After reading this report with some fascination, I have come to agree with the often heard adage, "Location, location, location. Astro*Carto*Graphy was first introduced as a technique in 1976 and it gained wide acceptance within the astrological community. It is based on the common idea that a person can have different chances, fortune, experiences or opportunities in different localities. It looks at the planet's relationships to your locality at your birth moment. If a planet was particularly strong in the location of your birth, then its' influence will continue if you travel, reside or have any involvement with the area from another place.

This system also operates under the insight that you can find yourself obliged to live in a less than optimum locality setting. The information offered requires you to look beneath any superficial desires or concerns that you are operating under, and try to understand just what state of emerging consciousness could have brought you to this place. This allows you the unique opportunity to overcome the sometimes very Dark Night of the Soul interpretations that can occur and learn to recognize the positive aspects which will help you overcome any dark or negative planetary influence. Saturn and Neptune can be particularly heavy planetary influences and my locality report was heavily influenced by Saturn and it's many dark aspects. My Permanent Influence (Lines) was Saturn and My Secondary Influence (Crossings) was the Moon and Mars. Sounds pretty heavy already doesn't it.

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I travel a hard road. I have always held the thought that since I could never find a road, I was going to have to build one. It certainly has been no day on the beach, but I certainly wouldn't be who I am today, if it weren't for the challenges of my life which forced the exploration of my Higher Darkness. I feel that this report has captured the weight of my experience and gave me some reassurance that I have done my best to embrace this darkness. I was brought here out of need for deeper investigation of my darker side and my hidden self. The planetary influence has also brought me head to head with the negative aspects of Saturn: people who lust for power; dealing with entrenched authority and being powerless to frustrating, unresponsive people who "hold unassailable power over you"; blind conservatism and institutional dehumanization (see anything I have written about Hydro Ottawaand that is only one example). This area has also brought me depressed health and emotional levels plus lots of hard work. It has been a slow, painful progress, just as the report states, which has made me learn how powerful determination, tenacity and resoluteness can be. I don't take one step backwards - not anymore. As St. John of the Cross said "....the endurance of darkness is preparation for great light."

The report also emphasizes that I am here in an attempt to resolve my relationship with my Father. I am repeating my paternal experience over and over again in my relationships with all the males in my life. I do have a lot of male friends at this point in my life, more male than female, and they are true friendships which have grown over time. I have also taken in 9 young men here and helped them regain their sense of balance and stability. I think this worked out because I can understand dangerously unloved and damaged (I think my cooking went over well too). The relationship with my Father has not improved, maybe I have just finally let go and I accept that he won't change - he prefers my brothers, it is his choice, and I will never have his approval or love. One of the great sadnesses in my life is how much I adored my Father, but never managed more than the smallest crumb off his table. This is where I learned to feast on a crumb and it has not served me well in my life. I always take the least for myself, give more than I have to give, and twist myself into a pretzel to please and appease people around me. If I could only be perfect, then my Father will love me. All it has gotten me is disrespect, disillusionment, low self-esteem, impotent anger, and the recurrent problem of people making very assumptive, hurtful and erroneous judgments about me. The report also very strongly captures the periods of hardship, financial difficulty, hunger, delays, disappointments and loneliness. It also speaks of miserliness which I must admit is the basis of most of my intimate relationships - I can always find an emotional miser.

In a more positive turn, the report also points out that in spite of (or maybe it is because of), these hardships in my experiences, it has brought hardwork, willpower, frugality, taking life one day at a time, thinking little of pleasure or rewards but has kept me focused on humility and doing a good job. The report also says orderliness but the last word I would use to describe myself is orderly unless orderly chaos is an option. This location and my need for self-protection has also lead to my dabbling in the "forbidden" - the occult and black arts. The more you study and research in the area of Tarot, Divination, Omens, Superstitions and Dreams, the more you are exposed to. Your discernment has to be razor-sharp. I am doing the right kind of work here though, earthy and self-motivated, although my thinking and my writing is often preoccupied with death, materialism and fate.

The report often makes reference to my hermit like qualities, I excell in self-denial, mortification for the sake of others, comtemplation and self-mastery. This area has allowed me to get in touch with Earth centred traditions, Native Spirituality and more primal, tribal types of social community even if isolation is part of my environment and I do lack in social accessibility. The limiteations of this area have helped me identify the limits of my endurance. It has also put me in a very "masculine" dominated world and my very poor intimate relationships with men have been glaringly dangerous and painful here. I draw men to me who can only show me anger, vindictiveness, rage and erractic behaviours - sex without love or affection, emotionally detached and unavailable, no faithfulness and a cruel need to destroy me because I will not be mastered. They are victims of their own self-pride and a "macho" masculinity which manifests as materialism, egotism and jealous paranoia. Add that to the issues with authority and my need for self-protection, I have had to stand on shaky ground alone for a very long time, it is little wonder I tell battered women to buy life insurance.

The Locality Report is broken down into several sections. The length of a report may vary for each individual. My report is laid out in the following manner: Your Chart Data; Introduction; If You're Just Visiting, You Made a Rather Strange Choice; If You Plan to Live Here, You'd Better Like Working; The God Who Didn't Take Chances; It's Hard to Know When You Need Discipline; Where Pleasure Seems Trivial; The Magnetism of What is Feared; The Inner Desert; Secondary Influences; It's Hard Work to be a Hero; and the Epilogue. All in all this is a very thorough report and provided me information which I strongly recognized and identified with. It was not easy to read or to absorb. My grievances were very clearly articulated in this report but some good insights on how to deal positively with these influences was certainly beneficial.

I think most people would find this a very unique appraisal of their life circumstance. If you were considering a move or were finding life difficult, it would certainly give some great insights into just why all this is happening to you or if you would be better off, or worse off, in another area. Like I said, it's all about location, location, location. While my report may seem very dark, please bear in mind that this is my report for my circumstances, and yours could be very much different. You can order your own locality report via email to Bewitched Astrology. An emailed report is $15Cdn, payable using PayPal or you can request a hard copy snail-mailed for $20 Cdn. Definitely worth checking out.