What Is Astrocartography?
What Is Astrocartography?
Astrocartography is one of the many astrological tools available to chart the human experience. In short, it is a divinatory practice which overlays one’s birth chart onto the globe to see where on earth the planetary energies reside. It is believed that these planet lines can trigger shifts, chance encounters, and explain your relationship to the types of people from various regions as well as spiritual experiences that expose our shadows. Have you ever been drawn to a country, landscape, culture, or food that you have no connections to and wondered why? Or noticed a pattern of meeting people who play a vital role in your life end up being from the same cities / town? There could be a planetary line crossing through that location which would describe your inner and outer experiences with the people and culture from those areas. Traveling to new locations awakens parts of us that lay dormant which ignite the psyche of a new frequency. The lines on the map are like strings on a guitar and we are the guitar pick plucking the planet’s energetic borders as we cross the globe.
Locational astrology\Astrocartography was first developed by American astrologer Jim Lewis in 1979. Astrocartography is a relatively new concept and is a field which not many people are familiar, yet it is gaining more popularity especially now with Uranus in Taurus causing so much of the mass migration we have been witnesses over the last couple of years. The Uranus in Taurus era has awakened us to the desire of finding land, community, and resources based on our own individual needs. Using your natal chart to determine where you best fit on the globe is a helpful and validating way to make those big moves. Astrocartgoraphy is used to determine where one may vacation, move, retire, find love, or even usher in more joy and ease into our lives based off of our unique planetary makeup. The astrocartography chart map is made up of lines which show where planets touch the angular houses in the chart, (Ascendant, Descendent, MC & IC). It also shows harmonious and inharmonious aspects and where they culminate throughout the globe. Each planet rings to a different vibration and when you cross a planetary line you adapt to or adopt the tone of that planet’s frequency in a specific area of your life. Relocation charts are often used in conjunction with astrocartography to see how your natal chart shifts in a new location.
Breaking down the astrocartography map and its elements.
Each planet has 4 different lines, the Asc = Ascendant \ the 1st house cusp, MC = Medium Coeli / 10th house cusp, Dc = Descendant / 7th house cusp and the IC = the Imum Coeli / 4th house cusp and each one has a different interpretation. For instance, on an astrocartography chart map you will find 4 different Venus lines: the Venus Asc line, the Venus MC line, the Venus IC line and the Venus Dsc line. Each one of these Venus lines holds information on how we are able to activate the Venusian qualities in various areas of our lives. Visiting your Venus Asc line, or in other words, going where your natal Venus moves to the ascendant of your chart, can make you alluring to the people in the area. You will see your relationship to yourself begin to shift, accepting more love from others and seeking to beautify your body. Going to your Venus Asc line can make you very attractive and receptive, seeking harmonious relations with everyone you meet, giving you softer edges. If you are in need of bringing more love into your life as well as beauty, artistic personalities, and positive collaborations then taking a trip to a town where Venus shifts to your ascendant can help to bring in more feminine gentleness.
Saturn on the MC is another example. If in your natal chart you have the rigid, saturnian qualities of responsibility sitting on your MC, you may want to move to a place that offers a sense of relief from work duties when you retire. Saturn on the Mc is great during your formative years but to have its weight bearing down on you while trying to get some R & R might leave you feeling like there’s too much work to be done. On the other hand, if you are looking for a place to learn, and dedicate your efforts towards a long-term goal or project, moving somewhere with Saturn on the Mc can help to keep you focused. The Saturn Mc line can also show where your most influential teachers come from or where the most influential people within your line of work reside. Depending on how Saturn interacts with the other planets in your natal chart, the Saturn MC line can also indicate how you relate to the governing bodies of the region where you will find the Saturn MC line on the map.
Many people who move to a place where Pluto is either on the IC line or the Ascendant tend to have extremely intense experiences regarding loss, death, transformation and change. The Pluto lines in general are very powerful locations to visit and aren’t always the easiest places to stay for long periods of time. However, finding therapists, doctors, researchers, business advisers who live on or near your Pluto lines can be most beneficial.
It’s really important to take one’s natal chart into account when looking at an astrocartography map. Someone with Venus square Mars will have a totally different experience with their Venus Ascendant line than someone with Venus trine Mars, so taking into account your own personal relationship with the planet is imperative for an accurate interpretation. There are some website that you can use to pull up your Astrocartography map chart: https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/astrocartography-online-astro-map-relocation You can also book a reading with an astrologer that offers Locational Astrology to help you navigate the nitty gritty details and parse through the information.
