Before locating missing objects, you first have to define what is lost, and figure out which house best represents that item. People, for instance, are defined by their relationships to you. A sibling would be represented by the 3rd house. The querent's mother by the 10th house, and, perhaps Venus in a day chart, Luna in a night chart. A son or daughter would be represented by the 5th. And so on. (The 7th house rules other people in general.)
We have to use derivative houses in Lost & Found charts. For instance, "Where is my manuscript?" might use the 3rd house to represent the lost manuscript. "Where is Susan's manuscript?", on the other hand, would use the 9th (i.e. the 3rd of the 7th). And if Susan is explicitly referred to as a friend--"Where is my friend Susan's manuscript?"--you might even place Susan in the 11th, making the radical 1st house the ruler of the manuscript (the 3rd of the 11th). All this chart turning becomes very easy once you've done it a few times.
Here are some general rules for the location of a signifier by mode and house.
Modes and Locations
| Mode | Locations |
| Cardinal | high places, rooftops, near ceilings, hills, new buildings, freshly-dug ground |
| Fixed | Hidden areas, low places, in walls, near floors, flat land. |
| Mutable | In the house, or if outside, watery or marshy places, ditches, markets. |
Houses and Locations
|
House
|
Locations
|
| Angular | Where it should be; in the home; where the querent spends a lot of time; in a visible place |
| Succedent | Not in its usual place, but not far away; harder to find; maybe out of doors, in a garage or outbuilding, or in the yard. |
| Cadent | Farther away;hidden from view; lost; near a neighbor (if in the 3rd); secret places |
Elements and Locations
|
Element
|
Locattions
|
| Air | High places; upstairs, upper floors; on shelves; on the roof; near the ceiling; near windows. WEST |
| Fire | Mid-upper areas; near fireplaces, chimneys, stoves and ovens;near warm dry places; sources of heat;near walls; near iron; EAST |
| Water | Low places; damp areas; near water; bathrooms, kitchens, utility rooms; near water lines;rivers, lakes,oceans;NORTH |
| Earth | At/below ground level; close to the floor; near the earth; quarries; gardens; buried; near a bridge; near pavement, clay, cement; SOUTH |
But wait, there's more.