Contents
The first purpose of this article is to make a distinction between foreign settlement in Astrology vs foreign travel.
The second purpose is to draw your attention to the fact how easy it is to make astrological after-the-fact conclusions on nativities in which the topic of traveling abroad, residing abroad, and emigrating is emphasized.
The third purpose of this article is to let the world astrological community know that there is actually a method with which to determine whether a given natal chart is conducive to being abroad and emigration versus only traveling abroad.
Foreign settlement in Astrology vs foreign travel: they are different
Perso-Arabic and Medieval European astrological textbooks too often make the mistake of mixing the distinctions between traveling abroad, living abroad and/or settling in a foreign/country and emigration/immigration.
However, this was not the case with the Hellenistic authors. I mean above all Vettius Valens. In his Book II, chapters 29 and 30, he uses the ancient Greek word “apodemia”. It means being away from home, that is, living abroad, emigration, NOT travel.
Claudius Ptolemy uses the ancient Greek word “xeniteia” in his Book IV, chapter 8. Robert Schmidt explains it means either living or traveling abroad. When one examines the method Ptolemy gives, they will see that he indeed somewhat mixes living abroad and traveling abroad.
For our purposes though, we are concerned with foreign settlement in Astrology and as such Claudius Ptolemy’s treatment is of very little use. In fact, later astrologers mostly quoted Ptolemy on this topic and did not make the distinction between being away from home and foreign travel.
This is most often due to the fact these activities are ruled by the 9th and 3rd houses, among other things. There is definitely a difference between these.
If we want to be of better service to our clients, friends, and family, we owe it to ourselves to make that difference. Not just that, but to learn how, by using Astrology only, to tell whether a given horoscope is conducive to living abroad and emigration or to staying in the native’s home country.
Real-life examples of foreign settlement vs foreign travel in Astrology
I will illustrate this article with 3 charts of people I have known for a long time. For the purpose of protecting their privacy, I will not give their chart details, but you will still be able to see everything necessary. And just to make it clear, I am using the tropical Zodiac.
Native 1
This is a female native who lived abroad in 2 countries before emigrating abroad to a different country and continent with her husband.
Here is the chart with Porphyry quadrant houses:
Here is the chart with topical places/whole sign houses:
Knowing what I just told you about her, it is easy to start noticing the indications for traveling abroad, living abroad and/or emigration:
She has L1/L4 (lord/domicile lord) scrutinized by L9, with L9, the Sect Light Sun in Leo in the 9th.
She also has L12 conj the MC and L10 in the 10th – an indication which could have relevance in that fact her profession could be related to foreigners or foreign/distant lands. The indications look pretty clear, right?
Native 2
If so, how about Chart 2/Native 2?
Here is the chart with Porphyry quadrant houses:
Here is the chart with topical places/whole sign houses:
This time, I won’t give the information upfront, other than to say he is a male, (which makes no difference).
So, depending on whether you allow out-of-sign aspects in your practice and whether you use quadrant houses for topics, please take a look at the chart and say or write what you see before reading my delineation below.
Of course, the goal is to say whether this chart is the same as Chart 1. In other words, whether it is conducive to being abroad and emigration rather than to merely to traveling abroad or short stays abroad.
Using topical places/whole sign houses, the native has L9, the Sect Light Sun, in its domicile, Leo the 9th.
The native has L10, the star of Mercury, in the 10th and scrutinized by L3 from the 12th, the star of Saturn.
L10 is also testifying to/ has an applying square with L12, the star of Mars.
Using quadrant houses, one sees that L9 applies to L1//L4 and that L9 is exalted IC lord. Thus there is a 4th and 9th house connection.
So the conclusion would be the same, right? Chart 2 is very conducive to being abroad and emigration and the native either lived abroad, is living abroad now, or will emigrate?
Wrong!
The only times the native lived abroad were when he was a student and went on a student brigade/”student exchange program”.
That cannot be true, you are probably thinking. Why does Chart 2 differ from Chart 1? To be able to answer this question you must be versed in the ancient method I will mention at the end of this article.
Native 3
Here is the chart with Porphyry quadrant houses:
Here is the chart with topical places/whole sign houses:
This time, I also won’t give the information upfront, other than to say again that he is a male, (which makes no difference).
Again, the goal is to say whether this chart is the same as Chart 1. In other words, whether it is conducive to being abroad and emigration rather than to merely to traveling abroad or short stays abroad, and is hence more like Chart 2.
Please examine the chart and write or do your delineation before reading mine below:
Other than the star of Mars being L12/exalted L9 and conj the Asc, there are no other indications pertaining to traveling, living abroad or emigration.
Sure, one can note that L3/ the Moon is sextile to the Asc, and that this is a strong sextile as it is between connected zoidia, namely Pisces and Taurus. This indication, though, is no way near that significant compared to the others already given. Or that the Moon applies to the invisible star of Mars with mutual reception and a strong sextile.
So, what was your judgment? That this horoscope is not conducive to being abroad and emigration, but more like traveling and short stays abroad right?
Wrong, big time!
This native lived abroad on a different continent. He studied abroad in another different continent. He also went on a student brigade to a different, far away country. He earned a higher education degree abroad. Then, a few years later, he emigrated to a different continent, with his wife (Chart 1).
That’s impossible, you thinking, right? There is nothing in Chart 3 to indicate THAT much living abroad and even emigration.
In fact, if you paid close attention to Chart 2, using whole sign houses, the native also has L12, the same star of Mars, in the Sagittarius Ascendant, though it is retreating. In other words, both Chart 2 and Chart 3 have L12 Mars in the Ascendant, and yet Chart 2 is not conducive to being away from home.
So what does Chart 3 have that sets it apart from Chart 1 and, especially, Chart 2? Does a method exist, anywhere in the world, which can provide a plausible explanation for this most challenging horoscope?
Introducing my Ancient Astrology tutorial for being abroad and emigration from Valens
Yes, such a method does exist, and it is given by 2nd century ancient sdytp;phrt Vettius Valens. In 2017, after several years of intense research and attempts to decipher the meaning of the text, I finally succeeded and published my tutorial on the topic. It is called Zagata’s Tutorial on Being Abroad and Emigration from Antigonus and Valens.
Back to chart 3. I have to add I did not mention the Native 3’s traveling to different, far away countries. The reasons is because this is not significant, as the issue is to recognize astrological indications of residing abroad, settling abroad and immigration.
As to what makes Chart 3 so conducive such activities, unless you have fully understood what Valens means in his treatment on the topic, and unless you are familiar with a certain predictive method, the astrological analysis and delineation will mean absolutely nothing to you. This is due to the fact that the rulers of the houses are not used at all – a central principle on which both Medieval, Modern, and Indian/Jyotish Astrology are based on.
Conclusion on foreign settlement in Astrology
In conclusion, anyone who is willing to invest sufficient time could learn the method by which they will be able to determine whether a given natal chart is conducive to living abroad and emigration versus being conducive to only traveling abroad. Not only that, but when a given native is most likely to live abroad and/or emigrate.
I have already done the hard part. The material which covers this topic is just over pages 3 long. You can download the freely translated text by Mark Riley from my Macedonian friend Ile Spasev’s website (page 59-61). I must say though that Robert Schmidt’s translation is the most accurate of all 4 translations I have compared.
That my tutorial devotes over 20 pages of interpretation on this 3 page text, as well as provides a glossary of another 10 pages, should be telling you something about the level of complexity, ambiguity and the amount of work it took to make this 2nd century text understandable and usable by a modern astrological public.