Astrology has many uses. Besides learning about yourself through your birth chart, there is mundane astrology; done casting charts for events, like the launch of men to the moon. There is electional astrology, casting charts for future planned events, like a wedding. Synastry is the term for relationship astrology, which is done by looking at the charts of two or more individuals. You use horary astrology when you want an answer to a specific question, casting the chart for the moment directly after the question has been asked.
This article will explore astrocartography, specifically, relocation charts. Astrocartography involves the energy lines that spread out around the globe from your birthplace. They reconnect 180 degrees from your place of origin. Using a professional astrology program, you can see maps of these lines to determine places where you will get certain benefits and face certain challenges by visiting or living there.
Below are a series of maps, starting with the global map of my birth, followed by my birth location, then my current location.
A relocated chart is cast using your birth date, birth time, and the new location. So, my relocated chart would be 4/12/1968 at 9:39 pm in Durham, NC. Below is my natal chart and my relocated chart.
Since I moved a short distance from my birthplace and along the longitudinal line, there is very little difference in my natal chart and my relocated chart. If you look at the angles (AS/DS and MC/IC) you will see an only incremental change from 28d14m to 29d07m and 10d27m to 10d42m respectively. Now, if I were to move to Pretoria, South Africa, here is what the chart would look like:
In the Pretoria chart, my Ascendant/Descendent and Medium Coeli and Imum Coeli change signs entirely. I go from my Scorpio/Taurus AS/DS to Pisces/Virgo and from my Virgo/Pisces MC/IC to Sagittarius/Gemini. All the other points in my chart remain the same, position-wise, but now there are new relationships with the angles, and that is what is important in the relocated chart.
When we relocate, especially at least one time zone east or west, we will significantly change the position of the angles of the chart.
The Ascendant is the point that determines the first house and represents the horizon line on the day you were born. If you were born at night, the Sun symbol (red circle with a dot in the middle) would appear below the imaginary line between the AS and DS in the images above. If you were born early in the morning, the Sun would be to the left of the MC/IC imaginary line. If you were born late at night the Sun would be the right of the MC/IC division.
Since I was born at night 9:39 pm, the Sun had already risen and set. On that day, it rose in Scorpio and set in Taurus. Meaningfully, the Ascendant is how we present and are perceived by the world; the point energizes what we bring to relationships. With my Ascendant in Scorpio, I present and am perceived as intense; I transform relationships, which is what I bring to my partnerships (transformation).
If I relocate and do so far enough east or west to change my Ascendant sign, then I will add that sign’s energy as a layer on top of my birth sign Ascendant, which identifies me always. In the example of the Pretoria chart, I will present and be perceived as a spiritual person, who would bring imagination and healing energy to the people I would meet there.
The Descendant represents the sunset on the day we are born and what we seek from others, the help we most need or want from the people we encounter. With my Descendant in Taurus, I seek stability and security in my partnerships. If I relocated to Pretoria, South Africa, my Descendant would become Virgo and I would seek practical support in my day-to-day life from my partnerships.
The Medium Coeli, more commonly referred to as the Midheaven, represents the highest point in the sky of the Sun on the day we are born. As an astrological point in our chart, the Midheaven is often reduced to being identified as our “career” point. More broadly and comprehensively, it represents how we can best obtain our prosperity in this life.
With my Midheaven in Virgo, I prosper through practical service.
Let me interject a quick note about House Systems when casting a chart. There are multiple House Systems and the one I use is known as the Whole Sign system. The most commonly used House System is Placidus. Here’s the difference between the two. In the Placidus system, the angles (AS/DS/MC/IC) mark the cusp of the 1st, 7th, 10th, and 4th Houses respectively.
In the Whole Sign system, these angles are points WITHIN the House. The AS/DS ALWAYS represent the 1st and 7th House and will found there no matter where and when you are born. However, the MC/IC can range from the 9th to the 10th to the 11th House. As you will see in my natal chart, my MC is in the 11th House of Community.
Now, my MC in the 11th House in Virgo means that I can best achieve my prosperity through practical service to my community. But if I move to Pretoria, and my MC changes to Sagittarius and ends up in the 10th House of Professional Work, I would need to get hired for or promote my expertise in a traditional business setting as the way to prosper. Considering my educational training, up to a PhD, I work best teaching in a university classroom on the east coast of the US but would do better running a department in a university in South Africa.
The Imum Coeli represents the lowest point of the Sun during its journey through the sky on the day of our birth. It represents our “inner self”, who we are in private that balances the public self of the Medium Coeli or Midheaven.
By birth, my IC is Pisces, so my inner world is spiritual and imaginative, filled with wide-ranging emotions and a very active imagination. Also, a Pisces IC can be a marker for psychic ability. Since I cast my chart using the Whole Sign system, my IC is in my 5th House of Creativity, so my imagination is amplified with this angle in this house.
If I move to Pretoria, my IC shifts to my 4th House of Family and is in Gemini. Internally, my focus would shift to figuring out and understanding family, through constant communication and self-dialogue.
Lastly, the change in the angles could mean new aspects with points in the chart. As it turns out, there are two significant new aspects. Uranus conjuncts my Descendant and Chiron conjuncts my Ascendant. In the most basic terms, asserting myself in the new location (Aries) could either wound or heal me (Chiron), but I would definitely attract and be attracted to (DS) the outliers in society (Uranus), especially the people who engage in non-traditional (Uranian) service (Virgo).
A very large part of my professional practice involves doing location and relocation charts for people who are making a move or wanting to make a move. The work involves looking at the maps and relocating the chart to the new location. This work can also be done when considering a vacation, or any travel that will take you more than 1 hour east or west.
Astrocartography is among the most “testable” forms of professional practice. You go to the place and it either feels and does what the astrologer claims it will feel like and do for/against you (yes, some locations will be very challenging energetically). If you feel you are in the “wrong place” or you want to move to a more “right” place, consider getting your astrocartography done.
