The day and time we were born holds significant meaning to us from an astrology standpoint, so it’s helpful to have accurate data.
The exact day we were born directs not only our personalities but our attitude toward the world and what journey to we are destined to take. In your numerology portrait, three numbers—the birthday number, the life path number, and the attitude number—all come from the numbers in your date of birth. Unlike those that come from your name, your birth numbers cannot be changed, and therefore have a stronger hold over you.
Astrology can read a lot into personality, life path, and potential, depending on your birth chart horoscope. Your birth date, says a lot about how you are and all the great things that you are destined to do.
Most people only know about astrology from the horoscope columns they read in newspapers and magazines. But, those forecasts are for entertainment purposes only and should never be taken seriously. If they seem even remotely accurate, rest assured it is only by coincidence, because those columns have almost no bearing on the legitimate practice of astrology.
Astrology is a guide, or a map of the potential in your life. However, no two people born at the exact same time and place will have the exact same life. The very nature of astrology speaks to your exercise of “free will” and the many choices and options you have for how you live your life. Nevertheless, having accurate knowledge of your birth date is critical.
The Chart Wheel In Astrology
The Chart Wheel is a map of the space surrounding us at the time of our birth. The wheel is divided into 12 sections called Houses. Planets in the heavens are placed on the Chart Wheel in the houses that correspond to where they actually are in the sky at birth.
In the Chart Wheel, the planets are placed in their Zodiac positions. The Zodiac stretches in a circle through all 360 degrees of the surrounding sky, and this circle is divided into sections of 30 degrees, which make up the 12 signs. Planet positions are measured within signs by degrees, minutes, and seconds of circular arc. Each degree contains 60 minutes of arc and each minute of arc contains 60 seconds of arc.
The Chart Wheel is divided into 12 sections called Houses. The houses are numbered from 1 to 12. The pie-like lines that divide one house from the next are called house cusps.
Keep in mind that our Earth makes a complete turn on its axis once in 24 hours. The Chart Wheel represents the space surrounding where we were born. It is as if we were standing outside with the sky above us (upper part of chart) and the Earth beneath our feet (lower hemisphere). As the Earth turns, it brings each of the 360 degrees of the zodiac to any part of the wheel once in 24 hours, a new degree of the zodiac every 4 minutes.
The Natal Chart
The Natal Chart is a map of your life. It’s like if you were able to take a photo at the time of your birth of the planets and of the universe stopped in time. Once developed this ‘photo’ is what the universe has to say about who you are and what you may become. The seeds of the future are always shown in the present, but can we read them? This is what the study of astrology is about, reading the signs of the times and listening to what they have to say about us, now and in the future.
A Natal Chart is made from your month, day, year, time of birth (am/pm), city and state of birth. With this information your Natal Chart can determine your personality, the person you are and who you will become! The Sun, Moon and Rising form your personality, it’s like a pyramid, Sun on top and Moon and Rising at each bottom end. There is a treasure chest of information in a Natal Chart!
The planets will not be in the same place at the time of your birth again for another 25,000 years, there are no two personalities the same in the world. You are unique!
Correcting Your Birth Time
When you don’t know your time of birth or suspect it is off by a few minutes or more, you can have your birth time rectified. Rectification is a very time-consuming process that involves forecasting backwards in your life and adjusting your birth time until it coincides with all the significant events in your life.
It can be a costly investment. However, the time and costs can be considerably less if you have a birth time on your birth certificate from which to start the process, and if you have a very good memory for as many events in your life as possible.
Rectification is not a job for an amateur; not even all professional astrologers are up to the task. But, for astrology to work properly, an accurate birth time is essential, and rectification is the best way to determine it.
So if you want to get your chart rectified, start by obtaining a copy of your birth certificate and then make a detailed list of all the significant events in your life (e.g., births, deaths, relocations, marriages, divorces, career moves, etc.), asking your friends and family members for help along the way if you can’t remember exact dates, times or places.
After you’ve done all of this preparatory work, you can start looking for an astrologer who is experienced in rectification.
Rectification is an important investment for anyone who regularly uses and relies on astrology for guidance in life. Once your exact birth time has been properly determined, you will find that astrological consultations are far more accurate than you ever imagined possible, and that the predictive advice you receive will be right on the money.
Your Solar Return
Solar returns are also called birthday charts. In fact, it’s from the solar return that we get the expression “many happy returns” which we say when wishing someone a happy birthday.
Your solar return is calculated for the exact date and time when the Sun returns to the place it was in when you were born. This means that your true birthday may fall on the same date you were born, or it may fall the day before or after, depending on when the Sun reaches the correct degree. For example, if you were born on September 28, 1950, when the Sun was at 05ELIB 00′, your solar return would have fallen on September 27th in the years 2004, 2005, and 2006.
Many reputable astrologers believe you can affect the outcome of your solar return by being in a place other than your birthplace or your place of residence at the time of the return. Some people will go to extraordinary lengths to visit another town or country for their solar return. This is because calculating a solar return for a different location can cause certain desirable planetary aspects to appear, and certain undesirable planetary aspects to disappear, or a planet or planets can change houses if the chart is erected for a different place. However, while the ancients believed in erecting a solar return for the location in which a person is at the time of the return, people back then did not travel much, and they could not have anticipated our highly mobile lifestyles.
The solar return takes the single day of the return and uses the 24 hours that follow the return to predict the future events for that year. But, we can argue that, like progressions, we need to recalculate the solar return for the place where the person lives once they return home.
Why is the solar return any different than a progression in that respect? After all, if I went to New York in June, I wouldn’t erect my progressions there and then return to the West Coast and rely on those New York calculations. When I progress the planets in my solar returns to predict events, it has always been the solar return chart erected for my residence that has been reliable.
The Ascendant And Midheaven In Your Birth Chart
The Ascendant in a birth chart is known as the rising sign. It is the starting point of the first house in a chart. Contrary to the standard horoscope analysis in the newspaper, where the personality of a person is based on the Sun Sign (the sign where the sun is), astrologers usually put emphasis on the characteristics of the first House, or Ascendant, to project a personality profile.
On the birth chart, the Midheaven is the point where the sun is found midday. The sign where the Midheaven is found not only has a strong bearing on the subject’s outward expression of oneself in one’s world, lifestyle, choice of career, attitude, but also in events that the subject has no direct control. The Midheaven represents ego, and the characteristics that are associated with the sign in which the Midheaven is found, are expressed in an external manner.
