Steffy Tellez Schnaas, a holistic wellness consultant at One&Only Mandarina in Nayarit, tells me that living in Tulum is almost too easy for her. According to astrocartography, she’s supposed to feel this way. The practice uses someone’s astrological birth chart—that is, an in-depth study of personality traits based on when and where a person was born—to create a world map intersected with lines representing where luck, love, transformation, or even just good vibes await. When we chat over Zoom, she's brought both her personal chart and my own to demonstrate.
In Schnaas’ case, a Venus line for love, luxury, and ease runs directly through Tulum. “Within three months [of moving to Tulum], I ended up buying a house, and one year later I grew my business threefold,” she says. That success led to partnerships with high-end resorts like Rosewood Mayakoba and Naviva, A Four Seasons Resort, and a black book of travel agents who now regularly reach out with their clients’ birth charts, asking for honeymoon suggestions per her astrocartography analysis.
Though astrocartography has been around since the 1970s, when it was created by astrologer Jim Lewis, its popularity has been on the rise in recent years—much like that of astrology in general, which has grown into a $3 billion dollar industry in 2025, and is projected to triple in the next half-decade. According to Pew Research Center, 30% of Americans follow astrology, which also explains why it feels so palpably part of the zeitgeist. Given astrocartography's ties to place, it’s no wonder that travelers have taken an interest. If astrology can give us a way to understand our daily lives, astrocartography can, perhaps, provide a roadmap for understanding the places we go.
If you ask Schnaas, astrocartography can also tell you where not to go—or, which places may be more challenging, and even life-changing, as a result. Just before she found easy living in Tulum, Schnaas learned about astrocartography after a traumatic accident in the Middle East. “One of the biggest life shifts for me was when I broke my spine while living in Dubai,” she says. She then learned that the city was intersected by her Saturn and Mars lines of karma and confrontation—but a look at the lines over Tulum led to her harmonious new home.
Simone Alyssa, a 37-year-old lifestyle content creator, has actually moved seven times based on her astrocartography report. Before the pandemic, Simone Alyssa (who prefers to go by her first and middle name) was only traveling or relocating based on where work sent her. Once she quit her corporate role to pursue social media full-time, Simone Alyssa sought new sources of inspiration to decide where to go next. That's when she discovered astrocartography.
It began with travel: Simone Alyssa created an astrocartography series on TikTok—through which she highlighted her adventures to places like Chicago, Laguna Beach, and Seattle, which were intersected by various lines, and relayed how they made her feel. She then followed her Jupiter descendent line, which stands for luck and abundance in the context of relationships, to Nashville. Despite having never considered Nashville as a potential home, she was allured by the idea that her social connections would thrive there and decided to settle.
To her surprise, Nashville brought more social visibility than she was prepared for. “I had plans every single day—people were stopping me at the mall or in restaurants, and that was debilitating for me,” says Simone Alyssa, who also shared her Nashville move on TikTok. “I tried to stay in my apartment, and people were actually showing up [there].” As an introvert, she realized that while she enjoyed posting on social media, the visibility that came with her success was more than she could handle. There was just something different once she got to Nashville, she says. She decided to break her lease and leave the city.
Simone Alyssa’s experience in Nashville, though uncomfortable, supports something Schnaas repeats to clients: Stereotypically “bad” lines can also be the most insightful to follow. “A client of mine had an important position in Los Angeles,” says Schnaas. “During a period of personal growth, he wanted to sell his company; he was struggling with not knowing what to do next.” Her client went on a retreat to his Saturn line—which symbolizes challenge, karma, and integrity—in Berlin. Schnaas believes that visiting ones' Saturn line can help build resiliency, and lead to self-empowerment. It worked: He came back ready to pivot, and confident in his decision to do so. “He changed how he operates, aligning the business more closely with his personal integrity,” she says.
After leaving Nashville, Simone Alyssa moved to Salt Lake City to regroup. It falls under Simone Alyssa’s Pluto line, which represents transformation, rebirth, and empowerment as it relates to her home, roots, and sense of stability. It's been the perfect balance of community, without the overwhelming sensation she felt in Nashville. “Now that I’m here, I still feel like I’m in my little shell, but it’s different,” says Simone Alyssa.
Others worry, though, that the anguish of living on a challenging line can follow you even after moving away from it. It gets under your skin, says online personality Tyler Crawford. “In my case, I moved straight from my Saturn line [of challenge and discipline] in Florida into my Sun line of identity, foundations, and inner-restructuring in Austin, so that Saturn energy still lingers,” he says. A scooter accident when he arrived in Austin made him feel he hadn't outrun the Saturn of it all; but the incident also gave him crucial time to reflect on his life and what he wanted in the future (hello, Sun line). “It gave me the space and clarity I needed,” he says. He is now planning a 2026 move to New York, which is intersected by his Jupiter line for luck and abundance related to his career.
Perhaps none of this is because of astrocartography. Maybe it's all random, or more about the nature of the cities themselves. (“I am a Scorpio, so I'm a realist,” Simone Alyssa tells me.) But even if none of these predictions hold any weight, then astrocartography can, at the very least, provide another source of inspiration in thinking about where to go next. Like all astrology, you don't have to buy in completely to have a little fun.
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Before interviewing Schnaas, I'd provided her with the details on my time and place of birth, so she could read my astrocartography chart like she does for her clients. In our call, she showed me an entire powerpoint of places summarizing its findings: One page was dedicated to love, luxury, and joy, and spotlit Stockholm and the Maldives as hotspots where I may find them. Egypt and Tunisia, meanwhile, sit under planetary lines for discipline and karma, which Schnaas really thinks I should consider based on what she learned from her time in Dubai.
My map also suggests that I could heal trauma in Miami, but Schnaas takes liberty in editorializing. “I don’t know if Miami would be a place where I would go to do that,” she laughs. Then she notices that I have my Saturn return—which is a time of karmic lessons one faces in their late twenties—coming up next year. “My suggestion would be, instead of waiting for your Saturn return to drive you slowly across the three years where it's transmuting and elevating you, just go to Egypt or Jordan and be like, just teach me,“ she says.
When we hang up, I weigh my options. Karmic endings and beginnings? Or luxury and joy in the Maldives? Ultimately, I Google flights to the latter.
To read your own astrocartography chart, head to Astro-Seek.com, where you’ll also find more information on each planetary line. You can also book virtual astrocartography readings with Steffy Tellez Schnaas on her website. For more astrology, check out astrologer Steph Koyfman’s monthly horoscope column here on cntraveler.com.
