Birth time rectification is a skill that every serious astrologer
needs to learn, since approximately 10% of charts have issues
regarding their birth time. Either there is some uncertainty
about the birth time, or there is no known birth time at all,
or the ascendant is on a cusp between two signs, etc.
A good first step in birth time rectification is to take a logical
approach in which you consider the person's character traits
and then analyze their chart. For instance, I'm a tennis fan
and recently was looking at the chart of Ryan Harrison, a 19
year old American who's suddenly climbed up in the rankings
into the top 75 players in the world. He's a tough, spunky,
highly competitive kid with a hot temper. He's often seen throwing
his racquet, yelling, or challenging umpires. There is no available
birth time for him, so I just chose 12 noon. Here's his chart:
Ryan Harrison's Natal Chart
Notice that at 12:00pm Harrison's Moon is at late degrees
Gemini at 27 degrees 54 minutes. By 3:32pm the Moon enters Cancer.
In Gemini, the Moon is conjunct Ketu and aspected by Mars, which
are two fiery and temperamental planets. Gemini is an outgoing,
expressive, communicative sign, whereas Cancer is an introspective,
passive, and reserved sign, especially with the Moon being aspected
by Saturn. Given this clear distinction between the Moon placed
in Gemini versus Cancer, it makes logical sense that he was
born before 3:32pm. That's a nice short cut that didn't take
much time. Now instead of considering a full 24 hour period,
we've cut it down to a 15 1/2 hr period.
Now, let's consider the ascendants. At 12:00am on May 7, 1992
in Shreveport Louisiana the ascendant was at 16 degrees Sagittarius,
and at 3:32pm the ascendant was at 27 degrees Leo. So we'll
just eliminate Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio as possible ascendants.
If you look at his chart with these two extreme birth times
of 12am and 3:32pm, you'll see that in either case he's in a
Saturn mahadasha right now. Given his fiery temperament, self-confident
and cocky attitude, and his disciplined career focus I would
first consider Aries ascendant as his likely ascendant. Aries
ascendant runs at sunrise from 5:18am until 6:49am. This is
not only the most fiery ascendant, which matches his temperament,
but it would place exalted Sun (confidence) in the ascendant
and Saturn (discipline) in its own sign in the 10th house of
career. Given that he gave up high school and turned pro at
the ripe age of 15, I would certainly expect a dasha sequence
that supported that. Saturn dasha with Saturn in its own sign
in the 10th house forming a shasha mahapurusha yoga gives this.
Basketball superstar Michael Jordan also had this combination
of an Aries ascendant with Saturn in the 10th house.
Of course, these are only quick initial steps in birth time
rectification and nothing definitive has been established about
Harrison's real birth time. I've just presented this article
to emphasize taking an initial rational approach based on known
character traits and known facts/events about a person's life.
You can see how in a short period of time we narrowed the range
of his birth time down to a more manageable level. Then we honed
in on an ascendant that made the most logical sense. However,
to do a complete birth rectification process is a much more
complicated and time-consuming task that involves analyzing
15-20 events in a person's life and making sure that they all
make logical sense, not only in the natal chart, but in all
the relevant divisional charts. In addition, life events of
family members should also be verified with the rectified birth
time. That's a process than can take several hours, whereas
we reached a logical ball park range of time in much less time.
Ryan Harrison's Natal Chart
