Women Who Travel Podcast: An Astrologer Predicts Our Travel Plans

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

With summer travels on the horizon, Lale taps professional astrologer—and Women Who Travel horoscope columnist—Steph Koyfman to read her chart and guide her through the season and the rest of the year. Plus, we hear from three listeners who are thinking about relocating, getting citizenship in a new place, and undertaking a life changing trek, and turn to Steph for clarity.

Lale Arikoglu: Hi there. I'm Lale Arikoglu and welcome to a very fun Women Who Travel episode this week that's all about astrology. I'm talking to Steph Koyfman who writes our horoscope column where she offers travel predictions for each Zodiac sign every month on our website. She started writing for us in August last year and it's hugely popular. For this episode Steph is reading the charts of three listeners chosen from our mailbag. Steph is talking to me today from Florida.

Steph Koyfman: I grew up at a time when it wasn't cool to astrology and you just had to know, most people in casual conversation were just going to roll their eyes at you or change the subject actually.

LA: Well, I guess it was when we were growing up, astrology, or at least in my head in the UK, it was this sort of, really leaning into stereotypes, but it was women with lots of bangles and baggy tops looking at crystal ball, and it was all a bit airy-fairy. Now we have apps. We have so many well-respected writers like yourself who are actually... It's an art form and a science. You write for Women Who Travel a astrology column that is very focused on travel. What are you like as a traveler?

SK: When this opportunity came my way, I was just like, "Of course I would write a travel column, because I'm a very ninth house person. The ninth house in astrology has to do with travel, it has to do with education, it has to do with spirituality and astrology and divination and all of those kinds of journeys and quests for knowledge. I myself am in a time in my life where I am trying to do more travel. I'm trying to be a little bit more nomadic, so it fits.

LA: One of the things I really like about the column is that you can see the personalities and traits of different types of travelers coming through according to their signs. I can definitely see some of my own, I was going to say chaos, I don't know if that's the right word. What are your traits as a traveler?

SK: Well, my ninth house falls in Gemini, so one of the traits of Gemini is curiosity and multiplicity and liking to have a little bit of everything. For me, language is a really fun part of it too. It's really fun to be able to connect in different languages.

LA: What languages do you speak?

SK: English, Spanish, and Russian.

LA: Oh, what a spread.

SK: Well, I just came back from Costa Rica and Mexico. It was interesting, because for whatever reason, those seven weeks that I was just there, my Spanish was the best it's ever been. It was really nice to be able to talk to people and make my taxi drivers laugh, crack jokes. It does absolutely change the place. It changes your experience of the place.

LA: I was just in Paris with a friend and she's pretty good at French and my high school French is now non-existent, honestly, it was non-existent when I was in high school. But I was sort of like her child that she was wheeling around. Not being able to speak a language, it was sort of infantilizing. When you're writing these columns, what sort of responsibility do you feel? Because people are looking to you for answers.

SK: It's like, "How do I make this useful to as many people as possible without knowing their financial situation, without knowing their life circumstances, without knowing really anything about them?" A horoscope is mostly for fun because really if you want astrology to guide you, it's not really going to be able to speak to your individual circumstances or really meet you where you are unless you're getting your individual chart read. However, there are certain overarching themes that are probably going to be playing out in a lot of people's lives who have the same rising sign. So take what works, don't take what doesn't. A horoscope isn't necessarily going to tell you the answers that you're looking for.

LA: Okay. That is helpful advice going in. I won't be making every travel decision based off what you tell me today. Last question before we get into listeners' horoscopes, you are very explicit that people should be reading their horoscopes based on their rising sign. Could you just give listeners a crash course in what that means?

SK: The sun sign has to do with yearly cycles. The earth makes a full revolution around the sun every year, but from our perspective here on earth, it looks like the sun is making the revolution. The ascendant or the rising sign is more about the diurnal rotation of the earth. Every 24 hours, the zodiac makes a full loop, and basically what you're looking at is which sign on the ecliptic is rising over the eastern horizon, and that has to do with the fact that the earth makes a rotation once a day.

LA: So to read someone's chart, from what I understand, because I had to give you some information, it's where you were born, date of birth, time of birth?

SK: Mm-hmm.

LA: The time of birth is kind of tricky, because not everyone knows it or it's a bit hazy. How exactly do you have to be?

SK: The more exactly the better. That's a question that astrologers wrestle with all the time, because sometimes even officially recorded birth times aren't completely accurate because the nurse will just round it up by five minutes or something. Or they say, "My mom remembers this time." But how reliable is that really if you're going through childbirth things and all of that.

LA: I imagine different places around the world and even just different nurses or whoever's there when someone's giving birth are deciding the birth time based on different things. Is it when the baby's fully popped out?

SK: I have never been in a delivery room, so I don't really know.

LA: I have no idea. How do you measure that anyway?

SK: I assume that it's like once the baby's fully out or maybe once the baby takes its first breath.

LA: Okay, we're going to go with that. All right.

SK: This is a deep existential question. When does life really begin?

LA: I know, and I'm like... Oh god. Now we're getting into some existential American questions, which maybe we'll breeze over.

Let's get into some of our listeners' charts and you can tell them where they're going to be traveling or what sort of travels they could face. We have one listener who wrote into us, Michelle Hernandez. A faithful listener of the podcast, she says, and a big fan of the horoscopes. Well done to both of us. Pat ourselves on the back.

SK: Michelle is a Scorpio rising, Virgo Sun, Libra Moon.

Michelle Hernandez: Hi Steph. I would love to have my chart read because I have a pretty big summer up ahead. I have two major bookend events taking place that I think really embody the theme of alignment within astrology and travel. I will be walking the Camino de Santiago for the second time in Galicia, Spain. And I will also be celebrating my golden birthday. Astrology and travel have played a similar role in my life in that they've really helped me find clarity, find perspective in the now, but they've also given me the space to be creative, find new outlets, find new paths as I step into the future, and I think that this summer really reflects that for me.

The Camino de Santiago is really interesting because it is deeply tied to Christianity, but it also stems from a pagan pilgrimage in which people quite literally followed this path of the stars, followed the Milky Way to what they believed to be the end of the earth. I walked it in 2022 and it was a life-changing experience, one because I got to do it alongside my mom, but also because it really allowed me to again, connect with myself, connect with those around me, connect with nature, be an active listener, and remain grounded in my everyday life. At the end of the summer, I'll also be celebrating my golden birthday, as I mentioned, so I'll be 29 on the 29th. As I enter the last year of my twenties. I think it's also important to celebrate the journey that is your twenties, so I would love to have this chart reading as a celebration of, again, these literal and metaphorical journeys that I'm about to embark on. Thank you so much. Michelle.

LA: Camino de Santiago is a series of ancient pilgrimage routes. Most commonly people start in France and the route ends at the Cathedral of Santiago to Compostela, in Galicia in Spain. It's a challenge, whether you're walking, hiking or biking the route.

SK: What I'm really getting from everything that I've tapped into, is that this journey, Camino is a symbolic ritual for an internal process that you've been having. You're having your Saturn return at the moment. Saturn return is a rite of passage that everyone goes through in their late-twenties, early thirties. What's interesting is that, late-June, the timing of this second passage that you're doing is timed to Saturn's station retrograde. Your Saturn placement is interesting because it's in the last decan of Pisces, the last 10 degrees of the entire Zodiac. Saturn is the planet of commitment and long things. What is more long and arduous than a multi-day trek by foot, right?

LA: Would you say that Michelle, she's always going to be like this, she's always going to be a bit of a journeyer. She's always going to be taking on challenging trips. Is this just part of who she is now?

SK: I wouldn't say that it necessarily is always going to have to do with physical travel, but I do think that physical travel could be a good outlet for that. Because journeys are journeys that you take on foot, journeys are journeys that you take by plane, they're journeys that you take within yourself.

LA: Up next, Daniela Mello. Daniela also is at a pivotal point in her life. Daniela is currently in Singapore, but she's decided to move back to the US by the end of the summer. The move is so that she can start the process of getting an American citizenship. She's currently a green card holder, which I have to say I can't help but relate. I have a green card and I'm at a point where I'm having to decide whether I'm going to make the move for applying for citizenship, and so Daniela, I relate. It's a big decision and kind of an overwhelming one.

SK: Daniela is a Libra rising, Taurus sun, Capricorn moon

Daniela Mello: Ola Steph. I'm very interested, I'm very excited for you to read my birth chart because I'm about to go through a big change in my life. I am originally from Mexico City, but I lived in the States for a very long time, became a green card holder. But the last two years of my life, I've been living, working, and just having the best time of my life in Singapore. Recently I have decided it's time to go back to the States so I can start my citizenship process. I am very nervous, very emotional about it, because it is a big change. Even though I lived in the States for a very long time and it's my second home, I am terrified of having reverse culture shock. Also, I'll be switching from being a Mexican expat in Singapore to an immigrant in the US.

I know there's some really cool things about the change, for example, the American passport, which is a huge privilege. I won't have to be making the long lines in the airports. Earning in the American dollar, which will allow me to keep traveling. And of course, Mexico is just around the corner. I can just go my family and eat tacos anytime that I want to. To be honest, I've never had my bird chart read before, but my friends say it's some sort of live GPS that tells you a lot about your gifts and your life and dynamics and energies. This seems like a good time to learn more about myself. Thank you so much. Actually, you'll hear some noise about to take a flight from San Francisco to Singapore, so sorry about that. Thank you.

SK: Daniela, there's so much interesting duality and contradiction that I'm hearing in your statement. What is this difference between having an expat experience versus an immigrant experience? This theme of duality and contradictions is going to be the central narrative with Jupiter entering Gemini, your ninth house this spring. This Jupiter and Gemini transit that we're having, it's going to involve some checks and balances because Jupiter and Saturn will be squaring each other throughout the entire year.

The theme here is incremental growth. A couple steps forward, maybe one step back. I would expect that the process of gaining citizenship might not necessarily happen overnight. An area where some of these checks are coming from, it might have to do with the limitations of your job and your employment situation. Sixth House also has to do with health and the kinds of routines that you maintain for your wellness, so I think your intuition is correct that it's going to be important for you to create some sort of structure for yourself. Which I know is always difficult when you change a location because our routines are so embedded in our environment.

It looks like there's these dual processes happening at the same time. One is that there's more resource becoming available to you, and I'm not sure if that has something to do with earning money and USD, like you said, or if it has to do with some sort of support coming in from elsewhere. However, at the same time, I feel like your sense of your purpose is being challenged in this moment, but it does seem as though things are going to start moving pretty quickly for you within the next month. Also, it does seem as though conditions improve for you after October. If things feel a little bit rough, it feels like things aren't really moving in your favor, just hang on until October, because you move into a slightly more fortunate period after that point.

LA: Coming up. Pia Tandon, who's in Manchester, England is at a crossroads in her life. She's itching to relocate, but understandably she's nervous. Then my chart. We chose this question from Pia because like many of us, she has this gut feeling that she should move, but still has many questions.

SK: Pia is a Leo rising, Pisces Sun, Aquarius Moon.

Pia Tandon: Hi, Steph. I'm 38, I live in the UK, and I've felt for a long time, probably since my teenage years, that I am not where I'm supposed to be in life. I feel it in my heart and soul like I'm supposed to live somewhere else.

I've spent a lot of time recently looking into moving to mainland Europe, potentially either Spain or Italy, but then a lot of signs in my life are pointing towards Australia. I also had, well, I think it was a birth chart actually done on me when I was nine months old, which said that I would end up in New Zealand, and there are also signs in my life that point to that. It would be amazing if you are able to give me some kind of insight into where I am likely to end up.

There's no feeling like going and experiencing other cultures and getting out and seeing the world. I've always been very intrigued by birth charts and horoscopes. I've felt like I am a Pisces through and through for as long as I can remember. I feel I embody all of the traits of a Pisces and any guidance or reassurance that you can give me that I am moving in the right direction or anything I can do to influence my upcoming journey in a positive way, I would be incredibly grateful. Thank you so much. Pia.

LA: I think a lot of people who are in their thirties, she's at that point where friends are moving away, people's lives are changing, and she's feeling a certain amount of tension about her own living situation. Her fear is that she does it and follows her dream and it turns out to be the wrong decision. It sounds like she's asking a lot from you and from her chart. I don't think we're going to be able to tell her if it's going to be the right decision or not.

SK: Pia, the worst thing that can happen is just that you have to move back to the UK. I assume that since you don't have a family that maybe you might be more at liberty to do so. The eclipses have been hitting your chart over the past couple years, and currently you're at the end of the road when it comes to your current environment, is very much on time for you at this moment. With these north node eclipses that are falling in Aries in your ninth house, especially with the one we're about to have in April, there's this story around not knowing what's on the other side, but needing to go through the process of choosing courage and taking the risk. Whether or not you choose to make the leap now, you need to be going in the direction of some sort of expansion of making your world bigger in some way.

You enter a slightly more challenging period for June 2024 through February of 2026. You're also having a Saturn Square at the moment, so not everything during this time is necessarily going to be smooth sailing, but it won't be that bad. With the moon having so much strength in Cancer, usually the moon being in a favorable sign indicates that there might be resources or support, or just comfort that's available to you in this time. The other thing I'm noticing is there's going to be a lot of helpful people in your vicinity. All you need to do is just reach out a hand and someone will kind of be there to provide what it is you need.

LA: And when you're traveling in general, I think one of the wonderful things that you see is that people always want to help.

SK: Moving to a new place I think is necessarily always going to be isolating. I think that it's internally that you might still be dealing with a little bit of loneliness and uncertainty.

LA: Like you said, the worst that can happen is you just move back. Which has been advice that people have given me in the past and that I've given to others. Steph, my chart. I diligently gave you all of my information. I'm a summer baby. Cancer Leo Cusps.

SK: Yeah, Actually, I'm also a July '88 baby.

LA: Oh my God. Look at us.

SK: Lale is a Scorpio rising, Cancer sun, and Scorpio Moon.

LA: I travel all the time and the line between personal travel and professional travel is very blurred for me. I've got some amazing trips coming up. I am going to Namibia and Botswana in a few weeks. It's a very last minute trip. I'm going to go to Jamaica a few days after I get back from that trip, and then I'm going to Peru in May and Italy in the autumn. There might be a few more surprises on the way. I've got a fabulous travel year ahead. I think I'm going to be very tired. I would love to know what I should be looking to get out of them. If there are any experiences you think I have coming up that are going to be really eye-opening or particularly fuel creativity. I think that's something I really want to find to prioritize in my year of travel.

SK: When I was looking at your chart, Lale, one of those things is that you're actually approaching a pretty big pinnacle in your life at the moment. You're having a progressed full moon eclipse this June. Usually when someone hits their progressed full moon, it's a time of peak visibility. It's a time when a lot of the efforts that you've been undertaking for the last 14 years really feel like they're coming to full bloom and maturation. I do think that part of this is going to be about accessing your creativity. What also interests me is that the full moon itself, it happens at four degrees of Pisces, which is actually conjunct a royal fixed star. When you see progressed planets hit a royal star like this, it usually means that there's some sort of pinnacle of achievement in your life.

LA: You are giving me a golden reading. This is brilliant. I'm going to be rich.

SK: Well, I didn't say that, but...

LA: 14 years of slogging away and media is going to pay off.

SK: Well about that. I don't know how much I should really say on air with your boss listening if that's awkward or not. But there is going to be this Mars retrograde that's happening this winter. I think that there's going to be a period of rethinking your ambitions that really kind of comes to the fore, especially this fall and winter.

This also overlaps with the technique called zodiacal releasing. There's a couple of times in everyone's life, everyone might have two or three of these, where people really kind of pivot and change their mind about what it is that they feel they should be doing with their life. You are on time for one of those between August of 2024 and August of 2025. The coincidence of this with the Mars retrograde, makes me feel like I don't know if it's just going to be some sort of internal process that you're having around your life direction, your relationship to travel, how it is that you feel your career should be associated with travel and the kinds of impacts that you're having. Because I feel like travel isn't always just travel, it's also your politics, it's also your values. I would expect the fall and the winter to be a time of just a lot of internal ferment and internal strife. It's moving the goalposts really, I think is what it is.

LA: Okay. I feel like I have to maybe relax into the chaos a little bit. One thing I think I've become very good at with traveling for this job is no amount of what... I'm setting myself up for disaster, but I'm going to say it, no amount of delays, cancellations, last minute trips can throw me at this point. I see it as out of my hands and I have to just relax into it. I will be approaching this year with some of that attitude.

SK: Yeah, I think that's a great attitude to have.

LA: When I was saying about fueling creativity, it's definitely, as a writer and as an editor and the work that I feel is exciting and important at this magazine. How should I be approaching some of these trips? Should I be going into them expecting a certain level of chaos, or am I expecting transformation or I should just enjoy them?

SK: Well, the period of strife and ferment that I'm referring to doesn't really start until the end of the year. I would say late June through early July could also be a really pleasant time when you can just be on the lazy river and not worry so much about the urgent questions of what to do with your life.

LA: God, which are the things I lie awake at 03:00 A.M. thinking about, almost every day. I want to be on the lazy river. Well, this was incredibly insightful, and I have to say I'm nothing but excited for what the year has ahead of me. I fully understand that it might not mean that I'm going to become a millionaire, but I'm hoping that this big moment of clarity will be prosperous.

SK: I hope so too.

LA: Steph, this is really fun.

SK: You can find me at ladycazimi.com, that's L-A-D-Y-C-A-Z-I-M-I.com. It's the same handle on Instagram, Twitter, Substack and Threads.

LA: We're so thrilled to have you writing for us every month, and it was just genuinely really insightful. And really, like I said, makes me excited for the year ahead, even if we're already in spring.

SK: All right. Well, it was nice to talk to you.

LA: Next week, how plants help us belong. With travel stories of cherry blossoms in Berlin and tea plants in the Himalayan foothills from author Jessica J. Lee. I'm Lale Arikoglu, and you can find me on Instagram @Lalehannah. Our engineers are Jake Lummus, Nick Pitman, and James Yost. The show's mixed by Amar Lal, Jude Kampfner, from Corporation for Independent Media, is our producer. Chris Bannon is Condé Nast's head of global audio. See you next week.

Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler