Our open enemies and thus the thieves are the 7th house matter while our secret enemies are "hidden" inside the 12th. Anyone interested in harming the Querent or damaging/stealing his property is an enemy and, as long as the Querent is aware of that- that person is an open enemy even when his identity is actually unknown to the Querent (the Querent knows that there is a thief or, in this case- that there has been a thief inside his house).

(youll find some great explanations in this article)

According to Frawley, I must look first for a planet that is peregrine, in its detriment or its fall AND in a an angle or the 2nd house. Here we have two candidates, Venus and the Moon.

Venus is actually the ruler of the Querent's 2nd (his possessions, his missing objects) and pretty descriptive of their nature as well, Venus rules jewellery, pieces of art, decorations etc. and it went into a double- bodied sign; multiple objects or two pieces of jewellery. The Moon on the other hand is a co-significator of the Question. They don't look harmful to me! Now this Mars is obviously atacking the Querent's Asc and by applying to the Saturn from which the Venus (l2) has recently started separating, we actually do have some sort of connection between a potentially harmful planet and the ruler of the stolen objects (even the Asc) but this Mars is not peregrine (it has just entered his own face, not much, but still...) and it's cadent and in the rulership of the L1. So, while we could try to find a potentially dangerous planet, we could also start by examining the 7th cusp and its ruler. At least that is where I'd begin from. (I'd love to hear what others may have to say here, 'tho!).

When no Planet maliciously Aspects the aforesaid Significators, you may admit the Lord of the Seventh to signifie the Thief because he hath natural signification of theft and Thieves.
(John Gadbury, OF THEFTS, FUGITIVES, AND STRAYS, &c.
Doctrine of Horary Questions, Chapter 9, part 3. )

In this chart, there actually are no harmful aspects to the L2 and the only stressful aspect that the Querent's ruler is "suffering from " is the opposition with the Jupiter- the Lord of the 7th. So, we're back to the house of the open enemies. Jupiter is also in a partile trine with the ruler of the 2nd (the Querent's possessions) and in the rulership of the saturn sitting on the Querent's Asc. If, indeed, this planet does signify the thief, we could be talking about a middle-aged male person (Jupiter in Aquarius) and, considering its placement inside the 6th, of a poor person or someone in trouble and in a desparate need of money. Was he alone? Wouldn't know! More than one favourable aspect to benefic planets in mutable, double-boddies signs could be saying that he did have assistants. Good aspects could mean that he was protected. His planet is also tightly conjunct Neptune (corporal aspect) only I'm sure if we should use an outer planet to signify a helper. But what we could do is to use that planet in order to get a better description of the thief. He is cadent and retrograde- not in the best of all shapes; conjunct Neptune- maybe someone living on the edge, excluded from his society...if not an alcoholic (Neptune) or a drug addict. With Uranus inside his derived first, the overall impression is not at all brilliant and he just might be a troubled personality or a person in (a huge) trouble.

Now, given that the ruler of the 2nd is in a pretty good shape and with so many good aspects in it, this chart simply looked somehow promising to me and I couldn't help but to examine it as Lost object horary as well. But before I did that I checked if there was anything in the chart that would suggest that the thief will eventually be caught.
While the police (Mars) is currently pretty much out of the picture and not "interested" in the thief (unles the applying square to the L7's dispositor can help), retrograde motion of the 7th cusp ruler could be a sign that the thief will eventually be found. What's interesting is that the L7 (the thief) and Mercury (the Querent's ruler) are receiving each other in their triplicities; one of the Luminaries (the Sun) is in its own sign and the other one (the Moon) is beholding the ruler of the Asc. When put together- it just might be saying that the Querent actually knows the thief. Not necessarily, though! Furthermore, the ruler of the 7th is disposed by Saturn- and Saturn is exactly conjunct the Querent's Asc. Given that L1 and L7 are applying to each other by opposition, it could all simply be saying that the Querent might soon find out who the thief is/was. Mercury leaving combustion could be saying that the things will soon become more clear. (Jupiter /Neptune conjunction: deceit, something unknown, disguised...) Does he have any clues as though whom it might have been?

So, what about the stolen goods?! While the ruler of the 2nd and the L1 are not applying to each other (they're actually separating)- the Moon is! And this placement of the Moon hides more than one good promise I'd say- it is sitting on the cusp of the 2nd (and thus, aspecting it by conjunction), it's appalying to the ruler of the Asc (sextile), to the ruler of the lost objects (trine) and to its own dispositor at the same time (the Moon inside Libra) while the ruler of the 2nd is in the rulership of Mercury (the Querent's ruler). The L2 is in a partile trine with L7 which could be saying that the jewellery is currently kept by the thief and, if we examine the cusp of the 4th (where the objects should be now), it is in the rulership of Jupiter again, obviously saying that the jewellery currently "belongs" to the thief (The placement of the Venus inside the 10th= derived 4th could also be suggesting that the objects are in the home of the thief). But, with so many good aspects, I actually like that because it could be saying that, if nothing else, it hasn't left the thief yet which, again could be a very good thing in case the thief gets caught, right?
POF is on the very last degree of Scorpio (29 something).

Well, now let's see what others have got to say!

Does he have any clues as though whom it might have been?

No, he has no idea whatsoever.

So, you would always use the 7th house ruler. Still, I think I understand the logic behind Frawley's statement. We need a planet accidentally strong and therefore with power to act, yet essentially weak, with a tendency, that is, to act maliciously. The fact that Venus is just separating from a trine to Jupiter (the Querent's house), couldn't it be an indication that Venus is a likely candidate? The thief (Venus) has left the house (Jupiter), easily, without getting caught (trine).

astropet wrote:

Does he have any clues as though whom it might have been?

No, he has no idea whatsoever.

So, you would always use the 7th house ruler. Still, I think I understand the logic behind Frawley's statement. We need a planet accidentally strong and therefore with power to act, yet essentially weak, with a tendency, that is, to act maliciously.

Well, not necesarilly, I guess, but I would always examine the 7th ruler probably, yes.
The method of finding a malicious planet naturally does make a lot of sense and can be found in traditional literature as well. Accidental dignity helps (good) a peregrine (malicious) planet in committing a crime (attacking the Querent i.e. his Asc ruler). But I'd love to see the planet act (aspect) while in this chart, the only stressful aspect involving main significators is Jupiter/L1 opposition (that I though could just be supporting the idea that the L7 was the ruler of the thief). I may have been wrong, of course, as this Mars does attack the Querent by applying to his Ascendant (well, venus too, only it's a separating aspect) . I'm also aware that some Astrologers would maybe pay more attention to this Saturn as it is currently in the middle of a "battle field" (separating from a square with Venus and applying to mars and all that on the Querent's Ascendant.
Still, I knew I should chose one way and so I decided I'd better stick to my first impression and to what seemed to make most sense to me at the time.

The fact that Venus is just separating from a trine to Jupiter (the Querent's house), couldn't it be an indication that Venus is a likely candidate? The thief (Venus) has left the house (Jupiter), easily, without getting caught (trine).

Like I said, i'm having trouble seeing this planet as a potential thief as it actually rules the house of the Querent's possessions. And, while it does form an aspect with the Jupiter (the ruler of the Querent's 4th), to me it looked pretty logical to see the ruler of the 7th beholding the ruler of the Querent's possessions and opposing his Asc ruler.

Hopefully, the whole thing will soon be resolved!