World Lines and Locational Astrology: Astrocartography, Relocation, Local Space

Locational astrology is the umbrella term for every technique that connects a birth chart to a place on Earth. Astrocartography is the best known of them, but it is not the only one, and the German-speaking tradition in particular uses a parallel vocabulary — Weltlinien, Astrogeographie, Ortsastrologie — that maps onto the same underlying idea with different emphasis.

The three main techniques

• Astrocartography (world lines). Draws the places where each planet was angular at your birth. This produces the familiar world map with forty lines. Popularised by Jim Lewis in the 1970s.
• Relocation charts. Recalculates your entire birth chart as though you had been born at a different place, at the same instant. The planets keep their zodiac positions; the houses change completely. More detailed than a line, but only for one location at a time.
• Local space astrology. Draws compass directions from wherever you currently stand, rather than lines on a world map. Useful for short-range decisions — which side of a city to live on, which direction to travel.

They do not contradict each other. A line tells you a place is worth investigating; a relocation chart tells you what that place would actually do to your chart; local space tells you which direction to move within it.

World lines, Astrogeographie and Ortsastrologie

In German practice, Weltlinien ("world lines") is the everyday word for what English calls astrocartography lines. Astrogeographie is used more broadly for the whole field of astrology-and-place, and Ortsastrologie ("location astrology") usually refers to the practical question of choosing where to live. Searching for any of the three will get you to the same technique; the differences are of tradition and emphasis rather than of mathematics.

What a locational reading can and cannot decide

The honest boundary matters. Locational astrology can:

• Narrow a world map down to a handful of candidate regions for a stated goal.
• Explain why a place you already lived in felt the way it did.
• Flag places likely to be demanding — Saturn, Pluto, Neptune or Uranus lines.

It cannot account for immigration law, the job market, cost of living, language, climate or your family's wishes. It also cannot separate two towns on the same line. Use it to shortlist; use ordinary research to choose.

A practical order of operations

1. Calculate your world lines and filter to one goal.
2. Pick two or three candidate cities within roughly 100 km of a relevant line.
3. Run a relocation chart for each candidate to see the detail.
4. Visit before committing. Two weeks tells you more than any chart.
5. Once there, use local space directions for smaller decisions inside the city.

Where paran lines fit

Vertical world lines only pass through certain longitudes, which leaves large parts of the map untouched. Paran lines are horizontal bands of latitude where two planets are angular at the same moment. Their influence is subtler than a direct line, but because they run right around the globe, everyone has usable parans near home. If no world line reaches anywhere you could realistically move to, parans are the next place to look.

Frequently asked questions

What is locational astrology?

Any technique that links a birth chart to geography. The three main ones are astrocartography, relocation charts and local space astrology.

Are Weltlinien the same as astrocartography lines?

Yes. Weltlinien is the common German term for the planetary lines that astrocartography plots on a world map. The calculation is identical.

Is a relocation chart better than an astrocartography map?

They answer different questions. The map scans the whole world quickly; the relocation chart examines one place in depth. Use the map to shortlist, then the relocation chart on the finalists.

Can locational astrology tell me exactly which city to move to?

No. It narrows the world to candidate regions. Choosing between two cities on the same line requires ordinary research into visas, work, cost and language.