Astro*Carto*Graphy® Consultation with Wayne Moody (6/24/11)
By Tara McKinney
This is the first in a series of Notes from the Editor in which I share personal reflections on astrological readings I have been very fortunate to receive from each of the gifted consultants on Inner Sight/ILE’s new Astrology page. By the way, I just need to say that it’s part of my job description to do stuff like this, so how great is that?!
My first reading was with Wayne Moody, Astro*Carto*Grapher® and talismanic wizard extraordinaire. I had never really understood the metaphysical principles upon which Astro*Carto*Graphy® is based before my consultation with Wayne, but am now a crazed convert to his passionate cause and truly inspired vision. In the words of Wayne’s mentor, Jim Lewis, the moment of one’s birth is “multi-locational.” Though we are each born at one location on the planet, we are intimately related in ways that are astrologically-comprehensible and profoundly-impactful to various other locations on the planet, as a direct consequence of our birth moment. According to this perspective, an earthquake on the other side of the world in a region intersected by your Mars Midheaven line, though unbeknownst to you, might suddenly give you a headache or cause you to feel inexplicably unsettled and anxious. A peaceful revolution in an impoverished country intersected by your Jupiter Midheaven line, on the other hand, might inspire you to make a generous donation to a worthy cause or spontaneously fill your heart with gratitude and hope for humanity, even without conscious knowledge that such a revolution had occurred. The variations on this theme are as endless as there are people, places and events finding complexly interwoven confluence with one another.
As Wayne explained, the angular lines in a person’s Astro*Carto*Graphy® chart, especially the Midheaven and Ascendant, are of primary significance when considering such issues of confluence. Having recently relocated to New Orleans, I was thrilled to learn that Venus is on my Midheaven here by a tight conjunction of less than two degrees. Anyone who has read my many gushing blogs on New Orleans would probably not be surprised to hear this, as I have clearly fallen in love with this place in ways that are difficult to explain yet deeply felt.
Another important configuration that plays out in my Astro*Carto*Graphy® map of New Orleans, bringing Saturn into the mix in a big way, is something called a “paran,” or crossing line. As Wayne explained it, a paran occurs anywhere on the planet where two planetary angular lines cross one another. In my case, my Venus Descendant line crosses my Saturn Midheaven line in the Mediterranean just south of Italy and west of Greece at approximately 29 degrees latitude. This paran wraps itself around the planet, connecting me in especially impactful ways to those places which fall within a degree, plus or minus, the 29 degrees latitude marker, including, by the way, New Orleans.
Given the fact that I am living on a Venus/Saturn paran line here in New Orleans, I commissioned Wayne to create Venus and Saturn talismans for me. Think of that favorite scarf or pair of earrings you used to wear whenever you had a challenging meeting and needed to create a protective energy field around yourself and you will get the general idea of what a talisman is all about. Another example: My brother wore the same pair of unwashed socks during every football game his senior year of high school. He was the captain of the team and they were his good luck charms, aka talismans, stinky and stiff with grime, but effective, nonetheless. His team was unbeaten and unscored upon the entire season.
Wayne’s method for creating talismans is completely original, highly intentional and pure genius. He locates the four angular lines for whatever planet is most significant in your Astro*Carto*Graphy® chart, then meticulously finds just the right gemstones or stones from the far-flung locations where each of these lines fall. As a geologist and long-time collector and cataloger of stones from around the world, his resources are formidable and what he doesn’t already have in his own private collection, he will find for you and have delivered to his doorstep. Once your four stones are gathered together in his office, he will either create the talisman for you, if you prefer, or send you the stones so you can arrange them in whatever way you feel guided. Either way, the results are infinitely more powerful than my brother’s stinky socks and much more aesthetically pleasing, as well. In fact, if your experience is anything like mine, you will feel disparate parts of yourself coming together and into alignment for the first time. You may even feel more grounded and empowered than perhaps you ever have and may finally know what it means to be an earthling and a citizen of the world.
(For a more detailed and personal version of this piece, please see my blog: Astro*Carto* Graphy®: A Geographic Mapping of the Soul.)
