I made a big, long-distance move a few months ago in large part due to astrocartography, and I’m still trying to determine if my strategy is working. For one thing, I moved a lot of my happy, passionate and opinionated 9th house planets into the dark and deep 8th house, so now I have a total of five planets in the eighth house of psychological depth. Ironically, I had to do that in order to exercise my 9th house planets, which were sitting stagnant in my home city; I was no longer working at a university, no longer studying at a university, and I was no longer in a job that required my use of my second language, so they were just sitting there like bored Golden Retrivers wanting to go out and play. Now I am in a new culture where I get to speak my second language and it feels so good to finally flex those 9th house muscles, but the backyard for the Golden Retrivers to play in is very psychologically underworld-y. Did I make a good decision? Good things have happened so far, which I’ll go into in this post, but even as a natal 8th house person, or maybe because of it, I’m still holding out to see if the compromise has been worth it. I will say I’ve become a more private person, and I’m reticent to open up as much on my blog as I used to (so pardon any vagueness here). I’m also pushing myself in the direction of self-employment a little more than I was back home, and self-employment is ruled by the 8th.
My home chart.
The big impetus behind my move was that I had to get Saturn, the North Node, and Lilith off my MC, and I believed that transferring them to my 9th house- a cadent house- would temper their craving for heaviness and righteous indignation, and maybe it has. Tired of the political corruption back home, I thought, “let’s go somewhere where the politics are a little silly”, but it turns out they’re not so silly when they affect your livelihood. I’m trying my best not to take the bait.
My relocated chart.
One other big impetus was getting my 3rd house working: I had two deadweights as 3rd house lords in my hometown- a ruler and an intercepted ruler- and I really needed them in good shape to develop a skill once I moved here.
The move lifted my third house ruler, Uranus, into the 11th house, and my intercepted ruler, Neptune, into the first house; moreover, now my Neptune is conjunct the Part of Fortune, so they’re in good working position at least. I believe I have [FINALLY?!] homed in on a skill to develop, and I’m happy to say it’s been fun, though challenging, so far. It is quite Uranian and Neptunian in nature too: video editing.
In terms of love and creativity, the move put marriage asteroid Juno on the DC, and Venus is now conjunct my Vertex. Is Astrocartography going to take my vertex into account? My vertex isn’t on an angle, and astrocartography is all about the angles, so I’m not sure how that’s going to turn out as i haven’t met many people my age or gone on any dating apps yet. That remains to be seen. I’m using electional astrology for those encounters as much as I can to give them the best start possible. I will say, I have loved how I’ve been able to decorate and arrange my home.
I have a pretty good Pluto and he’s been promoted from the 11th house to the angular and prominent 10th house. I am on a board for a spiritual organization, and our first year as an official board has elevated me into the limelight a bit more than before when we were setting up the organization last year. Pluto rules my 12th house of spirituality here so it makes sense that I’d be in the limlight for spirtuality (hello- Enneagram and Astrology!) and I hope to continue making contributions in that way. Despite my queasiness about privacy, I do think I might enjoy having Pluto in my 10th house.
One thing has been great so far- Mars now rules my 4th house, and Jupiter is sextiling my Mars, so I found a GREAT BIG and CHEAP house to rent with big windows- I love it! My landlords are generous and super energetic and happy people. I wish my Mars ruled more than my fourth house.
So that’s the thing with Astrocartography- we’re not going to know 100% how our placements react until we activate them. You will need accomodation first thing when you arrive, so that will be one of the first houses that gets activated. I can’t stress how important electional astrology has become to me. For example, there will be things you can’t control. For example, this is the chart for my drivers license in my new hometown:
Chart for new Diver’s licence.
After getting my picture taken at the government office, I checked the chart of the moment, and I was blown away by how perfectly a conflict had been set up between Mars and Saturn in prominent positions. I mean, thankfully Mars is separating from his square with Saturn, but Saturn is directly on the AC and Mars only a few degrees off from the MC. This license just seems to say “accidents and honking”. I’m sad because I’ve had such a good driving record back home for 25 years and it’s always been the least of my concerns, but here I’ve been honked at more than I’m comfortable with (I’m not used to driving in big cities!). At least my AC ruler is exalted Jupiter in the 5th so I’m counting on being able to flirt my way out of trouble. All this to say that if you can even elect the time that you call to make an appointment to change your license over, do it. I believe I said something like, “Ugh, I don’t need to always elect things, I can’t let astrology rule my life” when I made that appointment.
Despite the rush to find housing (I was competing with a lot of people), I was as careful as I could be about electing 1) the signing of the lease and 2) the arrival to claim the keys for the house. Here are the charts for those moments:
Chart for signing the lease.
Granted, the moon was about to conjunct the sun, but at least both I and the fourth house ruler are ruled by exalted Jupiter, and while Jupiter was in the 8th house of ups and downs, it was mitigated by a sextile to the midheaven. Moreover, Mercury rules the 7th house of contracts, and he’s peregrine in Libra, separating from some nice trines. This was a chart I had very little control over as apartments were getting snapped up left and right so I had to move fast.
Chart for picking up the keys.
This one we had more control over. Depending on whether we’re using traditional or modern rulerships, I’m either Saturn in the first in a long-range trine to his host, exalted Jupiter; or Uranus on the IC making some pretty decent trines and sextiles (too bad about the square to Venus, but it’s separating).
And while the moon is separating from peregrine Mercury, the ruler of the fourth house, I think I chose this chart because the moon’s next aspect was going to be a square to Jupiter.
Possibly the most important election you can make is the date of departure. Possibly. I’m not sure if our election just ruled our multi-day drive, or my ENTIRE new life in this new city. Time will tell, but for the expense that you’re making to move (mine cost $10k, including uhauling 4 u-boxes), it’s worth it to either
- learn electional astrology. Here’s a course from Chris Brennan. Here’s the Kepler College course page– they sometimes offer electional astrology courses.
- subscribe to Chris Brennan and Leisa Scheim’s electional podcast where they tell you the best elections each month
- pay for some professional readings to get good dates to do things on.
I used this election from Chris and Leisa for the date of departure, and I certainly don’t like planets in the 12th house for an election, but I trusted them for this. And the drive was AMAZING!! So many things could’ve gone wrong- we had rain and dense fog with poor visibility on winding one-lane highways, often with no shoulder, sometimes with no internet, and we camped the majority of the nights, yet everything turned out really well. Plus, I was travelling with my ex and we could’ve very easily gotten on each other’s nerves, but we got along swimmingly.
Right off the bat, the moon is three degrees away from conjuncting the Part of Fortune. Then the 3rd house lord (logistics, driving, etc) was Pluto in the 5th house of fun, and it was getting a nice trine from 6th house ruler, Uranus; 7th house ruler, Neptune; and 5th house ruler, Saturn. Moreover, Venus ruled the 2nd house of finances and she was sextiling Mars in the 2nd from the 11th house with a bit of mutual reception, and they were both in money houses.
So what I’ve learned so far about Astrocartography is that:
- No place is perfect- you will have to compromise on something wherever you go. It’s worth it to take the time to figure out what you want to get out of your move. Which house(s) do you need to make sure serve you well?
- Elect the day of departure, and then once you get there, continue to elect as many “firsts” as you can.
- Patience: things won’t unfold all at once, they’ll need to be activated by you. And be aware that transits are also going to be helping or hindering you. I’ve been dealing with a difficult Saturn transit in the first three months that has made moving forward like running through a swimming pool. Let transits temper how fast you expect to see results.
Astrocartography is fascinating, truly. If you want help with your move, make an appointment with me and I’ll be happy to help.
