Between Heaven and Here: Darryl Gaines' Celestial Guide to People and Places
A reading with astrologer, Darryl Gaines, literally changed my life, starting with my vacation plans.
Darryl's multidisciplinary take on celestial influences has earned him celebrity clients and lifelong friends.I count myself as lucky to be among them—the friend category for now.
But I am a Leo rising…so who knows?
In 2023, he strongly urged me to visit Athens, Greece.
I had amassed a list of options within my budget for a birthday trip. The only requisite, a seaside location. It’s tradition. I’m a Pisces.
Water is my element, but regardless of the stars, water makes me feel connected to the cycle of life. We discussed my chart, where I was geographically and emotionally.
According to Darryl, Athens was it.
He explained AstroCartography, a branch of astrology that treats places like people. It examines their relationship to each other and the celestial forces in motion.
I didn’t fully understand (that’s why he’s the professional, not me). That trip to Athens altered the trajectory of my whole life from my writing goals to my romantic aspirations and creative inspiration.
What Happened in Athens?
I made instant friendships and started healing a broken heart. I discovered work connections and sources for stories that led to coveted bylines in Wine Enthusiast, Travel and Leisure, and BBC Travel.
I had started learning Greek as a productive distraction when my mom was terminally ill. Every single Athenian indulged my rudimentary language skills and taught me new words and phrases. Patience of the angels!
Language and culture go hand in hand, so I began a deep dive into Greek wine and spirits.
I’m used to living among antiquity. I chose Rome for its beauty, mythology, and the grounding quality of millennia-old marble.
Athens is older than Rome, but it pulses with the relentless creative energy of youth. I felt embraced, invigorated, motivated, and am now addicted to how I feel in Athens.
Do I believe in astrology?
Let’s first define ‘astrology.’
Etymologically, astrology is the study of the stars. From the Ancient Greek ἄστρον / astron (star) and -λογία / logia (study).
The definition has evolved, infusing mythology, religion, and spirituality into pop culture.
My first astrologer (also trained in Jungian psychotherapy) explained astrology like this:
We are all born with an electromagnetic blueprint. Stars, planets, the moon… their gravitation push and pull uniquely affects all of us. Astrology is a way of examining who we are as part of a collective energetic exchange. We are, by definition, our relationship to each other and to the world.
Do I read my daily horoscope before making major decisions? No.
Do I read Rob Brezsny’s weekly horoscope translated into Italian for his literary references, inspiration, and entertainment? Absolutely!
When I want to make sense of life events through the lens of something bigger than me, I call Darryl.
Darryl speaks the language of astrology fluently, but he uses references that resonate with me.
Music, lyrics, literature and artwork. Whether you’re a horoscope obsessive or respectfully skeptical, conversation with Darryl is eye-opening and inspiring every time.
A Career Path Written in the Stars
Born into an ultra-religious Cristian household, Darryl grew up with zero exposure to astrology. If anyone talked about it, it was demonic, the devil’s work, he says.
So how did he get here?
According to his chart, Darryl is a Cancer with a Leo rising and a Leo moon. His sun in Mercury in the 11th house governs higher consciousness, literally and figuratively. My chart confirms my astrological abilities. I’m fulfilling my purpose, he says.
And personality-wise?
A chart ruled by the sun (Leo rising) creates a need to go “center stage,” but as a service for the collective. Communicating astrology to the collective consciousness, to a receptive audience.
Likening it it the joy of hospitality: You’re the center of the party, but it’s an act of service that brings you joy. In this life you either serve or you suffer.
Leos make great leaders and stars (Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Madonna, Mick Jagger, Jennifer Lopez), but are often seen as egocentric. Darryl sees it this way: That ego impulse is necessary to deliver your message. You’re in the spotlight so that everyone can feel the sun.
Re-embracing the Divine
A reading in Germany first exposed Darryl to his birth chart and its possibilities. His resistance to his religious upbringing had made him agnostic, but a burgeoning interest in astrology ultimately brought him back to a concept of the divine.
Astrology is a celebration of the spiritual. My mission is to bring it back to being a spiritual science, like it was historically, much like Kabbala (which you couldn’t study until age 40, ie mid-life).
This makes sense astrologically too.
You have to have lived the full circle. in astrology we move through phases: We start with Aries (Mars), which rules the head and the singular ‘I’. The cycle ends with a spiritual collective in Pisces (Neptune), which rules the feet. It’s also the ‘we’, multiplicitous. I’m living my journey.
I have always considered astrology a language or a lens. We use words to describe our lives, but language is more than vocabulary. I say the same thing about wine tasting. It's history, culture, context, tradition, and ripe for interpretation.
How do you personally define astrology?
Understanding what you’ve been born with, what you’ve been through, where you are now, and where you can go. Think of astrology as ‘weather patterns.’ How to they affect your personal plans?
Awareness is also free will. According to Darryl, astrology is a celebration of autonomy in the midst of collective energy.
How do you communicate your vision to non-experts like me?
In everyone’s chart I see a story like a musical composition or a film. We’re all under the same sky, so how do these seismic shifts [the outer planets and eclipses] surrounding earth create marks in time, beats, moments to be aware of?
Words aren’t always adequate. Sometimes a piece of music, or lyrics, or a film scene will convey a sensation or a aspiration, or even personality characteristic can be made clearer via a piece of art.
How do you reconcile astrology in the context of everything we know now, the shifting of the skies, redrawing of celestial maps and planets appearing and disappearing?
How do you reconcile astrology in the context of everything we know about the redrawing of celestial maps and planets appearing and disappearing?
Interest in Astrology is growing! Especially in the last 12 years. More people than ever are interested. A lot has to do with the times we’re living in. It’s an inconvenient truth when you can’t hide behind your race or sex. Your chart see you as you are—not a census box, but a part of a celestial/spiritual collective.
Astrology is blowing up in pop culture.
During the development of humankind and throughout the world, in ancient cultures, astrology was pervasive. Darryl sights scripture. In the book of Genesis it says, ‘heavens are signs for the seasons to come.’
In the 16th and 17th centuries we got away from that, rejection of church and the spiritual. We became more man-driven, patriarchal, and singularly focused.
Today I see a palpable pushback of putting people in boxes. At same the time we cling to things like tradition that are part of our identities. This explains the draw to astrology.
My trip to Athens altered the trajectory of my whole life from my writing goals to my romantic aspirations and creative inspirations. How did you come up with the idea to associate places with an astrological interpretation?
It’s a continuing education in astrology, and it also has ancient roots. AstroCartography, also known as Locational Astrology, was practiced in pre-Roman times. There was a strong belief in universal forces upon the land.
As Above, So Below
AstroCartography is a projection of a person’s birth chart over the earth’s surface—think of tracing paper. It’s a casting of celestial chart onto the earth’s latitudinal and longitudinal delineations.
I had a reading once that said California would be the ideal place for me. My career blossomed there, so did I. First in the fitness industry where I grew a community, and later as an astrologer.
Wherever we are, we are.
That’s important too. Sometimes a move can move your world. Then again, the best place on the planet according the your chart might be in the middle of the Atlantic, so it’s that’s not necessarily practical. But it might be something to think about. Maybe you need some peace and space.
Find Darryl on Substack too!
Darryl’s Take on AstroCartography
Still a work in progress, Darryl put together his own vision of place-based astrology. He treats major cities around the world as he would his clients.
He takes into account their birthplace and time, historically and geographically.
He examines and assigns each city a zodiac-coded “personality.”
Read it here!
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