Moving to New York: Astrocartography and Your Relocation Chart
4 min read
New York lies at about 40.7°N, 74.0°W. Moving there from Kyiv rotates your chart's meridian about 104.5° west, from Kharkiv about 110°, and from Warsaw about 95°. From Kyiv the Midheaven moves roughly 100–109 zodiac degrees, about three and a half signs, so nearly every planet changes house. New York is also about 9.7° south of Kyiv, which on its own shifts the Ascendant by about 6° on average and up to about 10°. Any MC or IC line between roughly 76.4°W and 71.6°W passes within about 200 km of the city.
New York on the map
New York sits at about 40.7°N and 74.0°W. At that latitude one degree of longitude is about 84 km, so any MC or IC line between roughly 76.4°W and 71.6°W passes within about 200 km of the city. That band covers the New York metro area, New Jersey, Philadelphia, most of Connecticut and reaches toward Rhode Island. If you are new to reading lines, start with How to Read an Astrocartography Map.
The New York area has one of the oldest Ukrainian communities in the United States, from the East Village to Brooklyn and New Jersey. For people from Ukraine it is among the largest relocations possible, in distance and in the chart.
How far your chart rotates
| Moving from | Longitude | Shift to New York | Latitude change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kharkiv | 36.2°E | about 110.2° west | 9.3° south |
| Dnipro | 35.0°E | about 109.1° west | 7.8° south |
| Odesa | 30.7°E | about 104.7° west | 5.8° south |
| Kyiv | 30.5°E | about 104.5° west | 9.7° south |
| Lviv | 24.0°E | about 98.0° west | 9.1° south |
| Warsaw | 21.0°E | about 95.0° west | 11.5° south |
| Berlin | 13.4°E | about 87.4° west | 11.8° south |
A rotation of more than 90° means the chart is not "slightly adjusted". Roughly speaking, the part of the sky that was on your Midheaven at birth sits just below the Ascendant in New York, so 10th-house planets tend to land in the 1st, and planets in other houses move by a similar amount. Because New York is also almost 10° south of Kyiv, the house sizes even out as well. The Toronto guide explains this pattern with a diagram, and the relocation chart article shows how to build the chart.
The opposite meridian
Every planet's MC and IC lines are exactly 180° apart. New York's meridian, about 74°W, is opposite about 106°E, a line that passes near Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta and through central Siberia. If your map shows a planet's IC line near Ho Chi Minh City, the same planet's MC line runs through New York, and vice versa. It is a quick way to read the Americas from the part of the map you may already know.
Each time zone is another half sign
For people choosing between US cities, the differences are large, because the mainland US spans almost 60° of longitude.
| City | Latitude | Longitude | Rotation vs New York |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston | 42.4°N | 71.1°W | about 3° east |
| Philadelphia | 40.0°N | 75.2°W | about 1.2° west |
| Washington, D.C. | 38.9°N | 77.0°W | about 3° west |
| Chicago | 41.9°N | 87.6°W | about 13.6° west |
| Denver | 39.7°N | 105.0°W | about 31° west |
| Los Angeles | 34.1°N | 118.2°W | about 44° west |
Moving from New York to Chicago turns the chart nearly half a sign; to Denver, about a sign; to Los Angeles, about a sign and a half. The East Coast cities from Boston to Washington span only about 6° of longitude, so a single MC or IC line often touches two or three of them.
A worked example: New York, Philadelphia or Chicago
Consider Serhiy, a hypothetical client born in Odesa, who is starting a business and weighing New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. He wants growth and good fortune in his work. Suppose his Jupiter MC line runs at about 75°W.
For Serhiy, New York and Philadelphia are both in the strong zone; Chicago is out of range for this line. Being born in Odesa, he has the smallest latitude change of any Ukrainian birthplace in the table, about 5.8°, so his New York chart keeps more of its natal proportions than a Kyiv-born person's would. Next, he checks which planets became angular in his New York chart.
For Jupiter themes, see Jupiter Line Astrocartography.
A short checklist for New York
- Confirm your birth time and the historical time zone of your birthplace.
- Note your MC and IC lines between about 77°W and 71°W, and check the opposite meridian near 106°E for the same planets.
- Build a New York relocation chart from scratch: note the rising sign, the Midheaven sign and which planets sit on angles.
- If other US cities are options, compare their charts; each time zone adds about half a sign.
- Weigh the result against immigration status, work, housing and community.
For the big picture, see the astrocartography guide.
Key takeaways
- From Kyiv, New York rotates your chart about 104.5°; from Kharkiv about 110°; from Odesa about 104.7°; from Lviv about 98°; from Warsaw about 95°.
- A rotation of three and a half signs moves nearly every planet, typically by three or four houses.
- New York's MC lines are IC lines on the opposite meridian, about 106°E, which runs near Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta.
- Philadelphia is only about 1.2° west of New York and shares its MC and IC lines; Boston is about 3° east and Chicago about 13.6° west.
- Across the US, each time zone west adds roughly another half sign of rotation.
