Astrocartography: More than lines
Astrocartography Lines
As an Astrocartographer I continue to come across clients and people that put emphasis on the ‘best lines’. Even more disturbing is the amount of practicing astrocartographers out there charging for readings that are only talking about the ‘lines on your map’, and not even looking at the entire relocated chart at all. In order to fully understand how astrocartography works, we need to go back to the man who invented the map system in the 1970s, a man by the name of Jim Lewis.
Before Astrocartography there was only Locational Astrology, and the way locational astrology works is this: in the exact moment and place that you were born the planets and luminaries were all in specific places in your chart and in the sky and making angles to each other and creating the story of you. In other parts of the world however, they were in different positions of the sky, in astrology these positions in the sky are called ‘Houses’ and they all have specific indications and themes. So lets say that you were born a Libra Rising in the midwest, well if you had been born in the Mediterranean you would have been a Sagittarius rising instead. Locational Astrology is the story of your life in a new place based on the time it was in another location when you were born in the location that you were born in. This means that your relocated chart will have a different time than your natal chart, based on the time difference for the relocation area. It may sound a bit confusing at first, but stick with me.
The word Horoscope is based on the Greek word ‘Horoskopos’, which means ‘Hour Marker’. In my early days of practicing astrology I once accidentally put the correct time of day in for a birth, but was off on the day by a couple of weeks. Surprisingly things were still making sense in my delineation because the house placements were all correct, but then suddenly something in the reading was off and we realized the date was wrong. However the only object in the sky that had shifted by date was the quickly moving moon, and also the degrees, as well as aspects, which are very important. However, by using techniques such as the ‘rulers of the houses’, most of the reading so far had been accurate, since I still put in the correct time of day. House interpretation based on the time of day a person was born is the backbone of any reading, and these house placements are what shifts when you go to a new location. Your natal chart however is still YOU and it has your overall life story baked into it but the house shifts give details on the story of the new location. Sometimes the traveling is even baked within the full natal chart story itself (I’m looking at you ruler of the 4th in the 9th, making a home in a foreign land, and ruler of the 7th in the 9th, taking a partner from a foreign land).
Now, to add another layer, when planets are on one of the four angles in a chart, the Ascendant, Descendant, Imum Coeli, or Midheaven, they are the most powerful positions in regards to those specific significations connected to the angles. So the Self for the Ascendant, Home for the Imum Coeli, other people and Relationships for the Descendant, and Career for the Midheaven. Because planets are considered most powerful whenever they are conjunct any of these four angles, Jim Lewis decided to create this mapping system where you could visually see where the planets were right exactly conjunct to these angles on the exact moment that you were born. However this being said, all of the other planets were still occupying other houses and therefore bringing in extra and very important detail to your story, and sometimes would be making new aspects to these specific angles in different parts of the world. So even if you are no where near a Jupiter line, Jupiter could still be making a trine to your Midheaven (career and visibility) in a new location. Jupiter could also be your new Ascendant ruler in a new location, which I’ve noticed can actually make Jupiter be felt far more strongly than being on a Jupiter ‘line’.
Many times I have encountered clients that will be disappointed to see that they do not have what may be considered a benefic line in a location that they would love to live in, only to show them that even though they may not be on a Venus line like they would like, that Venus moves into the fifth house in the new location which is fantastic for love, fun, and entertainment, and just so happens to be where Venus gets its ‘Joy’, based on the ‘planetary joys scheme’ (An ancient Hellenisitic and Medieval technique which unfortunately fell into obscurity in modern astrology but has since been revived due to the recent revival in Hellenistic astrology). Conversely you may find that a location you love is on a Saturn Ascendant line, not knowing that Saturn is one of your best placed planets in your chart, and also being unaware that east of that line, Saturn goes into your 12th house where it get it’s joy, and your Jupiter shifts into the 2nd house where it brings financial abundance!
Hopefully this wasn’t too confusing and helped clarify a little bit of how Astro Maps work! The Relocated Chart is the most important part of any Locational Astrology Reading and you should always ask an Astrocartographer before booking a reading if they will be looking at it. There are other important considerations such as Paran Lines, that are Latitudinal and have a very small orb of influence, that I will also be writing a blog about very soon. Once again, if you are consulting Astro click.com for your astro mapping information, just make sure that you also look for free resources for a Relocated Chart. How it works is simple, just put in all of your birth information, but change the location to the place you are considering relocating to. In the meantime if you are still confused, you can definitely consult an Astrocartographer, but first make sure to ask if they will be analyzing your Relocated Chart as well as the map!
Happy Astro Mapping!