What is astrocartography?
Astrocartography, often called an astro map, places your birth chart on a map of the world. The idea is simple. At the moment you were born, Venus was just rising somewhere on Earth, setting somewhere else, and at the highest or lowest point of her path in still other places. The same is true for the Sun, the Moon, and the other planets. Connect all those places and you get lines that run across continents and oceans.
The American astrologer Jim Lewis made the method widely known in the 1970s. Since then, people have used it to think about moves, travel, and years abroad. The thought behind it: your birth chart stays the same wherever you live, but certain planets stand out more in some places than in others.
Our map shows the lines of ten bodies, from the Sun to Pluto, on four angles each. That makes 40 lines. You also see the cities near them and which areas of life each place tends to touch.
How to read your map
Every line belongs to one planet and one angle. On the ascendant line (AC), the planet was rising at your birth; on the descendant line (DC), it was setting. On the MC line it stood at its highest point in the sky, on the IC line at its lowest, right beneath your feet. MC and IC lines follow a meridian from pole to pole, while AC and DC lines sweep across the map in curves.
Each planet has its own color and its own symbol, and the legend shows which is which. Demanding lines are drawn dashed. Select a line and a short card opens with its meaning and whether it counts as supportive, mixed, or demanding.
Turn on “Birth time range” to show two thin, faint lines next to each line, one on either side. They show where the line would lie if you had been born a little earlier or later: 5 minutes for an exact time, otherwise 15 or 60 minutes. The better you know your birth time, the closer they sit to the line.
Distance matters too. A line counts not only exactly where it runs but also in a strip on either side, called the orb. It counts most right on the line. From there, its weight in our calculation fades evenly until it ends at 700 kilometers (about 435 miles). So it is clearest within the first 150 kilometers (roughly 90 miles) or so.
Where should you live?
For every city, we check which lines run nearby and how close they come. Each line is weighted for five themes: love, career, home, growth, and creativity. A Venus descendant line raises the score for love, for example, while a Saturn IC line lowers the one for home. The closer a city lies to a line, the more that line counts. This gives you an overall ranking, a separate list for each theme, and a list of the places where the demanding lines carry the most weight.
The map and your top three cities are free, with no sign-up. Enter your email address to unlock all 40 cities, plus the lists for love, career, home, growth, and creativity, the list of places that ask more of you, and the comparison of your own shortlist. By email we send you your ten best cities and the link to your map. You only get the newsletter if you tick its box and then confirm by email. There is no account, no subscription, and nothing to pay.
In the comparison, you put two to five places you are already considering side by side and see how each one does on every theme. A city marked “stable” keeps its strongest line within reach no matter when within your birth time range you were actually born.
Then real life has the final say: work, rent, language, climate, and the people who matter to you. The map can raise good questions. You make the decision with everything else you know.
How exact is it?
We calculate with the Swiss Ephemeris, an astronomical library for planetary positions. The lines are geocentric and computed in mundo: they show where a planet, at its actual position in the sky including its latitude above or below the ecliptic, was rising, setting, or at its highest or lowest point. We use the true horizon and the true meridian and leave out atmospheric refraction, the bending of light in the air.
For the clock time, we use the time zone and the daylight saving time rules that applied at your birthplace on that exact date. If your birth time falls in an hour that happened twice when the clocks went back, we ask you which one it was instead of guessing. A time that was skipped when the clocks went forward never existed, so we do not accept it.
Without a birth time, we do not calculate, because the lines shift by about one degree of longitude every four minutes. In central Europe that is roughly 70 kilometers (about 45 miles). Half an hour therefore moves every line by 7.5 degrees, more than 500 kilometers (over 300 miles) at those latitudes. That is why we show how far each line can move, depending on how well you know your time: ±5 minutes for “exact,” otherwise ±15 or ±60 minutes.
The ten planetary lines
Each planet has a page with its four lines: MC, IC, Ascendant and Descendant.
- Sun linepresence, recognition, zest for life
- Moon linefeelings, home, belonging
- Mercury linecommunication, learning, ideas
- Venus linelove, beauty, pleasure
- Mars linedrive, courage, friction
- Jupiter linegrowth, opportunity, expansion
- Saturn linestructure, responsibility, endurance
- Uranus linechange, freedom, surprise
- Neptune lineimagination, spirituality, longing
- Pluto lineintensity, power, transformation
All planetary lines at a glance
Frequently asked questions
What is astrocartography and how does it work?
Astrocartography shows your birth chart on a world map. For the moment of your birth, it calculates where on Earth each planet was rising, setting, at its highest point, or at its lowest. Those places form lines. In the astrological reading, the themes of a planet come forward in places near its line, such as love on a Venus line or career on an MC line.
Do I need my exact birth time?
You need a birth time, but it does not have to be exact to the minute. The lines shift by about one degree of longitude every four minutes, so we do not calculate without a birth time. A time recorded on a birth certificate or in hospital records is usually the most reliable. If you only know it roughly, choose ±15 or ±60 minutes. The map then shows how far each line can move and marks cities that stay stable anyway.
What do the MC, IC, ascendant and descendant lines mean?
They stand for the four angles of a chart. On an ascendant line the planet was rising; it touches how you come across and how you feel in yourself. On a descendant line it was setting, and the theme is partners and close relationships. The MC line shows where it stood highest and relates to career and reputation. The IC line marks its lowest point and stands for home, family, and roots.
Where should I live according to astrocartography?
That depends on what you are looking for. For love, Venus and Jupiter lines on the descendant are considered favorable; for career, the Sun, Jupiter, or Mercury on the MC; for home, the Moon, Venus, or Jupiter on the IC. Our ranking sorts cities by these themes. Then check the suggestions against what matters day to day: work, rent, language, and the people who are important to you.
How close to a line does a place need to be?
A line counts most right where it runs. From there, its weight in our calculation fades evenly until it ends at 700 kilometers (about 435 miles), so it is clearest within the first 150 kilometers (roughly 90 miles) or so. Keep your birth time in mind too: if you only know it roughly, a line can move quite a way. That is why we show the possible range and mark a city as stable when its strongest line stays within reach across that whole range.
Which lines should I avoid?
You do not have to avoid any. The demanding lines are Saturn and Pluto on the ascendant, descendant, and IC, Mars on the descendant and IC, and Uranus on the IC. They tend to bring seriousness, friction, or upheaval and can make love or home life harder work. Many people choose exactly these places for times of focus, building, or change. Whether a line suits you depends on what you are looking for right now.
Is astrocartography scientifically proven?
No. The planetary positions are calculated with astronomical precision, but their interpretation is not scientifically proven. There is no evidence that a line affects life in a particular place. Astrocartography is an interpretive system from the astrological tradition. Many people use it as a prompt to think about places and what they want. It does not replace practical checks before a move.
What is the difference between a relocation chart and astrocartography?
A relocation chart recalculates your birth chart for another place: the same birth moment, but new houses and angles. It looks at one city in detail. Astrocartography shows the whole world at once, but only the places where a planet sat exactly on an angle. The two work well together: the map helps you search, and a relocation chart helps you look more closely.
Astrocartography is an interpretive system for reflection, not a scientifically proven method, and it is no substitute for practical checks before a move.