What makes astrology a powerful tool for self-discovery and forecasting potential future events in the life (considering, of course, that the astrologer is legitimate and competent) is that it is tailor-fit to you (believe it or not, even twins can potentially have drastically dissimilar birth charts). This is achieved by drawing up the chart of your birth that shows the position of the planets at the exact moment you were born.
What's with the birth details anyway?
When you go for a consultation with an astrologer, you will need to provide three pieces of information that will be the basis of your horoscope. These are:
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Date of Birth – Determines the season (a.k.a. the Sun sign) you were born in. This is the Zodiac sign that the public is most familiar with (i.e. "If you were born from this date to that date, then your Zodiac sign is __.").
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City of Birth – Determines the calculation of the Houses. Depending on where you were born and the personal practice of your astrologer, the calculation of the astrological Houses in your chart may vary. This is important because the Houses determine the area of the life we are reading about (e.g. your career is a 10th House topic, your personal finances is a 2nd House topic, your pets belong to the 6th House, etc.).
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Time of Birth – Determines what Zodiac sign was rising in the Eastern horizon at the exact moment you were born. This is known as your Rising (or Ascendant) sign.
The time of birth is very important because, as the location of birth may affect the House calculations (i.e. how wide or narrow a House is), the time of birth dictates the actual Houses themselves. This is due to the fact that the Rising sign is always in the 1st House (in some systems, it is actually the start of the 1st House, or what is known as the 'cusp'), and the rest of the Houses are determined thereafter. Without knowing your time of birth, we will not know what the Houses are and, therefore, our reading of your chart will be gravely limited.
Don't get me wrong – there are still a great deal of information we can share about you even without the Houses but it would be incomplete, especially around forecasting.
So, now, what do you do if you don't have your time of birth?
What do I do to get my birth time then?
Here are your options to obtain your time of birth in order of easy and fee:
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Check your birth certificate. Generally speaking, all three of your birth details should be listed in your birth certificate; however, not all governments record the time of birth in their legal documents so your next option is to
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Ask your family or relatives. The easiest way to obtain this information is to ask your parents. They may still remember the exact time your mom gave birth to you. If not, your aunts/uncles may also know. Best of all, this is free!
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Call the hospital where you were born. Some hospitals keep records for 20 or more years. Try to get in touch with the hospital's administrative office and see if they still have your information on file. This may take some time to do, not to mention there may be fees associated with this request.
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Get your birth chart / time rectified by an astrologer. This is, quite possibly, the most difficult task an astrologer will do in their career. This is considered a full consultation session on its own by most astrologers and, depending on their practice and experience, the consultation may cost anywhere from US$ 150 to US$ 300.
What is Birth Chart Rectification?
To put it simply, this is the practice of finding your time of birth by studying your chart given the date and city of your birth.
An astrologer will ask you questions about major life events that had happened to you in the past. Using those details, they will "turn back time" to arrive at the best estimate of your time of birth. Experienced astrologers, particularly those who specialize in this art, can get to as close as +/- 5 minutes of your actual birth time; however, depending on your astrologer's practice, getting as close as 1-2 hours is already sufficient to determine your Rising sign.
I personally don't know of a lot of astrologers who offer this service as you can imagine. While I don't officially offer this service yet myself, feel free to get in touch with me and let's discuss how I can help you out.
So... are you ready to have your first astrology sesh?