AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’m posting this with the acknowledgement and permission of the Isabella S. Gardner Museum, with whom I’ve shared it in case anyone considers trying to cash in on my work.

Although I first heard about this back in 1990 when it happened, I was recently reminded that millions of dollars worth of artwork and artifacts were stolen from the Gardner Museum in Boston, MA and the case remains unsolved after 33 years. I decided to cast a horary chart to examine the situation, looking at it from both a “radical” (as-calculated) and “turned” chart perspective. (Note that I rarely use the modern planets in horary work, but here Pluto and Neptune have quite a lot to say, and Uranus also contributes a little. In addition, I generally ignore the minor, or Keplerian, aspects with horary, but Neptune, Pluto and Sun form a compelling “Finger of Fate” array that speaks volumes.)

The first thing of note is that the time for which I cast the chart produced a “stricture against judgment” with zero degrees of Libra on the Ascendant. According to the classical rules of William Lilly, this chart is “unfit for judgment” and I should therefore abandon it. However, the fact that artwork comes under the rulership of Venus makes the presence of Libra (at zero degrees, no less) on the Ascendant a tantalizing bit of serendipity that I simply can’t ignore. So I’m going to interpret the chart.

I had a couple of possibilities for the Significator (planet of greatest importance) but they all led to the same place. The stolen articles were small, portable items of considerable value, so they would come under the 2nd House of the horoscope, which also has Libra on the cusp in this intercepted chart, a further testament to their status as things of beauty and great worth. The ruler of Libra is Venus, which is situated in the 11th House of the map (implying royal “favours from above” or “pennies from heaven,” according to astrologer John Frawley); however, for two specific purposes I’ve “turned” the chart so the 2nd House cusp becomes the Ascendant, such that Venus and the Sun are in the “10th house from the second” (finances taken to the highest level) while Uranus and Jupiter are in the “turned” 7th House (the house of overt “partnerships,” both amicable and inimical – thieves are considered “open enemies”). Another intriguing way to look at this intercepted chart is that, since Libra sits on both the Ascendant and the 2nd House cusp, erstwhile home of the stolen items, we might take the two as a single “mega-house,” in which case turning the chart would be unnecessary; but of course that’s astrological heresy.

The other possibilities for Significator are the ruler of the radical Ascendant, which is also Venus, and the Moon, natural ruler of all lost items, but it is in Libra as well, sitting directly on the 2nd House cusp, so the distinction becomes moot. Venus as ruler of the 2nd House is clearly the best option, and I will examine its condition as “leading indicator” in concert with the Sun.

I think it’s noteworthy that the Moon’s South Node sits in the radical 2nd House with the Moon conjunct (although there is no eclipse) and the Sun sextile. Astrologer Robert Hand once said at a seminar back in the ’80s that the Moon’s Nodes mean “Connections, period!” and the unfortunate South Node would therefore be the “disconnection” side of the equation, or in this case “separation by detachment” (some paintings were literally cut from their frames). Retrograde Pluto in Capricorn in the 4th House is strongly suggestive of underworld ties, and it is square to the nodal axis, possibly indicating a subterranean “pipeline” for funneling these purloined items to waiting customers. In short, this does not look like a “one-off” crime that was driven solely by drug-fueled desperation.

Venus, Lord of the 2nd House, is retrograde in Leo in the “turned” 10th House along with the Sun, suggesting that the items are in the hands of a prominent person or other entity to whom they were delivered by “Plutonian interests.” Venus square Jupiter in Taurus in the “turned” 7th House indicates that the recipient undoubtedly paid the thieves a hefty price for them (see “Lord of the 7th” below). Venus and Jupiter are both at 15 degrees of fixity, which is one of the most security-conscious degrees in the zodiac, so it’s certain that utmost secrecy has been maintained by the clandestine owner, and Venus retrograde makes this doubly certain. The works are so famous that they could only be resold with great stealth on the black market, so it’s likely that they haven’t changed hands very often if at all.

In the “radical” chart, Venus lies to the Southeast of Boston, so the items may be somewhere along the South Shore, perhaps farther away in an exclusive area of Cape Code or maybe even on Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket, and potentially as far away as the Caribbean. To avoid detection, they could have been taken to one of the elite islands by private vessel or airplane (pennies from heaven?), indicative of the kind of wealth involved.

No suspects have been identified. However, John Frawley’s guidance in The Horary Textbook gives some hints about how to find them (it’s known from the evidence that there were two). The mastermind could be shown by the Lord of the 7th (both radical and “turned”), which here is Mars, ruler of Aries, in Virgo in the radical 12th House, a well-camouflaged location that would make reckless Mars anal about covering its tracks; Virgo is a “double-bodied” sign, corroborating testimony that there was more than one thief. The other possibility is Mercury, the natural ruler of thieves, but it is also in Virgo in the 12th House, so it’s a toss-up that comes down to which planet has the most revealing aspects. A third consideration would be Saturn as the only peregrine planet in the chart (it contacts no other planet by Ptolemaic aspect), but it has nothing else to recommend it. The following analysis makes a strong case for Mars.

Covertly audacious 12th-House Mars is trine to retrograde 4th-House Pluto, once again strongly suggesting underworld associations. Mars is also opposed to retrograde Neptune in Pisces in the radical 6th House, which bespeaks some kind of “front” for the thieves in a legitimate enterprise (maybe connected to the ocean). Mars and Mercury are both trine to Uranus in Taurus in the radical 8th House, which could reflect an electronic “grassroots” network supported by the opposition of Uranus to the 3rd-House Part of Fortune in the “scientific” sign of Scorpio (interception skews the house alignment); although I don’t believe the “dark web” existed in 1990, this link may now conceal an undercover node that is used by criminal operatives to transact business. (Scorpio can be a secretive and manipulative sign, and the Part of Fortune in the 3rd House favors these qualities in the field of communication.) Taking this notion a little further, Uranus is also conjunct the Part of Spirit (the “reverse” of the Part of Fortune), bringing its unique “spin” into the realm of furtive negotiations over “stolen property,” arguably a 3rd-House/8th-House/12th-House consideration involving a high degree of crafty originality (unfortunately, in the early ’90s there was no worldwide cellphone database to mine).

It’s also worth mentioning that Pluto, the “Lord of the Underworld,” participates in an Earth Grand Trine with Mars and Uranus from the 4th House (possibly – with the trine from Uranus – the stolen items are hidden in a technologically-sophisticated, below-ground vault) while also being square to the Moon and South Node; here I think we’re seeing the “architect” of the whole scheme and it isn’t Mars, although the “underground” 12th-4th House link is undeniable. (With Pluto in Capricorn, the sign of Mars’ exaltation, maybe it was a figurative “father-and-son” affair.) It is also doubtful that this was the only crime committed by these individuals, although they most likely made enough money to retire for a very long time.

As to whether the works of art will ever be recovered, the Sun in its own sign of Leo is also in the “turned” 10th House along with Venus, implying that high-society “executive immunity” will prevail and no inroads will be made into the case unless a shocking blunder is committed as suggested by the square of the Sun to Uranus, with its sextile to the South Node creating an opening. Although minor aspects are little-used in horary, the Sun is also in a tight “double quincunx” pattern (known as a “Finger of Fate”) with retrograde Pluto and Neptune. Since there is no indication that the usual “star-crossed” consequences will bring this individual down, there is a greater likelihood that he or she will harbor a sense of “manifest destiny” and is almost certainly very high up in the international “food chain” (even if it is only among gentleman thieves, businessmen and politicians).

Although it’s definitely a long-shot for the purpose of prediction, I also notice a remarkable recurrence of planets and sensitive points in the last ten degrees of the signs. Among the twelve key “moving” elements (I’m excluding the Ascendant/Midheaven framework), all of the major players except Venus and Jupiter – already prominent for their pronounced “fixity” – and peregrine Saturn partake of this phenomenon. The implication is that they are “retiring” or “receding from view,” and their revelatory potential will be largely immune to discovery by any investigative effort going forward. This leaves the outlying square between Venus and Jupiter vulnerable to exposure by future transits as mentioned in the last paragraph of this essay, so close attention should be paid to any “sky patterns” that form around them in the future.

While it would normally be assumed that the Sun will reveal hidden matters when above the horizon (as here), the Sun in its sign of ruleship stands out as highly dignified and powerful; if not for Mercury in Virgo, its own sign of rulership, and its accomplice, Mars, the Sun would be my candidate for “sole dispositor,” a factor of greatest significance (the so-called “modern” planets don’t figure in this determination). The other “celestial light,” the Moon, is below the horizon and offers no helpful illumination. The key to any “slip-up” may lie in activation of the Venus-Jupiter and Sun-Uranus squares by transiting planets, in which case overweening pride, ostentation and hubris may get the better of any prudent sense of caution. But I wouldn’t hold my breath.

To summarize in more pragmatic terms: if these works haven’t been scattered all over the world by now, I would look for an ultra-wealthy, highly secretive individual or entity with both high-society cachet and shadier connections who may very well have a private island with a climate-controlled vault and an epicurean taste for exclusive possessions that are reserved for private enjoyment.