I recently did a horary for someone on the issue of a stolen paycheck. While I will keep the identity of the person I consulted for unknown, they have allowed me permission to discuss the results of the question here.

The person, who I will call Y, is a freelance designer. They recently experienced not just one but a series of paychecks going to an old address and then getting stolen by the person who is currently living in their old apartment. They were able to find evidence of the incident from the bank who had issued the checks because the person who stole them signed them with their own name. After they took the evidence to the payment agency, they kept getting responses back that someone will look into it but no paycheck.

The result? Y was not paid for work that they had done. If you have ever freelanced, you already know that getting paid on time is usually a huge struggle. Getting paid on time after your paycheck has been stolen? What a headache.

What to do? Y has their own bills to pay and they are not allowed to pay late just because their paycheck has not arrived. Months slip by and no new check has been issued. We decided to pull a horary.

This was the chart that we worked with. Our question: How do I recover my lost paycheck?



As you can see, the ruler of the ascendant in this chart is Saturn in Pisces. Y is the question asker and Saturn represents their mood and inclinations. Saturn is a slow moving but persistent planet. Y is feeling defeated about the situation and they have been persistently emailing the same person again and again. We can see the great deal of patience that Y has already applied to the situation at hand. They have not gotten paid for work done for months but they are feeling cautious about how to proceed.

Overall, the chart looks difficult. The situation looks difficult too. The Sun in Libra is in fall. So are Mars in Cancer and the Moon in Scorpio. Venus is in detriment. Planets in fall or detriment don’t have the means to do what they want to do. These planets are not resourced. With so many debilitations, I started to wonder if the company had the money at all.

“Who are you talking to about this,” I asked Y.

They responded, “I’m talking with someone from the payment agency. They’re really responsive but they alway just tell me that someone will look into it.”

“The agency is who pays you?”

Y frowned. They started to outline a more complicated web of relations than the astrology around employment usually makes room for. “The payment agency writes the checks but they’re employed by the agency who hired me. The company who is actually paying me is the agency’s client.”

Using Y’s guidance, I was able to outline the horary chart and what each component of the chart is telling us much better:
• Saturn rules Y. They are the question asker so the ruler of the first house represents them. Y is patient and cautious. They are unwilling to place any ultimatums on their employer.
• The Moon can also represent Y. The Moon represents the element of change in the question.
• Venus rules the agency who hired Y. Venus is the ruler of the tenth house and represents the organization who maintains authority in the situation. Since Venus is in detriment, Venus does not know about what was lost.
• Mars represents the check itself. It is the ruler of the eleventh house which is income. Since Mars is in fall in Cancer, the check has been stolen.
• The Sun in Libra represents the payment agency. The Sun rules the eighth house, the house of shared resources, and the payment agency is the one who manages those resources. The Sun appears in the tenth house so the payment agency has the appearance of authority but it is in fall. The Sun doesn’t have the ability to issue any checks and, because of that, also cannot take accountability. The payment agency is feeling just as lost as Y. The Sun might also represent the bank who also doesn’t know what to do.

So many planets debilitated! Y is feeling defeated and moaning in front of me. What to do?

First, we talked about how the debilitations do describe the situation at hand very precisely. Planets that are debilitated don’t take accountability. Y has been interacting with the payment agency. While the person who emails back is responsive, they also don’t have the ability to write a new check because they are an accountant and just a facilitator. The client who is actually paying people also doesn’t have responsibility because they outsourced management authority to the agency they hired. The bank, for sure, doesn’t take accountability. Moreover, the client who is doing the paying is actually a financial institution that runs on financing. This isn’t a straightforward situation where one planets in domicile represents the business owner who has the money. This is a complex series of relationships and debts.

What a nightmare—so many different agencies all hiring each other and passing funds and the buck. No one is able to take responsibility for Y’s stolen checks because they are all just components of a corporate web.

However, planets that are debilitated have one really cool and important feature. Debilitating planets are willing to help each other. The mutual reception between the Moon in Scorpio and Mars in Cancer caught my eye. The Moon rules Cancer while Mars rules Scorpio. Whenever a Moon in Scorpio encounters a Mars in Cancer, it receives help and it gives help. The Moon is the element of change in the question. It is something that can change the situation. It sits in the eleventh house along with Venus.

“Who do you report to when you work with this agency?” I asked Y. “Do you report to any women?”

“It’s a team of men,” Y said. “I report to only one woman. Her name is W.”

“Does she know about what happened?”

“No, I’ve been emailing the payment agency. They write the checks. I haven’t told the hiring agency.”

I looked at the chart again. “I think you need to tell W. Email her today.”

Y didn’t want to email W. They are feeling defeated. They are Saturn and Saturn is retrograde. But I encouraged them to do it anyway and to do it on that day. The reason?

W is not someone who has the money to issue Y a check. She’s not an owner in the company. She’s a project manager. That’s the Venus in Scorpio. The person who holds authority doesn’t have the power of resource because she is just another employee. However, Venus is in the same degree as Saturn in Pisces. They are both at 14º. This relationship is a trine. Moreover, Venus is transiting direct and about to apply a trine to Mars in Cancer. If Saturn wants the lost check, Mars, then they will need to go through Venus.

You might wonder—Saturn and Mars are also trined. Why can’t Saturn access the check directly? Saturn is retrograde. It will not make an exact trine with Mars because it is moving backwards while Mars is moving forwards. In fact, Saturn is getting further and further away from its check if left to its own devices. The only aspect that Saturn is making is actually to Venus on the moment of our question. The chart is illuminating the sense of defeat but also pointing to a person who is in a position to help and is also willing to help. Venus is ready to help Saturn. W is working that day and online.

Moreover, Venus is in the same sign as the Moon. The Moon rules the seventh house and just represents communication. Communication is what will change the situation. Communication with whom? Communication with Venus, the planet sharing the sign with the Moon. Venus is feminine. The chart is telling us how to identify the person who is willing to help. Y works for a team of men and only one woman—W.

Y had one final question. “How long do you think they will take?”

I asked them how fast they thought the company would take. They told me that a few days would be considered fast to them and that a few months would be considered slow. A few weeks would be considered medium. Venus in Scorpio is Venus in a fixed sign so it represents medium units of time. It is two degrees away from meeting Mars, the lost check. “Two weeks,” I said. “If you email W today then it will take two weeks.”

This horary is from two weeks ago. Y did end up emailing W that very day and received a response back that very day. W did not know about what was happening and was very aggrieved and willing to help. She immediately forwarded Y’s email to someone else and cc’d Y in that email.

Do you know what happened today? Two weeks after Y asked their question, received their horary, and emailed W due to the results of their horary, they were notified that a new set of checks has been issued and is on its way to them. They will finally receive payment for the work that they did. All it took was communication with one compassionate woman, someone who didn’t own the resources of any company but was willing to help navigate a complex web of players who also didn’t hold responsibility.