An Intro to Astrocartography

What is Astrocartography?

Unless you're an astrologer, you most likely have never heard of the fascinating discipline of astrocartography. Astro*Carto*Graphy is a locational astrology technique popularized by astrologer Jim Lewis in the 1970s. Today astrocartography also is often used to refer to the branch of locational astrology overall, which includes several techniques. Locational astrology likely goes far, far back in history, but it is only more recently a popular and growing branch of astrology. The idea behind astrocartography is that different places in the world hold different stories for you, and you activate them and different parts of your consciousness by visiting them. The positions of the planets at the time of your birth are mapped onto the world, and along those planetary lines are places that are special for you. They may be where you get a boost of energy to start a business, feel inspiration to study a new subject, find the love of your life, or undergo a personal transformation.

There are several techniques in astrocartography, and we'll take a look at a few of the main ones, as well as how you can take a peek at some of this yourself!

Note that this might be a little overwhelming if you're completely new to astrology, so feel free to first read An Intro to Astrology and then find your way back here later. Understanding astrocartography requires understanding astrology at least a little.

TLDR: The main techniques of astrocartography are to interpret the meaning behind planetary (longitudinal) lines, paran lines (latitudinal lines), and relocated charts to learn about the story of a place based on your birth chart. To gain further information and determine the best time to go to a place, we can also look at local space lines, geodetic lines, midpoint lines, aspect lines, and cyclocartography.

Planetary Lines

The main technique in astrocartography is to look at the planetary lines of your astrocartography map. These include the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, as well as the North and South Nodes and usually the asteroid Chiron. The planetary lines are longitudinal lines around the world based on the positions of the planets from the time of your birth (the exception are the Nodes, which are not planets and are calculated separately).

Each planet has 4 lines, one for each of the angles. These angles are the Ascendant (AC or sometimes AS), the Imum Coeli (IC and Latin for "bottom of the sky"), Descendant (DC or DS), and Midheaven (MC). These correspond to where each planet was rising, at its lowest point, setting, and at its highest point. The AC, IC, DC, and MC each have their own meaning, so each planetary line would be combining the meaning of the planet and that of the angle. AC is about the self and your identity, while DC is about others and relationships. IC is about home and family, while MC is about career and public image. So you have the lines Sun AC, Sun IC, Sun DC, Sun MC, then Moon AC, Moon IC, Moon DC, Moon MC, and so on.

To demonstrate, Mercury is the planet all about communication, curiosity, learning, and quick action. Going to a Mercury line will increase mental activity and can be a good place to study, write, or organize. Traveling to specifically a Mercury MC line connects that Mercurial energy with career and public image (MC) and is a good location for example for someone starting a marketing agency and wanting to get the word out.

Although we have the general meanings of the planets, the story that is activated when you are close to a planetary line will also depend on how that planet is situated in your chart. We usually think of Venus and Jupiter as the most supportive planets and Mars and Saturn as the most challenging, or that Mercury MC line could turn into a place where you overthink, obsess, and feel anxiety because it really depends on what's going on in your chart, specifically sect, essential dignity, aspects, and which house it is in. Those are all concepts for another day, but know that going to your Venus line isn't all about finding love in every case and depends on how Venus is doing in your unique chart. For now you can just remember that planetary lines on your astrocartography map bring out certain parts of your birth chart. The planets have their usual energetic meanings, but are affected by their placement in your chart.

Note that the planetary lines also have an orb of influence. The closer you are to the line, the stronger you'll feel the effects. This orb is usually up to around 700 miles, but strongest within 175-250 miles.

Paran Lines

Parans, or paranatellonta (Greek for 'rising together'), are where 2 planetary lines cross, forming latitudinal lines on an astrocartography map. So where a Sun line and Mercury line meet will create a Sun/Mercury paran. For these lines, the meanings of them are a combination of the meanings of the two planets crossing. For example Moon/Venus paran lines are generally positive, and Mars/Pluto are generally challenging. You can also add more nuance by considering which angles crossed to form that paran.

Parans can also make or break a place. If you have a beautiful and supportive planetary line in a location but a few tough parans close by, that will affect your experience there. In that case, you might want to stay close to the planetary line but move farther away from those parans by going in a different direction. The orb of influence for parans is about 70 miles, so you don't have to go far to weaken its strength and can get closer to a more supportive paran.

It's also worth mentioning that lines and parans that seem challenging are not all bad and should not be avoided at all costs. They are places with opportunities for growth and expansion, and you should still go to those places if you're feeling the urge to. I myself have spent a lot of time around difficult lines and have had difficult times, but they have helped me grow as a person and led me to appreciate every place I feel called to visit.

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Relocated Charts

The next piece to look at is the relocated chart. This is especially important when a particular location on your astrocartography map doesn't have any planetary lines or parans close by. The relocated chart is when we adjust your birth chart to be based on a different location (and the time adjusted based on time zones). Your relocated chart will still have planets in the same signs and have the same aspects (because that is still the position of the planets at your exact time of birth after all), but what's different are the signs the houses are in and the angles (AC/IC/DC/MC) and their aspects.

Just a side note to clear a little confusion: on most birth charts, the Ascendant (AC/AS) and Midheaven (MC) are marked (like in the examples above), but not always the IC and DC, but they are exactly opposite in the same degree even if you don't see them labeled. In the chart on the left above, the Ascendant is at 29 degrees in Gemini in the 1st house, and so the Descendant is at 29 degrees in Sagittarius in the 7th house. The Ascendant is always in the 1st house and directly opposite to the Descendant, which is always in the 7th house. The IC is usually in the 4th, and the MC is usually in the 10th.

In the relocated chart, planets close to the angles become the storytellers here. With the houses shifting as well, different themes of life and different parts of your self become come more into focus.

Say you were born with your Ascendant in Virgo, but in your relocated chart your Ascendant is now in Leo. The Ascendant is about how you present yourself to the world and the first impressions people gather of you, so with it in Virgo, your personality involves coming across as a grounded, detail-oriented, hard-working, problem-solving individual. Moving to a location where your Ascendant has shifted to Leo might bring out a different side of you that sees the world in a more light-hearted, creative, independent, and sociable way. You can apply interpretation to the rest of the relocated chart, but especially focus on the angles and planets close to them.

Other Techniques

The planetary lines, parans, and relocated chart are the main techniques in astrocartography. There are others to consider, such as local space lines, geodetics, midpoints and aspects added to the map, and cyclocartography to gain further information and find out the best time to visit, but those main three will tell you the majority of the story of a place for you.

How to Look at Your Own Astrocartography Map

So how about taking a peek at your own map? You'll need professional astrology software like Zeus or SolarFire to look at the full details, but we can look at a few things for free on astro.com!

Once you're on astro.com and made an account with your birth info (location, date, and time), you can navigate to Horoscopes > Locational Astrology > AstroClick Travel.

The map that's generated will show you your planetary lines around the world. You can click anywhere on the map, and you'll see a brief description of the closest lines. If you check the box for "Show details", it'll also tell you about parans nearby, described as crossings on astro.com, but I have found that the orb of influence seems larger than it should be, including more parans than it should for a place. You can't actually see them on the map unfortunately either or how far away they are, but it still gives you an idea. Have fun looking around!

You can also create your own relocated chart by simply editing your birth data and changing the location and adjusting the time.

Astro-seek.com is also a popular option to see your map. However, there the map uses a zodiacal projection method, while astro.com uses en mundo. Astrologer Jim Lewis used en mundo, so to follow the original projection method, check astro.com for your map. You can read more about this difference here, but your map will look a little different if you compare the two sites.

Astrocartography Readings

I hope you've enjoyed this intro to astrocartography and aren't too confused! If you're thinking of moving or want to know the best places for a vacation, going on a retreat, or to build your business, astrocartography can help you solidify a decision and spark the experiences you are looking for. If you are interested in a reading with me, you can find out more here! We'll go over everything mentioned above and more!

Astrocartography: Chiron Lines for Healing

Locational Astrology: An Intro to Geodetics

Astrocartography: Finding Your Best Places