SSR relocation 2021

[Mike V]

Good afternoon my esteemed colleagues,

I'm considering flying out to Los Angeles briefly for my birthday this year to set up the SSR there rather than in Hackensack, NJ where I currently live.

The SSR for my apartment seems pretty difficult:

R. Pluto on Asc -0*13’
T. Saturn on Nadir -0*53’
T. Uranus on Dsc +1*01’
--t. Uranus 180 r. Pluto 0*48’ (in mundo)
--t. Saturn 90 t. Uranus 0*21’ (in eclipto)

T. Moon 180 t. Pluto 2*25’
T. Moon 180 t. Venus 3*14’
T. Venus 0 t. Pluto 0*48’
T. Moon 90 t. Eris 0*33’

I might have messed up some of the +/- signs; I tend to do that. Apologies.

While it's transformative, it also seems quite lonely, difficult, and not portending immediate success. I've had r. Pluto on angles for the last 2 SSRs, and am used to that, but I would really love to specifically dodge Saturn here.

In comparison, here's the SSR for LA, which seemed like as good a place to visit as any:

R. Uranus on IC +0*26’
R. Jupiter on MC -1*09’
R. Neptune on IC -6*09’
-- t. Mercury 0 r. Neptune 0*02’ (in mundo)
R. Sun on IC +6*25’
T. Mercury on IC -6*07’
R. Moon on Asc -7*21’
R. Eris on Dsc +7*33’
-- t. Mercury 90 r. Moon 1*14’ (in mundo)
R. Saturn on IC -8*56’
-- t. Mercury 0 r. Saturn 2*47’ (in mundo)

Plus the same solar Moon-Venus-Pluto-Eris cluster of aspects.

While it's more complicated, it seems primarily focused on my natal Jupiter-Uranus opposition, which would be nice for my career, I think. Additionally, if I understand midpoints correctly, it seems that my natal Sun-Neptune midpoint is quite close to IC here, which... shrug.

My question to you is - do you think it's worth the financial cost and the health risk (we are still in a pandemic...) to fly out just to set up the latter chart as the primary chart for the year instead of the former chart?

[Jim Eshelman]

Hey, stranger. good to hear from you from the depths of the pandemic.

First impression: Yes, I think it's definitely worth the difference! Even at a glance, one chart is dominated by Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto (get out much?), the other by Jupiter-Uranus. We might be able to improve it a bit - but give me a few minutes to work on it.

You have Moon opposite Venus-Pluto no matter where you are in the world, so some significant relationship shifts and perhaps very profound, very impactful connection matters will be part of the year regardless, especially around February-March. The fundamental tone of the chart probably will tip whether these are pleasurable or unpleasurable intense events.

The Hackensack chart breaks out as follows. (Since the contrast is between locations, I'm leaving out the "other partile aspects" for now, unless one pops up that is highly locale distinctive.

r Pluto on Asc 0°07'
t Saturn on Nadir 0°47'
t Uranus on Dsc 0°55'

t Moon-Venus op. 1°01' M
t Moon-Pluto op. 1°09' M

t Saturn-Uranus sq. 0°22'
t Uranus op. r Pluto 0°48' M

Here is the chart breakout for Los Angeles:

r Uranus on IC 0°33'
r Jupiter on MC 1°02'
t Mercury on IC 6°01'
r Neptune on IC 6°02'
r Sun on IC 6°32'
r Moon on IC 7°16'
r Saturn on IC 8°49'

t Moon-Pluto op. 2°26'

t Mercury co. r Neptune 001' M
t Mercury sq. r Moon 0°14'
t Mercury co. r Saturn 2°48' M

r Moon-Neptune sq. 0°08'
r Moon-Saturn sq. 1°33' M
r Jupiter-Uranus op. 1°35'
r Saturn-Neptune co. 2°43'

Discussion to follow.

[Jim Eshelman]

Impressions of Hackensack chart: Saturn is 0°47' from Nadir, Uranus even closer, the Saturn-Uranus square clearly dominating. Natal Pluto is precisely angular with a partile mundane opposition of transiting Uranus to natal Pluto. (Plus the Moon-Venus-Pluto.)

This seems disruptive, which of course could be good or bad. Really big shifts, breaking up of stagnant conditions, shaking up of secure conditions - with the changes being fundamentally separation, leaving. On balance, it's a malefic-dominated chart, suggesting that this will be hard rather than easy, more unhappy than happy, etc.

Impressions of Los Angeles chart: Natal Uranus (0°33') and natal Jupiter (1°02') clearly dominate the chart, their midpoint 15' from the meridian for central LA. Primarily this is a natal-driven chart, with six natal planets foreground, the benefics overwhelmingly stronger suggesting that this would be easy rather than hard, more happy than unhappy, etc., with all the particular details of Jupiter-Uranus. (Good for tech, for instance - for new, interesting things - etc.)

Given your long-term plans, this tilts the Moon-Venus-Pluto in an entirely direction. For example, it not only can suggest "the year I left friends and community behind me," but "the year of new friends, new community, new relationships."

The worst side of it is that it brings the roughest part of your natal chart into the foreground. I'm not really worried about this, but felt I should mention it. (Your Moon-Saturn-Neptune are barely foreground. Transiting Mercury dives deeply into them, so you should sort through those individual aspects as your "second tier" strongest influences.)

A third location for consideration: It seems to me, from experience of recent years, that placing the strongest benefic as close to 0°00' from the angle is ideal, as it utterly overwhelms other factors that can intrude. (To be picky, your natal Jupiter in LA isn't quite as close to an angle as transiting Saturn is once you fly back home.)

Natal Jupiter precessed RA is 97°45'. For the 118W15 I used for central LA, RAMC is 96°39'. This means that putting your Jupiter precisely on MC means going 1°06' east, or to 117W09. (To dispense with rounding errors, 117W08 is actually more on target.) So... what's on this longitude?

[Jim Eshelman]

Going due east of Los Angeles, you hit 117W08 just past San Bernardino, on the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest. This isn't too far from Joshua Tree, for example. Redlands, for example, is 34N03, 117W11 and puts natal Jupiter 0°02' from MC, natal Uranus 1°33' from IC. Temecula is even closer to the longitude, 117W09, 34N30, and discloses your Jupiter 0°00' from MC.

BTW, Google Earth is the magic tool to find all of this alongside the chart programs!

So... Temecula might be exactly the spot. Your birthday is a Tuesday, but maybe you can get someone who'd like to go to Temecula with you for the day.

If you have reason to go further south, Escondido (north San Diego County) is only 01' off the meridian, and the heart of San Diego is only 01' off on the other side.

Does latitude make a difference? Not really, because the RAMC is so close to the solstices. Ascendant in Temecula only differs by 01' from Ascendant in San Diego.

So... since you asked... I think it is definitely worth the expense and effort to be in Southern California instead of New Jersey and, once out here, I think you should spend your birthday in Temecula, Escondido, or San Diego to optimize the Jupiter.

Here is the San Diego breakout:

r Jupiter on MC 0°01'
r Uranus on IC 1°33'
r Neptune on IC 4°59'
r Mercury on IC 5°01'
r Moon on IC 6°14'
r Sun on IC 7°30'
r Saturn on IC 7°46'

t Moon-Pluto op. 2°26'

t Mercury co. r Neptune 0°01' M
t Mercury sq. r Moon 0°14' M
t Mercury co. r Saturn 2°45'

r Moon-Neptune sq. 0°08'
r Moon-Saturn sq. 1°32' M
r Jupiter-Uranus op. 1°35' M
r Saturn-Neptune co. 2°43'

Other partile aspects
t Saturn-Uranus sq. 0°08'
t Venus-Pluto co. 0°49'

[Jim Eshelman]

Jim, correct me if I'm wrong about this - is perhaps t Se to be considered the closest, not t Ju, in Wolfville, being sq MC 11' (E) ? (I've seen it only after looking at the chart's M angularities)

I'm including the new planets we're exploring when only observing, but not when forecasting or counselling, as a rule.

That said, this SSR for Wolfville, NS has Mike's transiting Sedna 0°04' from Westpoint (i.e., ecliptical square to MC), transiting Jupiter 0°38' from IC, and 0°08' from square each other, and natal Mars 0°05' from EP-a (RA square to MC). Taking this alone (or adding it to the Moon-Venus-Pluto-Eris aspects), I wouldn't recommend this aspect for any kind of comfort or basic happiness. Perhaps (in THEORY), for therapeutically diving into and uprooting the deepest, darkest atavistic hatreds and violences of one's personal and genetic history, but not for a stable, pleasant year. (Pick your poison .)

[Mike V]

Thank you for the advice, Jim. I'm gonna work on booking a flight. I'm inclined to try San Diego, since I've never been there and there are some miscellaneous "oh that would be cool to visit" places that I know are in San Diego.

Thank you also for your guidance, Danica.

[Jim Eshelman]

While we don't know much for sure about Sedna, if things we think we know are true, I'm not sure that going out of the way to expose a MALE psyche to it during a Nova Scotia winter (with temperatures as low as -20° celsius and likely frigid ice) would be a particularly friendly thing for me to do <g>. He's likely to lose some fingers.

I think the default we can expect from Sedna for a long time to come is that, more often than not, it will tend to be punitive toward men in all but the most pristine conditions. One can tackle this intentionally, but one should be ready to intentionally take that on IMVHO.

[Mike V]

...for therapeutically diving into and uprooting the deepest, darkest atavistic hatreds and violences of one's personal and genetic history...

Ooooh, sounds like fun!

...temperatures as low as -20° celsius and likely frigid ice...

Oh. Nevermind.
Winter and I don't get along very well.

[Mike V]

Hey Jim, I have a silly question, probably just my OCD here...

After the chart sets up, there's no special benefit to staying there afterward, right? Or conversely, there's no ill effect to leaving right after the chart gets locked in, is there?

I'm asking since my chart sets up in the very early morning on the 21st (I have a hotel in Escondido), and then I fly out at 9am after that.

Probably just anxiety from last-minute travel plans...

[Jim Eshelman]

Yes, it seems that's just fine
I could make a theoretical case that you should wait to 30 hours but I don't think that's true. - Or, at least, I spent 10 minutes at a spot to trade a potentially deadly SSR for an acutely positive one, and the year went great with improved health conditions etc.

[Mike V]

Thanks for putting my mind at ease. I'll be at that spot for a bit longer than 10 minutes

[Jim Eshelman]

Btw, Escondido is home to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, one of my favorite places I haven't been in many years, but used to go often - kept my San Diego zoo membership years after I moved from San Diego just to help the place.

[Jim Eshelman]

To be usefully obsessive, I suggest you get a GPS app on your phone that will give you to-the-second longitude and latitude. On Android I have one called Simple GPS that's great.

[Mike V]

I did some searching and apparently the default Maps app on IOS does this, down to 5 decimal places. Never tried it before this!
I fly out to San Diego this evening and have a hotel in Escondido. Depending on how I feel around the time of the Solar Return, I'll take an Uber to a more exact location nearby.

[Jim Eshelman]

I did some searching and apparently the default Maps app on IOS does this, down to 5 decimal places. Never tried it before this!
I fly out to San Diego this evening and have a hotel in Escondido. Depending on how I feel around the time of the Solar Return, I'll take an Uber to a more exact location nearby.

Enjoy the adventure - Do you need help refining the coordinates, or you have that in hand?

[Mike V]

I think I can plot it out, but thanks Jim

[Mike V]

...Actually, I could use a sanity check on it!

I went through some trial and error, and it seems like the ideal LST in a return chart for me is right around 6:31:00 (with what seems like about 5 seconds on either side). This would put natal Jupiter on MC 0º00'. From some more trial and error, it looks like this corresponds to exactly -117º longitude (with some seconds on either side), so 7 miles east. Basically, right around the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, where I incidentally was for like 5 hours today (lol).

Annoyingly, the park will be long closed at 12:18 am, and there doesn't seem to be anything else remotely nearby (latitudinally) at that longitude. I suppose I could try to get an Uber driver to bring me to a spot along 78, wait around for 5 minutes, and then just drive me back.

I'm staying at a hotel in Escondido, and using these coordinates, natal Jupiter will be on MC 0º04' at the time of the solar return, if I'm just asleep at that time.

Do you think those 4 minutes of arc would make a perceptible difference in the way the year unfolds?

[Jim Eshelman]

4' is surely fine. If you can lomg/lat, I'll check better

[Mike V]

My current (hotel) coordinates are 33.11557N, 117.09622W.
Thanks for the guidance Jim, and no rush or pressure.

I value my sleep a lot (I fly back relatively early the next morning) and so unless there’s something truly extraordinary about those 4 minutes, I will happily just sleep instead

[Jim Eshelman]

My current (hotel) coordinates are 33.11557N, 117.09622W.

According to TMSA, which uses the most recent version of Swiss Ephemeris and its algorithms, your SSR occurs at 12:19:03 AM PST. You are at 33N06'56'', 117W05'46'', which has RAMC (ST) 6:31:13. TMSA puts your Jupiter 0°03' off the angle, and I've gotten by with worse than that. Have a good night's sleep and a wonderful year.

PS - You went to the Wild Animal Park? (Did they change the name?) Awesome. I hope you had a spectacular time. I love that place.

Here are the most relevant particulars from TMSA for the SSR for your current location. The Mercury transits are most interesting:

Code: Select all

Pl Longitude   Lat   Speed    RA    Decl    Azi     Alt     PVL    Ang G
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           Transiting Planets                           
Me 16Sg54'43" 02S13 + 1°34' 283°13' 25S06 328°08' -80°42'  94°57'  93% F
Su 04Sg37'53" 00N00 + 1°01' 269°39' 23S26  38°36' -77°57'  82°25'  85% F
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Radical Planets                             
Ju 12Ge04'57" 00S09 - 0°08'  97°45' 23N06 180°17' +79°59' 269°57' 100% F
Ur 10Sg29'57" 00S16 + 0°04' 276°03' 23S35   9°38' -80°21'  88°22'  99% F
Ne 17Sg00'25" 00N51 + 0°02' 283°01' 22S03 336°06' -78°00'  94°55'  94% F
Mo 17Vi08'16" 04S09 +11°54' 189°34' 08S38  96°18' - 6°10'   6°12'  91% F
Su 04Sg37'53" 00S00 + 1°01' 269°39' 23S26  38°36' -77°57'  82°25'  85% F
Sa 19Sg43'19" 00N18 + 0°07' 285°59' 22S19 324°09' -77°00'  97°42'  85% F
------------------------------------------------------------------------
tMo op tPl 02°26' 89%
----------------------                                                  
tMe co rNe 00°01'100%M                                                  
tMe sq rMo 00°14'100%                                                   
tMe co rSa 02°45' 85%M                                                  
----------------------                                                  
rMo sq rNe 00°08'100%                                                   
rMo sq rSa 01°30' 96%M                                                  
rJu op rUr 01°35' 95%M                                                  
rSa co rNe 02°43' 86%                                                   
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     Non-Foreground Partile Aspects                     
                         tVe co tPl 00°49' 99%                          
                         tSa sq tUr 00°11'100%M

[Mike V]

Thanks Jim, I appreciate your guidance in this and all of the other decision points you weigh in on here on the forum

Yep, I got to see plenty of African, Australian, and other animals (and plants) for the majority of the day today! Very rewarding.
Platypuses are much smaller than I was expecting.

[Jim Eshelman]

Again: I love that place. What an awesome way to celebrate your birthday.

Happy 33rd orbit of the Sun.

[SteveS]

Happy New SSR Mike.

[Mike V]

Thanks everyone it set up early this morning, when I was fast asleep. Got a good night’s sleep, and am waiting at the airport for my flight back. I have a good feeling about all this (but then, that’s to be expected with the foreground Jupiter!).

[Jim Eshelman]

Thanks everyone it set up early this morning, when I was fast asleep. Got a good night’s sleep, and am waiting at the airport for my flight back. I have a good feeling about all this (but then, that’s to be expected with the foreground Jupiter!).

LOL, yes. I've always said: I'm pretty sure you get a nice SSR for the year out of this, but at the very least you get a nice vacation under good aspects!

[Mike V]

So I've unexpectedly ended up in a polyamorous relationship (a first for me) that is very significant for me for a lot of reasons. It also represents a fundamental change in our existing friendship (obviously).

How's that for Moon-Venus-Pluto-Eris?

[Jim Eshelman]

[Mike V]

So, as a follow-up to all of this - as Stef noted in her case, the "relocated SSR" for New Jersey was very significantly weaker than the one set up in Escondido. As the year went on, I did feel like the NJ chart did start to pick up some steam (isolation, transformation, breaking established patterns), but at no point was it stronger than natal Jupiter-Uranus in the foreground of the CA chart. If anything, it felt like it was layered into it, like the CA chart was the inarguable context for anything the NJ chart had to say. That natal aspect, with the extra wind in my sails, really carried me safely through the year.

The Moon-Venus-Pluto-Eris cluster had a lot to say, too, especially once the transiting Pluto conjunction to Venus entered 1* orb: I finally moved to Glendale, CA as of September 2nd, and that conjunction was exact the night before. There are other, more personal details that this cluster manifested as; irrevocable shifts in many relationships, mostly. I look for Eris in here (besides that brief foray into polyamory), and my best attempt at discerning it is: as everything changes and shifts in the wake of this enormous choice I made, all of those cascading changes are far too complex for me to wrap my head around in their entirety. Not in a Neptunian sense of being complicated, or "a bottomless pit," but just too much data to do much practical with. The move itself, from an emotional standpoint, was much the same. (Despite planning it carefully, and having it go pretty much according to plan, the emotional impact is just too complex to process all at once.)

Would I travel again to dodge a scary Solar Return, or set up a really good one? Absolutely. This trip paid for itself many times over.

[Jim Eshelman]

As the year went on, I did feel like the NJ chart did start to pick up some steam (isolation, transformation, breaking established patterns), but at no point was it stronger than natal Jupiter-Uranus in the foreground of the CA chart. If anything, it felt like it was layered into it, like the CA chart was the inarguable context for anything the NJ chart had to say.

Thats a great analogy. Ort (to paraphrase to confirm that we're talking about the same sort of experience), the original SSR location feels like the stable certainty of the year and everything else - including the LA (back home) SSR - happens within that. The original SSR is something I can count on expressing, while the "back home" is something I occasionally (infrequently) notice.

And I didn't know you'd made the move. Belatedly, welcome to town! (I always liked Glendale, though I haven't been to that corner of the county in years. Where are you working?)

Would I travel again to dodge a scary Solar Return, or set up a really good one? Absolutely. This trip paid for itself many times over.

Thanks for the feedback. And yes, we found it worth doing over and over.

[Jim Eshelman]

I see your next SSR has a lovely Sun-Jupiter square - away from the angles. A quick check shows Sun rising east of Phoenix, right along the Rockies ridge in Colorado, and near Cheyenne WY - The Jupiter Nadir line will be approximately the same place.

For example, Vail, CO has Jupiter 0°03' from Nadir and it's right on the major (stays clear even in December) freeway. You even get a nearly-partile Moon-Jupiter mundane square to go (matching set!) with your ecliptical Sun-Jupiter square. (There are lots of places along the Jupiter line through Colorado - Estes Park would be spectacularly beautiful, though much of it hard to reach. But the angularity through or near Vail is probably closest.)

Colorado also avoids the angularity of Venus conjunct natal Saturn that you would have just east of Phoenix (though that's a closer drive).

[Mike V]

Ort (to paraphrase to confirm that we're talking about the same sort of experience), the original SSR location feels like the stable certainty of the year and everything else - including the LA (back home) SSR - happens within that. The original SSR is something I can count on expressing, while the "back home" is something I occasionally (infrequently) notice.

I can get behind that phrasing. Yeah, the original (CA) SSR chart reliably expressed itself in myself and in my life, whereas the relocated (NJ) SSR chart was not reliable in its expression until much later in the year - and even when it seemed like it was expressing more consistently, it was never stronger than the original SSR's chart factors.

Thanks for the welcome I'm working remotely, still doing software for the same (east coast-based) company I started working at in January of this year. I've been fortunate in that I have a great deal of flexibility in my career in terms of where I can live while still having a good job. Glendale's been great. Lots of good food nearby; everything I would usually want or need is very close by; and it's chill and usually pretty quiet!
I made the move completely sight-unseen, too. Things lined up for me and it seemed like the right decision. I had never been to Glendale, and I didn't even get to see pics of my unit before I got here, so I took quite the leap of faith, but it felt right and it's been right so far for me.

Thanks for the advisement on my next SSR; I knew about the general features, but hadn't gotten around to planning anything specific for it. Given the travel time, gas prices, etc, I'm strongly considering just flying out to CO for this one.

Do you think the mundane aspects are still preserved for a chart like this, even after I return home?

[Jim Eshelman]

Glendale's been great. Lots of good food nearby

Besides the excellent ethnic (especially Middle Eastern) local food, last I knew there were an Olive Garden, Outback, and BJ's all close to each other.

BTW, my FLO initiation was at Glendale Masonic at California and Maryland.

Do you think the mundane aspects are still preserved for a chart like this, even after I return home?

That's one of the unknowns I leave floating in my head. I can argue theoretically that they aren't, but - in the case of your next SSR - if the Moon-Jupiter isn't there, you'd still have an angular Jupiter square Sun.

Of course, mundane aspects in the foreground are effective as part of the basic nature of the chart (like my Jupiter and Uranus angular in the last SSR, which formed a square on the angles). My only other recent mundane aspects were also ecliptical aspects. (My 2020 had a background mundane square of Sun-Saturn, but that was the year I had solar arc Saturn square my Sun - hard to distinguish.) My 2019 SSR, besides aspects in the immediate foreground, had a Mars-Saturn background square but not partile, so, again hard to judge: I did manage, at the height of the pandemic, to stay healthy and have an unusually successful and easy year, so I'm sure that aspect wasn't operative.)

I'm still not sure whether natal mundane aspects survive relocation other than in the way habits and behaviors have been formed. It does seem that one can feel the contrast of mundane aspects at birthplace vs. relocation, seeming to show a difference; and I'd like to think that 0°07' Mars-Neptune mundane square isn't my single strongest aspect (having merely a Class 1 square otherwise LOL); but, perhaps it is.

[Mike V]

I'm likely going to make the trip to CO, and I'll keep a close eye throughout the year on Moon-Jupiter and see if it feels accurate.

(I also get double Mercury conjunct on EP, along with a side of my natal Jupiter-Uranus... it really seems like an incredible chart for my career!)

[Jim Eshelman]

That was my thought. (Yeah, saw all that and figured you'd see it <g>.)

[Mike V]

I did make the trip - currently staying in Eagle, because it’s like 1/4 the price of Vail and it gives me the chance to acclimate to 6000 feet above sea level before I go up to 8000 feet. (I’ve never been at high altitude before, so I don’t know how my body is going to react. So far, nothing severe.)

On the night of the 20th, I’m staying in Vail, so I can perform my patented “sleep through the SSR” maneuver and catch a flight back to LAX thereafter.

I’ll make a separate SSR post when I’m back home, so that I have a place to put observations.

Thanks again for calling my attention to this, Jim.

[Jim Eshelman]

You're welcome. Sounds like a beautiful trip. I see currently 4° in Eagle but clear, with visibility over 12 miles - the night sky should be gorgeous.

I never had more than slight altitude issues, but I know some people do. I might suddenly notice that oxygen is a little thinner, but, for example, it doesn't trigger asthma - just tire slightly (and need to stay hydrated). Of course, alcohol will hit you almost twice as fast, which is good or bad depending . Last time we were in Colorado, we were in Denver (one mile up) for a couple of days before going to the park area near Estes Park (a second mile up). We parked at 9,000 feet IIRC, which was the snow line, then walked up to 11,000 (on a spectacularly bright, brisk day) with no symptoms except slight need to rest a couple of times.

Eagle has Sun 0°03' from Asc and Jupiter 0°08' from EP-a, but Vail does have that 0°03' Jupiter Nadir contact and all the other good stuff still sitting at 100% score. And Vail has the Moon-Jupiter mundane square 0°01', whereas in Eagle it's a "mere" 0°04' aspect. If you got stranded in Eagle it wouldn't be a horrible thing, but Vail does seem even a little bit better.