Chart Rectification

What if I don’t know my birth time?

 I hear this question over and over from people who want to get an astrology reading, but they don’t know their birth time. This is always a problem, because without an accurate time of birth many astrological techniques can not be used.

 Some astrologers use a solar chart when they don’t know a client’s actual birth time. Or, they use the sign and placement (degrees) of the Sun as the ascendant and read the houses and planetary placements from that. Using this method will give some insight, but timing and other interpretations are impossible.

 Other astrologers try to determine the ascendant based on their client’s personal appearance. This method is extremely problematic. If they have planets in the first house, the appearance will always be affected by them–thus, the ascendant (and the chart) are wrong.

 Then, there is the method of rectifying a birth chart by using a noon birth time, which gives you a time half way in the middle of a twenty-four hour time span. This works for getting the big picture, but is wholly lacking when trying to narrow down what is really going on in a person’s life. It does not work at all for timing events.

 There are many other methods that people use, but none are accurate enough to be used for an accurate, helpful reading.

 The only method I have found that consistently works to rectify a birth chart is to do a full astrological chart rectification. When I rectify a chart I ask for a few significant events in my client’s life. I then find the 4th harmonic aspects (squares, oppositions and conjunctions) that the outer planets (Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) were making to the natal chart two years before the significant event. The outer planets set things up and set the energy in motion. Events almost never happen without being set up in this way by the outer planets. Once the event is set up by the outer planets, the inner planets are the triggers for the actual event.

 As I work through the rectification, I use solar arc returns, secondary progressions, tertiary progresssions, and finally transits to determine the time of an actual event. As the time of birth is narrowed down more and more, I look at transit midpoints, transits of the inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter) and finally the moon transit to determine the actual timing of the event as it relates to the birth chart. When the inner planets have triggered the event, I can use that time to come up with a time of birth.

 Once I have a working presumed time of birth, I then test it against the other significant events in the person’s life. If it works for other events, it is safe to use it as the “official” time of birth. Then and only then, will I use the rectified time of birth to construct a birth chart that can be accurately interpreted.

 If you or, someone you know, would like to learn your time of birth, please send me an email by filling out the comment form below. Leave your telephone number and I will call you back to discuss whether it is feasible to do a chart rectification, and if so, to set up an appointment.