Astro*Carto*Graphy
A Locality Interpretation Prepared for 

Jordan Michaels 

INTRODUCTION

One thing is certain about you, no matter where you are -- you're one of the people who gets a lot out of life because you look beneath appearances and are willing to think for yourself, astrology being somewhat off the beaten track these days. So what is ASTRO*CARTO*GRAPHY*EXPLAINED? It's based on the common, instinctive idea that a person has different chances, luck, experiences or options in different localities -- that you aren't exactly the same person in New York that you are in Los Angeles. It works by looking at the planets' relationships to the places you've asked about at your birth moment. If a particular planet was especially powerful in the location noted when you were born, then the affairs that it symbolizes should predominate if you travel there, reside there or even have anything to do with that location from some other place.

Since 1976, when the now-standard ASTRO*CARTO*GRAPHY technique was introduced, wide acceptance by both the astrological community and the public has validated it. In addition, ASTRO*CARTO*GRAPHY has been able to benefit from the actual experiences of the thousands who have ordered its maps. The product of this experience is this new service.

WHY DO PEOPLE MOVE?

To understand how this information will be useful, perhaps we should question why people move around so much in the first place. In addition to the obvious reasons are psychological ones. Psychologists (Carl Jung especially) have suggested that people instinctively seek wholeness, or a completeness of their experience. If it's true that different locations accent different parts of your potentials, moving offers a way to speed evolution, to get acquainted with new parts of yourself. So if you find that a location you are obliged to reside at is one in which some of the more problematical influences predominate (such as Saturn, Neptune, etc.), you should look beneath the superficial and immediate desires and concerns of your life and try to understand what emerging consciousness has brought you here. Every location is good for something, and you would not be considering living in a difficult one for no reason. Also, don't get frightened if some of the interpretations sound extreme or perilous. Every planet has numerous possible manifestations, and, while we've tried to include them all here, rarely do the more extreme ones occur. The point in this report is to enable you to anticipate the nature of influences at your potential residence and so become able to recognize and utilize their most positive manifestations.

Different people are apt to react differently to the same astrological influence. You will feel more comfortable with what you already know, so certain planets will be easier for you to live under than others. For example, if you are a woman with traditional values, Mars and the Sun will possibly pose more problems for you than for a man, since the qualities and life experiences associated with these planets are not usually socially encouraged in women's upbringing. Similarly, men will find the Moon and Venus more challenging. People who tend to follow external authorities and believe in society's order as unchallengeable may find themselves more at home under Jupiter and Saturn lines, and stressed by new experiences under Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, while individualists and the more self-reliant will reverse these reactions.

You might find it useful to realize that, when faced with challenging astrological potentials, it is sometimes easy to "project" these onto your mate or partner, seeing the emerging parts of your own psyche as things THEY are doing. If your interpretations seem to fit your mate, realize that these things are happening because of possibilities in yourself that you aren't ready to face, and try to develop the positive sides of the astrological potentials described.

EVERY PLACE IS GOOD FOR SOMETHING

But the most important thing to realize is that every location is good for something; if you recognize and understand its potentials, you can use them constructively. You'll find that in some instances you don't even have to travel or live in the location -- that its influence affects you through people who come from there, or remote concerns, such as business, cultural or other life interests that symbolize those psychological potentials described by this report.

So here goes with the ASTRO*CARTO*GRAPHY*EXPLAINED analysis of the locations you're interested in. We hope it opens up for you opportunities to find what you're looking for in life; but we also hope it enables you to look beneath the surface, to see patterns in your own development and your instinctive growth toward wholeness.

To understand the importance of the following influence, you should be aware that it is weak in the location you have identified. You may have to read between the lines of the description below, and should filter its extremities through the knowledge that the more bizarre and unusual manifestations of the influence are not likely in your case. You will recognize a basic theme that underlies a lot of your activity, yet with a large factor of choice and chance; but you may be assured that the options are open to you when the underlying psychological climate is empowered by a conscious choice and will on your part. Alternatively, you may not even be consciously aware of this influence, though careful introspection should validate its presence, as might the observations of a person who knows you well and objectively.

Pluto-Midheaven:

IF YOU'RE JUST VISITING, SEEK PEAK EXPERIENCE AND SYMBOLS OF CHANGE

On a vacation or short stay, you probably won't have time to develop the deeper and more permanent changes listed below, but you might encounter a symbol or person who stands for a self that you may become at some future time. This awareness can be precipitated by exposure to the concept of mortality in some form, which could include sexuality as well as birth or death. This is a likely location for "self-renovation," particularly if undertaken consciously, such as in psychoanalysis, or for other types of peak experience. In Pluto's realm, the structures of society and selfhood give way to a more universal order. Do be careful though, especially if the ideas described below are repugnant to you.

LIVING HERE IS THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE

If you are tired of three-dimensional reality, the laws of physics, cause and effect, and society, this zone may be congenial, as here the odds are continually defied, firsts and lasts in life are encountered, and actual miracles can happen. Most people would rather not think much about death -- we live as if we were immortal and feel that death is something that happens to other people, hopefully ones we don't know. But awareness of mortality is an important motivation for the quality and energy of life; philosophers have counseled us to live each day as if it were our last, and the power and intensity of the sexual experience stems from its relation to death, as through reproduction the individual is born anew. Death is the opposite pole from birth, and sex the bridge between the two. Residence in this zone will immerse you in experiences somehow allied to these peak-intensity realities, and images of rebirth, renewal, destruction, eroticism, alienation, rape, and leave-taking are apt to prevail. Exposure to such universal truths poses problems, as much of the world's day-to-day operations (like concepts of property and privilege) are predicated on ideas of immortality and continuity. In touch with absolutes, you tend to see yourself and others as one in five billion, truly equal in mortality, and exposure to (or awareness of) death changes your perspectives on life, leaving you seeing it with greater depth and clarity.

The theme of social alienation is prominent here, and you will probably do something to isolate yourself from normal, day-to-day, superficial, and trivial social intercourse, then complain about this self-imposed rejection, lamenting your image of outlaw or social pariah. You should have thought of that when you made yourself a focus or symbol of social forces. Total inner transformation of the kind stimulated by this zone demands total isolation and an awareness of the unique and lonely position of the individual as focus of the whole; it's impossible to communicate your self-perceived position in infinity and fate. Withdrawal from family and other unquestioned alliance underlies a war with anything that tries to define or confine you. Such total personal transformation is not pleasant, usually, as ferment and death of parts of self must precede new growth. The fields must be burned for new planting.

STEPS ALONG THE ROAD TO NOTHING

Pluto was, of course, the god of the underworld and lord of dead souls. His kidnap of Persephone in the myth adds to the concepts of mortality and finality, those of rebirth, loss of virginity, the imprisoned female, abduction, and birth, and suggests that within the female (and her capacity for childbirth) lies the potential to transcend death, to return from Hades. There is also implication of renewal through peak experience and the erotic, as well as symbolic association with resurrection motifs. Through all the trauma, identity is purged, and a new self emerges, enlarged by the intensity and greater depth it has experienced.

The earlier stages of consciousness of this zone are apt to center on loss, as it is only through this that the new can be given room to grow. A loved one may leave your life; childhood may be "lost," with a resultant resentment against family; virginity and "innocence" may be lost, creating a resentment against sexuality or perhaps the opposite sex. Social position or status may be lost, with a resultant feeling of alienation and outlaw consciousness -- you alone pitted against everyone else. This stage sees a wounded pride and an "I'll get even" mentality that can run the gamut from self-destructive despair to firearms fetishism, with the emphasis on how much you have been wronged. A more mature outlook centers on acceptance and begins to adapt to the new situation. Depression and pessimism are internalized and gnaw less evidently at the outer personality, but there is a feeling that life will never be the same. Finally, in stages of mature, conscious awareness of the power and nature of this zone, you are able to see the immortality that is afforded by the perishing of old forms and their replacement with the new. Life's limitations are seen as its motivations, and its losses are seen as a necessary part of the equation of existence. In this stage, true magic is possible, as this alchemy of mortality is Nature's secret of creation; when understood on inner psychological planes, it allows the transcendence of physical laws, along with sentimentality, illusions, even blind hope and faith. The butterfly emerges from the cocoon, and just when hope was abandoned, a miracle occurs, redirecting life with a singleness and purpose only dreamed of before. For those who give up the pleasures of the trivial, nature awards the absolute.

INTENSITY ADDICTS

In light of the foregoing, it should be clear that it takes a special sort of person to enjoy and prosper in this intense and powerful zone. But it is hard to know who will or won't, as anyone is apt to change radically here, perhaps into a person who enjoys intensity more. But the process will be more painful if you're the type who shies away from the darker side of life experience, wants life to be pleasant, ordinary, superficial, social, and stable. If the power of sexuality frightens you and changes or upheaval elicit more fear than anticipation, then this zone may be particularly trying for you, but the depth with which your experience is rewarded may be all the more needed. People attached to their possessions, who feel that money constitutes security, also have problems, as the experiences of this zone force acknowledgement of the impermanence of material reality and how it is underlain by the more powerful laws of energy exchange and equilibrium.

As a woman, this area is quite congenial for you, and you rise quickly in the social departments usually reserved for women. The only problem is that you do not much need the male component in your life, may spend a lot of time with "the girls" in the coffee shop or hairdresser, and retain a certain adolescent girlishness that repels the opposite sex. Still, this feels like a very pleasant area, and art, fashion, and society give you ample room to grow and express yourself. Motherhood is a very strong likelihood here, among the most astrologically fertile places for you.

FLIES, WOLVES, DOGS, AND MONEY

On more immediate and practical levels, while in this area, you may come into closer contact than before with the central themes of death and rebirth; partnerships may undergo transformation, relationships become intensely competitive, or people close to you might pass away, leaving you with a more intimate and painful grasp of this universal reality. Sex is also apt to become more prominent in your life, and firsts in erotic experience often are encountered here. Socially, power struggle seems the key concept in this zone, and your relationship with society may center on oppression or persecution, with resultant formation of self-reliance and resentment against authority and "normalcy." If you do not experience these realities directly, they may come to you through other people, and outlaws, criminals, underworld types, and the extremely powerful and unprincipled may enter your life. There is even the possibility of becoming the victim of violent crime, but this is most often the case only when people repress the other, less extreme expressions of this energy, so that it has no choice but to manifest outwardly and beyond your control. All these uncommunicable experiences and traumas serve to assure that the rest of your life will be shorn of some of the illusions that most of us live in, and this heightened awareness of reality, like that of a Nazi concentration camp survivor at a cocktail party, makes you somewhat unwelcome, as you force recognition of issues most of us would rather forget.

Obsessions are also often experienced here, and when they have passed or you have moved elsewhere, you will wonder at the power of an idea and the hold it held over you. In this zone, you are stripped to your essence, and in learning a weighty lesson, you acquire a sensual depth, a magnetic charisma that requires you to live in a world more real than most. Your work may deal with these vital issues in some way, as, for example, counseling the recently traumatized or bereaved. Flies, wolves, or dogs are among the symbols of death and decay which may surface frequently as signs of the change going on within. Money, itself a potent symbol of how material reality can acquire a life of its own, will be a preoccupation or obsession in this area. The acquisition of depth is the overriding purpose of what happens to you here, and any attempts to forestall this will only up the ante. Better to make a study of mortality and to seek understanding of the extremes of human possibility.

WHERE CATALYSTS OF CHANGE COME FROM

Even if you cannot travel to these zones, they are apt to stand in your mind for absolutes, firsts, lasts, and beginnings. People from these places may arrive as great changes are about to beset your life, or, similarly, you may be a catalyst for change in other's lives who live there. The symbols of decay, fermentation, and rebirth may be associated somehow with this locality and, a total resurrection of your possibilities may accompany any dealings with it.

The particular position that Pluto occupied in this location at your birth will direct this type of energy and experience particularly into certain life areas; while the most important thing to understand is the underlying meaning and psychological principle, these are apt to manifest more obviously in specific life areas than in others.

LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE

The position of Pluto in this locale tends to stress your relationship with society and your milieu. Alienation from society calls forth a power hunger, expressed by an intense battle, at any price, for personal autonomy and freedom from coercion. Authority is resented, yet you crave it for yourself, possibly becoming a model of the very tyrant you have rebelled against. Your position in society is extreme, or symbolic of some issue that is powerful and potent. Hero worship may also occur in this zone, along with despotism, extreme antisociability, and brushes with death, creating an image of you that is larger than life, yet one which reminds others of uncomfortable realities. Your identity (perhaps in the press) may come to stand for some popular or unpopular ideal, beating the system or being crushed by it; you could become famous, notorious, murdered, a fugitive, or a great leader. A magical charisma and hypnotic power assures that you will be talked about and noticed, a focal point of the group consciousness, but keep in mind the cruelty with which society usually relates to black-and-white symbols like sex, money, or death.

People in power may oppress you, but you provoke them by championing some popular ideal or its antithesis, and everyone either hates or idolizes you -- at least you aren't ignored. You're totally unique, almost a social mutation, and authorities force radical shifts in your status in hierarchies. Issues of war, crime, assassination, espionage, politics, or gangsterism intrude here; mortally high stakes are dealt with in the battle for selfhood against alien, hostile social forces. Unfair victimization by groups, mobs, or prejudice, and experiences of coercion, oppression, or near-death are often experienced in this zone. You learn firsthand the meaning of the cliche "power corrupts," as victim and/or perpetrator, and a battle of selfhood fought in the public arena leaves you changed for life, with new values, life directions, and identity. Money, sex, and mortality are dominant symbols, and terrific battles for self-preservation are initiated around them.

This location is a little east of the precise planetary influence; therefore, of the possibilities listed above, those which seem most external, objective, and detached from your self and personality are the ones most apt to manifest. As suggested, the influence will act itself out in a social arena, but specifically will act most often in people, situations, and social or cultural influences that represent external authority or the whole of society and its values. If you're in a position of authority, you will clearly exemplify the potentials described above; but more likely will be your repeated exposure to others who act out both this role for you and the role of authority as well. You are assimilating your own leadership potentials from these experiences, as you are powerfully influenced by cultural, educational, legal, or religious institutions. Expect the people, gender, social roles, and professions mentioned anywhere above to become dominant in your social and career life, and anticipate that they will offer important guidance and valuable insights as to what your ultimate social power is and where it lies.

SECONDARY INFLUENCES

The material presented above describes the most potent and significant planetary influences operating at the location you have designated at the time of your birth. It is these concerns and manifestations that should demand your concentrated attention, and it could be suggested that it is to assimilate and understand this type of experience that you have considered residence in this locale. However, there are additional, less potent influences, that also operate here, due to the geographical latitude at which it is located, a latitude that has special importance for you. These influences will constitute a "subplot" or subsidiary influence while you are here, influences of about one-third the power of the major ones described above, and ones which are apt to manifest in relationships especially -- with either you or your partner acting them out.

Due to the similarity of the following influence with others noted above, you should view it as potentially more significant, and expect that it will be closely associated with the major planetary effects described above.

Venus*Pluto:

A PARTNERSHIP WITH PASSION

In this zone, the normally pleasant, happy, and joyful life areas of love and relationship are gateways to discovering the mysteries of mortality, power, and sex, whether you want them to or not. Sexual needs are intense and intrusive, always seeming to upset equanimity and relationship, and eroticism seeks to feel more, perhaps attracting you to extreme or exotic forms of satisfaction. Your insatiable needs lead to passionate relationships, a "punk rock" social life, and leave time for little else. There is the desire to merge entirely with the loved one, but ambivalent feelings of love/hate, jealousy, and sexual control make sure that any relationship is the constant scene of upheaval and the intrusion of the unconscious into life. Every time you let someone get close, it opens up the cellar rooms of the repressed past, and the monsters of possessiveness, envy, jealousy, power, and your potential to betray your own love must be dealt with. Love and destruction are intertwined themes as you seek the ideal mate with an almost tragic intensity, moderation in anything being difficult. Positively, you can enjoy the deepest levels of love and identity-merging, if you are ruthlessly honest with yourself and your beloved, and allow room for periodic changes and upheaval in your relationship. Among less happy outcomes of relating in this zone are alienation, involvement in prostitution, or a celibacy resulting from disillusionment.

This area can also be one in which the themes of intensity, rebirth, and betrayal take place in the financial arena, and extraordinary, major gains or losses occur. Partnerships involving money can be subject to the same problems as romantic liaisons. Again, honesty and directness are the only ways to prevent catastrophe. Values also change and may emerge more mature, tested, and tempered. Pregnancy may be dangerous in this area. Peak experience is sought and feared, as frequent explosions keep most social relationships honest and nonillusory. Your desire for "sooner, quicker, faster, more" marries you to passion as you learn the true facts of life (and death) which shatter an earlier naivete. Artists may find themselves very productive here, and erotic urges are acted out in some public arena, perhaps in scandal or intrigue.

TEMPORARY INFLUENCES

In addition to the permanent, lifelong planetary influences described above, which affect the location you inquired about no matter when you reside there or deal with it, there are also important influences of a temporary nature. These operate strongly during the period about which you inquired (this year if you did not specify a time period).

Transiting Jupiter:

FULL SPEED AHEAD -- A TIME TO PROGRESS

During the time period you designated for residence in this zone, there is a powerful temporary influence, lasting about three months, though possibly briefly recurring throughout the year. When it is past, your reactions to this zone should return to conformity with its lifetime indications described above, but during this period, expansiveness, optimism, and increased self-esteem are promoted by external events which offer opportunities, honors, rewards, and recognition. You will be dealing significantly with concepts of conformity and social or cultural regulation at this time, most likely through authorities' recognition or reward of your accomplishments, but your appetite for success and wealth may exceed the benevolence of even this fortunate influence, as you complain that what has been offered you is not enough or is not what you wanted.

Objectively, however, business is apt to be excellent, and opportunities proliferate; social advancement occurs, and health improves. Progress is made in an atmosphere of plenty and surplus. Others see you as somehow deserving of recognition and honor (perhaps subtly unwanted or limiting to freedom and individuality), and your teaching and healing abilities are at peak effectiveness now. You exude leadership and "quality" and expect everyone to acknowledge an inherent superiority which you feel now, an expectation that may not lodge well with the less trendy and fashion-conscious of your acquaintances. Too bad for them, though, since you may now be admitted to the company of the rich and famous (albeit briefly), expand your social circle, and find you have more (too much?) to do to worry about depressing problems. Others' rights and opinions may not seem very important right now, as you feel your way is the only right way and that this opinion is validated by the new world of opportunity which seems to be opening for you. In the midst of all this hope for the future, keep in mind this influence is short-lived, and try to accumulate durable and real accomplishments.

Progressed Sun:

YOUR TIME IN THE SPOTLIGHT

During the time period you designated for residence in this zone, there is a powerful temporary influence, lasting as long as two years. When it is past, your reactions to this zone should return to conformity with its lifetime indications described above, but during this period you are apt to seem far more outgoing, extroverted, ego-centered, and theatrical. You may find yourself in a public role of some sort, perhaps for the first time, and you radiate instinctive leadership and authority. This time could constitute a positive and major life turning-point during which you discover parenthood, artistic expression, or a lifetime artistic vocation. Other people, especially those in powerful positions, pay attention to you, and you feel appreciated and "special," reacting to the attention with an opening of your heart and discovery of your most creative instincts. This could be your time in the spotlight, and may seem all the more so after a long period of preparation or lack of recognition. It is a time of getting in touch with who you truly are, your inner essence and power, a discovery that is impelled forward and assisted by circumstances and powerful or famous people. Now is the time to slay your dragons, maybe in public, to conceive of and prosecute your personal quest for identity and power, and to chronicle this new sense of powerful selfhood with creative and artistic expressions. The results should be a lifelong standard of effectiveness and accomplishment, though these won't come without deep soul-searching and successful battles with inhibitions and outmoded self-concepts. Assuming your power in the world is not always easy, particularly if you are convinced you have or deserve little. Now, more than any other time in your life, is one in which you can discover your heroic inner self, and your location should be supportive and contributory to success and self-discovery of considerable significance.

These, then, are the important astrological influences which affect this location, now and in the future. Needless to say, they all won't manifest the moment you arrive, but will indeed emerge as the most powerful psychological potentials over time.

EPILOGUE

This concludes our enumeration and description of the planetary influences, permanent and temporary, that affect the locations that you submitted. As you have observed, some of the information is psychological in nature, as it is the belief of ASTRO*CARTO*GRAPHY that planets act, not through any mystical "power" or magic, but by paralleling potentials in the human psyche, and in orderly and comprehensible fashion, marking the development of this maturity. It is hoped that you are able in this way to see that there are really no "good" or "bad" locations for you -- that in the process of growing into mature completeness, you will have to experience every psychological possibility. At best, this report will work to inform you what these are for you in the locations you are considering, letting you know what to expect, and so empowering you to be able to utilize the most positive possibilities.