Where is Splodge the Dog?
Question Asked: 4:39pm 20 November 2007
Lat: 40S55 175E01
Asc: 14 Aries 41; MC 17 Cap 07
BACKGROUND: Our immediate next door neighbour was called away to a sudden funeral. She asked our 13-year old daughter to walk and feed her six-to-seven month old black Labrador puppy during her absence. The neighbour had left two bowls of water at the rear side of her house but placed a can of dog food and leash on the porch at the front. Upon returning home from school, the girl dutifully attended to the task. Since the house was right next door, all she had to do was walk up a small bank and she was there. Looking over the gate of the fenced yard to check that all was well, the dog growled at her. Having taken the dog for walks on other occasions, she knew that this was just a reaction so she went in, patted it and then went back out to get the leash. Having closed the gate behind her there was no way the dog could have got out so imagine her horror when she returned to find that the dog had mysteriously vanished into thin air. She searched all around the house, out on the street and alongside the creek before returning home frightened, puzzled and mortified that she had lost the dog. Of course, this created a flurry of lectures about being responsible and of possibly leaving the gate open and after swearing black and blue that she had closed it, her father, mother and brother helped her search the small, compact garden to no avail. Not believing the girl and scolding her for her carelessness, daughter, brother and father set off in the car to scour the neighbourhood. When they couldn’t find it anywhere, they returned home and rang the local dog pound just in case it was sited roaming the streets. All sorts of scenarios of sobbing children and dead dogs were conjured up and when nothing else could be done, the question was asked “Where is Splodge the Dog?”
SIGNIFICATORS: Day ruler is Mars, Hour ruler is the Sun. Aries is on the Ascendant showing the girl in a state of agitation and rushing around. Mars squares Venus exactly depicting the conflict at home. Ruler of the querant’s 2nd, this also shows that the dog was in the girl’s possession. Gemini is on the cusp of the Third of the neighbour, Mercury is in the 8th in Scorpio conjunct the part of short journeys. The 8th also represents her pet – 6th from 3rd. Conjunct the part of short journeys in the 8th shows that the neighbour had to travel overnight to attend a funeral and would return within the day. With Aries representing the querant and Scorpio on the cusp of the neighbour’s turned 6th, the significators for the dog and the querant are the same and this shows also that the dog had been in her care.
OUTCOME: With the significator of the dog and querant in moveable/Cardinal Cancer - this horary was solved very quickly – within 11 minutes. Seeing that Mars was in the Third House of the neighbour and very close to the boundary of the 4th House, it could be immediately deduced that the dog was still there in the yard! How? where? - it seemed improbable because the yard was very small and there were no bushes or dark places for the dog to hide in. In Cancer, a water sign, we looked for somewhere where there was water and, with Mars being so close to the cusp of the 4th and the Moon near the 12th House cusp, we needed to look around the perimeter of the neighbour’s yard. Scorpio on the 8th and the Moon in Pisces in the 12th indicated that it was in a dark, damp place. How could this be when the garden was so sunny and flat? We went to the only place where water could be located and this was near the dog’s bowl. Finding a hose nearby, we followed the hose to where it was attached to a tap at the side of the house. Lo and behold, there was a small entrance to the basement of the house. Straight away it became obvious that the half-grown puppy had got scared and had run to hide under the house!! Two minutes later, the tail of the dog could be seen. The boundary issue could be seen by the very small gap between the side of the house where the gap and tap were and the fence adjoining the next property on the south side.
REFERENCES: William Lilly says on page 326 of Christian Astrology of Beasts stolen or strayed that “if the Lord of the house of the Moon, or Lord of the second do separate from their own houses (if the goods be fixed) it is stolen; if moveable, fled of his own accord” – the dog ran to hide. He also says on page 325 “In Pound or not: for the most part Lord of the twelfth or sixth in the twelfth or sixth, they are kept close” On page 325, he says under “Another Judgement: watery signs, in water, or under the earth, a pavement, foundation of houses etc”.
On the same page, he goes on to say under “In what place they are: If the Lord of the sixth be in an angle, the Beasts be of small growth and in Pounds, Closes or houses.”
On page 327 “In what ground they be: If the Lord of the sixth be in moveable signs, they are in hilly ground”. The neighbour’s house sits on a small hill overlooking the reserve and island. It is located in a south-westerly position.
On page 54, he assigns the colour of the dog - black - to the 6th House.
