Why We Travel: In Conversation with Expert Astrologer Anne Ortelee

Ever wonder why you are drawn to specific places? Or why you feel more free while visiting certain countries? Last week I met up with expert astrologer Anne Ortelee to talk travel. We spoke about why certain places call us, how to choose the location of our next trip, how to prepare for it and more. I had a great time chatting with Anne.

Anne is a nationally (NCGR-PAA Level 3 and AMAFA) and internationally (ISAR-CAP) certified astrologer. She lives in New York City where she began her study of astrology in the fall of 1994. Astrology became her passion. In addition to consulting for her clients, Anne teaches classes, workshops and speaks to groups.

Let’s talk about major life changes. A frequent discussion topic for us is moving abroad. We get questions from people who have moved abroad, are thinking about moving abroad, or have already decided to take the plunge.

When people move abroad they are changing cultures as well as where they live. Anytime you move more than 500 miles (east or west), you are going to change your chart. It shifts our horizons. Literally, we see the world in a different way. Time zones are very important. There are 24 time zones around the earth, so when you move, your time zone changes (even sitting in LA and SF is different because the sun sets at different times).

Anytime you move more than 500 miles (east or west), you are going to change your chart. It shifts our horizons. Literally, we see the world in a different way.

What a horoscope is, is a picture of the hour you were born. While you have a natal horoscope (which is your master chart, that’s the one that describes why you are here), when you move somewhere, it changes the hour of your birth. So you shift all of the planets in perspective to where they were nataling.

If someone decides to move, do you have tips for how to best prepare?

What I usually recommend, is to go for as least a week and spend time there. In a week the energy settles in. If they can stay even longer, great. Obviously, if you’re going for a class or a workshop, you can always go in advance. The other way you can look is to go to astro.com — it has a free relocation report. You can create your chart for where you are thinking of living and it will tell you what the money situation will be like, the housing will be like, what your romance will be like because all of the areas of your life shift when you move somewhere. I’d do a relocation chart if you’re moving more than 500 miles.

One of my friends, a fellow astrologer, went to Costa Rica, which is on her Jupiter Line (which is abundance) for a vacation. She met a Tico, fell in love, moved there, now has a whole new life. She completely changed her life by going to her Jupiter Line. Everything was fine for her here in New York, but she fell in love with a Tico and completely changed her life by moving to Costa Rica.

Do you have any advice for anyone looking to shift their career?

Often when we move, our careers change because your midheaven changes — where you are headed in life. I work with one guy who writes in New York, and sells his work in LA. He does the work here, and when he goes there, he’s the salesperson.

I had one client, who moved from LA to New York, and I said to her, when you moved here, you lost some weight and she said, ‘Yeah, how did you know? I lost 40 pounds effortlessly. Why is that?’ And I said, ‘Well because in LA you lived to eat, and here you eat to live because you’re so busy working.’ She goes, ‘That’s so true!’

David Hasselhoff is known to many American as someone who rolls around the ground, eating his hamburger drunk, but in Germany he’s a famous singer.

Rent, the show, was very successful here in New York, Italy, Hong Kong and Japan, but it was hated in England. The author’s chart is horrible in England. The author’s chart will show where someone’s art will be accepted.

I have one client who makes beautiful jewelry, carried by Bergdorf Goodman. She makes it in Bali and comes here in the summer to sell it. When you go to Bali, you completely flip your chart.

What about solo travel? Does a chart reflect who is likely to travel solo?

Certain signs are more comfortable traveling with companions and others want to just go on their own. Generally, the fire signs travel solo. They like going by themselves. The air signs like going with a companion. The earth signs don’t usually leave home that much — they need to really want to get off the couch to go, or go for work, because the earth signs work a lot. Water signs shift, depending on who they are hanging out with.

When I read a client, if they are a water client, I’ll ask, have you traveled with your significant other yet, because if they can’t travel with together, it’s a problem.

Everyone has a Venus Line, and there are a few houses that are involved in relationships. There’s the play relationships (fifth house), which is why people might go and hook up when they go on vacation to play–those are the open lovers. There’s the partner lovers’ house, and there’s also the secret lovers’ house. These are three kinds of relationships you can have.

The Venus Line, which shows destinations, goes through an area on the road.

 At one of our recent writing workshops, some of the participants shared that they find themselves apologizing, or feeling the need to to apologize, for traveling often. Is that a reflection of what’s going on in someone’s chart?

I find that people who travel prioritize it. Some people want to travel, others want to buy a TV. The people who buy the TV look at them and go, ‘You’re traveling again?’ and then you say, ‘Well you bought a TV, I travel.’ You don’t need to apologize, but you can point out that we spend our money on what’s important to us. People who spend their money on travel believe travel is important. Travel is an ephemeral experience. It’s not a thing — not a piano or television. So they are spending money on an experience. Travel might cost a lot but it’s a priority for those who do it.

Why We Travel: In Conversation with Expert Astrologer Anne Ortelee.

The other part is that travel takes foresight. We’re not taught to think ahead. We live in the moment. So when we’re traveling, we have to make plans, we have to get time off, think about it, put money away, and if we’re self employed, we’re not going to make money. We have to plan in many different ways to make it happen.

It’s a forethought process for many people and in that capacity, they think — and other people don’t. So, they’re apologizing for thinking. Why would you apologize for thinking?

So when someone says, ‘You went to Paris?’ You can say, ‘Well you can go to Paris too,’ and part of the issue is that only five percent of Americans have passports. So you can say, ‘Yes, get a passport and here’s how you do it.’

Do you travel often?

Lately I’ve been traveling a lot to speak. I’ve traveled a lot in my time. I’ve been in Kenya, Tanzania, Turkey, Israel, Greece, England, Amsterdam, Brussels. I haven’t gone anywhere in Russia, but it’s on the list. I would also like to visit the Great Barrier Reef in Australia at some point.

Do you have anything else to share with the community?

I think the whole point of using astrology to plot where you’re going is that it offers a myriad of approaches. You can choose a place for fun, you can choose a place where you are going to learn, you can choose a place to meet your spouse, or to have an affair, you can choose a place to re-set your chart.

 

Why We Travel: In Conversation with Expert Astrologer Anne Ortelee. For more about Anne Ortelee visit: www.astroanne.com. Top photo by Unsplash.