Hijacking of the Sirius Star

The news this week is that the Sirius Star will be released with its crew for a reported ransom of 3 million dollars. Considering that its cargo of crude oil is said to be worth in the region of 100 million dollars, this might be seen as something of a bargain. I obtained the data for the hijack from the web site of ICC Commercial Crime Services which carries details of all such events, which is a treasure for most astrologers. The full story can be found here. The chart of the hijack is as follows, the location was noted as 450 miles southeast of the coast of Mombasa.


The timing of the release is, as yet, unknown, perhaps readers might like to try to ascertain timing from this chart.

The news comes as the Moon of the chart symbolically moves into Cancer, a distance of 8° which we might take as weeks as it is in a common sign, and it is eight weeks since the ship was hijacked. Retrospective accuracy is all very well, but what about prediction? After being void of course for a short while, the Moon's first aspect, once in Cancer, is to an opposition of Venus which is conjunct the 12th cusp of captivity. Using the same unit of time, the aspect perfects symbolically in about three weeks' time, which seems a little long, but perhaps it will take that long to make the necessary preparations to the ship itself. Alternatively, as the Moon ingresses a moveable sign, its symbolic timing increases in speed, thus possibly three days.

Looking at Lilly's theory in Christian Astrology, page 461 ff:

The Moon swift = a short time in prison;
Ruler of the Ascendant swift = a short time in prison;
Ruler of the Ascendant in a feminine quadrant = swift release; Thus, Moon in a masculine quadrant = slow release;
Significators in common signs = something between swift and slow, and a second imprisonment.

There are various other arguments which apply to this chart and which indicate a greater duration, or some worsening of conditions, but we may never discover what has happened in the interim. To continue:

Moon applying to Jupiter or Venus = freedom; although this application isn't in effect at the time of this chart, it will be interesting to see if the release ties in with this aspect;
Dispositor of the Moon in aspect with a fortune = freedom in a short time;
P463, "...Venus is more to be wished for the Prisoner then Jupiter and delivereth sooner out of prison";
Venus rules the hour and is significant of imprisonment by emplacement - better to have Venus the captor than Mars!
A fortune as ruler of the hour = short imprisonment;

So, let's watch Venus and see what happens.