Clarisse Monahan, astrologer and author of Astrocartography, out September 25, explains how the branch of astrology called astrocartography, or what she thinks of as “Tinder for places,” can match us to locations for work, love, and travel.
I’m willing to wager that we’ve all probably been on vacations where life has felt oddly miserable, even though we were supposed to be in paradise. Me, backpacking through Vietnam during University, for example. Not a happy scene.
Back then, I wish I had known about astrocartography, a branch of astrology that uses our natal chart (which determines cosmic identity) to match us to auspicious locations for work, love, and travel. I like to think of it as “Tinder for places”—but without the bad hookups. So, how does it work? And how can we use the power of the Stars to craft a travel itinerary that won’t leave us lost and lonely, like me in Vietnam?
Astrocartography. It’s a bit of a mouthful. Let’s make it more bite-sized: “astro” (relating to stars) and “cartography” (relating to maps). Taken together, this gives us something like astrocartography—the study of “Star Maps.” Those of us versed in the arts of soothsaying use these maps and other astrocartographic techniques to find where you might best live and thrive.
We do this by identifying what we call your “planetary lines” which criss-cross the globe. If, during a consultation, you’re looking for romance, say, we would want to seek out places along your Venus line (Venus is the planet of harmony, love, and desire). If, instead, you’re looking for luck or opportunities to expand a business, then we’d pin-point places on your Jupiter line (Jupiter is the planet of expansion, luck, abundance).
The same principle goes for all of the planets in our astrological system—from our Sun line (social recognition) to our Moon line (emotional security/family) to our Pluto line (radical transformation). Even more “challenging” planets like grim Saturn (order, lessons) and conflict-heavy Mars have their lines and their benefits for work, love and travel. How so?
Let’s use Mars as an example. Recently, a client wanted a rough vacation experience with no frills or pampering. While Mars energy can be aggressive and warlike, it’s also about rough play and the spirit of competition–either with yourself or others. I suggested we develop an itinerary for her along the Alaskan frontier, where her Mars line was red-hot. A few weeks ago, she sent me a lovely thank you note thanking me for her thrilling Mars vacation, in which she included lots of footage she took of bears in the Alaskan wild. I told her to thank her Star Map, not me.
Using astrocartography to build travel itineraries can also be a wise strategy if you’re planning bigger life moves and want to test the waters of a place. Think of it like this: While deciding where to live for work or raising a family is probably one of the most monumental decisions we make, most people will do so randomly or blindly. Astrocartography can help take some of the guesswork out of that process by aligning identity, location, and cosmos.
Of course, on an experiential level, we already intuit the energetic interconnections between self and place. We’ve all been to cities that sparkle with the quiet ecstasy of a romantic crush, while other spots leave us as bored as a joyless marriage. We might fall for Vancouver, while New York City might give us the seven-year itch. Because astrocartography helps explain these place-based attractions and aversions, clients tend to flirt a bit with a place through a vacation to see how it resonates with them cosmically. Making a huge relo to your Saturn line is daunting. Taking a two-week vacation to a location on it is less so.
Nor should we overlook the fact that the insights of astrocartography can help structure what we do on our vacation, in addition to telling us where to go. If we’re travelling to Paris for a romantic, Venus-line experience, we will want our daily activities to align with Venusian themes: arts, pleasure-seeking, self-indulgence, and rom-com montages involving us and a partner holding hands and hugging under picture-perfect Parisian arches and River Seine walkways under parasols, etc.
Contrast that to hot spots on our Saturn line, where we would want our activities and behaviour to be more, well, Saturnal, or related to history, old things, time, and discipline. A Saturn line itinerary would be very on a schedule, whereas Venus might be off the clock entirely. A Saturn line itinerary would likewise perhaps involve many guided tours of a city’s history, where we fetishise monuments, or pubs where Dickens dallied. Vintage shopping would replace sprees at Selfridges. So, astrocartography isn’t just about the destination, but aligning activities with the power of that planet in that place.
Of course, we could get even further into the world of astrocartography–from looking at your horoscope for the best travel date to cyclocartography, a tool that combines the principles of astrology with astrocartography and planetary cycles to intensify your experiences on your lines. But, if you’re interested in taking a first step to craft a cosmic itinerary, think about booking a session with an astrocartographer like myself. A whole new world awaits.
Astrocartography, by Clarisse Monahan, €19.99, is out September 25.
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