Relocation Astrology – Legit Or Not?

Is relocation astrology legit or not? I was never big on it, seeing it as a kind of hypothetical curiosity and mostly irrelevant compared to the potency of the natal chart worked off your actual birthplace. 

However, I’ve changed my view and now have a fresh take on the topic, as well as some suggestions on which parts of it work and which don’t. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about – or how it’s different from, say, astrocartography – please scroll down for some helpful definitions.

So what made me switch up my thinking on relocation charts? Well, I generated mine by mistake when I was intending to do something else and was suddenly struck by the Ascendant – my birth ascendant is Aquarius but relocated, it’s Capricorn.

That is, if I was born where I now live, everything would be the same except my Ascendant and Midheaven would be different signs. That, of course, shifts all the house placements around.

Maybe I’ve always dismissed the reloco chart as I couldn’t relate to Cap Rising but I suddenly realized that the 2020 Saturn-Pluto conjunction was smack-bang on the relocated Ascendant. This totally resonated for a number of reasons as did a few other key dates.

I need to do more research on this and it would be great to read other people’s experiences in the comments but I think that the relocated chart may not be so relevant in terms of persona but Outer Planets connecting to the Ascendant and Midheaven? Absolutely. They’re sensitive points for sure.

In my case, the relocated astro moves planetary emphasis from the 2nd and 8th to the 3rd and 9th, which makes sense. I will be looking into this further but…thoughts?

Astrology is the mother of a million variations and yes, it can be incredibly confusing. In terms of location-cetric astrological charts, there are three main genres: Astrocartography, Relocation Astrology and Local Space. They’re all interesting and relevant in different ways and of course, everyone has their personal preferences.

ASTROCARTOGRAPHY

Essentially splaying your birth chart over the entire world, Astrocartography inspired the term ‘planet lines’ as in ‘my Venus line runs through New Orleans.’ How is it calculated? Using this ‘Venus line in New Orleans’ example, if you were born in – say – Paris and at the time of your birth, Venus was rising in New Orleans, that city would be one of your ‘Venus lines.’

Where-ever a planet is aligned with one of the four axis points – Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant or I.C. at the time of your birth, that’s a planet line. You can calculate all of these on Astrodienst if you’re interested. The idea and popular take is that you’ll be better able to understand the cosmic influences applying to you in various places.

How well does it work? We need more data. Anecdotally, people report fabulousity from visiting or staying on their Venus and Jupiter lines, whilst Saturn or Pluto lines are less crash-hot. But for real data, we’d need to interview well-travelled people about their experiences in various places and cross-reference them to the astrocartography charts.

RELOCATION ASTROLOGY

Rather than focusing on the Sun, Moon or planets that were rising or setting etc in a particular place at your birth, relocation astrology is a new birth chart that’s calculated as if you were born in a particular place. This is not so much about finding a cool place to visit or being on your Jupiter line during a beneficial Jupiter transit – although that would be a worthy experiment.

It’s more about the concept that if you’ve resettled in another place, a different chart may apply in some regards. Essentially your Sun, Moon and planets remain at the same degrees of their signs and with their various aspects intact but the Ascendant and Midheaven degrees alter – this can be major, as in my example above. If you were born with, say, Mars at 10 Taurus opposite Jupiter at 10 Scorpio, you’ll still have that but the opposition will likely be across two different houses in the relocation chart.

So it’s easy to generate – on Astrodienst or if you’re getting one of my Astral DNA report, you just enter the birthplace of whichever place you’ve moved to and ensure you calculate what the correct time would have been. Check the degree of the Moon (the fastest moving point in anyone’s chart) for an easy accuracy test – it should be exactly the same as that of your natal chart.

How long would you need to be in a place before a relocation chart would apply? There is no strict definition for this but I think it would be when you’ve definitively put down roots there. It’s not where you were born but it’s now ‘home.’ How far? Well, if it’s in the same time zone, there won’t be a relocation chart, as such.

LOCAL SPACE CHARTS

Local space astrology is like a kind of astrological geomancy – not the divination method but more akin to traditional Chinese Feng Shui. Rather than calculating the ecliptic degrees of the Sun, Moon + planets, it goes off the Azimuth direction, like a compass.

The Astral Magic report uses this method and delineates the various zones in your home but you can also apply them to directions and towns or cities. We’re all so used to the classic ecliptic zodiac that local space astro can seem off but it’s easier to grasp if you picture yourself as a newborn in your crib with the stars and planets all around you – some are to your East, others the North and so on.

I think it’s legit and it’s fascinating to explore. The current Astral Magic doesn’t include the outer planet directions because I don’t think it’s a good idea to ‘activate’ those zones in the house, as such. However, I’m going to add them in because it’s good to know if a place is facing – for instance – your Pluto direction.

It can also be a good idea to do your Astral Magic report or any local space chart for the area you’ve relocated to, if it’s a solid move – ie; you’re settling someplace.

Image: Davis Meltzer – Curved Air