Astrocartography for Travel & Choosing Destinations That Support Your Goals with VerDarLuz

Welcome Back, VerDarLuz

Jason: VerDarLuz, welcome to the Zero to Travel podcast, my friend. Welcome back.

VerDarLuz: Jason, it’s been too many years, too many moons. This is cool.

Jason: I was looking into my email and I realized, oh my gosh, we’ve been trading messages and knowing each other since 2015 at this point. We’ve hung out in person and it’s just really cool. So when I get an email from you, I’m always like, oh, what’s he got going on now? And I thought this was interesting. We haven’t covered this topic in a while, and this is something that maybe some people listening haven’t even heard is a thing. We’re going to get a little bit of your story as well, but I wanted to start by framing this up and giving you a chance to let people know why they should listen to this episode. What do you want them to walk away with? I’m sure there are some skeptics out there. They’re like, well, astrology, whatever. And even if they are, how does this fit with travel? And what does this have to do with me? So give people a sense of what we’re going to talk about today and why they should tune in.

What Is Astrocartography?

VerDarLuz: Sure. Well, I’ve been a locational astrologer and also a business coach with astrology and relationship astrology for 20 years. So I’ve been very committed to this and I live by it. It’s become very popular in the last few years: astrocartography. Astrocartography is the well-known name, so mapping by the stars. We can look at anywhere around the planet and see the different kinds of energetic influences there for you. So depending on what you want in your life, what you’re calling in, whether that’s a trip or a full relocation somewhere, we can find better and worse places to support those intentions. And you can also look at the timing, so the best timing to go to a location or make a move. That’s where it can become really strategic. Pretty much anyone that’s on the road can benefit: digital nomads, people that are leading retreats. If you’re retiring, if you want to buy real estate anywhere, it really applies. Worldschooling families. So there are a lot of opportunities to use this tool to really feel confident in where and when to make a move.

A Different Way to Choose Destinations

Jason: Okay, cool. And it’s a different approach. As a traveler, obviously the first question is kind of, where am I going to go next, or what should I do? You only have so much time and only so many places you can visit, and this is maybe a different way in for people. Can you address the skeptics out there? Even if you’re skeptical, and even if at the end of this episode you’re still skeptical, how can you get value out of the episode and out of this approach to choosing destinations? I’ll just speak openly here. I think at the very least, it’s giving you a different setup in terms of how you’re going to research. Instead of looking at some of the best-of lists or the books or whatever, it’s a different way to reveal some potential destinations, and if you’re curious like most travelers are, it may be like, huh. A lot of times where you go can be determined by external factors like the price of the flights, the season we’re in. I don’t want to go there, it’s too hot in August, whatever. But this is a different way in, I guess, is how I see it.

VerDarLuz: Yeah, it’s really specific to you and how you interface and interact with that location. So it’s not just, go to Thailand, go to Koh Phangan or Koh Samui for this island paradise experience. For you, when we look at your chart and your maps, it might not be a paradise location for you. It might be really challenging. It might be another paradise place that you’ve never even thought about going to, but that gets revealed through this. So when you see these lists of the best digital nomad cities of 2026 or whatever, it’s like, well, that’s not necessarily the best for you. There are your intentions, but there’s also what kinds of influences are there.

As an example, if you want to be in a startup community, you might want the energy of Uranus there, because Uranus is very innovative as a planet. It’s the part of us that is very excited to be a revolutionary, to be experimental, to try something new. So that really makes sense. But the other side is that Uranus can be very disruptive and very surprising and unexpected. So if you go to that location, we have to also say, hey, this might not be very stable for you. This might not be solid in any way, but it’ll be exciting. One of the things we’re doing with relocation astrology is showing the pros and cons of places, not saying that there’s a perfect place, but really getting into very strong patterns that are going to show up for you there, and then how you could work with those. What are the best ways or opportunities to work with what’s there for you? So it’s a really deep, insightful way of moving around the world. This is how I’ve done it in 47 countries at this point.

Jason: Okay, cool. Well, we’re going to talk about your journey a bit and how that’s crossed over with what you do. I will tease that you’re going to do a little chart reading for me later in this episode. So if people are curious, like, what’s Jason doing in Norway, is that matching up? I don’t even know if it matches up. Sometimes it feels like it does, other times it doesn’t. We’ll find out later in this episode. I’m excited, and really curious what you’re going to bring. I’ve given you my birthday and year and location and exact time, so you’ve got that. And just so people know, if they want to do that type of stuff with you, we’ll link up to your website. This is the kind of stuff you do. And it’s funny, because in the beginning, when we got to know each other, I was like, oh, this dude’s so cool. Years ago, we met up and you were building this business, and I was thinking, is this going to be a business that’s going to make it? Is this a thing? But it turns out this is a whole world. And like you said, it’s really exploded even more in terms of the travel connection, I would say. So you call this relocation astrology, but I’ve also read astrocartography. Are these terms interchangeable?

VerDarLuz: Yeah. So most people know it as astrocartography, but astrocartography is a specific technique within locational astrology.

Jason: Okay.

VerDarLuz: You might hear astrolocality. You might hear location astrology. You might hear astrocartography. And like you were saying, just this last year, Royal Caribbean Cruises hired an astrocartographer to help them with their romance-themed cruises.

Jason: It’s cool.

Rising Signs and Cities That Fit You

VerDarLuz: Yeah, it’s happening. There are articles all over in Vogue and Forbes and National Geographic. Astrology has also been featured by Qatar Airways and Delta, with plans and itineraries for travel. And so, for instance, this isn’t full locational astrology, but on the most general level, there are definitely cities in the world that you will vibe with because that city has a nature like you have. For instance, your rising sign in astrology. Most people have heard of their rising sign. It’s how you appear. It’s what you do every day. Your sun makes you feel alive. If you don’t live your sun sign, you’re depressed, you don’t have a lot of energy. But your rising sign is like, I get up and I do my rising sign. So I’m a Gemini rising. I teach, I write, I communicate a lot. Gemini, I wear many masks. A Cancer rising, maybe someone who’s taking care of people, being nurturing, being a parent.

So there’ll be places in the world that will fit the Gemini rising or that will fit the Cancer rising. It’ll feel like a resonant location. For a Gemini rising, maybe a place where a lot of different languages are spoken, for instance, and maybe more intellectual. I don’t know, maybe a place like the Netherlands could be interesting because there are people from all over the world there, or some digital nomad spots like Koh Phangan in Thailand. As a Gemini rising, I might really thrive there because of the curiosity factor I want. So depending on your chart, just how you are, there are going to be places that feel like they fit your archetypes and patterns pretty strongly. Then when we pull up your actual chart and go really deep into your maps, we can get really detailed about the best places for you.

Jason: Okay, yeah, I love that. It’s a great breakdown. I’m an open-minded person, and it’s not crazy to me to think, well, obviously we’re made of stars, so it would seem that there’s some kind of connection there. I’m not pushing my beliefs on anybody. I’m just saying I’m very open-minded when it comes to this stuff. But at the very least, I also think that the job of a good business coach or career coach or astrologer or whatever is giving people new ideas and perspectives and different ways of looking at and thinking about things.

Why “Best Of” Lists Are the Wrong Question

Jason: One of the things you sent over that I wanted to talk about, I would bucket under the idea of big travel decisions. You said everybody’s chasing the same, quote, best digital nomad city list right now, and you want to share why that’s the wrong question to ask. And I’m imagining you could sub in other questions like, what’s the best place I should retire? Where’s the best place to move abroad? I’m taking a gap year, what route should I take? Correct me if substituting those questions is the wrong move. But why is that the wrong question to ask, and what is the right question? What is the right approach?

VerDarLuz: Well, the first question when I’m working with clients is always, what are your intentions? Because the best is the best for certain things. If you want a lot of diversity somewhere, versus cost of living, versus access to the beach, those are different things, and maybe they can all coexist. But the best for what you want, your chart and your maps will reveal that to you. That’s what I mean by the best places may not be what you thought they could be because you saw them on a list. Those places might be some of the more challenging places for you. So looking at the maps and the charts will give you more confidence.

And that’s the thing. You and I traveled a long time ago, and it’s gotten way more expensive, far more complicated, and busier than ever. So the stress factor is higher. I just feel like there’s a lot more on the line for people: the time, the energy, the money, all the international political complications. So this tool can help save a lot of stress and hassle for people and give you a lot more confidence. And then if you’re in a location and you’ve been there for a while, or you want to set up a base somewhere, let’s study what’s going on there for you and how to take advantage of that, how to be in the best version of what’s going on there.

From a Mars Line in California to Venus in Colorado

Jason: Let’s talk about your personal experience. You mentioned going to 47 countries. Maybe you could share a couple of stories to illustrate how this has been applied in your own life and what that has led to.

VerDarLuz: Yeah. Well, I like to share this story a lot. First of all, I’m from California, and I was born where the planet Mars is very strong on my home point, the part of the chart related to the home. There are four angles in astrology. Very simple to understand. We have an angle related to the home. We have an angle related to career and profession. We have an angle related to the personality, the self, and we have an angle related to partnerships. So in astrocartography, these are the four angles. When a planet in that part of the world, whatever part you’re living in or traveling to, is on one of those angles, it’s a dominant theme. It’s the center of the stage of your life there. And there may be one or two or three or four of them. But those planets will become strongest, because look at those themes: career, relationship, home, personality. Those are really core to who we are. So if a planet is there, your life will be colored a lot by that planet.

And so on the West Coast, not when I was growing up, but once I became an adult, that Mars energy really affected me. Mars is a planet that can relate to war, battle, conflict, desire, restlessness, confrontation. He was the god of war. So Mars is not a settled energy. It’s good for ambition. It’s good for adventure. If you’re an adventure guide, great, live on your Mars line. But for me, I ended up moving every three months over the course of about two years on the West Coast.

Jason: Was that your childhood, moving around a lot?

VerDarLuz: No, it wasn’t my childhood. That’s the thing. It was when I went to college. Then I had some issues in the home, just not pleasant relationships with people I was living with. As soon as I moved to Colorado, I was off of that Mars line. I lived in Colorado for 10 years, and I had the planet Venus rising there, and rising is your personality. That’s really interesting, because that’s the place where I started doing a lot of different Venusian things. Venus rules the arts and beauty and culture and nature. I started skiing. I started DJing. I played music live. I ended up writing two of my books there. My Venus is in Gemini, the sign of the messenger, the communicator, the writer. So it completely changed. I did move a few times, but I stayed in one house for four years and another house for two years, whereas on the West Coast I was moving constantly. Whenever I go back to the West Coast, I feel that Mars friction, tension, stressy energy, and I don’t usually like going back to that line because it doesn’t feel great.

An Unexpected Opportunity in Poland

VerDarLuz: I’ll give another example: Poland, because this was a surprise for me. Back in 2016, I had never been drawn to Poland, but I was looking at different festivals happening. I wanted to go to Europe and really start living in Europe or traveling there a lot. I had been studying Tantra, sacred sexuality, and I wanted to offer some teachings I was working on with astrology and Tantra. So I found this festival in Poland and I reached out to them. It was about a month before it was happening. I didn’t think I was going to be able to teach, but I just reached out. And they said that the week I called them, one of the teachers had canceled and couldn’t make it. They offered me a slot to teach and to offer music at the festival.

I have the planet Jupiter on the angle of career in Poland, and it goes down through Greece, that whole corridor through the Balkans. Jupiter rules inspiration, growth, opportunities. Most of us like to know where our Jupiter lines are, because we can expand, we can have a bigger influence on others, or we can feel positive and optimistic. So that optimism is in my career energy there. I got this gig teaching and I played music, had a really great reception, and because of that I ended up teaching in Warsaw. I came back to Poland two other times. I taught each time, I did ecstatic dances, I led retreats and ceremonies, and it was never on my radar before that. So that’s a great example of how there are places that will really give you opportunities.

Preparing for Challenging Places

VerDarLuz: I have other places that were very difficult too, but with some of those difficult places, I knew going in what some of the challenges could be. When I went to Egypt, I knew that it was a pretty intense location for me, but I wanted that initiation experience. Again, it comes back to what you want and what places can support that. If you’re not interested in a certain kind of work path, then we might not want to put you somewhere where that theme would be highlighted in career for you. If you don’t want to take care of people and be a nurturer, then you don’t want to be where the Moon is on your angle of career, because the Moon is very emotional in your career. We don’t want you to be there if that’s not something you want to bring to your career.

Jason: Okay. So where the intention marries the vision of a place and it’s aligned, astrologically speaking, I can imagine that obviously feels good. How do you manage the challenges? You mentioned having some challenges in some places, and that you knew they might occur. But how do you plant those ideas beforehand without allowing them to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, essentially?

VerDarLuz: That’s a really great question, and I think any skeptic would have that question too. The way I approach it, I think of it as energetic preparation, without a projection. It’s more that I’m aware, or my clients are aware, that these are doorways that will be open in a location, and you can walk through them. By doing that, certain opportunities and certain patterns will emerge for you, and you can feel confident moving through that. You can feel prepared moving through that, as opposed to, oh, suddenly I’m in Bali, like a client I had, and I’m getting mugged on my motorcycle, and I have $3,000 in my pocket, and it’s stolen, and I’m now in the underworld of having to reach out for support.

That’s a client’s story. He went to a Pluto location, double Pluto. Pluto is very intense. Most people don’t want to spend a lot of time on their Pluto line because there can be control issues or shadows or dark stuff or manipulation there. But Pluto can also be deeply transformative. So if you go for a shamanic retreat, Pluto can be great for that. But you want to be prepared, like, hey, I’m going to come out the other side of this location a completely different being. If you’re going somewhere and that influence is there and you don’t know about it, you’re probably going to resist what’s happening, and it’s going to be very difficult.

A Synchronicity in Kashmir

Jason: Have you experienced other synchronicities that have really impacted you personally?

VerDarLuz: Oh, yeah. You mean just in general?

Jason: You mentioned going to Poland and things coming together organically, in a way where, for lack of a better term, you feel aligned with the universe or whatever. It seems like everything’s working together. I think everybody’s experienced that. Some people see synchronicity as a thing, others say there are no coincidences, and other people say it’s just a coincidence. But for you, being in touch with all this, I would imagine you’re more of the former, right? I love these stories, so I’m just curious if you could share one or two moments you’ve experienced where you were like, how can this be happening?

VerDarLuz: Oh, totally. There are many. In my mid-20s, I went to India and Asia. That was the big trip where I sold everything I had and was like, okay, I surrender, I want to go find myself. That was a nine-and-a-half-month trip, and it felt guided the whole time. I studied Reiki and qigong and massage. Briefly, I wasn’t even sure I was going to go to India, and then I went. When I was there, I didn’t have a plan to go to Kashmir. I wanted to go to the Tibetan Plateau. I was studying Buddhism pretty deeply. And because of the monsoon rains that were happening, you couldn’t go the natural way, the fast way, through Manali. So the travel agent said, hey, you could go through Kashmir. Kashmir is paradise. Everyone wants to go to paradise, to Kashmir.

The synchronicity that began was that the guy I was traveling with, just another traveler, was Austrian, and his first name was Klaus. And that’s my last name. So we had this little synchronicity, and we both decided to follow this journey and go through Kashmir to Ladakh. Well, on the last day I was in Kashmir, I stayed on a houseboat. It was beautiful. It was amazing. I went to mosques for the first time. I’d never been to a mosque or an Islamic area. And I met the caretaker of a mosque there, and it was a Sufi shrine. So it was a very mystical, very powerful pilgrimage spot for people.

I’ll never forget this story, because he asked me, what country are you from? And it was 2003. It was the Iraq War. So I said, Canada. And I’m from the States, right?

Jason: Just to avoid any political talk?

VerDarLuz: Yeah, I was like, I’m not dealing with that. And he said, okay, when you’re done in the mosque, you come. My boy will take you to the back for some chai. And I said, great, that sounds awesome. So I was in the mosque. I was very moved. The prayers were extremely strong. Then the boy took me to the back, and there was Monsap, this guy probably in his mid-50s, and all these other older guys, all in a circle, smoking the hookah. Full-on hash journeys. And they invited me in and said, come smoke. So I smoked, and I said, Monsap, I have to tell you, I’m not from Canada. I’m from the US, but I don’t like what’s going on. And he said, as long as you’re a good person, nobody cares. He said, you’re so lucky, because we have the best harmonium player in all of Kashmir here today. We’re going to go up and drink chai and sing.

That day, I shared my intention. I wanted to study Sufism more. I wanted to study Islam and learn. At the end of the day, I was invited by Monsap to stay in Kashmir, even though it was my last day and I was going up to the Tibetan Plateau. He said, I have a private houseboat on a different lake. You can stay there as long as you want. You can study, read these books. And then I have a place in Pahalgam, which is about an hour away. You can go to my apartment and stay. So I was basically gifted these free places to stay, on the houseboat and in this other location, because of the intention of my soul to study and, essentially, to be with God. And it was really beautiful, man. It’s one of the most incredible stories of my life. And it was a first moment of the Sufi path, which is really strong for me too. There are symbols of that in my locational astrology for that part of the world.

Jason: Wow. That’s amazing. Thanks for sharing. So how long did you end up staying there?

VerDarLuz: I think I was on the houseboat for five or six days, and then I went up to Pahalgam for three or four days. It was incredible. They come up in the shikaras, those little rowboats, and they’re stacked with all the fruits and the bidi cigarettes and all the things of India. It was just amazing.

Staying Open to Signs: Kairos and Kairomancy

Jason: Touching. I’m going to ask you about retreats, because I know that was one thing you mentioned you could talk about, or gap year planning and some of these other travel-related things. But first I wanted to ask you, as somebody who does this as a business, you have the practicalities of life, right? But then you have this communion with God, the universe, whatever people want to call it. Listening, the intuitive mind.

VerDarLuz: Yeah. Energetic forces.

Jason: Whatever. Some of the best moments in my life have been when I’ve just been in harmony with that. But there’s an openness that needs to be there. Maybe that’s a false belief, I don’t know. It can be very difficult to parse out the practical mind and the intuitive, energetic stuff. It’s still the same world, right? But there’s this invisible world.

VerDarLuz: Right. Anybody that doesn’t believe that, look at a compass. Why does it move by itself? Because there are magnetic forces there. There are energetic forces you can’t see. It’s just a fact.

Jason: Yeah. But then we have to pay our cell phone bill or whatever, you know what I mean? Or we have to book a place for a month in such-and-such location and we can’t find anything affordable. What are we going to do? You hear stories all the time. I’ve heard so many on the podcast. People show up and things work out and all that stuff. Maybe that happens if you just don’t plan anything, but not everybody’s that way. How do you navigate that for yourself? What advice do you give others to be able to stay in tune and tap into those things, so you can open yourself to those synchronicities and those moments where you’re naturally going in a direction that feels right, as opposed to fighting against it with a practical mind, even though you don’t necessarily want to, because you have the realities of life? You know what I mean?

VerDarLuz: Totally. It’s a great question. I think one of the great things about your show and about travelers in general is this. For me, when I first stepped off the plane in Israel, when I was 20 years old, on my first trip, I was like, wow, I just won my own life, because I made a decision I didn’t have to make. I had a free ride at a university and I left it because I wanted to go have experiences. People that get on the road, they want to travel, they want to say yes to life. They have to have a certain open heart and a certain surrender, especially if it’s not just a one-week trip but more of a pilgrimage, or an open-ended type of thing, or something that feels more meaningful.

If you’re doing that, I think staying open is really important, and staying attentive and aware. There’s this Greek word, maybe you’ve heard it, called kairos. People know about chronos. Chronos is linear time. But kairos is the auspicious or opportune moment. One of my favorite teachers is a dream teacher, Robert Moss, and he talks about the art of kairomancy. Basically, when you’re traveling, how many times do you walk out the door and you’re somewhere different, so all your senses are heightened, and you start to read the signs and the symbols more deeply? You’re like, oh, that person has the same name as my soul brother back home, or whatever, and maybe I should hang out for a little bit. You start paying attention and giving more intention, and you’re looking for the doors opening. You’re looking for the auspicious moment, the sign. I think it’s a beautiful way to live life, period, and travel can really open that possibility more than anything. So I say, almost as a philosophy, be a kairomancer, someone who can read the auspicious moments and get excited about that. It’s a poetic consciousness too. It’s like, I’m writing this story as I live it.

Bringing the Travel Mindset Home

Jason: It does seem that travel is great for fostering and supporting that, and it’s much harder to do in a regular, routine-based life, in my experience anyway. There’s an openness when you’re traveling. Maybe there’s a weight that’s lifted, in the sense that people don’t know who you are there. You don’t have a certain identity, or you’re not going to run into so-and-so from high school around the corner, or whatever. Maybe you’re away from your regular career responsibilities. I think that openness in different parts of life can act as a snowball effect while you’re on the road. But applying some of this stuff when you’re at home can be a little tricky. When you’re stationary in a place, how do you keep these practices top of mind? Is it just moving through the world more with the travel mindset, no matter where you are?

VerDarLuz: If that mindset is something that inspires you, keeps you enthusiastic, keeps you open, yes. Travel can also be stressful. If that’s the mindset, then maybe not. But if you’re waking up and you’re like, okay, what does the universe have for me today? And not just, what am I going to get from something, but actually, what am I going to give to this? That’s why I think intention is so important.

The Stoics, my favorite group of philosophers, have a really strong practice of looking at the day as a place to exercise your virtue. How can I be the best person I can be today, whatever I’m doing, and give 100% to that? And at the end of the day, really check in with myself. Hey, how did I do today? How did I build my character? How did I show up for other people? Was I compassionate? Did I calm any kind of reactivity or anger? Every day is a test to be even more virtuous. So I think about living a life where there’s a sage on my shoulder, watching me and witnessing me and guiding me. How can I really attend to that? Because I want to live the best life I can. We don’t know what’s on the other side, but we do know that this moment is happening. Even if I don’t prefer it, as the Stoics say, I can still let go of the things that aren’t in my control and focus on being in the best character I can have and enjoying the moment as it is.

I love not having a lot of judgment. I think that’s the thing. We can have a lot of judgment in our lives, like, oh, I would prefer this. Especially now, Jace, we have everything fed to us. The algorithm, everything is just, what do you want? You can have it now, on demand. What that can create is a really egoic reality, where whatever I want is what’s important, and if I don’t like it, I’ll just scroll past it. It’s really dangerous, the kind of world we’re living in, because it can numb us a lot and it can create a real sense of entitlement. I think thinking of your life as service and as a surprise, as a dance, is really important, so that it’s never something you’re numb to and never something you take for granted. That’s why I’m really into gratitude practices as well. When I work with clients and we’re doing more coaching, these are really important things to bring into your daily life. Because when you approach the day with gratitude, even if it’s something you may not like, you know there’s a bigger reason it’s happening. It’s just a healthy way of living.

Protecting Your Mornings

Jason: I needed to hear all that today. Every day, my son doesn’t want to get out of bed for school, and I can tell you I have not been living my most virtuous character traits, let’s say.

VerDarLuz: The role of fatherhood is a great test, young Jedi.

Jason: Yeah, a test I feel like I’m often failing. But I love all those ideas and those questions you mentioned that we could ask ourselves each morning, or sometime early on, expressing gratitude and all of those practices and intentions. That stuff is so powerful. For myself personally, sometimes I just get so caught up in the day so quickly that I don’t even make the time to do it. And then when I do make the time, everything’s so much better. Having hyperawareness around it matters, because, as you mentioned, some of the external forces like the algorithms can play into the ego and take you out of that mindset of service. There’s so much to be vigilant around in this world now. It can be difficult.

VerDarLuz: We have to work at not being distracted. And that’s why I like all these different traditions. Sufism, Stoicism, all these mystical paths say that the morning time is really sacred. It’s really precious, and you should protect those morning hours, also because you can be closest to your source, your creator, however you want to be with that or speak about it. The morning has that quality, and if you just jump up and start doing stuff right away, you lose the magic of that connection. Your soul is more alive in those early morning moments. So if you can meditate, if you can contemplate, if you can journal, it’s a really key time to do that. Because once the day gets going, especially if you have kids or other responsibilities, and the caffeine rush comes in, it’s on. But before that, how can you create that little pocket of me, my spirit? That’s why it’s such a good time for journaling.

Jason: I love that. A little pocket of me time. That feels doable. I’m a visual thinker, so I like the idea of a little cocoon, a little pocket I can try to step into. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I think that’s the other thing too. With the idea of a morning routine, it’s going to be crazy. I’m going to do this and this, I’m going to do a cold plunge. You hear all this stuff, and you can compare yourself to all this crap you see on social media. But the reality is, if you do one or two of those things you mentioned, or even one of them in your little pocket for five minutes, it can make a big difference.

Resources for Living Intentionally

Jason: I’m going to shout out a book I really loved called The Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne Dyer, which was a big one for me. I don’t know if you have any other resources to share, some things that have made an impact on you that people could check out related to what we’ve talked about?

VerDarLuz: If people want to study Stoicism and adjacent topics, I really love Ryan Holiday. He’s quite famous, but all of his books take all the Stoic concepts, and he’s just a madman when it comes to discipline, really applying philosophy. All of his videos are fantastic primers on these topics and how to live really intentionally. That’s just what we’re talking about: live really intentionally, and here are masters throughout all of time and geography who have done this. I like his breadth of knowledge for that.

Money, Community, and Reciprocity

Jason: What about the energy of money, let’s call it? What’s your advice around that? I don’t know, is that a thing? Does money have energy? How do you look at the money piece? It’s obviously a huge piece.

VerDarLuz: It’s huge.

Jason: I think it’s coming up more and more for all of us, right? Where should we invest ourselves? Should we be in crypto? Should we be in silver and gold? Should we get out of banks? Should we have cash under our mattress when the apocalypse comes?

VerDarLuz: Totally. Having some hard assets, I think, is really important, but without giving financial advice, I think it’s more about realizing that it depends on the kind of life you’re living. I’ve been teaching a lot over the last year about building more local community resilience. What I mean by that is knowing your neighbors, being as little dependent as you can on international systems of trade. Then money is not as important. Because in a village, you look at your neighbors and you’re like, hey, can you help me with this? I don’t own a lawnmower. I don’t have this thing that I need, but you do. Or, I have this skill and I can trade this skill for your skill. That’s really what’s important. It’s not a piece of paper or digital currency. It’s what we need to take care of each other.

So developing skills that you can share, and knowing people you can share them with. That’s why I love the farmers market as a means of exchange, because you can meet people, you can see what creative superpowers they have, and you can really build communities. Community-supported agriculture is a really important way to build community, and to get more off of money and more into trading or barter. But that’s about relationships. So the reciprocal economy, or the circular economy, is about building in reciprocity. Robin Wall Kimmerer talks about this in the book Braiding Sweetgrass, and The Serviceberry. I highly recommend those books, because they’re really about getting out of the capitalist consumer mindset that we’ve all been conditioned into and getting more into, hey, let’s build some relationships and take care of each other.

Jason: Yeah, I love that. I’ve experienced that here. We have a nice community. I built a storage shed for firewood, and I borrowed my neighbor’s saw, I borrowed this, I borrowed that. We’re helping each other out in that way.

VerDarLuz: Yeah. I’ll make a book drop, because I’ve been teaching about building out a village model based around the zodiac signs, thinking of them as educational spaces and ritual spaces. It’s something I’ve been developing for a while. In that research, I found a great book called Everyday Utopia. The woman who wrote it studies the history of utopian models. For instance, there’s no reason we all have to own all of these possessions individually, like the buzzsaw or the leaf blower or whatever. So, just to inspire people, this is the kind of work that makes you think very differently, and that’s what we need right now. We need to think really differently. So I recommend that book, Everyday Utopia.

Jason: Great title.

VerDarLuz: So good, and really practical. Kristen Ghodsee, something like that.

Astrocartography for Retreats and Gap Years

Jason: Okay, cool. Let’s go back to the astrolocality topic with regard to different styles of travel. I mentioned retreats. I guess a gap year falls into some of the stuff you talked about before, but a retreat is a different type of travel experience.

VerDarLuz: The last couple of years, I’ve been doing a lot of work with retreat leaders. I was part of a team for a while that was training retreat leaders, so I helped some of those leaders find places they were interested in and see what was going on there for them. Because there’s a lot on the line. You have to invest a lot to book a retreat, both as an attendee and definitely if you’re leading one. So the right place and the right time for that is essential. And depending on what you’re going on a retreat for, if you’re an attendee, there are symbols and planets that will represent those topics more, so you can find places that will really support that. Like we were saying, Jupiter gives expansion and opportunity, or Venus could be a great place to find friends and love. So it really depends on what you’re doing. Mercury lines can be great for business relationships. There are a lot of different purposes we could go on a retreat for, or lead one for, and we have planets and energy lines that will support them. Same thing with a gap year. Again, what’s your intention? What do you want to do? It comes back to that, and then finding the places that will support it.

A Live Chart Reading: Oslo and Chiron

Jason: Do you want to do a little reading for me now, or give people a taste of the type? I don’t know what’s going to happen here.

VerDarLuz: Can I share the screen?

Jason: Yeah, for those who are watching. You can.

VerDarLuz: Okay, let me pull it up. I’m using one of the three software programs I work with. I’ve worked with a number of different mapping programs. When I work with clients, we can look all over the world and at different times, as we were saying, and we’re going to see these different kinds of planetary lines and influences. One of the things that was jumping out is in Oslo. So this is Jason’s chart. Can you see it?

Jason: Yeah. Okay, I see a line right through Oslo.

VerDarLuz: Yeah. So this is, well, it’s not quite a planet and it’s not quite an asteroid, but it’s quite well known at this point. It’s called Chiron. Chiron is a crazy heavenly body out there. It’s known as a centaur. There’s a group of bodies called centaurs, and Chiron was the most famous centaur in Greek mythology. He was the wise mentor, associated with healing and teaching. He’s also associated with the coach or the guide as an archetype. And Chiron is on the angle of partnership here. What this suggests is that in this location, if we meet someone romantically or in a partnership, or in different kinds of relationships, they will have a feeling of Chiron. They can be healers, mentors, coaches, guides, people who see and perceive the world in a different way. But Chiron also relates to woundedness and the possibility of healing the wound. So the revelation of a wound, and then how we can heal the wound, or the medicine of the wound. This would say that relationships here could reveal some wounds and have some challenges, but they also open the doorway to healing. And that’s one of the most dominant energies in this location for you.

Jason: Okay. That resonates. What does this tell me about, I mean, I can’t really relocate to another place. I’d be curious if there’s another place.

VerDarLuz: Yeah.

Jason: Well, I have my first question, I guess. What about career? What would this tell me about career? Can you give me any insight into that? Is it related to some of the things you just mentioned?

VerDarLuz: Well, this is more impacting the relationships in your life, or it may speak to a partner. It may say a partner is a healer or a mentor or a coach. People you might work with might have that quality. But I’d have to look at the full relocated chart, so I’m pulling that up right now.

Jason: I should say, my wife works with sick leave strategy, which means her job is to create strategies for public transportation companies, mostly, or pretty much fully, that help keep the bus drivers healthy, the tram drivers healthy, the people who do the everyday kind of work. She creates programs for that. So it’s pretty interesting that you mentioned that.

VerDarLuz: Yeah. Work health. And Chiron was known as the wounded healer.

Jason: That’s pretty crazy. I’m going to say that’s kind of crazy right now.

VerDarLuz: It’s sometimes very literal, these symbols, and it’s amazing. So yeah, that’s the dominant energy. This is your relocated chart there, and that is the strongest thing. In terms of career there, it’s actually interesting, because the sign on the area of career is Cancer, which is known as the mother or the father, the caregiver, the protector, the nurturer. That might be more of your role there.

Jupiter Lines and Southern Europe

VerDarLuz: I would say that if you were asking, hey, where should I go if I want to grow or expand? Because you have so much Sagittarius in your chart, and Jupiter is the planet that rules Sagittarius, I think Jupiter lines can be really powerful for you, because you have Jupiter in a very strong sign. Some planets do better, or serve their purpose better, in different signs. That’s called dignity in astrology. A planet has greater dignity in some signs, and it’s challenged in other signs. And your Jupiter’s in Pisces. Jupiter in Pisces is someone who’s paying attention to the signs and the synchronicities. They’re in the flow of life. They’re in their imagination, the magic. Jupiter in Pisces is just living the dream, basically. So Jupiter lines will help bring that in, and help all of the expansive, inspired, enthusiastic, joyful, positive Sagittarius qualities grow in you. So I think Jupiter lines could be really interesting for you. Let me see if I can find one in Europe or somewhere you’ve traveled. I’m sure you’ve traveled to one.

No, this is my chart. Let me get back to your chart. So here’s Jason. Let’s go back to the maps and see if there’s anything in Europe. Okay, so there’s that Chiron. You know how there are some curving lines here, and then these more longitudinal lines?

Jason: Yeah.

VerDarLuz: The curving lines are called local space lines in locational astrology, and they’re literally the directions of the planets when you were born. So if you pointed in the direction of Jupiter from your birthplace in Pennsylvania, it actually goes down, as you can see here, through southern France, Bordeaux, Marseille. It goes down through Corsica and then into a lot of Italy. It’s really close to the coast, so it’s in Rome, Naples, kind of in Florence, Sicily. That’s this Jupiter line, this gray local space line here. It goes through Crete, and it goes right down through Egypt. These would be interesting places. Jupiter lines in general can bring opportunities, growth, inspiration. But for you, I think they could be some of the strongest places, because you have so much Sagittarius as well.

Jason: That’s interesting. Actually, on my first transformative solo backpacking trip to Europe, my first big thing, I came through southern France, along the coast, and into the Italian Riviera. I remember those times very vividly, because I was just getting into the trip, and I felt like I was entering this magical flow of travel that I’d never experienced before. Or I’d experienced it, but in a different way, I would say. This was the first couple of weeks of my solo trip, which turned out to be a very transformative thing that has really led to everything I’m doing today.

VerDarLuz: Amazing. And that’s the thing, the Jupiter sense of expansion and being on an adventure. There’s something about the pilgrim that can be very strong with Jupiter. If we’re going on more of a spiritual trip, or something that feels more like a quest, that can be very Jupiter.

Ireland, Pluto, and Places That Feel Familiar

VerDarLuz: I’m curious, have you been to Ireland? There’s this pretty intense Pluto energy here. Pluto is rising, and with Pluto lines, like I said, we might identify completely differently there. This can be very transformative, sometimes kind of overwhelming. It might even bring up some kind of sickness or intense experience that’s a lot to deal with, like a death and rebirth type of experience.

Jason: Yeah, I’ve been, and I definitely feel a connection to Ireland. I think that’s one of those countries where many people feel a connection. It’s just so friendly. And I think the thing that locks me into Ireland is the musical experiences, the traditional Irish music. That really sticks with me, and that communal atmosphere of people going to the pub and playing music together. Things I’ve witnessed there have made an impact on me for sure.

VerDarLuz: Yeah. A lot of times Pluto places in the world, because they’re so deep for us, our soul feels really connected with them. A lot of people will say, well, I’ve always been drawn to this location, I don’t know why. And a lot of times they’re Pluto locations, because Pluto relates to our unconscious, and it’s a karmic location for us. It feels like maybe we lived there in another place in time.

Jason: Yeah, totally. It’s funny, I’ve never shared this, but everybody has their little fantasies in their heads, right? Maybe they’re perennial travel fantasies. You can only live so many lives, and I’m living the life I’m living now, so this isn’t one of those, oh, if I could do this, I would be the happiest man in the world. It’s not like that. It’s more like, I always thought it would have been cool in a former life, when I was a bit younger, or maybe even in a future life, to live above some crusty bar in Ireland and study traditional music with some guru guitar teacher, and then just play every night with this gang of people for six months or something. Just dive in and, I don’t want to say get good, but get a feeling for that style of music. It’s a weird sort of, I want to say, traveler’s fantasy I’ve had. I’m sure everybody’s had them.

VerDarLuz: Yeah. There are those places where we just feel like, I’ve been here, I know this, or this is a parallel life, some other timeline or something. I feel some stuff with Japan that’s really intense. I feel like I’m supposed to spend a lot more time there. I have some things in my locational chart there that exist nowhere else in the world because of the geography. They reflect qualities like retirement, or where the soul feels at ease. There are certain philosophical elements of Japan, and even the language, that I’ve never found anywhere else for my soul. It’s really interesting.

Where to Find VerDarLuz

Jason: Well, if people want to do this with you. We just got a little taste here. We could go deeper and deeper, but I feel like people get a sense of what this could do for them, the topic, what’s involved. What’s the best place to connect with you?

VerDarLuz: Yeah. I have a website dedicated to locational astrology. It’s called Destination by Design Consultancy, destinationbydesignconsultancy.com. There are a number of different kinds of sessions there, depending on how much breadth or how deep we go. And then I have my other site, which is Divine Timing Coaching. That’s where I offer things like Human Design consultations, more of the business coaching, and relationship coaching. So people can hit me up there. I have an Instagram, Divine Timing Coaching, and I’m on Facebook as VerDarLuz. So I’m in all the places.

Jupiter on the Ascendant

Jason: Awesome. Thanks. We’ll link up to everything. This was so fun. So can you tell me, I’m in Oslo now, can you tell me what to do with my life next? All right, astrologically speaking, that’ll be the last selfish question I ask. Is there some direction I’m supposed to be going? Give me a theme. I don’t know. Is there anything you can give me?

VerDarLuz: Well, that’s a question where we’d want to look more at your cycles, what’s going on in your chart. Your forecasting, basically. But I’ll tell you one thing that’s really amazing. You’re a Leo rising. I don’t know if you know this.

Jason: No, I didn’t know.

VerDarLuz: The rising sign, again, is how we appear and the energy we give off to the world, so the personality. And Leo is a creator, a performer. Everything you just said about, hey, I’d like to have been the musician in Ireland playing in the band, and you’re in a band right now. That’s Leo. Leo needs to get that creative, inspired energy out of itself every day. Also speaking to people, being an entertainer in some way, that’s very Leo rising. What’s interesting is that Jupiter is in Leo now for the next year. He’s there every 12 years, so you could go back 12 years to the last time Jupiter was in Leo. But what’s so interesting is that over the next few weeks, literally, Jupiter will cross your exact ascendant, your exact degree. So this is a time when you should be really living large, expanding your message, publishing more, maybe getting more into that philosophical way of life, because Jupiter rules that. You can be Jupiter. You can be someone who feels joyous, optimistic, opportunistic, giving joy and hope to the world. And there will be a sense of more opportunities coming in with Jupiter on your ascendant. Also, we usually want to travel more when Jupiter is in this area of our chart, because we feel like, I want to expand.

Jason: I am traveling soon, and I am in a very interesting place with decisions and things going on with business and stuff like that.

VerDarLuz: It’d be cool to talk more about that, because I’m giving you one piece, but there are a lot of things going on with this Jupiter transit. It’s a very, you would say, auspicious cycle, and lots of things are happening simultaneously. So it’d be good to look deeper.

Jason: Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, I don’t want to chew up listeners’ time with my selfish questions about what I should do with my life next. But I so appreciate your time, and thanks for reaching out. Every time we talk, I feel like, why aren’t we talking more? And then some time goes by and we talk again, and it’s great every time. I just appreciate your presence here on the show and in my life, and all the wisdom you brought today. We’ll definitely link up to all this stuff so people can check it out.

VerDarLuz: Yeah, thanks, man. It’s been really inspiring. I like that we talked about a lot of different topics too. I hope to inspire people to do things like the gratitude practice, the journaling practice, kairomancy, looking for the signs and the symbols every day, and just living a really intentional life. And the beauty of locational astrology is that it helps you live an intentional life as a traveler or as a relocator. That’s why I love doing it. So I hope people will check it out more, and maybe we can meet up for a session. Take care, everyone.

Jason: Thank you.