#guide

[thisispaper]

Nikolaj Kunsthal Café + Boutique by Engel Architects — Thisispaper → https://www.thisispaper.com/mag/nikolaj-kunsthal-engel-architects

[tolaceworks]

made an image to help myself draw Sonic better. thought id send it here as well for everyone! im aware the text is hard to read, so let me put it here:

treat his eye like theyre two eyes. they have eyelids, but can be posed with the eyebrow ridge.

draw his spikes sharp and long. swoosh them out and clean up after!

when he looks forward, it looks like a star! or a pine tree.

hes roughly 3 and 1/2 head circles tall. keep that in mind! his hands and feed should also be roughly as big as his head.

his feet are kinda like pizza slices, if it helps planning them out.

keep the shading on him DYNAMIC, his fur isnt matte and it can sometimes be glossy.

Sonic isnt rigid! snazz him up, make him however you like! just remember, as long as hes cool, thats Sonic :3

[nikoco11]

my recipe for drawing hands!

(small note that this is a shortcut that is more abt style and ease than anatomical accuracy. it helps to take time to really properly study hands, makes it easier to bend the rules a bit like this and have it still look good!!)

(learn rules b4 u break them or whatevah)

[tofupixel]

⭐ So you want to learn pixel art? ⭐

🔹 Part 1 of ??? - The Basics!

Edit: Now available in Google Doc format if you don't have a Tumblr account 🥰

Hello, my name is Tofu and I'm a professional pixel artist. I have been supporting myself with freelance pixel art since 2020, when I was let go from my job during the pandemic.

My progress, from 2017 to 2024. IMO the only thing that really matters is time and effort, not some kind of natural talent for art.

This guide will not be comprehensive, as nobody should be expected to read allat. Instead I will lean heavily on my own experience, and share what worked for me, so take everything with a grain of salt. This is a guide, not a tutorial. Cheers!

🔹 Do I need money?

NO!!! Pixel art is one of the most accessible mediums out there.

I still use a mouse because I prefer it to a tablet! You won't be at any disadvantage here if you can't afford the best hardware or software.

Because our canvases are typically very small, you don't need a good PC to run a good brush engine or anything like that.

✨Did you know? One of the most skilled and beloved pixel artists uses MS PAINT! Wow!!

🔹 What software should I use?

Here are some of the most popular programs I see my friends and peers using. Stars show how much I recommend the software for beginners! ⭐

💰 Paid options:

⭐⭐⭐ Aseprite (for PC) - $19.99

This is what I and many other pixel artists use. You may find when applying to jobs that they require some knowledge of Aseprite. Since it has become so popular, companies like that you can swap raw files between artists.

Aseprite is amazingly customizable, with custom skins, scripts and extensions on Itch.io, both free and paid.

If you have ever used any art software before, it has most of the same features and should feel fairly familiar to use. It features a robust animation suite and a tilemap feature, which have saved me thousands of hours of labour in my work. The software is also being updated all the time, and the developers listen to the users. I really recommend Aseprite!

⭐ Photoshop (for PC) - Monthly $$

A decent option for those who already are used to the PS interface. Requires some setup to get it ready for pixel-perfect art, but there are plenty of tutorials for doing so.

Animation is also much more tedious on PS which you may want to consider before investing time!

⭐⭐ ProMotion NG (for PC) - $19.00

An advanced and powerful software which has many features Aseprite does not, including Colour Cycling and animated tiles.

⭐⭐⭐ Pixquare (for iOS) - $7.99 - $19.99 (30% off with code 'tofu'!!)

Probably the best app available for iPad users, in active development, with new features added all the time.

Look! My buddy Jon recommends it highly, and uses it often.

One cool thing about Pixquare is that it takes Aseprite raw files! Many of my friends use it to work on the same project, both in their office and on the go.

⭐ Procreate (for iOS) - $12.99

If you have access to Procreate already, it's a decent option to get used to doing pixel art. It does however require some setup. Artist Pixebo is famously using Procreate, and they have tutorials of their own if you want to learn.

⭐⭐ ReSprite iOS and Android. (free trial, but:) $19.99 premium or $$ monthly

ReSprite is VERY similar in terms of UI to Aseprite, so I can recommend it. They just launched their Android release!

🆓 Free options:

⭐⭐⭐ Libresprite (for PC)

Libresprite is an alternative to Aseprite. It is very, very similar, to the point where documentation for Aseprite will be helpful to Libresprite users.

⭐⭐ Pixilart (for PC and mobile)

A free in-browser app, and also a mobile app! It is tied to the website Pixilart, where artists upload and share their work. A good option for those also looking to get involved in a community.

⭐⭐ Dotpict (for mobile)

Dotpict is similar to Pixilart, with a mobile app tied to a website, but it's a Japanese service. Did you know that in Japanese, pixel art is called 'Dot Art'? Dotpict can be a great way to connect with a different community of pixel artists! They also have prompts and challenges often.

🔹 So I got my software, now what?

◽Nice! Now it's time for the basics of pixel art.

❗ WAIT ❗ Before this section, I want to add a little disclaimer. All of these rules/guidelines can be broken at will, and some 'no-nos' can look amazing when done intentionally.

The pixel-art fundamentals can be exceedingly helpful to new artists, who may feel lost or overwhelmed by choice. But if you feel they restrict you too harshly, don't force yourself! At the end of the day it's your art, and you shouldn't try to contort yourself into what people think a pixel artist 'should be'. What matters is your own artistic expression. 💕👍

◽Phew! With that out of the way...

🔸"The Rules"

There are few hard 'rules' of pixel art, mostly about scaling and exporting. Some of these things will frequently trip up newbies if they aren't aware, and are easy to overlook.

🔹Scaling method

There are a couple ways of scaling your art. The default in most art programs, and the entire internet, is Bi-linear scaling, which usually works out fine for most purposes. But as pixel artists, we need a different method.

Both are scaled up x10. See the difference?

On the left is scaled using Bilinear, and on the right is using Nearest-Neighbor. We love seeing those pixels stay crisp and clean, so we use nearest-neighbor. 

(Most pixel-art programs have nearest-neighbor enabled by default! So this may not apply to you, but it's important to know.)

🔹Mixels

Mixels are when there are different (mixed) pixel sizes in the same image.

Here I have scaled up my art- the left is 200%, and the right is 150%. Yuck!

As we can see, the "pixel" sizes end up different. We generally try to scale our work by multiples of 100 - 200%, 300% etc. rather than 150%. At larger scales however, the minute differences in pixel sizes are hardly noticeable!

Mixels are also sometimes seen when an artist scales up their work, then continues drawing on it with a 1 pixel brush.

Many would say that this is not great looking! This type of pixels can be indicative of a beginner artist. But there are plenty of creative pixel artists out there who mixels intentionally, making something modern and cool.

🔹Saving Your Files

We usually save our still images as .PNGs as they don’t create any JPEG artifacts or loss of quality. It's a little hard to see here, but there are some artifacts, and it looks a little blurry. It also makes the art very hard to work with if we are importing a JPEG.

For animations .GIF is good, but be careful of the 256 colour limit. Try to avoid using too many blending mode layers or gradients when working with animations. If you aren’t careful, your animation could flash afterwards, as the .GIF tries to reduce colours wherever it can. It doesn’t look great!

Here's an old piece from 2021 where I experienced .GIF lossiness, because I used gradients and transparency, resulting in way too many colours.

🔹Pixel Art Fundamentals - Techniques and Jargon

❗❗Confused about Jaggies? Anti-Aliasing? Banding? Dithering? THIS THREAD is for you❗❗ << it's a link, click it!!

As far as I'm concerned, this is THE tutorial of all time for understanding pixel art. These are techniques created and named by the community of people who actually put the list together, some of the best pixel artists alive currently. Please read it!!

🔸How To Learn

Okay, so you have your software, and you're all ready to start. But maybe you need some more guidance? Try these tutorials and resources! It can be helpful to work along with a tutorial until you build your confidence up.

⭐⭐ Pixel Logic (A Digital Book) - $10 A very comprehensive visual guide book by a very skilled and established artist in the industry. I own a copy myself.

⭐⭐⭐ StudioMiniBoss - free A collection of visual tutorials, by the artist that worked on Celeste! When starting out, if I got stuck, I would go and scour his tutorials and see how he did it.

⭐ Lospec Tutorials - free A very large collection of various tutorials from all over the internet. There is a lot to sift through here if you have the time.

⭐⭐⭐ Cyangmou's Tutorials - free (tipping optional) Cyangmou is one of the most respected and accomplished modern pixel artists, and he has amassed a HUGE collection of free and incredibly well-educated visual tutorials. He also hosts an educational stream every week on Twitch called 'pixelart for beginners'.

⭐⭐⭐ Youtube Tutorials - free There are hundreds, if not thousands of tutorials on YouTube, but it can be tricky to find the good ones. My personal recommendations are MortMort, Brandon, and AdamCYounis- these guys really know what they're talking about!

🔸 How to choose a canvas size

When looking at pixel art turorials, we may see people suggest things like 16x16, 32x32 and 64x64. These are standard sizes for pixel art games with tiles. However, if you're just making a drawing, you don't necessarily need to use a standard canvas size like that.

What I like to think about when choosing a canvas size for my illustrations is 'what features do I think it is important to represent?' And make my canvas as small as possible, while still leaving room for my most important elements.

Imagine I have characters in a scene like this:

I made my canvas as small as possible (232 x 314), but just big enough to represent the features and have them be recognizable (it's Good Omens fanart 😤)!! If I had made it any bigger, I would be working on it for ever, due to how much more foliage I would have to render.

If you want to do an illustration and you're not sure, just start at somewhere around 100x100 - 200x200 and go from there.

It's perfectly okay to crop your canvas, or scale it up, or crunch your art down at any point if you think you need a different size. I do it all the time! It only takes a bit of cleanup to get you back to where you were.

🔸Where To Post

Outside of just regular socials, Twitter, Tumblr, Deviantart, Instagram etc, there are a few places that lean more towards pixel art that you might not have heard of.

⭐ Lospec Lospec is a low-res focused art website. Some pieces get given a 'monthly masterpiece' award. Not incredibly active, but I believe there are more features being added often.

⭐⭐ Pixilart Pixilart is a very popular pixel art community, with an app tied to it. The community tends to lean on the young side, so this is a low-pressure place to post with an relaxed vibe.

⭐⭐ Pixeljoint Pixeljoint is one of the big, old-school pixel art websites. You can only upload your art unscaled (1x) because there is a built-in zoom viewer. It has a bit of a reputation for being elitist (back in the 00s it was), but in my experience it's not like that any more. This is a fine place for a pixel artist to post if they are really interested in learning, and the history. The Hall of Fame has some of the most famous / impressive pixel art pieces that paved the way for the work we are doing today.

⭐⭐⭐ Cafe Dot Cafe Dot is my art server so I'm a little biased here. 🍵 It was created during the recent social media turbulence. We wanted a place to post art with no algorithms, and no NFT or AI chuds. We have a heavy no-self-promotion rule, and are more interested in community than skill or exclusivity. The other thing is that we have some kind of verification system- you must apply to be a Creator before you can post in the Art feed, or use voice. This helps combat the people who just want to self-promo and dip, or cause trouble, as well as weed out AI/NFT people. Until then, you are still welcome to post in any of the threads or channels. There is a lot to do in Cafe Dot. I host events weekly, so check the threads!

⭐⭐/r/pixelart The pixel art subreddit is pretty active! I've also heard some of my friends found work through posting here, so it's worth a try if you're looking. However, it is still Reddit- so if you're sensitive to rude people, or criticism you didn't ask for, you may want to avoid this one. Lol

🔸 Where To Find Work

You need money? I got you! As someone who mostly gets scouted on social media, I can share a few tips with you:

Put your email / portfolio in your bio Recruiters don't have all that much time to find artists, make it as easy as possible for someone to find your important information!

Clean up your profile If your profile feed is all full of memes, most people will just tab out rather than sift through. Doesn't apply as much to Tumblr if you have an art tag people can look at.

Post regularly, and repost Activity beats everything in the social media game. It's like rolling the dice, and the more you post the more chances you have. You have to have no shame, it's all business baby

Outside of just posting regularly and hoping people reach out to you, it can be hard to know where to look. Here are a few places you can sign up to and post around on.

/r/INAT INAT (I Need A Team) is a subreddit for finding a team to work with. You can post your portfolio here, or browse for people who need artists.

/r/GameDevClassifieds Same as above, but specifically for game-related projects.

Remote Game Jobs / Work With Indies Like Indeed but for game jobs. Browse them often, or get email notifications.

VGen VGen is a website specifically for commissions. You need a code from another verified artist before you can upgrade your account and sell, so ask around on social media or ask your friends. Once your account is upgraded, you can make a 'menu' of services people can purchase, and they send you an offer which you are able to accept, decline, or counter.

The evil websites of doom: Fiverr and Upwork I don't recommend them!! They take a big cut of your profit, and the sites are teeming with NFT and AI people hoping to make a quick buck. The site is also extremely oversaturated and competitive, resulting in a race to the bottom (the cheapest, the fastest, doing the most for the least). Imagine the kind of clients who go to these websites, looking for the cheapest option. But if you're really desperate...

🔸 Community

I do really recommend getting involved in a community. Finding like-minded friends can help you stay motivated to keep drawing. One day, those friends you met when you were just starting out may become your peers in the industry. Making friends is a game changer!

Discord servers Nowadays, the forums of old are mostly abandoned, and people split off into many different servers. Cafe Dot, Pixel Art Discord (PAD), and if you can stomach scrolling past all the AI slop, you can browse Discord servers here.

Twitch Streams Twitch has kind of a bad reputation for being home to some of the more edgy gamers online, but the pixel art community is extremely welcoming and inclusive. Some of the people I met on Twitch are my friends to this day, and we've even worked together on different projects! Browse pixel art streams here, or follow some I recommend: NickWoz, JDZombi, CupOhJoe, GrayLure, LumpyTouch, FrankiePixelShow, MortMort, Sodor, NateyCakes, NyuraKim, ShinySeabass, I could go on for ever really... There are a lot of good eggs on Pixel Art Twitch.

🔸 Other Helpful Websites

Palettes Lospec has a huge collection of user-made palettes, for any artist who has trouble choosing their colours, or just wants to try something fun. Rejected Palettes is full of palettes that didn't quite make it onto Lospec, ran by people who believe there are no bad colours.

The Spriters Resource TSR is an incredible website where users can upload spritesheets and tilesets from games. You can browse for your favourite childhood game, and see how they made it! This website has helped me so much in understanding how game assets come together in a scene.

VGMaps Similar to the above, except there are entire maps laid out how they would be played. This is incredible if you have to do level design, or for mocking up a scene for fun.

Game UI Database Not pixel-art specific, but UI is a very challenging part of graphics, so this site can be a game-changer for finding good references!

Retronator A digital newspaper for pixel-art lovers! New game releases, tutorials, and artworks!

Itch.io A website where people can upload, games, assets, tools... An amazing hub for game devs and game fans alike. A few of my favourite tools: Tiled, PICO-8, Pixel Composer, Juice FX, Magic Pencil for Aseprite

🔸 The End?

This is just part 1 for now, so please drop me a follow to see any more guides I release in the future. I plan on doing some writeups on how I choose colours, how to practise, and more!

I'm not an expert by any means, but everything I did to get to where I am is outlined in this guide. Pixel art is my passion, my job and my hobby! I want pixel art to be recognized everywhere as an art-form, a medium of its own outside of game-art or computer graphics!

This guide took me a long time, and took a lot of research and experience. Consider following me or supporting me if you are feeling generous.

And good luck to all the fledgling pixel artists, I hope you'll continue and have fun. I hope my guide helped you, and don't hesitate to send me an ask if you have any questions! 💕

My other tutorials (so far): How to draw Simple Grass for a game Hue Shifting

[nicheguides]

Going Mad at Sea: A Packing List.

Are you planning on a nautical severance from your sanity? Here are some things to consider packing along!

[nyancrimew]

how to mix modern rock music, the last guide you'll ever need

[lucrezianoin]

How to bookbind your fanfic!

Part 1: From AO3 to printing

The necessary first step is turning your AO3 fanfic into booklets. Your whole book will be a bunch of booklets piled on top of each others and stitched together.

Booklet examples:

Btw, this is the official Word tutorial on how to make a booklet.

You can see there are different options. I usually do 8 pages, which is what you will see in the video. This means that a booklet of 8 pages is two sheets of paper, printed front and back, folded and one put inside the other. To have your word pages in the correct order you will need to format your word document.

Everything is in the video but here is the text for easy reading (btw the fanfic I used is Exit by schwutthing, an amazing Valjean/Javert fic)

Do not download the fanfic on AO3. Click on "Entire work" and copy paste it on word.

Format your word document. Click on File-> Margins. Select "Multiple pages: Book fold" and "Sheets per booklet: 8". Put "Gutter" to 1cm.

Double click on the empty area just above your text, on a random page of the document. This will make the "Do not download the fanfic on AO3. Click on "Entire work" and copy paste it on word.

Format your word document. Click on File-> Margins. Select "Multiple pages: Book fold" and "Sheets per booklet: 8". Put "Gutter" to 1cm.

Double click on the empty area just above your text, on a random page of the document. This will make the "Header and Footer" option appear. You can click on "Footer" and select the format for the pages' number. Always add the pages number, it will make your life easier.

Now you can justify your book. I usually justify (select all text with CTRL+A and click on Justify), but keep in mind that some documents might not enjoy passing through "justify" so double check your final document. For example, if there are lines of poetry and the author wrote into the next line without starting a new paragraph the justify option will make it weird.

Make your book pretty! I added some illustrations and blank pages. I also made the title of the fanfic bigger.

Fix the chapters' titles and notes. I clicked on Home-> Find and searched for "Chapter", so I could select on each chapter title and make it bold, and also delete the "Chapter text" added just after. You can do the same with "notes" in case you want to delete notes.

Now it is time to print! I prefer to save in pdf before, so I will do that.

IF YOU HAVE A PRINTER THAT DOES NOT PRINT BOTH SIDES

Click on print

Select "Microsoft print to pdf"

Select "Manually print on both sides"

This will create two different files pdf, one for the front pages, and one for the back pages.

Click on the file for the front pages and print them all. Do not panic if you see the pages number all over it.

Now take your printed (only on one side) block of pages and load it into your printer again, making sure that you will now print on the blank back. Open your back pages pdf file and print.

(you can do a trial with a few pages to see if everything is lining up correctly).

IF YOU HAVE A PRINTER THAT PRINT BOTH SIDES

"Click on print

Select "Microsoft print to pdf"

Select "Print on one side"

This will create a single pdf that you can print on your both-sides printer. You will see that the page are not in the order you had on the word document, but the whole file will start with page 8 (see video).

Now print!

What you want is this:

You can see that on the front you have page 8 first, page 1 after, because when folded it will end up with page 1 at the start of your booklet! And on the back of this first sheet you have 7 and 2, that will end up in the correct position.

Now you will have a lot of pages... time to fold and create your booklet! Every two sheets... you will fold as you see above.

Next post will be specifically about folding the booklet, making the holes and sewing them together.

[pixelguzzler]

i has a question.

how do you manage to make pixel art fit with the drawn parts of the art pieces? i think you're amazing and i love your art style, but it's amazing how you manage to make it feel like they fit in the same universe even being different styles (being pixel and drawn parts)

you are amazing <3

Thank you so much, I think you're super amazing :3 this is just a rough guide mostly on how to achieve the mixed resolutions, I hope it's at least interesting!!!

[moondvncer]

A DATE WITH DEATH - beyond the bet DLC, ALL ENDINGS GUIDE!

your choices won't matter until the call on Day 9, therefore when Grim will ask you about your greatest fear, you'll know you're in for choosing your ending.

do a quicksave when you see this, just to have a quicker process on gaining the new 4 endings.

ALL DETAILS UNDER THE CUT!

ending 6, BLOOM

- when asked about your greatest fear, choose "I'm scared of missing the little things in life." - after talking about cup noodles, choose "When we live together, I'll get the shelves stocked with original noodles. Got it." - when the chat room goes red, choose "I won't let you take our future!" - at Grim's place, choose "I'd really just like to go home…"

ending 7, FORGET ME NOT, the only bad ending of the dlc

- when asked about your greatest fear, choose "I'm scared of losing the people most important to me" - after the chat turns red, choose "...If I do, will you let Casper go?" - after Grim says, "I was right to come", choose "I don't want anything bad to happen to you..." - after "What's the plan here?", choose "Lock all the doors and stay inside forever?"

ending 8, INTERWOVEN

- when asked about your greatest fear, choose "I'm scared of not taking enough risks." - after Grim says, "It's time," choose "S.... soul baby time...?" - after Grim talks about cup noodles, choose "We could name our soul baby 'Original'."

ending 9, METAMORPHOSIS

- when asked about your greatest fear, choose "I'm scared of leaving nothing behind to be remembered by." - after the chat room goes red, choose "I'll never bow down to your stupid system." - after packing, choose "Is there... some kind of safe house? A hideout we could use?" - at Grim's place, choose "Pack some bags and hide out somewhere in superhell?"

I really hope this was helpful!!

↳ ☆  “a date with death” walkthrough

[wolfhidewinter]

"The Howling Howff is a support group run by werewolves, for werewolves: specifically, new, potentially emotionally (and physically) scarred werewolves. This book is a 101 on what it means to be a werewolf and how to navigate a sometimes confusing existence. Other ‘bitten’ werewolves who have reviewed this material have mentioned words like “tone deaf” and “drastically out of touch”, but we here at The Howling Howff understand denial and anger are an intrinsic part of their human side and we do not hold it against them – or you!" ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ If you like satirical folk horror and werewolves, then this is the book for you!

The book itself is 60 pages (including covers) and is currently available to pre-order once more in my Ko-fi shop - THE HOWLING HOWFF PRE-ORDER . I have to hit around 30 orders to be able to bulk buy, at which point it'll take around 2-2.5 weeks for the printer to sort (the covers have metallic ink inlaid :D) and then I'll happily ship them out!

My ko-fi shop also has a separate upgrade option for tracked shipping and I've shipped all over the world with little issue. You can purchase it here - TRACKED SHIPPING UPGRADE

You'll also find a bunch of other goodies in my shop like Art Cards, Prints, Patch and Stickers :) - OTHER GOODIES ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Any support is much appreciated! I'm currently working towards a second book which will be available as a Kickstarter project hopefully around June! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I'll be closing pre-orders on Monday 21st of April as I'll be putting the bulk order in :). Book sales will resume in 2-3 weeks time after the pre-orders are packed and shipped.} Huge thank you for everyone who purchased a copy so far! You've made the second re-print possible

[godofthestupid]

Disclaimer: I do not actually know how they paint the eyes,this is just me guessing their process purely from observations

Transcript:

General Shape:

- Upper eyelid is always thicker than the lower one

- younger characters tend to have bigger and rounder eyes than the adults

- there are five parts to an eye: 1. the upper eyelid corner(towards the nose) ; 2. the upper eyelid main part ; 3. the upper eyelid corner at the back ; 4. the lower eyelid ; 5. the iris

Eyelid:

- more muted color of the hair + accents with saturated eye color

Iris:

- lots of muted darker colors

- hue and saturation shift in lighter areas

- highlights are almost pure white

Eye drawing Steps:

sketch

flats

first shadow

first color

second shadow

highlight color

refine

[ppaleoartistgallery]

a guide to the exoparia

the presence of the exoparia doesnt actually change much for the way we reconstruct most dinosaur groups, however, it changes some minor things for two of the most well known dinosaur groups that should be taken into account:

link to paper: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joa.14242

[yup-no-way]

Astrocartography

ꨄ A brief guide and introduction ꨄ

I am so close to crashing out. Tell me why I was almost done writing this blog and then guess what. It got “saved as a draft”. Spoiler! It wasn’t in drafts and now I have to rewrite it… it’s alright, you can laugh ߹ ᯅ ߹

I’m going to say what I said initially here (before this app deleted my whole blog…). The reason why I got so into astrocartography is because it worked for me personally. The country (and city) that I currently live in falls under my sun trine MC aspect line, which is amazing for my career and development. Mind you I never even knew about astrocartography until this year, but even before I moved here, when I was just visiting the country, I felt such a weird attraction to this place. It was insane. I am so glad that I did move here. The amount of opportunities, and leadership positions I was pushed into are crazy.

Also, since this post took so long to write, I just wanna apologise. I was on break and as soon as I finished, I had to go back to the grind. I didn’t get to post at all. I’m just waiting for the exam season to end and for this year to end so I can be more constant with my posts. The reason why this post took so long to write it’s also because I wrote so much and it took me a horrible amount of time to compile all the necessary info. But I hope you guys enjoy it. If you have any personal experiences with living on a specific line, please leave a comment so I can read it (since I’m so nosy).

This blog should not be taken as your only decision factor to move or travel to a country. Please make sure you check the laws or regulations of each country before you decide to move/travel to a certain country. Do your own research. People with bad intentions can be found anywhere so make sure you are safe and don’t make irrational choices if travelling alone. This post is meant as guidance ONLY. The final choice is yours. Stay healthy and glowing xoxo

What is astrocartography?

So when your beautiful soul gets placed in a physical vessel, the planets and celestial bodies in the sky have certain positions. Those positions will reflect not only on your birth chart, but also on your astrocartography chart, which shows precisely the lines formed by those celestial bodies and planets.

When looking at your astrocartography chart it’s also important to keep your birth chart in mind because it can have an influence on how you experience certain lines alongside other factors that will be discussed later on in this blog.

An astrocartography chart has major lines and aspect lines. In this blog we will focus on the major lines and in the second part we will talk about the aspect lines (for some reason they r severely overlooked online, which is weird since I believe those are more accurate).

How do I access my astrocartography chart?

It’s easyyyy. There are multiple free calculators online that can calculate your chart. The one that I use is provided by “Astro.com”. You are more than welcome to use other sites tbh, but I like this one cause it has ur aspect lines, and it has them nicely sectioned as positive and negative aspects, which makes it easier to understand for people who aren’t as familiar with all the little details of astrology.

If you search “Astro.com astrocartography chart” it should pop up. After you fill in your details, you will automatically be presented with a map that has multiple colored lines. That is your chart. Zoom in and out as much as you want to be able to navigate the map.

For those who don’t always remember every symbol associated with each planet (just like me frl), here is a small image that can help you with that:

Every line is color coded with the symbol. I know the map is crowded, especially if you zoom out, but just you wait till we get to the aspect lines. It’s a soup of colours.

How do I read my chart?

Ok, so few things before we start. If you look closer you will see next to every planetary symbol, a few letters, AC/DC/IC/MC.

Bear in mind, every planet or comical body has a certain influence on an area of your life. And the positions next to it represent how that will mostly manifest.

AC: it’s all about YOU. Your inner development, your inner self, your IDENTITY. You will embody the energy of the planet physically or behaviourally.

DC: this is all about your relationships, whether platonic, professional or romantic. You are going to attract the planet’s energy through other people/connection you make.

IC: this is your roots, your home, your traditions even and your emotions. You will feel this planets influence in your home environment and this position is deeply transformative.

MC: here comes the moneyyyy. Ok so this position is about your public recognition, your career and it’s such a good boost. You’ll feel it through how the world sees you. Great planet for massive recognition in your field.

It’s also really important to check your personal birth chart alongside your astrocartography chart to be able to get the most accurate interpretation.

Please mind that there isn’t inherently a good line or a bad line. Each line is supposed to teach you certain things. Every line will have its ups and downs and depending on what you are searching to achieve, the lines can help you achieve it faster. Mind you that at the end of the day, it is up to you to put in the effort to get what you want. Astrocartography shows you where the flow of energy is smoother, allowing for certain things to manifest easier.

Now that we covered the basics, let’s dive in!

Sun line:

AC: you just radiate love. This line will make you shine for who you are and it will bring you closer to your true self. Great line for self love and acceptance. Your presence alone is charming and it grabs attention wherever you go. If you feel like your life feels stagnant and you wanna rediscover yourself, travel hereeee.

In positive it will give u crazy confidence, it will make you more self fulfilled and self actualised. Good for taking up new projects such as business or any project that puts you in a leadership role since this line will make you feel more comfortable under this position.

In negative this line is quite draining making you feel like you have to be always ready for anything. A lot of pressure to always perform effortlessly and perfectly. Can lead to burnout. So please manage your boundaries and expectations well.

Overall if you want to start a personal brand or a business. Going for a solo trip or a rediscovery trip is going to work well for you. You will find yourself more aligned with yourself and your purpose.

DC: this is your time to shine in terms of relationships. Like the way you’ll attract people by the way you walk, talk and just breathe is insane. Your relationships (platonic and professional included) are going to be transformative for you. They r going to be this relationships that change the way you see yourself. You’re going to be uplifted and confident. You are going to understand yourself better. You are going to attract strong willed, fun and loving people in your life. Your friendships are going to be meaningful and active and your romantic interests might be good future spouse material. You are attracting romantic partners that are determined and basically embody the archetypal sun energy (might even be conventionally attractive). These relationships can even bring you some exposure to a larger audience depending on your chart.

In positive you are a magnet for relationships of substance. You are going to be fulfilled.

In negative you can tend to lose yourself to relationships and connections. Please be aware that you are yourself, not your friends, not your partner. Don’t be afraid to be authentic, even if it goes against the wave.

Overall good for meeting potential long term relationships. Good for networking and work partnerships.

IC: when I say you are going to feel connected to this place, I mean it. Every IC line brings such a deep connection to the country/city specifically. While AC and DC are about external factors. IC is from within. You are going to find your confidence and comfort through your stay in this line. Good place for a vacation home. This is the line that you go to when you need to feel rooted and you need a sense of stability. You might become more introverted or at least interested in going outside since your home will be your comfort zone. The self care here is going to be intense and you will enjoy every second of it. Nurturing your home and your inner home (aka your soul) is going to make you the best self actualised version of yourself. You might even start a tradition that will stick w you here. Like maybe you’ll start a new interest for collecting magnets here. Just an example.

In positive you are going to feel emotional clarity and security. You might be able to connect with some ancestral roots. Maybe you feel like this was your home in a previous life and now you’re reconnecting by with a lost version of yourself. Good place for a retreat. Good place for healing after a bad event in your life.

In negative is not going to give you much public exposure. If you crave a life of excitement and fun (in the traditional sense), you might not be able to find that here. It’s a more of an internal energy and it focuses on rediscovering yourself from inside.

Overall it’s good for long term home building and stable identity.

MC: love this placement so muuuuuuchhh. Not just that MC is here, but it’s on the sun line. This brings so much exposure. Opportunities come left and right. Yk how people say “if one door closes, another one will open”, well they probably lived on their sun MC line. This line is all about that. You are respected, SEEN, HEARD and admired by just embodying your authentic self. This will boost your perception of yourself. This line is genuinely a glow up from all aspects. Career recognition, public success and multiple opportunities for leadership roles. Great for starting a business her as well and amazing for career advancement.

In positive it bring your career to the top and it makes you such a boss tbh.

In negative the burnout is so strong here. If you don’t balance your life well, then you are going to fall into a constant state of tiredness. Also don’t stress about too many things. You have time to do them all.

Overall, amazing boost in popularity in whatever field you go and it can bring a lot of career satisfaction. If evolved (and also depending of other planetary aspects you have) you are also bound to be perceived positively by the larger public.

Moon line:

AC: so having the moon line which is all about your inner world and your emotions being in the AC position can make you very emotionally expressive on this line. You will be so in tune with everyone’s emotions and yours as well. You will be perceived more line your moon sign by the people around you. It’s such an amazing place for artistic expression. If you are an artist of any form, coming here to perform or create your art can increase its potential. You are going to exteriorise yourself in a very sentimental way.

In positive it can be very good for self awareness and deep understanding of your emotions. Good for emotional clarity and discovery. You’re intuitions nd empathy will be at an all time high.

In negative it can make you hypersensitive to people’s emotions and that can be quite tiring. Sometimes you will experience intense emotions and that can be hard to navigate depending on your chart and if you have learned your lessons.

Overall, I’d suggest coming here if you are an artist or need to creative inspiration of any sort (not just for art). Amazing for self expression and deep understanding of how your emotions work.

DC: if you thought sun DC is intense, then you are not ready for this. I’d argue that out of all DC lines, this is the best for deep connections. No relationships will top this one. This one is going to be either the love of your life or your worst heartbreak you ever had (the type you think of before you go to sleep). Late night convb and lingering gazes. Melancholy and deep nurturing friendships or relationships.

In positive you can have such deep transformative relationships that can lead to potential long term connections. Soulmate energy.

In negative you will experience high highs and low lows, depending on the interaction you have. Might development attachment issues or codependency. Might feel like you are like a mom to unevolved people.

Overall, best for romantic relationships and potentially if you are in the medical/caretaking field, this is a good place for you to work in.

IC: this is going to be your safe space, where your emotional side is the most burtiere and safe. I’d argue it’s the beat moon line. You are so emotionally times to this place, leaving it will feel so sad. You are going to start facing your shadow side and it is going to push healing your inner child top priority. Honestly such a beautiful place to live in.

In positive it’ll provide emotional security and peace, bring some heavy healing and it’s amazing if you want to have a good emotional family life.

In negative might be too comfortable, therefore making you attached to this place. It can also make you too isolated.

Overall, great place to settle if you are looking for some transformative emotional energy and a peaceful and secure home. Also great for a therapeutic retreat. Make sure you don’t become too isolated tho. Also if you struggle with mommy issues, some heavy shadow work can happen here.

MC: seriously if you work in the healthcare/ caregiving/ medical/ physiological/ public service industry, move HERE. This is going to literally put you out in the public eye for your ability to heal and give care to others. If you life on this line you might also be seen as the mom friend and constantly feel fulfilled when you help people out. You might be perceived as emotionally in tune, mysterious

In positive is great for certain lines of work that involve caring to others and you could get a lot of exposure for it.

In negative you can be perceived as too soft and try to be taken advantage off. Please make sure you set proper boundaries.

Overall, amazing for careers in healing and caring, therefore leading to success.

Mercury line:

AC: you are going to be perceived as more chatty and more smart. This line will open you up to intellectual development through self discovery and acceptance. You might get a boost in energy and a boost in curiosity to explore and learn. Communication will come rlly easy to you and ideas will flow in and out of your head. Mentally stimulation is everywhere.

In positive you are going to engage in very stimulating conversations and you are going to have more interest in developing yourself intellectually.

In negative you might be more prone to overthinking and that can lead to anxiety. If you struggle with that, please bear it in mind when moving here. Also be careful to think before you speak since here you are going to be more unfiltered.

Overall, GREAT, if not best place for studying. You are truly going to feel intellectually aligned with your course and will feel a desire to learn. Amazing for starting new projects and researching about them.

DC: you are going to feel a shift in your relationships. You will crave more mental stimulation and need an actual communicative person. You will engage in debates with your partner more or might attract partners that make you question yourself (in a good way). Basically the tension here is strong. You might get hyper analytical of people and try to understand more than you can. Good place if you are pursuing a psychology/ psychiatric career.

In positive you’ll attract mentally and intellectually stimulating partners and if you’re into that, this place is ideal for you. Your friendships might also be very communicative.

In negative you might tend to overanalyse the people around you. You need to learn how to balance that.

Overall, great for stimulating relationships and friendships. Great for project that require communication. Conversations might fly smoothly and be efficient.

IC: you will feel mentally safe here. Great for journaling and exploring your personal interests. Really nice for shadow work related to childhood suppressed memories. Truly understanding yourself. Amazing for verbalising your emotions in a clear and coherent way.

In positive you might experience mental peace, developing yourself internally and privately.

In negative you might tend to intellectualise your emotions and isolate yourself mentally.

Overall, if you have a remote job, this place is amazing for you. For private intellectual development this line is also good. If you are a writer, coming here might be very beneficial.

MC: nowwww, if your career is in any field that involves you having to communicate with people, this place is for you. I’d even say that if you are in a field where you do any humanitarian work, this place is good for boosting your voice. Also if you’re a singer that puts a big emphasis on their lyrics, this is also perfect for you. In this are you will be perceived as intelligent by the masses. Also teaching and any programming or coding job is amazing here.

In positive career success using your intellect is almost given, your voice will be heard and be influential, it’s amazing for launching a career

In negative you can feel always a pressure to appear smart and have every work carry a deep meaning and that can feel tiring and can lead to intellectual burnout.

Overall, if you wanna start a career here in general is very good. Making good impressions here is quite easy.

Venus line:

AC: omg so this line so amazing if you want to be noticed for your looks. You will physically look better. I swear. I personally lived on this line for such a long time and didn’t even know. Every time I came back on this line, I kept telling my friends that I feel like I am so much prettier here. GUESS WHAT I realised later I was on my Venus AC line. Not only you’ll look better, you’ll feel better and that is such an amazing feeling. The fact that I was constantly approached here and people are staring at me so much here. I even got random gifts from people just because they liked me. All I’m saying is that you will feel it here. If you wanna have a glow up, go there. Also if you want to have any physical changes done, like surgery or cosmetic or even just general aesthetic things done to you. Come HERE!

In positive you will look and feel more good about yourself and it’s a great place for modelling truly (or getting casted as a model).

In negative you might attract shallow people who mostly see you for your looks not for what you are. Make sure you don’t let this boost in looks get to your head. Venus is powerful when it comes to making you lose yourself to superficial stuff.

Overall, great for self love and aesthetic changes.

DC: WOOOOO! guys, the amount of people I saw moving to this line and finding their spouse. I even heard a story of this girl, meeting his current husband on the exact street this line fell on. Arguably the best line for finding your true love. Relationships here are also kinda dreamy and intense (but in such a nice way). I’d say even friendships and partnerships are rlly good here. Amazing line for your social and love life. (I wish my Venus DC fell on an actual country. My line is in the middle of the ocean. guess my soulmate is a fish…)

I positive, here is the most possible place to find your soulmate

In negative, you might get so absorbed in relationships that you lose focus on the physical world.

Overall, if you wanna get married/ engaged or even meet new people, here is the place for youuuu.

IC: “just a chill guy”. Home life will feel so nice and comfortable. You might even be more inclined to to heal some lineage scars from your mom side. Home here is top notch. Another great place for a vacation house if you are looking for an aesthetic, chill and indulgent life. The comfort is going to be amazinggg.

In positive, emotionally you are going to be at peace and are going to feel som comfy.

In negative, it can lead to laziness and too much indulgence. Please be balanced on any Venus line cause Venus is rlly a planet that is easy to give in.

MC: your reputation is going to flourish here. More prone to a positive reputation (but you might be perceived as a bit shallow). This place is amazing for networking, like really good. Again, any creative field of work is amazing here. ARCHITECTURE AS WELL. Like you’re projects will be knows for being really “beautiful”. Beauty Industry is in bloom here.

In positive, career boosted using your looks and charm. People are naturally inclined to want to collaborate with you.

In negative, sometimes you might be perceived as superficial and fake. Make sure you don’t lose yourself to this line and keep yourself authentic. Again classic Venus line stuff.

Mars line:

AC: if on the Venus line you would be perceived as seductive, here you are hot. You have that s appeal. You might be perceived as more aggressive and hot headed. This line pushes you to be more determined and active. You might be prone to physical conflicts more often. This line makes you feel like you are on something. You are going to be more bold and even a bit more intimidating to others. Leadership roles are hard to balance here, but if you manage to make sure you don’t get overbearing with people and don’t become to strong headed, then this line is going to lead to a successful leadership position.

In positive, more energy than ever, braver and increased confidence.

In negative, aggressive line to be honest. Heard stories of people getting in physical arguments with a lot of people and getting attacked on the streets. Please be careful. If u travel here, make sure to stay out of trouble and go with a trusted person that can protect you.

Overall, good for meeting fitness goals, making goals moves in projects and finding your inner power.

DC: relationships here are just annoying to navigate. You might feel hot and cold. One day you’re happy, the other arguing. Kinda unstable and aggressive. You might attract assertive and ambitious people. The chemistry might be very hot and you might have amazing bed life (lemme just call it that, you get what I mean). Not long term romance, but a short term fun and excitement is good here. Friends are very argumentative or you might find yourself in a lot of disagreements. Again not ideal for mutually understanding friendships, but a short term fun friendship might be ok. You might find yourself to learn how to stand up for yourself here trough these people you meet.

In positive, you will find yourself attracted fierce and ambitious people and might have good s life.

In negative, arguments and misunderstandings are heavy here. Impulsive decisions are made here. Please think not twice but thrice before making a decision.

Overall, short term flings and friends are nice. Good for learning how to stand up for yourself.

IC: this line usually indicates a harsher home environment and a lot of arguments in the house. you will have a lot of miscommunications and disagreements with your family or with the people in your home. if you’re planning on moving here and having a new person as a roommate, this might not be the best idea. This line might also push you to face some shadows that you haven’t yet, therefore it’s quite nice for understanding some areas of yourself. Your father might be in a constant state of anger and might be a big factor of your arguments in the house. BUUUT, great line for doing work in the shadows. Like slowly creating a startup without anyone knowing or writing a book without telling anyone.

In positive, focus, discipline and build inner strength and resilience.

In negative, there might be some stress in your home life and that can cause anxiety, lack of stability and so much more.

Overall great place if you want to build something on the low-key because it gives you that determination to do it but you might be in a home environment that is very stressful for you.

MC: this line makes you be seen as driven, competitive determined and resilient. You are literally gonna tap into your assertive energy. This line will make you so career focus and driven, it can lead to burn out if not balanced well. this is also really good if you wanna take charge of your own career. This line can also make you more prone to a god complex within the workspace. Make sure you don’t let this line get in between you and your coworkers. This line can make you quite arrogant and that can create some stress in the dynamic between you and your teammates. You’re going to want to dominate every project and will not want to allow space for other people to chip in.

In positive, this place is really good for taking charge, learning how to step into your “ boss” energy and stand up for your ideas.

In negative, this can cause quite some conflict in the workplace and can make you come across too domineering.

Overall, not a bad place to be in regarding your career but make sure to prioritise good communication and balance in your workplace.

Jupiter line:

AC: this line right here it’s going to manifest as luck all throughout your day-to-day life. You’re gonna feel it all around you in how people treat you, approach you, view you and overall how life feels for you. You are more likely to find random cash on the streets or receive random acts of kindness. This line will inspire you. It will inspire your creativity, your interest in learning and your desire to succeed. You are going to unlock opportunities and luck by just being yourself. Being your most authentic self here is going to work out for the best.

In positive, you are gonna get luckyyyyyyyy. Life will spoil you just because.

In negative, you may lean into a very optimistic mentality which is not inherently bad, but it can lead to delusions that will sometimes not be reached, leading to dissatisfaction.

Overall great place if you just want to be more authentic to yourself and more confident and also increase your luck. Great place for solo travelling.

DC: here relationships will broaden your perspective in life. Connections on this line will help you grow in certain areas of your life. You may attract older or wiser partners that will act as a guide. Unpopular opinion, but I also think you might attract people with higher financial possibilities on this line (hell yeah), or at least people that will help you grow financially (If you are looking for sugar daddy/mommy, this might be a place where you can start searching for it). even friendships feel expansive here. also if you’re in search for a good business partner, I could argue that this is the best line to do so.

In positive, relationships here feel supportive and mentor like, learning quite a lot from the people on this line. Good for luck in partnerships. Good for finding business partners.

In negative, gets too dependent on external validation and tend to base your self-worth on the connections you have rather than yourself.

Overall, great for partnerships of any sort success in relationships. Good place for marriage as well. If you are in a relationship, travelling here can expand your current relationship.

IC: this place is amazing if you wanna have a secure home. This place feels like home away from home. It doesn’t feel restricting and your home life might even feel liberating. Usually people that have a family on this line tend to leave a lot of space for growth and learning in the household. Self-expression might be a huge thing as well. It’s important for individuals on this line to have a lot of freedom in their home. This place is also great if you want to retreat and expand your knowledge. This place also indicates high level of abundance coming into the home. So a lot of people/families that live on this line feel like they’ve attracted the most abundance and money when they connected with their roots or home. If you want to start a family business, this line is also really good for that. This is really good for ancestral healing as well.

In positive, bring abundance in the home, inner growth and freedom to explore/expand.

In negative, might get too comfortable and feel inclined to retreat.

Overall, literally gives generational wealth potential. Great for creating a family business. Great for growth, especially in intellectually. Great for selling down or starting a family.

MC: now we are talking about opportunities and success. Your career is gonna have a boost here. Your money is going to come in. Your opportunities are going to come in. People will trust you and they will see you as a mentor. You will be perceived as wise and insightful. If you have a career that is about sharing information, this is especially good for you. Might be the place where you start a legacy. Will get professionally recognised and will get compensated monetarily for it. ouuuuu I love this place. Unless you have harsh Jupiter aspect, this place should do the job for you.

In positive, amazing for a career start and career expansion. Great for financial abundance in your career. Great for sharing your knowledge and getting recognised for it. Amazing for job opportunities and luck in your field.

In negative, just make sure you do not get too cocky. This place is amazing, but be aware that the universe will put you in your place if necessary.

Overall, just great for your career and your growth. If you just wanna visit this line keep an eye out for opportunities.

Saturn line:

AC: all the Saturn line is quite heavy to navigate. This line will make you do all the hard work. For this specific case, you might feel a bit isolated and misunderstood. You will come across this more stern and serious. If you always wanted to be taken seriously, this line is for you. All people are gonna see the seriousness oozing out of you. You might not be fully understood for who you are here. You might also feel restricted in expressing yourself here. You might feel the need to hide yourself from people. But this line is not all bad. This line will help you develop discipline and structure in your life. It will actually make you feel in tune with yourself. Even if people don’t get you, you will be able to understand yourself to a certain level that you didn’t before. This line is going to teach you self-respect. If you are searching for a place that can offer stable projects, this line is also good for that.

In positive, good for self-respect, discipline and structure. You will be forced to develop a backbone here. Great place for maturing and discovering yourself to another level.

In negative, you can feel isolated and alone. Being misunderstood for who you are or restricted for who you are is coming here. You will potentially if moving here at a young age be forced to mature earlier than necessary.

Overall, this is a lesson that a lot of Saturn lines teach. The discipline, perseverance, structure, and maturity of life will be taught to you.

DC: you might get in relationships with someone older here. Relationships here might be karmic and they might be really hard to deal with. You might feel controlled or suppressed. Connections will make you mature. Do not expect an easy flowing relationship here whether it’s romantic, platonic or a partnership. I’m not gonna lie, I wouldn’t suggest dating someone here, unless you’re ready to mature and see the harsh reality of things. It will be heavy. I’m not saying it’s the worst, but it’s not the best either. If you are currently living on this line, you might’ve experienced some transformative relationships. The lessons here are heavy. If you do somehow get into a good relationship here, is going to require a looooot of work. to the people who live on Saturn lines, stay strong. Not all relationships are this hard. Lots of love to you seriously. This line can also make you feel quite alone in a relationship.

In positive, relationships are here to help you learn and grow. They can teach self-respect and boundaries. You will learn overall a lot of lessons. If you may, call this character development.

In negative, you might feel disconnected from people. Relationships feel cold and distant and hard to navigate. A lot of karmic lessons learnt through people.

Overall, good for learning boundaries and setting standards. Learning your love style. Sometimes good for marriage. Good for clearing out karmic debt.

IC: I could go on our talking about the home dynamic on this line. It’s restricting. Depending on what house your side is in your personal chart, you might feel even more restricted in that area. home life will teach you a lot of things. You might feel disconnect from your family and your home environment. Maybe there is a lot of emphasis on growing up. People on this line might feel like they were not allowed to enjoy their childhood. If you navigate this line well though, it is amazing for clearing generational baggage. It’s a place where a lot of people either drown in or heal a lot of karma.

In positive, will find comfort in your own solitude. It’s good for creating a good foundation for yourself. If you are planning on moving here, it is going to bring a lot of unhealed family baggage to light (just make sure you heal her please, or it will bite you in the ass).

In negative, it’s pretty given. A lot of solitude and feeling restricted and suppressed. Being forced to grow up through your home. Or if you’re moving by yourself there, you might not always feel fully connected to your house (again unless you healed). This line is heavy on dealing with things that are uncomfortable for us. Nothing comes easy on this line, but once you have it, you have it.

MC: this gives me, I came from nothing and now I’m here. This line is going to teach you how to work your way up to success. The discipline, the power, the pace and the structure you take will guide you to success. I’m gonna be honest, here success doesn’t come naturally. You will have to work for it, but once it’s yours, no one can take it away from you. You will be seen as more serious by your coworkers. You might even appear as a harsh boss to some. You will not accept mediocrity. This is truly the CEO line. This is the place where you can build a business foundation that will last. And if you’ve paved your foundation well, trust me, it will last.

In positive, a career here is stable and if the work is being put in, potentially very successful and abundant.

In negative, you might feel isolated from your coworkers. You might feel restricted at work and might feel like you’re not allowed to express yourself fully in your work field. You might also have workaholic tendencies here. Please make sure you balanced yourself properly since Saturn is all about a good schedule.

Overall, quite OK for a career. It can bring huge success. It can bring a stable income. Make sure you really put in the work for it. Saturn likes to have things be earned. If you earn it though, Saturn will give you everything to wish for and return

Uranus line:

AC: you have been feeling stuck and feeling like you have been in the loop, this is the best place to come. Whether you come here to move in or to travel, you are going to go under major transformations, especially when it comes to your physical appearance. You are going to feel more bold in your fashion. You will make changes to your appearance that are gonna be more eccentric. This is gonna be all about you, and your most authentic self. Think breaking boundaries of what is hair for you or what is fashion for you. You are also going to discover yourself and experience some major eye-opening situations in terms of your personal freedom. You can be unfiltered here, but it’s not gonna be like the Mars line where that comes with arguments, this line brings you unfiltered authenticity. Also, you might discover the fun in being with yourself. So you might discover new hobbies or interests or even get into new intellectual endeavours when alone.

In positive, you are going to break all identities and are gonna gain a new discovered freedom.

In negative, this line can make it a bit hard to stay grounded. There is going to be a feeling of social instability.

Overall, there is a great place for starting something new, something more authentic to you. Self-discovery is a highlight when being on this line. Amazing four coming out of your shell.

DC: this line will bring connections that will challenge your perspective of what is normal to you. There’s a theme of commitment issues alongside this line. You might feel more prone to be single, but if you do end up in a relationship, your partner might be the type that is very eccentric and they might challenge you to grow. Relationships are gonna feel fast paced even with friends, sometimes a bit unpredictable. Also say that along this line, you might change your type or you might have some awakening in regards of what you desire in a partnership of any sort. You might tend to rationalise your emotions more on this line.

In positive, and experience relationships on a different level and they will feel fresh and electrifying. Wouldn’t say it’s the best place to find a long-term committed relationship. It’s a good place for friendships though.

In negative, expense relationship that would end up in breaking up, ghosting and instability.commitment issues are a theme here.

Overall, looking for a relationship that feels open minded and allows for freedom, this might be the life for you. Watch out for unstable partners and constant situationships.

IC: would have to say that in regards to your home life, you won’t completely feel settled here. You probably would not want to live here for the long run. Well, this is a great place for discovering what you really want in your home or what do you expect from your home life, this place won’t align with you for the long run. Through your home, you may discover new things about yourself. Maybe your residence will be the place you start hobbies or you feel most comfortable experimenting. Live with your family members on this line you might experience feeling like the “ black sheep” of the family. If you’re looking for a place that will generally make you discover certain hidden aspects of yourself that you didn’t know existed, this line is great for that, but again you might have a sense of restlessness that won’t allow for you to settle here long-term.

In positive, if you want to reinvent the way you see home, this line is amazing. Hear you might experience some detachment from your roots, allowing for personal discovery.

In negative, costly feeling restlessness and emotional detachment, making a hard to connect.

Overall, if you want to discover and reinvent yourself in this area of home life and in regards to your roots. This place is pretty good for that.

MC: in regards to your career, this place is quite good for it. If you’re planning on working in a tech, engineering, activism or start any sort of start-up, this line is going to boost that. You are more prone for going viral for the most random reasons here. Your career will feel filled with plot twists. You might visit this line with something in mind, and end up doing something completely different. People will see you as innovative, quirky, a bit detached and a visionary. Also you might be more prone to have multiple income streams here. This place is overall really good if you’re looking for inspiration or an advancement in your career. I feel like people look down on this line when it comes to career, but I find it to be a really good line for coming up with something. Also, whatever you create here might be very beneficial or extremely shocking to a lot of people.

In positive, it’s great for creative breakthroughs and having a new outlook on your projects. If you have been feeling stuck in your career or lost in your career, come here and see how your mind literally opens to so many possibilities.

In negative, if you don’t like this unstoppable change or instability, I don’t suggest you come here to work. It can be really good, but I do understand why some people might not want this type of environment. There can also be a fluctuation on how people perceive you here.

Overall, reinventing your career or your brand can go really well here. Having a start up here is also really amazing. Working in any tech, activism or engineering field here is great.

Neptune line:

AC: you will feel like you are in a dream (not in a bad or good sense). Sometimes you might feel like you are more disconnected from reality. People will perceive you as dreamy, hard to pin down and mysterious. Think manic pixie. You might be in your head a lot and you might be more prone to absorb peoples energy. Make sure you guard yourself energetically here. This place is gorgeous for a spiritual awakening and an existential crisis(yikes). You will rediscover parts of yourself in terms of spirituality or religious beliefs. you will be more interested in the occult on this line as well. You will have such an artistic and creative flow here, it’s insane. You will be more attracted towards a slower paced life. People will be attracted to your sensuality and mystery. They might even see you as a healer of some sort. Some might take advantage of that so please make sure to guard yourself.

In positive, you will be attracted to aesthetically pleasing things or at least lean into a more “ aesthetic” life. You are going to have your intuition more heightened and have a smoother creative flow.

In negative, again you might be taking advantage of, you might be prone to escapism (mind those substances please), you will experience an identity crisis and you will be more sensitive to fatigue.

Overall, great for heightened intuition and development in your healing skills. If you want to discover yourself spiritually or religiously, this line can be very fulfilling. I would say this is a good place for a healing retreat. Great to come here if you want to practice your spiritual beliefs, art, music or modelling.

DC: relationships here are hard to pin down. You never know if the person your meeting is your soulmate or it’s just an illusion. You might attract partners here that you might tend to idolise. Relationships will feel dreamy indeed, but you might create your own version of the person you’re dating. Basically, you will get in relationships with people because you like the idea you created of them, not them as a person. Relationships here can take advantage of you. Here the line between dreams and reality is thin. You might find yourself with people that do not respect your boundaries. You might find yourself in the position of healing the wounds of your partners. On the bright side, this line can also bring you closer to a soulmate like relationship. Even if it’s not a soulmate relationship, it is going to be a relationship that shapes you in some way. Going to experience a deep spiritual connection between you and your partner. You might even find it hard to move on from your exes on this line (or vice versa). Friendships here can be very fulfilling but you have to make sure you set boundaries with all the people that you meet.

In positive, relationships here will be filled with empathy and deep spiritual connection. You might receive more unconditional love here.

In negative, strong codependency in relationships and self sacrificing.

Overall, creative collaborations here can be very strong and fulfilling. If you wish to partner with someone in the musical, art or modelling field, this line is good for this.

IC: your home will feel extra safe. There is going to be a tendency of isolation and escapism. You might feel like your emotions and your thoughts are a bit foggy. It’s easy to lose yourself to delusional things. Your home is the place where you might feel the most creatively in tune. Also, your intuition might peak in your environment or when working with your roots. Basically, if you want to practice any spirituality that is tied to your origins or to familiar things, this line can really boost that. You might also genuinely get reallyyyyy vivid dreams. You can also start experiencing premonitions through your dreams. I wouldn’t necessarily say that you fully feel at home here, not because you won’t like it, but because you will feel more disconnected from reality leading to a disconnect in your home life as well

In positive, you will feel spiritually connected to your roots and my double more into your native practices. You will be more in tune with your creativity and intuition.

In negative, easy to get lost in your thoughts and you might tend to opt for unhealthy coping mechanisms. Please make sure to stay grounded on this line.

Overall, great place if you want to feel spiritually or religiously connected. This will unlock a new perspective on this area of your life. Not a bad line, just you might tend to find it hard to stay grounded.

MC: owwwwww! If you r in any artistic or create a field this line is amazing for you. The way you will feel the creativity flow in your work life is insane. You will have more of an unusual approach to your work. You might also bring an ethereal or mystical vibe to your craft. You will be perceived as mysterious by the masses. If you work in the art, film, musi, acting, modelling or any career that focuses on spirituality and aesthetics, I suggest working here. One downside is that you might luck direction or you might struggle with going through with what you planned. If you make sure that you balance that and bring some structure to your life, this line will be amazing for your field.

In positive, great for a lot of fields that are require creativity. You will be more mysterious to people and that can attract quite some popularity.

In negative, might experience some career confusion and lack of boundaries in your workplace.

Overall, again great for creative fields and popularity based on your mysteriousness.

Pluto line:

AC: this line is overall hard to navigate, especially if you have harsh Pluto aspects. One thing you are going to experience on this line especially, is change in who you are. You are going to doubt your principles, your morals, your identity and your habits. This line is all about transformation. It’s good if you are going through an identity crisis and you want to completely reinvent yourself, but I wouldn’t generally suggest to stay here long-term. You’ll be perceived as intense and even harsh sometimes. this is going to be a line that will truly transform your whole identity, from the way you talk, you walk and you behave. I personally would tell people that if they are looking for some change in their life, then they should visit this line, it will stir stuff up. Just like all Pluto lines though, having this constant destroying and rebuilding energy can feel a bit tiring or draining. If you work with yourself, you will find out that by the end of your stay, you became a whole new version of yourself that is more powerful.

In positive, you will be more magnetic and you will reinvent your whole identity. This line might even lead to some clarity when it comes to yourself.

In negative, this line will make you feel really lonely. It will also make you feel like you are in a constant battlefield. More prone to burn out here.

Overall, great place for discovering and reinvention. Mostly would suggest travelling here for a shorter period of time.

DC: relationships on this line are in intensive…(not necessarily good). If you are single, you might attract partners who are controlling, obsessive or toxic (possibly abusive, I’m sorry love). I am not going to sugarcoat it, I’ve heard some stories about women being in very bad situations on this line. Transformations will be deep through relationships. You might actually rediscover your type or you might learn some heavy lessons. There’s gonna be a lot of power struggles here. If you are in a relationship and are planning on coming on this line, all I’m going to say is that this line will test the integrity of your relationship. I’ve heard one too many couples moving to this line and ending up breaking up a few months later after being together for yearssss. Not saying that this line will automatically break your relationship, but it will test it. If you both learn to hold your ground and not let disagreement get to both of you, you will be fine. Relationships here are just difficult, even friendships or partnerships. A lot of tension, and not a good one. One thing I have to say, if you come to this line and you really heal, you will become so unstoppable.

In positive, karmic healing in relationships. You will rediscover what you truly desire in a partner. It will basically bring more clarity on what you want from the people around you. It might also help you learn how to respect yourself.

In negative, lots of powerplay and imbalances. Toxic relationships and a lot of manipulation.

Overall, not the best line in my opinion. If you’re truly looking to navigate your relationships patterns, then come here, but if you are not ready to face some nasty truths, I wouldn’t even suggest travelling here.

IC: your home life will feel very suffocating. You might have parental figures that are trying to control you. You might feel like your home is not your safe space. This place screams dealing with a lot of lineage karma. You will do some heavy shadow work in that area. Honestly, it’s a hard line as well, but that’s all Pluto lines. This place is really great for understanding issues from the root and solving them. You might even heal some generational trauma here or at least become more aware of what that generation of trauma is. Dealing with all this karma and shadow work you will feel so much more powerful, you will tap into your true purpose. This line also builds insane inner strength and desire for justice. Pluto lines are hard, but they are necessary.

In positive, deep rooted emotional and healing. This is a re-occurring thing with a lot of the lines here.

In negative, lot of family drama and emotional baggage. This line can cause depression (please stay strong).

Overall, great for healing generational trauma and deep rooted issues.

MC: weirdly enough, the Pluto MC line is less hard to navigate here (not easy but not as annoying as the previous Pluto lines). It’s still very harsh, but emotionally it’s a bit easier. This line will teach you a lot about power dynamics. You might face some power imbalances at your workplace. A lot of tension between you and authority figures are present on this line. This line will make you more assertive in achieving power (power is subjective, so that can be money for some or authority for others). You might be perceived by the masses as controversial and intense. You will be the type of person that grows on people. You are an acquired taste for sure. Good for rising at the top in general, but especially good for people that work in finance, law, politics, psychology or any taboo field of work. You will deal with some betrayal in your workplace. You might also lose your job here. So be careful and stay mindful.

In positive, you will learn to own the room you walk in and grow your power (and authority).

In negative, you will possibly deal with job loss. You will deal with hardships and authority tension in the workplace.

Overall, good for rising to the top and taboo fields.

Chiron line:

AC: yeah, remember when I said that the Pluto lines are hard? This line is even harder, but it doesn’t feel suffocating, it feels deep, like the type of pain that you can’t fully shake off. Hear you will undergo deep healing of yourself. All your wounds regarding your identity will come to light, and other people will see it too. If you have been insecure about your physical appearance, then you will show it and you will feel it more intensely. If you have been insecure about your intelligence, you will feel more exposed here. This line pushes you to heal through embracing yourself. Accepting who you are and learning to deal with yourself at your own pace. You might be perceived as more melancholic and sad. People will be more inclined to want to help you. Your  own identity will be shaky, but that’s only because this line pushes you to heal.

In positive, will undergo massive personal change in regards to your insecurities or personal wounds.

In negative, you will look down on yourself a lot and might lose a lot of your confidence. Also you might feel more exposed to other people.

Overall, really good to come here if you want to undergo some serious therapy. This line will be amazing for that. do you want to start your healing then come here.

DC: so basically, I’m a liar cause this line is even more horrible(if you’re not healed). Every single insecurity and fear you have will materialise in your connections with people. If you have ever been afraid that people will leave you, then boom, they leave you. If you are afraid deep down that your partner will be cheating on you. guess what? They are. You really need to tackle what makes you insecure in your friendships or relationships in order to have good connections here. This line gives me, you attract what you are! Do not expect good connections if you are not healed. The bright side is that relationships will feel healing as well. You might be able to heal your wounds through your relationships. There is gonna be a sense of deep intimacy between you and your person. Also might attract people with similar insecurities as you.

In positive, you will experience karmic healing in relationship. You will be learning a lot of self-worth as well.

In negative, all your triggers that you have in relationships have a high chance of manifesting here.

Overall, good for clearing karmic baggage and growing through connections.

IC: your sense of what is home, what feel safe and what is trust will be challenged here. Your home or roots might bring a lot of scars. If you are travelling or moving here, be ready for past ones to the surface. This line will really trigger you in a lot of areas. This line will also test if those wounds have been fully healed or just bandage over briefly. this is arguably the best line for shadow work. It is also the shittiest line for shadow work. Why do I say that? Because it will be very hard, but very rewarding. Nothing comes easy when it’s healing we are talking about. Chiron is sad and tormenting, but not impossible. You will develop a next level emotional resilience.

In positive, you will heal deeply and truly. You will develop an inner strength that will be unshakeable after this. Your sense of identity will be very strong as well.

In negative, you might not be able to take it. This line is just really hard to be honest. You will feel the effects of it. My best advice is to truly put in the work to see past the facade of things. True healing comes with hardship. Shadow work is not as nice as people make it seem.

Overall, great for generational healing as well and targeting deep past wounds (even once that you didn’t know are still there).

MC: this line will bring your career into fruition through hardships. So any career in psychology, psychiatric help, mentorship, teacher, healer and motivational speaking is good here. Advocating for communities is going to work out really well here. You could potentially build a legacy here. You could also have a pretty successful career by overcoming your hardships in general. You would also feel align with your career and that can bring some meaning to yourself. You could become quite purpose driven as well.

In positive, you will leave a meaningful impact and find success through transformations. You might even be inspiring to others.

In negative, might be afraid of being seen as weak or broken. You will have all your wounds visible to the world. Your vulnerability will be exposed leaving you quite unhappy.

Overall, any careers that turn pain into inspiration will thrive here.

North node:

AC: on this line, u will feel more along with your true purpose and destiny through yourself. The way you act, behave, speak and walk will all be aligned with your true destiny. by being your most authentic self, life will push you towards your path. You are going to undergo major self growth and you will be pushed into it quite strongly. Once you’ve lined yourself with who you are, you will notice a shift in your reality. I also do believe that this line is really good for manifesting or for using the law of assumption. You will get a boost in confidence.

In positive, you will feel more aligned with yourself bringing you more self-fulfilment. You will also encounter aligned friendships.

In negative, you might experience impostor syndrome. You will also be uncomfortable during this whole growth process. But hey, it’s necessary.

Overall, grateful for true discovery and the alignment with oneself. Also, if you ever wanna start a new chapter, you can always start here. If you want to travel here I’d highly suggested.

DC: you will be more aligned with your true life’s purpose and destiny through your relationship relationships with people. Let that be partnerships, friendships or relationships they will all bring you closer to what you are truly supposed to achieve. Some might help you through actually giving you resources, some might help you through uplifting you, some might even help you through giving you opportunities, whatever the case may be they are all there to bring you to your next stage. Relationships here will also make you grow emotionally a lot so be prepared to face some shadow sides of yourself. You might even attract the karmic partners.

In positive, you will experience emotional and spiritual growth through other people. Other people will help you align with your goals. You will encounter destiny like connections.

In negative, you might become too codependent on your partnerships. You might also experience clings and obsession. Heartbreak will hurt like hell here. Make sure you balance the energy you invest in yourself with the energy you invest in other people.

Overall, good for possibly even meeting your soulmate and creating meaningful long lasting relationships. Relationships will help you grow in whatever field of work you choose to be in. good for meeting mentors and establishing good business partnerships.

IC: here your job will be to tackle the family patterns. You will be in tune with your destiny when you deal with all the emotional baggage that either comes from with you or from within your ancestry (or family). A lot of family patterns will come to life, but it is up to you to solve them. You will feel emotionally content and emotionally evolved. You will be emotionally and spiritually the highest form of yourself. This can build a lot of self assurance and confidence. You will learn to break pattern, set boundaries and learn when to put yourself first. you will also learn how to be soft and who you should give the softness to.

In positive, you will reach emotional fulfilment and successful follow after that. You will reinvent a new concept of home.

In negative, you might experience some conflict in regards to your old definition of what home was. Change is gonna be uncomfortable but it will be very beneficial.

Overall, really good for starting the family and dealing with inner child work.

MC: this is literally career Central. Alongside your Jupiter and sun MC line, this line is also amazing for your career. Having the north node, which is all about your life’s purpose and your MC, which is all about your public persona and career together it’s a very strong combination. This is arguably the best line for your career. Not only will you evolve as a person using your career, you will also evolve in your career. Opportunities will come to you but it is up to you to recognise them and use them. You will resonate with your refill of work and you will passionately pursue it. And to be honest, you might even get some abundance out of it. Life will put you in the spotlight whether you like it or not.

In positive, you will be working in a career that truly resonates with you and brings you closer to your destiny. This alone will bring success.

In negative, you will feel pressure from yourself to constantly do really good. Your lesson here is to learn how to manage your expectations.

Overall, if you want a boost in your career and full alignment with ur destiny, move to this line. If you just wanna visit, keep an eye out for opportunities.

Ok so this post took me so long omg!!! Besides the fact that I am in active exam season right now (I’m so cooked), I also had to rewrite this post… But let me just put that out there, I will always prioritise quality over quantity, therefore I’d rather post a bit less, but at least I know I’m being authentic and I don’t spread misinformation. Also sorry for any possible typos.

Well I hope you guys enjoyed this! I put in so much effort to research on this theme since I am not that familiar with astrocartography. If you guys have any personal experiences living on any of these lines (and if you are comfortable sharing them) I’d love to hear them (and I am sure other people will want to know some first-hand experiences as well).

Till next time stay healthy and stay glowing xoxo

[foldingfittedsheets]

FFS’ Guide to Mattresses:

The following is a non-comprehensive list of questions I get asked a lot and is hopefully a good resource for anyone looking for a new mattress. I am not a scientist. I just sell beds. All bed knowledge is centered in the US, my apologies to international folks.

If this guide proves helpful you can consider popping a tip over on my Ko-fi to say thanks!

What’s the first step?

Well, first thing is gonna seem kind’ve obvious but a lot of people get mattresses secondhand and don’t think about it. Determine the feel you like! There’s no reason to sleep on a hard bed unless you like it, it’s not any better for your back. The three standard feels are firm, medium, and soft. Soft is called plush for stupid reasons. So find out which you like! It’ll narrow down what you look at, and save you time.

When trying out mattresses, use an A-B method. Do not compare every bed. Compare two at a time, otherwise you end up a confused mess. Pick one between the two that you like better, then put that one up against the next choice.

When you eliminate a bed it’s dead to you. Forget it. It was not as good as your new favorite and does not deserve to be remembered. If you cannot pick between two you will be tempted to try a third- this is the devil talking. A third will just make your life harder. If you truly can’t pick between beds that are comparable and they both feel nice after feeling your feelings then pick the cheaper one.

Lastly, mattresses are a huge example of “you get what you pay for”. Investing will pay off. Don’t get sticker shocked, budget what you can but know that mattresses can be freakin expensive. If you go into a store and see $5000 price tags, don’t worry, that’s not all they carry, but focus on the feel of the bed at first rather than price tag.

If you find one you love but it’s too much, the salesperson will know a comparable roll down or will usually try to help you get a deal. If you can admit, “I like this but it’s too much” they’ll work with you to find a solution.

What firmness is best?

This varies person to person but firm beds are not necessarily better for your body. Really. There’s two parts to a good mattress: support and comfort. Support goes underneath and is generally springs or incredibly dense foam. If a bed has good support, you can get away with lots of comfort.

The comfort layer exists to be gentle on your joints and pressure points. People who sleep on their side really need this comfort layer. Without this your shoulders and hips can’t circulate blood and you’ll end up tossing and turning every time your arm starts to fall asleep.

Back in the 1950’s when interconnected coils were the only thing on the market it made sense that you needed them to be firm, otherwise you’d get no back support. But nowadays coils are individually free standing, they do a much better job supporting bodies and bonus, they don’t have to be rock hard.

Most people should get somewhere around a medium bed rather than super firm or super soft but it depends on the persons preferences as all three can be good for you.

How can I tell if a bed has good support?

I’m so glad you asked. You lay on it. There’s a natural curve to the human spine. Lay first on your back. The arch in your lower back, that’s your lumbar. A good bed will push up and fill that area. If your muscles are trying to maintain that arch all night without help it will cause back pain and tossing. The more a bed fills your lumbar the better you can sleep.

Next, lay on your side. You’ll want to focus on your shoulders and hips. Good support on your back is great, but a mattress should have enough squish not to pinch off circulation. Lay for at least five minutes on your side unless you hate it right off the bat, I’m not saying every bed needs this in depth just the one you’re seriously considering. If you feel like you already need to roll over it’s too hard, go softer.

Should I get a topper?

A thousand times no. Toppers are used as a wide ranging bandaid from “there’s a hole in my bed” to “my back hurts”. Commercially available foams in toppers are significantly worse than the foams found in beds. They break down faster and sleep hotter than what they make mattresses with.

The only scenario in which you need a topper is if you’re stuck with a bed that’s too firm for you and you need it a little softer. That’s it. It can make your bed a little softer. It cannot fill holes or fix a bed with bad support. Generally aim to be over $200+ or the topper will break down ridiculously fast and be super hot to sleep on.

What do I do if there’s a divot in my bed?

First off, waterproof protectors can help avoid this problem, so take your bed divot as a life lesson and use a protector on all beds going forward. Our sweat and humidity breaks down foam like nobodies business, causing permanent damage.

So you have a divot, what now? Depends how entrenched it is. When beds get slept on every night for years the foam where a body lays compresses down, and the foam around it stays untouched. You’ll naturally start sinking. But you can get up and walk or crawl along all the foam that isn’t get slept on. If your divot is years deep it may be beyond saving but it’s worth a shot.

You can also rotate beds head to foot every six months and switch the side you and your partner sleep on or sleep all over the bed if you’re alone in it.

If the bed is over ten years old thank it for its service and get a new bed.

When should I get a new bed?

It’s worth checking your sleep quality at ten years into a mattress. The average life expectancy of a bed is 7-9 years. Not because the bed gave out necessarily but because human bodies change. We gain and lose weight, suffer injuries and age. A bed that worked for us eight years ago might not be what we need anymore. So just general age check is good. This is subject to the kind of mattress, bed in a boxes average 3-4 years of comfort so check in sooner.

But additionally: if your bed has a deep body trench where you’ve been sleeping, or if you’re waking up achey or in pain. There’s health problems that can reduce your sleep but a lot of people never suspect their mattress is sabotaging their rest, so keep it in mind.

How do I clean my bed?

Oh boy. You don’t. This goes back to water proof protectors. Your bed is not something you can pop in the wash. But it is something you will sweat and live in for upwards of ten years. Dust mites, dead skin cells, dust mite corpses, dust mite feces, allergens, skin oils. All those things will seep into the bed over time and spoiler alert it’s not great to breathe it in every night.

Sheets only catch a fraction of it, so a waterproof protector keeps the bed safe from your sweat breaking it down, but it keeps you safe from all the things that can build up in a mattress.

If you must clean a mattress I recommend a professional steaming service rather than trying to do it on your own but take this going forward: always protect your bed.

When should I get a new pillow?

Does your pillow have a waterproof protector on it? If no the answer is probably “right now”. Doctors recommend keeping a pillow no more than two years. This is because they’ll lose support and get yucky gross over those two years. If you get a memory foam pillow and get a protector on it they can last way longer. My oldest pillow was around seven years old.

Cheap polyfill pillows you buy at Target or Walmart are really only going to last three months before they wear out. If you are using more then one pillow at night you need a new pillow. Every time you have to wake up and adjust the multiple pillows you’re losing sleep.

Memory foam pillows can be more expensive but will last exponentially longer so save up and spend $50+ on a pillow you’ll actually get to use for a long time rather than $10 on one that will give you a few months of comfort.

What do I look for in a good pillow?

A good pillow is an extension of your spinal support. It should keep your neck aligned with your spine. Ideally, you are laying on a bed to try out a pillows height. It should match the width of your shoulder.

Most mattress stores can fit you for a pillow, but you can also bring a buddy to check your spinal alignment is straight. Side sleeping is most critical to get the height right. Back sleeping you just don’t want it too tall to force your chin down, and stomach you want it low enough not to push your neck up.

I replaced my pillow, now what?

Okay so now you might curse my name for a few days. Bodies are creatures of habit and hate change. Your neck might be in agony on the old pillow but it's familiar agony. So when you boot that sucker to the curb don't throw it out right away. As if I'd ever actually throw away a pillow when I could just hoard it forever.

Start each night on your new pillow. If you wake up in pain, switch back to the old one. Each night you should be able to stay on the new pillow longer and longer until your neck is finally happy. If the new pillow is consistently an issue after a week or more it may be too tall/low for you, unfortunately.

If I’m sleeping well do I really need to replace it (beds/pillows)?

Are you really sleeping well? Replacing beds or pillows is inherently stressful and a lot of peoples happy place is their bed. It’s hard to give up aspects of that cozy zone. If you’re really truly sleeping well no one is gonna make you change.

But generally if you find yourself asking this question you may be trying to convince yourself that things are good enough and ignoring that they could be much better.

Get a sleep tracker if some kind. Let it run for a week or two to see how much you’re tossing and waking up. If it’s a lot and your bed/pillow are old, it’s a good bed they’ve served their time.

If you ever wake up to readjust pillows (or at any point you’re using more than one pillow or mattress) then yes. You need a new one.

Good sleep is the result of the least disruptions. Anything you need to adjust in the middle of the night deserves a hard look and a boot to the curb.

Why shouldn’t I have my mattress flat on the floor?

Mold. Mold mold mold. Remember when I talked about how human bodies are humid? We put out a ridiculous amount of moisture as we sleep from exhalations to sweat. That builds up in the sponge under you and then your body heat maintains the ideal temperature to grow all sorts of nastiness.

You would not believe the amount of molded out beds I’ve seen. Even in the most arid areas, mold. It’s not worth it. Do not leave your bed on the floor. There’s like 2” frames if you like a low bed. If you must have your bed on the floor tip it up against a wall to ventilate every day. Mold will not wait for an invitation.

Japanese futons get brought up a lot here and first off- they get moved every night and washed regularly. Then left to ventilate. They understand that if they left it there it would mold.

Why do I sleep in X position?

Generally your body really wants your spine to curve in the right ways. Sleeping on your back would be ideal if the bed gave you everything you needed but most beds struggle to fill the lumbar. So when your muscles can’t hold your lumbar curve and want a break you roll onto your side.

Stomach sleepers are a case of back muscles fully declaring that nothing can support them and opting to invert rather than deal with poor support. It’s fully the worst sleeping position.

Before I sold beds I was almost 100% stomach sleeper due to scoliosis and back pain. Sometimes side. When I got my new bed I switched to only side and occasionally even back, which astonished me. As my bed has become less what I need I’ve reverted to occasional stomach bouts and less back sleeping.

Why don’t you like bed in a box?

Let me count the ways.

Box beds are the fast fashion of the bed world. They essentially corrupt the support part of the bed equation in order to get a product that can feasibly roll up and be compressed down. The foams are all lower density than they should be and give out quicker. The coils are significantly less steel.

The world cried out for an inexpensive bed and companies responded by giving you significantly less bed per dollar. They often use fiberglass as their flame retardant a requirement for all beds and there’s many testimonials about how poorly that’s gone for people.

But now the greatest sin of boxed beds is that they have the audacity to be marketed at the same price points of traditional beds that don’t roll up.

This robs the consumer of longevity. They’re a rip off. I sell them now at my store and I will do everything in my power to turn folks away onto beds that will actually do their damn job rather than bed mimics.

If you have a bed in a box, please understand that you’ll still get up to five years out of it, and you’re not foolish for buying one. They’ll still always be better than an old broken bed, just look to replace it sooner.

What is a good price point for a new bed?

This is really subjective, but you can get a queen size bed with independent coils for around $600. That’s the lowest good back support I’ve seen. You’ll get ten years out of it and it’ll be a bed.

Stepping into the $1000 mark gives better back support and pressure relief. Up from that they’re going to get more conforming.

Beyond $2000+ you’re generally paying for cooling. It’s the number one thing people want in a new bed but it costs more to give.

Rank Costco, IKEA, or bed in a boxes?

Bed in a box are my lowest tier, for reasons I’ve spoken of at length.

IKEA is next. They’re generally not boxed as of the last time I investigated ikea beds but they’re also just bare bones. Not a lot of either support or comfort, they tend to be around dorm quality.

Costco is a bit of a cheat here. See, they’re a wholesaler but mattresses aren’t something that overstocks- they’re made to order. Costco still wanted to offer a cheap option. So Costco gets beds made to order for really cheap. Now how can Costco offer it so much cheaper? By putting roughly 1/3 less stuff in it by category.

I had a spreadsheet laid out at one point to compare a sealy I carried against what looked like a comparable Costco bed. Every single component was shaved down. Each layer of foam, each coil, they all were about 1/3 less material than our better bed.

Now of course Costco sells boxed bed. So a non-boxed Costco bed is still better than an old broken bed and Costco will basically always take it back which is why they score higher than others but you’re still only going to get about three to five years out of it.

Do I really need a new boxspring? My old one is fine!

Is it really actually 100% fine? Is it just as old as the mattress? Are you willing to gamble the price of the new bed on the existing structural integrity? It’s been load bearing for the lifespan of a bed and the amount of boxes that are actually good to continue service are few and far between.

A few reasons to get new boxes: new beds are made much more floppy than old style to accommodate adjusting on adjustable bases. Old boxes may not offer adequate support for a new bed. Ideally what’s going under a new mattress is solid. No gaps. If you have slats it’s still ultimately better to put a bunkie board under the mattress rather than sitting it right on the slats. Also mattress manufacturers won’t warranty a bed that is on old boxes or improper support.

Adjustable bases are a wonderful replacement for box springs, bunkie boards should go over slats greater that 2” apart, and try to avoid frames that leave big open spaces under the bed.

If this guide was helpful you can consider popping a tip over on my Ko-fi to say thanks!

[honeytonedhottie]

bombshell⋆.ೃ࿔*:･💗🧁

WHO IS THE BOMBSHELL? ;

the bombshell is the epitome of confidence and femininity and even danger. when i think of bombshells i think of the perfect blend of oxymorons. sultry, but sweet. playful but also poised. some of my favorite bombshells are tyra banks, adriana lima and gisele bündchen…💬🎀

THE BOMBSHELL SIGNATURE LOOK ;

the signature bombshell look is comprised of four signature components—that glowy tanned skin, the emphasis on the eyes, bombshell hair, and the attitude.

GLOWY TANNED SKIN ;

use a shimmering body lotion and sparkly body oils to make you glow and sparkle like a star! use highlighter in ur makeup routine on ur cheekbones and on ur collarbones to elevate ur makeup. some shimmery bodycare recommendations from me are ->

❤︎ any fragrance that also has glitter in it (i live for the glittery bare vanilla scent from victorias secret)

❤︎ the mac highlighter in the shade soft and gentle

❤︎ victorias secret indulge glittery body oil (GURL, quite literally one of the best oils i've ever put on)

EMPHASIS ON THE EYES ;

use warm neutrals and shimmering eyeshadows to define ur eyes. for example a champagne shade on the lids paired with a soft brown in the crease is perfection. subtle winged eyeliner with fluffy lashes is the way to go. to achieve the fluffy lashes use a volumizing mascara or use falsies.

BOMBSHELL HAIR ;

bombshell hair is big and bouncy and voluminous! and utterly glamorous. when styling ur hair emphasize volume in ur hair by applying hairspray upside down (a trick i learnt) or using a root-lifting spray. curl ur hair in big sections and shake out your curls and run your fingers through them for that “effortless” finish.

BOMBSHELL ENERGY AND ATTITUDE ;

the bombshell energy incorporates playfulness, femininity, confidence. its about owning yourself entirely and exuding that confidence thats fierce. know that YOU ARE THE MOMENT and it'll show in everything that u do. be fun, be flirty, be intense and dont wait on anyone to tell u to shine cuz the only validation that matters is ur own.