The World is your Oyster: The Allure of Travel Using Astro-Cartography

 

1: The World is Your Oyster

2: Astro-Cartography

3: Relocation Charts

4: Remote Viewing of Locations

5: Astro-Cyclography

6: The Geodetic Map of the World

7: World Grid of Energy and Ley Lines

8: Astrocartography and World Events

9: The February 17th Annular Solar Eclipse

10: The Natal Chart of the USA

11: Notable Astro Maps: Verdi, Bjork, Buckley, Epstein

 

“And the future will be nothing less than the flowering of our inwardness.” 

Rainer Maria Rilke

 

1: The World is Your Oyster

‘The world is mine Oyster’ is a phrase from Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor and it has come to have a positive spin, meaning limitless potential. But originally it was said by a character called Ancient Pistol and directed maliciously against Falstaff for being tight with money. But you don’t need a sword to open the oyster. The world offers its pearls and natural beauties regardless. All it takes is to get on a plane to cross oceans and time zones.  The costs and barriers to travelling still have to be dealt with, but the possibilities have not diminished and it is worth experimenting with which country is the best fit.

Astro-cartography is an incredible tool for unlocking how well or badly you’ll fare in certain geographical locations. It is a term coined by Jim Lewis in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He died in 1995. But the potential of what he created has grown in the past few years as people contemplate the perilous nature of their future. It is not just about travelling or even relocating, but has wider implications such re-familiarising yourself to the earth’s rotation. To notice the sunrise and sunset times in different places connects you closer to the earth and the sun’s journey. For anyone ruled by the Sun -that’s Leo Sun, Leo Rising or the Sun in the 5^th House- this is a way to acknowledge that presence of light. It is not just Sagittarius that rarely needs persuading that there’s a world out there to explore. Going to live on your Sun line is the best option when you have tried every other planetary line for the right fit.

The importance of location should not be underestimated. Many people are beginning to ask: am I in the right place? Is there a better place? Are there  places I must  avoid? But the first most obvious flaw in this line of thinking is overhype. It can give the false impression that just by moving, you can solve the problems inherent in your natal chart. Maybe you will, but you also take the gnarly squares and oppositions with you wherever you go. If you visit a ruined temple for example, you may feel it is a metaphorical reflection of your and abandoned hopes and dreams i.e. you take ruins to ruins. The work of self-awareness and self-development remain so the astro map of your natal chart will show all the potentials in the lines across the world. Yet as Kabat Zin said ‘Wherever you go, there you are’. Your consciousness is the primary conduit for all experiences and you may have to adapt to what life throws at you.

The truth is how you work with the challenges in your chart that will bring about the real enhancement. Not everything that looks good on the surface e.g. Jupiter- Venus- even the Sun- is genuinely good for you and vice versa. A Jupiter line could potentially bring gambling, excess and overwhelm; a Venus line could encourage a glut of social contacts that are shallow, distracting,  and draining, when it may be introspection that you need; and a Sun line can put you in the glare of the spotlight when you may wish to stay out of it more or less unnoticed.

Having said that, by going to a planetary line, you can still enhance desirable attributes and that is worth doing. Basically, to travel consciously increases your awareness of experiential self-development exactly because it is a decision forged from your own intention. But equally be aware to notice if countries do not have the qualities you desire even when they are supposed to. There are so many factors at work it takes close observation, experience and the ability to change your mind when needed.

By tracking the angular and Ascending/Descending lines on the astro-map, people can see cities and countries as having a favourable or unfavourable aspect in relation to their natal chart. It is certainly true that you enhance or downplay the archetypal propensities of say Mars or Jupiter. A Mars line might be good for athletic training; a Jupiter line for a spiritual quest, or to do some higher studies; Mercury for trade and business etc.

Fundamentally, astro cartography is about the intricate interplay of time and space in any given location, so the house system that is faithful to the ever-changing time-space coordinates is Placidus, but you may prefer to use Campanus which combines the quadrant system with more equal symmetry at the 3D level but a 2D chart will still show irregular sized houses.

2: Astro-Cartography

Jim Lewis devised the system in great detail and depth in his book ‘The Psychology of Astro*Carto*graphy’ (2012) which was published posthumously with Kenneth Irving. This is where your natal chart is overlayed across the world map to see where the angles and aspects lie along with relocation charts. You might also want to consider the essential dignities of each planet which may affect how your experience of that place. This is a great tool for planning travel or moving to that destination, but also to check the impact of events such as eclipses. Start with where you currently live to give a broad overview of where planetary energies are most active.

Traditionally, the strength of the line is more impactful the closer it is to the line. The intensity of the lines can also depend on whether you are East or West of it. There are varying perspectives on this. Best thing to do is check it for yourself by travelling there and noticing what kind of things happen. Originally, Lewis said it was 800 miles East or West but more recent estimations reduce that to between 150 to 300 miles.

It is worth noting that a place where there are no intense lines can also be of interest to visit as you may have a calmer less challenging time there. So these areas that appear empty of activity can also be a place to go. They could be dull where your Pluto line may be way too intensely transformative But perhaps  dull is exactly what the doctor ordered, so bear that in mind. One additional method is to look at the Latitude or Paran lines which adds another layer of interpretation to the Angular line and can create fusions of energies which also need to be considered.

3: Relocation Charts

This is the basic technique of astro-cartography where a new chart is created for you in a chosen location. Instead of entering the actual birth location, you choose another city and create a chart from that location as if it were your birthplace.  This offers many possibilities. You can see what the differences are and note which planets are on the MC/IC lines. The angular connection with give you the strongest message. You notice where the houses can shift to adjacent houses and can then make a comparison. It may seem that the shift is only slight but remember that both time and space coordinates change- could be north or south of the equator and up to 9 hours of a different time zone.

3: Remote Viewing of Locations

Often we are not able to move for so many reasons. Yet, if you see that we have a planetary line in a country we would like to visit, it is possible to use this technique of ‘remote viewing.’ This is a kind of mind travelling. This is very similar to the idea of the ‘armchair’ traveller who never leaves the sitting room. The imagination is super powerful, so it is a legitimate practice to ‘Think’ yourself there and go on a visual journey.

Just ‘tune in’ to the location that attracts you or you read books, watch films and documentaries about it, sample the cuisine in that country’s restaurants, have posters and paintings of the place on the wall.  Basically you channel the energies that you wish to enhance that emanate from that city or country in order to modify a planetary attribute useful for your overall mental balance, or self development. One example could be Angkor Wat. If you have not been there yet, it is a great experience. Contemplation of an image such as this one can ‘take you there’ in your imagination.  You take the bird’s eye view. Drone or aerial views can sometimes parallel how the mind works or you imagine yourself walking around there on the ground.

4: Local Space Maps

Local Space is a bottom-up technique while astro-cartography is more top down- the celestial view. This reverses the point from which you see things playing out and roots it to the ground.  The technique started with Friedrich Sieggrün and later developed by Steve Cozzi and Michael Erlewine. Most astro software will produce the map it at the click of a button. It displays the planetary lines radiating outwards from the centre. This is wherever you are, in your room, town, city or country.  It is like a compass and you may indeed need have a compass handy so you can orientate towards the North-South-East and West.

This technique relates it to Feng Shui and Vastu Shastra techniques (see below).Follow the lines outwards in any direction and you’ll very often find all the places that align with that planetary energy e.g. the Moon where all the best restaurants, Jupiter where the university is, Mars where the sports centre is, and so on. This can be fun to track, and the lines don’t stop at your immediate town or city, the continue to radiate outwards across the horizon and around the world.

5: Astro-Cyclography

Another layer of astrology insight and interpretation can be added, The natal chart can be  overlayed across the world map- then you can see where the current transits,  progressions, solar arcs take formation. While aspects are rolling out all the time as planetary motion proceeds, the impact can be felt internally or externally in actual locations. Astro-cylclography shows the geographical dimension to transits. This would give pointers as to in which country that transit to natal square or opposition might be most intense. This is more detailed and more dynamic work that tracks the continuous motion of the planets.

Mostly, they are depicted as 2D graphics where the geography is flattened out. But some systems show much more ‘dynamic maps’ where the world is visualised including the curvature of the horizon, so the lines that aspects form can be tracked across from the surface of the earth to where they might appear on the other side.

 

6: The Geodetic Map of the World

This is technique much more ancient that people think since Ptolemy and Marcus Manilius (1^st Century) and Al Biruni (11^th century) as well as William Lilly (17^th Century) mapped astrology to geographical locations. So it was not unknown. The geodesic template is fixed and does not dynamically evolve, yet it offers much potential for what’s going on where.

It can give accurate readings of world events such as eclipses and peak moments of social and political change. But it can also be used for considering where to travel or move. Chris McRea revealed the extent of this technique in her book Geodesic Astrology For Relocating and World Affairs (2016). It is centered on placing the zodiac wheel across the geographical divides. The starting point is the Greenwich Meridian which is taken the 0° of Aries  and then the zodiac wheel is mapped across the world returning to that zero point. Some argue whether this point should begin at the Gaza pyramids since that was used for some time until the consensus became Greenwich.

 

The Geodesic map can also be combined with the natal chart but a great tool created by Ralph McIntyre can show exactly where in the world the current transits are having an impact.  Jupiter is in Cancer for example so geodesically that is across western parts of Asia, Thailand and Vietnam whereas Leo rules the Eastern parts from Taiwan to Japan and Jupiter will move there on June 30th, 2026.

Uranus currently at the end of Taurus runs across Iran and the Saturn-Neptune conjunction across the English Channel as it’s at the Greenwich meridian point.

 

7: The World Grid of Energy and Ley Lines

There is a whole other dimension to how we relate to the world. Some people are motivated to do ‘sacred’ journeys, to archeological sites, stone circles, temples or to mountain locations in order to do a spiritual quest of some kind. This is not the ordinary kind of holiday. It is elevated to something richer and more meaningful by its intention and if it requires some effort or sacrifice then that’s all the better.

If the Earth itself is an organism as in the concept of Gaia, then it has its own centres where energy naturally accumulates. In some cases, there is slight energy and some may not even feel it at all, but sometimes there is a confluence of energies that are stronger. The lines cross to form a vortex and people feel it much more. Being able to sense it can involve development of your energy body, your imagination and subtle senses. These are disputed but many seem to ‘feel’ them or obtain direct information via the vibrations of divining rods. Geo-magnetic energies appear to increase around underground water sources and tectonic plates and so-called ‘ley’ or dragon lines. These geo-magnetic vibrations can even be measured and mapped as in the work of Rory Duff.

This is where an awareness of Chinese and Indian Geomancy: Feng Shui (literally ‘wind-water’) and Vastu Shasta (literally ‘science of architecture’) can help to have good orientation to wherever you are. We often need help to understand how best to interaction with the north and south pole, and with the interplay of wind-water-land and the time-space coordinates in any location. An inner GPS system is extremely helpful.

The world grid is a kind of nexus lattice work of energy lines which are associated with certain latitudes and well-known archaeological sites, or mountains that are deemed sacred. There is mount Shasta in California is said to be the ‘Root’ chakra of the world, and Mount Kailash in the Himalayas, ‘the ‘roof of the world’ is claimed to be the ‘Crown’ chakra.

Stonehenge stone circle in Wiltshire is where at least 14 different ley lines cross. It is an obvious ‘sacred’ location in the UK and a good place to go when it is either Summer or Winter Solstice when it also free.  You can recharge your energy and tune in to the coming cycle. But it is Glastonbury that is claimed by some to be the ‘Heart Chakra’ of the world. It’s a site of Love and Healing.

There are the great pyramids of Giza in Egypt which was one used as the zero meridian point before Greenwich became the standard. There is also the Es Vedrà rock in Ibiza said to have powerful resonance and be the third most magnetic spot on the planet. Sedona in Arizona is well known to be the perfect place to meditate. Uluru, or Ayres’ rock in Australia is said to equate to the Solar Plexus chakra of processing emotion into wisdom. Bruce Chatwin’s 1987 book ‘The Songlines‘ brings to life the idea of mythopoetic tracks across the land and how they operate as telegraphic communication on the minds of indigenous people.

Travelling for a higher purpose can elevate the usual holiday into a full-blown spiritual quest and give your life greater meaning which according to psychologist Alfred Adler is the main motivating force in life. Just by visiting these places you can become high without the aid of caffeine or any other supplement and you are able to connect with other similar places more easily.

 

8: The Geography of World Events

Astro location is a branch of Mundane astrology just with added geographical details that can pinpoint the actual country that is most affected by the celestial line up at any given time. These can be seismic events earthquakes, floods, landslides and avalanches, or can reveal political and social events.

The current positions of the planets on the Geodesic map places Jupiter (in Cancer) in Asia where developments in business, education are fulfilling their potential. But it places the Saturn-Neptune conjunction over the English Channel across London and Paris so there will be major oppositional power plays with lots at stake at that zero degree of Aries.

9: The February 17^th Annular Solar Eclipse

This eclipse, outlined in the previous article, is hugely significant as it marks the beginning of the Nodal shift towards the Aquarius-Leo Axis. It’s a preview of what is to come but still part of the Saros cycle. It is visible over Antarctica. The Sun at the end of Aquarius- so rounded up to the anaretic degree 29  is square to Uranus at the end of Taurus. This degree will be revisited in late July early August when the North Node hits this exact point.

10: The Natal Chart of the USA 

The natal charts of countries are also vital to understand what may happen in that country. Not all are known with great clarity of timing, but most agree that the ‘Sibley’ chart represents the birth of the USA. This was July 4th, 1776 at 5.10 pm. The Moon of the US chart is at 27° of Aquarius –the sign of brotherhood, social utopia and independence. But this is one degree from where this coming Solar Eclipse is at 28°.  Since the Sun is in Cancer in the US chart it is therefore ruled by this cool Aquarian Moon. That gives it extra power.

The Moon line in the astro-map of the Sibley chart runs right through the middle of the country. It is said to stand for the people in Mundane astrology, and they are making their voices known. It’s about strategic realignment too as asteroid Pallas Athene is conjunct the Moon there at 26°. Pallas is currently conjunct Venus and the North Node in Pisces, 7-9°.  That shows huge potential for strategic wisdom to underline the apparent chaos on the surface as reported by the media.

It is no surprise the country is on edge as we have seen extremely polarised and even violently expressed opinions. The Uranus/Descendant line is prominent. The August 21^st, 2017 total solar eclipse which ran across the States was powerful enough. But the April 8^th, 2024 total solar eclipse actually made southern the Maskanda, Illinois, the place to experience two such eclipses only seven years apart which is extremely rare. The US was marked for radical change and this February eclipse on its Moon might just push it over the edge. While the eclipse is visible over Antarctica, this link to the specific degree is also significant.  What is interesting to me is that the Sun is blessed by Jupiter currently  exalted in Cancer at 15°, and the Sun is conjunct asteroid Psyche, so that is the Soul of the US being blessed by Jupiter. So it’s not all bad. There will be beneficial outcomes.  Jupiter itself is in Cancer in the Sibley chart.

11: Notable Astro Maps: Verdi, Bjӧrk, Buckley, Epstein

By now you might be wondering where is the evidence for all of this. Here are a few examples of how pinpointing planetary lines in astro-cartography can reveal so much about the native.

Italian composer Guiseppe Verdi (Libra) produced a memorable chorus of the Hebrew slaves ‘Va Pensiero’ from the opera Nabucco (1842). This aria symbolically became an emblem of the emerging Nationalist soul of a unified Italy. Verdi’s astro-map has the Neptune/Descendant line very clearly running through his birth country. He said he had a special relationship to the rural countryside. Specifically, this Neptune line runs just east of Milan, Paris and London, so he was very well-known as a great composer, not just in Italy but the rest of Europe.  These were the cities where he was most greeted with acclaim for his numerous operas.

Neptune is synonymous with music. It was in Sagittarius natally and so ruled by Jupiter. Even though associated with Italy, Verdi’s music had trans-national appeal, as it was so boldly expressive and memorable and captured the imagination of audiences. His Mars/MC line runs through Geneva where he secretly married his mistress soprano Guiseppina Strepponi in 1859. The marriage was after a decade of co-habitation and designed to save his reputation from too much gossip.

Bjӧrk  (Scorpio) made Iceland a central theme in her album Homogenic (1997). She virtually  identified herself with the cracking, fulminating, alien volcanic landscape there. Her astro-map has the Pluto-Uranus conjunction running directly across Iceland. Need we say more? The geography is clear. She even has a short track on Homogenic called ‘Pluto’ in which the words go ‘excuse me but I just have to explode…tomorrow I will be brand new’.  Pluto aligned with Uranus is associated with seismic activity, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and thunderstorms.  While she is a Wood Snake, born 1965, she has many of the qualities of the Fire Horse, a child of the mid-sixties.  A Jupiter-Mars opposition is impulsive and unstoppable. There might be a sense of things coming full circle. As with Verdi, Neptune is prominent but in her case on the Ascendant. She is recognised as a remarkable and supremely original and composer of music with both classical and experimental influences, so it’s no surprise that the Asc-Neptune line runs across Iceland as well. It crosses the Pluto-Uranus lines and that creates the synergy that fuels her work.

Singer and guitarist, Jeff Buckley (Scorpio) was also a Fire Horse born in 1966. 2026 marks the return of this wild and impulsive energy, so we may hear about Buckley again this year as that runaway energy takes its stride. While he was alive people compared him to a wild horse for his sensitivity. In 1997, Buckley, tragically went for a swim fully clothed in a river in Memphis, USA.  He got caught up in the current and his body was not found for a few days. In Jeff Buckley’s astro-map, Memphis Tennessee is west of the Pluto Ascending line, and is directly on the Jupiter/Mercury paran line which might indicate exaggerated news. Suicide was suspected but dismissed. Jupiter is Leo in his natal chart opposed to the Moon. Memphis is also just north of the Saturn/Chiron paran line. Saturn is linked with death and Chiron with the incurable wound. In 1966 this Saturn/Chiron conjunction was in Pisces ruled by Jupiter/Neptune and thus polarised against the Pluto-Uranus conjunction in Virgo. It lands in the 8th House in Buckley’s chart. We may never know exactly what happened, or why he died that way but it created a lot of grief. Yet there is a strangely archetypal parallel to his estranged father Tim Buckley (Aquarius) who lead a wild life and also died young. It was as if they were repeating a karmic pact.

The name on people’s lips in February 2026 is Jeffrey Epstein (Aquarius) and the can of worms that is the Epstein files. The story is not new, but to a lot of people unaware this has been going on, it comes as a nasty revelation. The layers of corruption involving Royals and Political leaders and a whole nexus of connections are being stripped away for all to see. Seen purely from an astro-cartography perspective, Epstein was based in New York, had a home in Florida and on his own now quite notorious island – Little St James- in the Virgin islands. It lies just East of Puerto Rico.  His astro map shows the Sun line directly marking his territory as it were, going through New York, Florida, where he had a mansion in Palm Beach and into the Carribbean. In fact this Sun line crosses the Jupiter west of his island across Haiti establishing. His partner in crime Ghislane Maxell has her Moon line across the same island. Needless to say they have a Node to Node connection and a Saturn/Eros-Eros-Sun conjunction in early Aquarius. It looks intense with a karmic bondage which could help explain a lot about their backstory.

Epstein is one of many names in the news and is not just coincidental that he was born on a previous Saturn-Neptune in Libra conjunction in 1953. This conjunction is linked to nefarious control mechanisms, conspiracies and amplified narratives which may or may not be true, but are used to control the public mind, generate disillusionment and foment moral panic. Other natives born with this gnarly aspect in their charts include the now disgraced Peter Mandelson, but also Tony Blair, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jin Ping.

Things are shifting at a rapid pace now in the Year of the Fire Horse. All eyes are on Iran to see what happens there. The Uranus/MC line runs across that country in the Geodesic map and it looks like a genuine people’s revolution coming to fruition. All in all astro-cartography offers a variety of techniques with some very detailed analogues of the geo-political landscape. For that alone it is worthy of anyone’s serious attention and ruins can in theory be reconstructed.                                                  .

© Kieron Devlin, Proteus Astrology, February 16th 2026

Kieron is offering Astrocartography Readings. Please contact with your queries. 

Maps created from Astro-Seek.com and Astro.com