There, Beyond the Horizon. Astrology of Spatial Movements
Oleksandr Kolesnikov
Each of our lives begins at a certain point in space and time, then continues within the same dimensions. It turns out that our fate has not only a temporal but also a spatial component, and to understand or even change our lives, we must consider our movement not only in time but also in space. However, traditional, well-known astrological techniques deal with time. Both transits and directions, as well as progressions, describe our journey through time, paying little attention to the place where we are. After all, in our country, it is far from rare when a person’s birthplace and the place where they spend their entire life are thousands of kilometers apart. Does relocation not affect fate?
In our time, fewer and fewer obstacles prevent people from traveling the world, expanding their worldview. Now it is no sin to recall that earlier a person’s education was considered complete only if they had traveled around the world. Why? Perhaps, by traveling the world, we live another life—in the spatial dimension—while sitting in one place, we miss such an opportunity.
Transits and progressions allow us to determine favorable and tense moments in time. But it is also good to have methods that help us navigate space, find optimal routes, and minimize difficulties and failures. And such methods do exist. One of the most well-known is relocation, a method of constructing a horoscope for the same moment of birth but for different geographical coordinates. Most astrologers are at least theoretically familiar with this method, but literature on it is almost entirely absent, and I consider it worthwhile to discuss practical questions of applying relocation.
Another very interesting method, based on the same relocation, is astrocartography. Communication with colleagues shows that it is known to very few. And finally, the third method I want to introduce to our astrologers is the local space map. This method is practically unknown to us, and I have never even encountered its name translated into Russian (in the original, it sounds like “local space map”). But let’s start with the most well-known method, which in one way or another underlies all other approaches in spatial astrology.
1. Relocation
The technique of relocation is very simple and accessible to anyone who can construct at least a natal chart. In the process of constructing a natal chart, you use the latitude and longitude of the birthplace, and as a result, you obtain the positions of the house cusps for that specific location. To obtain a relocation for one place or another on Earth, you only need to change two numbers during the calculation of the natal chart—the latitude and longitude. Instead of the latitude and longitude of the birthplace, you take the latitude and longitude of another place that interests you.
If the relocation chart is constructed correctly, the planets in it will occupy the same zodiacal positions as in the natal chart, but the house cusps will shift. The magnitude of the shift depends mainly on the difference in longitude between the birthplace and the location for which the relocation is being calculated.
Nicholas Campion, in his “Practical Astrologer” (Nicholas Campion, The Practical Astrologer), writes that since the planetary configuration in relocation does not change, the main traits of a person’s personality remain the same, but the circumstances of life (at home) change.
Another author writing about relocations, Bruce Hammerslough (BF Hammerslough, ‘FORECASTING: Backward and Forward’), compares the natal chart to a crystal whose facets represent different sides of personality. When a person moves across the Earth’s surface, the crystal does not change shape but turns, making other facets more noticeable.
Some astrologers tend to absolutize the relocation chart and believe that if a person moves to another area, the natal chart loses its meaning and only the relocation chart begins to work. It is useful to remember another term used for the natal chart—radix. The word “radix” has Latin origins and translates as “root.” A plant cannot break away from its root; itAlways remains where the seed that fell to the earth sprouted. So too does the natal chart: no matter where fate may carry us, the natal chart continues to act, and moreover, it forms the foundation for all other charts, helping to correctly understand them. Relocation cannot be considered in isolation from the natal chart, for it is in the radix that the core tasks we are meant to resolve in life are shown. A move does not cancel these tasks; it merely shifts the emphasis, making what was previously hidden more apparent, or vice versa. Relocation, figuratively speaking, must be superimposed over the natal chart. The potential given to us at birth does not change; it merely refracts differently in various places on Earth.
However, let us return to the technical aspects of relocation. What does moving the Cusps give us? There are three possible types of situations, ranked by importance as follows:
1) A planet, node, or fixed star falls on an angle of the chart (Asc, MC, Dsc, IC). The natal potential of such a planet comes to the forefront, becoming the most noticeable in the person’s character and life. Hammesfahr cites an example: a person moved to a city where Mercury was exactly on their Ascendant and fulfilled an old dream, becoming a well-known writer and teacher. Naturally, the specifics of each angular Cusp must be considered. A planet falling on the Descendant will be most significant for the person’s relationships, on the MC—for their career and social standing, and so on. It is important to understand what potential the planet holds in the natal chart. When it lands on an angular Cusp in relocation, it will always carry the themes of the house in which it is placed in the radix.
When I first arrived in London, I was struck by the warm reception my English colleagues gave me, though theoretically I understood that in the relocation chart I had drawn for London, my Ascendant North Node (a unifying, harmonizing factor) was on the Ascendant. In the natal chart, this Node is in the 11th house, and not only did I find friends in England; I have witnessed former adversaries, in my presence, reconcile and become friends again.
2) The formation of a major aspect between any planet and an angle of the chart. In this case, the matters of the house in which the planet is located in the relocation chart take on special significance in the person’s life. It would be wise to also consider its natal position, though in practice this is always easy. Western astrologers often underestimate the importance of houses, focusing only on the essential dignity of the planet. For example, Hammesfahr himself recounts the case of a client who felt happy for the first time in her life when she moved to Hawaii. There, the Ascendant of the relocation chart was in trine to her Jupiter. I would also pay attention to the house in which Jupiter ended up—most likely, in the described case, it fell into the 5th house.
3) The movement of planets and other chart factors from one house to another. Of particular importance is when a planet lands on the cusp of a house. Among all the planets, the positions of the Sun and Moon should be examined first, for the Sun is the goal toward which we strive in life one way or another, and the Moon represents the circumstances in which we live. A person with the Sun in the 12th house may struggle with self-expression and asserting their identity in the world. By moving to a place where the Sun falls into the 1st house, they will feel much more confident, and to others, they will become far more noticeable. However, the introversion and depth of the 12th house will not disappear; the person will simply find it easier to express their solar essence. Such a move could help, for example, an artist or musician gain recognition. On the other hand, a person with the Sun in the 1st house will become more introspective and profound, with a finer understanding of life’s nuances and subtleties, in a place where their relocated Sun falls into the 12th house. Still, they are unlikely to want to live in such a place for long due to a sense of restriction and insufficient space for action.
Of course, the movements of all other planets are also significant, but the importance of the Sun and Moon cannot be overstated.
A question that often arises among those studying relocation is: when does the chart for the new location begin to take effect? In other words, how long must one live in a new place to feel the effects of relocation? The relocation chart begins to act immediately, but some of its characteristic traits become noticeable very quickly (for example, you may sense that the attitudes of those around you toward you have changed), while others require time. For instance, a profession cannot change in a single day, even if professional interests shift significantly in a new location.
To conclude this theoretical excursion into relocation, it remains to say that the relocation chart is important not only in itself. Like the radix, it responds to transits, progressions, and other forecasting methods. Undoubtedly, it makes sense to consider house Cusps shifts in synastry as well. Transits and progressions to the relocation chart sometimes describe the current situation better than using the natal chart alone. It is no coincidence that solar return charts are most often drawn for the place where the person is located at the time of the return.
It can be confidently said that relocation reveals events and circumstances in the form in which the person now perceives them in this place on Earth, while the natal chart helps to understand the meaning of what is happening from the perspective of their entire life.
Now, let us attempt to apply the theory of relocation in practice. I spent a long time choosing whose horoscope to use as an example. I wanted its owner to be a public figure. Ultimately, I settled on President Yeltsin, and I will also take this opportunity to present my version of the President’s horoscope to readers. The topic of the article does not allow for an in-depth analysis of the horoscope, so I will comment only on the points relevant to the discussion. But first, I will explain how this version of the birth time arose, for there are many differing opinions about it in astrological circles.
While in England, I was given a set of Astrology Quarterly magazines published by the Astrological Lodge of London as a gift by Nicholas Campion. In the winter 1992 issue (Volume 63, No. 1), I found the following information provided by the same Nick Campion: “Boris Yeltsin On September, we gave the Greenwich birth time of Yeltsin as 11:30–12:00 on 1 February 1931, based on the five-hour time zone difference indicated by Yaroslav Koryakov. We assumed that those living in Russia would have better information about time zones. However, Wendy Freborn drew our attention to the fact that the International Atlas gives a four-hour difference. It is clear that, as in many other cases related to Stalinist Soviet Union, we must consider that the best information comes from the West. Below we provide the corrected chart for Yeltsin for 16:30–17:00 local time (12:30–13:00 GMT), Butka, 56°47’N, 63°47’E.It was built for 16:45. Source: His mother — Yaroslava Koryakova, letter to Nick Campion. As for me, I do not trust the information from the International Atlas of Time Zones. It is not a matter of patriotism, it is just that experience shows that “Western information” is far from always accurate. Therefore, I left both options of Greenwich time as equal hypotheses and attempted to rectify them. Using Trutin of Hermes, I obtained two other variants close to the original ones and began comparing their informativeness regarding life events. The most important event I considered was June 12, 1991 — the day when Yeltsin was elected President, a kind of stellar time for him. Since I used the “Almagest” program, the most convenient method of unfolding turned out to be primary direction of the Midheaven (degree per year along the equator with subsequent projection onto the ecliptic). The “Western” version did not yield any interesting configurations on the election day, whereas in the “domestic” version the Midheaven formed an exact trine to the Sun in Aquarius in the 7th house — an excellent signature for a politician who won the election. Using other unfolding methods and other events, I finally settled on the birth time variant of 11:41 GMT. A meticulous reader can do this independently, and the natal chart of President Yeltsin is presented in Fig.1. However, there was one more moment that confirmed the significance of the result obtained. The Ascendant of the chart fell at 8 degrees of Leo, and I recalled that some astrologers had already indicated something similar. Indeed, in S.A. Vronsky’s book “Astrology: On Marriage and Compatibility,” a chart of B.N. Yeltsin is given with the Ascendant at 9 degrees of Leo. In a similar situation, I usually refer to “The Astrological Mandala” by Rudhyar and compare the symbolic pictures of degrees. What I read about the 8th degree of Leo struck me so much that I risk your patience and will quote almost the entire passage: “Phase 128 (8° Leo). An activist who spreads anarchic ideals. Key: Emotional and ideological attempts to return to a state of undifferentiation and chaos as a prelude to a new type of order. The symbol represents the activity of destructive, catabolic forces: the old order is opposed by the youthful thirst for a new way of life and new values. Since the old order refuses to yield its prerogatives, this defines violent action, the first result of which is almost inevitably chaos, but which, however, calls forth new forces capable of reorganizing and differentiating. Unfortunately, these forces are often based on old ideas, and the struggle is waged for the establishment of personal power. (Note: Initially, the symbol contained the image of an ‘activist-communist’)…” After reading this text, it is hard to believe that its author did not have Boris Nikolayevich in mind. I was particularly surprised by the remark about the former “activist-communist.” However, it is time to return to the topic of our study — relocation. The future President was born in a small settlement and achieved life success in Sverdlovsk — not very far, but in another place. It is logical to assume that the relocation chart built for Sverdlovsk will show us something interesting. And so it does (see Fig.2). Below, I will discuss only the most obvious points, while those who wish can analyze the charts in more detail. Mars, which in the natal chart was two degrees away from the Ascendant, in Sverdlovsk falls exactly on the Ascendant. Mars governs the 10th house and vividly symbolizes active efforts aimed at achieving a social position. It is retrograde, and one of the interpretations of retrograde Mars is “a general” who does not personally take part in the battle but directs the energy of his “soldiers” (see my articles in “Astrologia” about retrograde planets). In addition, the Midheaven in Sverdlovsk forms an exact trine to the natal Ascendant — personal qualities (Ascendant) allow a person to achieve recognition in society (Midheaven). The further fate of Boris Nikolayevich is connected with Moscow, and the relocation chart for Moscow is presented in Fig.3. Here, almost exactly on the horizon, one of the most problematic configurations of the natal chart appears: the opposition between the conjunction of the Moon and Pluto on one side and the conjunction of Mercury and Saturn on the other. The Moon and Pluto on the Ascendant indicate both the popularity of the President’s personality (Moon) among the people (Cancer) and the mastery of mass energies (Pluto), the ability to control them. What was hidden (12th house) in Sverdlovsk, here, falling on the Ascendant, becomes manifest. Conservative Saturn in Capricorn together with Mercury shows, in particular, powerful opponents from among the “old guard,” who created numerous obstacles for the future President on his path to power. Those who in Sverdlovsk were more in the position of subordinates (6th house) here become open adversaries (Descendant). This opposition can also be understood as a contradiction between the desire to transform the life of the people (Moon, Pluto, Cancer) and the necessity to take harsh measures (Saturn, Mercury, Capricorn). Mercury governs the 4th house in the relocation and emphasizes the importance of inherited methods of work and communication with people. But not only problems are visible in this chart. The trine between the Midheaven and its ruler, exalted Jupiter, is an unambiguous indication of career success. Now let us see how applicable traditional unfolding methods are to the relocation chart. Let us take only the simplest ones — symbolic direction and transits, and for events — the same June 12, 1991. First, let us check whether these methods work in the natal chart. On the day in question, the President was 60 years, 5 months, and 11 days old, which gives a directional arc of 60°27′. The direction of the natal Midheaven on the election day was only 36 angular minutes away from an exact trine to the Sun — the significance of this aspect has already been discussed. Now, transits. Looking at the ephemeris, we find the following notable fact: on the election day, Mars and Jupiter are only one degree apart from their future conjunction in the 1st house of the natal chart, and Jupiter, the Great Benefic of classical astrology, forms an exact trine to the natal Midheaven. It is hard to imagine more eloquent evidence of success. Turning to the relocation chart, we will notice that the directed Midheaven forms a sextile to its ruler Jupiter, strong in the sign of exaltation. I do not want to delve now into the symbolic meaning of this Jupiter; it will be discussed in the next article. It is interesting that the key words given by A.F. Semenko for the sextile are “choice of one of the possibilities.” We encounter the theme of “choice” in the transits as well — Uranus forms the same sextile to the relocation Midheaven from the 6th house of the chart. For a person of lesser scale, on the basis of such an aspect, one could predict the choice of a new job, most likely of a public nature. Even more interesting is the transit of the Lunar Nodes, as they turn out to be exactly on the horizon line, with the North Node on the Descendant. In an ordinary consultation, with such a transit, I would speak of an important development in partnership relations that helps to overcome personal difficulties. I hope I have managed to demonstrate how natal and relocation charts complement each other — both in assessing a person’s potential and in forecasting. Relocation allows one to evaluate a person’s prospects in a particular place on Earth and find the most favorable locations for different types of activity. However, it is even more convenient to view the entire world using a method called Astrocartography. This will be discussed in the next article.
2. Astrocartography
The idea of astrocartography is simple and elegant, like all things genius. This method is based on two assumptions. The first is the effectiveness of relocation. In other words, it is assumed that a birth chart, when relocated to a certain place on Earth, truly reflects the features of life in that place. The second assumption is in line with the entire astrological tradition.Since ancient times, it has been believed that “angular” planets, i.e., those located on the cusps of angular houses — Ascendant, Descendant, Midheaven, or IC — are especially significant for the horoscope owner and manifest themselves most vividly and noticeably. If you agree with both assumptions, wonderful opportunities open up before you. Perhaps you have once looked at your horoscope and thought: “Too bad my Jupiter isn’t on the Midheaven. What a great boss I would have become!” And women would certainly not refuse to have Venus on the Ascendant… But why not? Everything is in your power. If you use relocation, you will definitely find places on Earth (even in the middle of the open ocean) where Jupiter will be on the MC, and where Venus will end up on the Ascendant. Would you have the patience to build relocations for different latitudes and longitudes, checking whether you have anything on angular cusps in London, Tokyo, New York, or Bangkok… However, why not entrust this extensive computational work to a computer? And ask it to immediately indicate all places where a particular planet falls on an angular cusp?
It is said that similar ideas had occurred to astrologers even before Jim Lewis, but without a computer, their implementation was extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive. It was Jim Lewis, both an astrologer and a programmer, who made astrocartography accessible and popular. Now, all you need is a computer program, input the data, say, of President Yeltsin (see the previous article), and the resulting astrocartography map (Fig. 1) will immediately show, with the help of lines, the places on Earth where a particular planet is angular. If you want to change the scale of the image, some programs allow you to create astrocartographic maps of individual regions of the world — say, the territory of the former USSR (Fig. 2).
Thus, everything depends on having a computer program. And our programmers did not let us down. The first (as far as I know) Russian astrocartography program has already been created and is distributed by the editorial board of “Astrolog” — it is the Startown 1.1 program from the Star software package. I had the opportunity to familiarize myself with this program, and it is very convenient to work with. In some aspects, it is even better than the original American program. And as for the price, there’s no need to mention it — Startown is almost given away for free.
Another way to get acquainted with astrocartography is through the Astrolog program, which is distributed for free (and quite legally) worldwide. This program is truly unique in its capabilities. What isn’t in it? Asteroids, trans-Neptunian planets of the Hamburg School, and a local spatial map, which will be discussed in the next article… The only drawback is the inconvenience of use. What you need requires a long sequence of key commands. And you can only obtain an astrocartography map for the entire world without further detailing.
But let’s assume you already have your astrocartography map. What do you do with it next, and how do you understand it? On the one hand, it’s simple: the lines of “beneficial” planets indicate places in the world where you will feel good, and vice versa. This is the path taken by Western astrologers, who interpret the general, archetypal meaning of planets. For example, Venus on the Descendant will bring you marital happiness, while Saturn on the Midheaven will bring career difficulties. However, the previous article already discussed the great role that accounting for the specific position of a planet in houses and aspects of the natal chart, as well as the local determination of the planet, plays in relocation.
Looking at Fig. 2, you will see that in President Yeltsin’s astrocartography map, the Jupiter line on the Ascendant passes through Chechnya, Budyonnovsk, and other equally interesting places. Is this good or bad? Jupiter is a symbol of expansion, but to understand what events can be expected along its line, you need to study Jupiter’s position in the natal chart. In this case (see the previous article), Jupiter is located in the 12th house in an exact square to Uranus on the Midheaven. I don’t want to delve into commentary, but it is clear that there is no great joy to be expected from such a Jupiter on the Ascendant.
If you want to understand why Yeltsin’s Jupiter line “sounds” precisely now, the simplest symbolic direction will help. The fact is that this year, the direction of the Ascendant is passing through a square to Jupiter and an opposition to Uranus. Incidentally, you can build an astrocartography map not only for the natal chart but also for the progressed chart, though in this case, this approach proved uninformative.
Here, by the way, we see one of the principles of astrocartography, especially significant for political figures. It is not at all necessary to travel to a particular place for its potential to influence your destiny. It is enough for one of your lines to pass through it, and events occurring there may somehow affect you. A classic illustration is U.S. President Carter. His Mars lines, the god of war, pass through Ethiopia, Somalia, Rhodesia, Zaire, Iran, and it was during his presidency that these countries became known as areas of armed conflict.
Jim Lewis, the creator of computer astrocartography, himself felt the energy of the Mars line. The Mars line on Jim’s Ascendant passed near Sydney, Australia, and while he was there, he was hit by a car. He suffered damage to the bones of the skull (Aries — Mars) and pelvis (Scorpio — Mars). The accident occurred as Lewis was crossing a highway called Military Road.
You shouldn’t think that everyone will experience similar events on their Mars line; much depends on the planet’s position in the natal chart. I don’t know Lewis’s birth time, but on June 5, 1941, when he was born, Mars formed an exact square to Pisces Sun in Gemini.
An important capability of astrocartography is that it allows you to identify certain latitudes as most significant for you. If two or more astrocartography lines intersect near the same parallel, it may prove very important in the life of the chart’s owner. For example, in the case of President Jimmy Carter, the Jupiter line on the Midheaven and the Mars line on the Ascendant intersect almost exactly over Tehran. In other places — in North Africa, in China — but at the same latitude, the lines of Saturn on the Midheaven and Pluto on the Descendant intersect, as well as Jupiter on the Ascendant, Neptune on the IC, and Venus on the IC.
Nicholas Campion, from whose book (The Practical Astrologer) this example is taken, writes that such a powerful combination of planets indicates excessive self-confidence, conflict, deception, and crisis. Although Carter never personally visited Tehran, the capture of American hostages in Iran in 1979 marked the beginning of the end of his presidency.
An astrocartography map can be constructed not only at the moment of a person’s birth but also at any other time. For a mundane astrologer, an eclipse astrocartography map, ingress chart, or the moment of state formation will be an important tool, showing how the potential of a particular event is distributed across the Earth.
It is interesting that in the astrocartography map of Russia (in the version used by Nicholas Campion — at the time of establishing sovereignty, 13:45 Moscow time on June 12, 1990), the Sun line on the Midheaven passes precisely through Crimea. And in the progressed astrocartography map for the current year, this line has already noticeably shifted toward the Caucasus.
Although astrocartography as a method has been known for quite a long time, its popularity in Europe is low, and no book fully dedicated to this method has been written yet. Jim Lewis passed away this February, and although he has many followers worldwide, why shouldn’t Russian astrologers take up the astrocartography baton? If anyone already has developments in the field of astrocartography or will have them in the future, it would be interesting to learn about them — for example, on the pages of “Astrolog.”
Finally, I would like to draw the attention of astrologer-programmers interested in this method to one important point.Comparing the results of the American astrocartographic program with the domestic Startown program, you will immediately notice significant discrepancies. The reason is that the domestic program takes into account the ecliptic rising of the planet. Its calculation principle fully corresponds to the horoscopic relocation. If you construct a relocation for a city through which the line, say, of Venus on the Ascendant passes, in the Startown program, then make sure that in the relocation chart Venus is indeed on the Ascendant. The Americans took a different approach. They consider the ecliptic latitude of the planet and determine the lines of the astrocartogram where the planet itself, rather than its ecliptic projection, reaches the horizon. The discrepancies are significant, and I do not yet have sufficient experience to assert which of the approaches is better. Perhaps both are good, but it is desirable for the program to offer a choice and allow building an astrocartogram at your own discretion—with or without latitude. It is also desirable that the program allows for easy generation of a progressed astrocartogram (the American version is not a benchmark in this regard). Finally, there is currently no domestic program that implements the principle of the local space map, which will be discussed in the next article.
