"Rectifying" = adjusting the reported birth time

Constructing a Jyotisha chart:

When no birth time is available:

I personally do not try to create a birth time for the native who has absolutely no record of their time of birth.  Rather, I do what Jyotishi have done in India for millennia, which is to read the radix chart from the Chandra Lagna.  

Using only Chandra lagna, none of the varga charts can be calculated, and timing of major events cannot be known.  

However the Moon's nakshatra should be examined carefully, including the padaa of the nakshatra if that can be detected from the native's  physical appearance.

When an approximate time is available:

If the native knows they were born "in the morning" or "in the evening" we do have then, a general range of hours within which a search for a more accurate time becomes justifiable.  The astrologer's willingness to undertake such a search must be significantly motivated, because these rectification processes involve several iterations of checking and re-checking that are extremely time consuming. 

The native's physical appearance is a useful guideline for setting the radix lagna.  (It helps to know something about the genetic norms within the natives family and tribe in order to determine whether the native's complexion and physique is generally paler, darker, redder, bluer, curlier, straighter, taller, shorter, muscular or slender, relative to the general group characteristics.)

If the native has children, timing of birth of the first child during a bhukti of L-5 or L-9, is a reliable indicator of correct radix lagna. 

Timing of marriage during bhukti of navamsha L-1 or L-7 and also gochara Rahu-Ketu transit through the navamsha lagna can help set the rashi of navamsha lagna.  Navamsha lagna rashi should confirm (or at least not contradict) the native's bodily complexion. 

How much correction is sensible?

My experience with birth time rectification is that, if a rectification from the birth certificate time is required, it will always be accomplished by making the birth time *earlier* than recorded. 

I suspect this is because hospitals and midwives typically record the birth at the time the baby has fully emerged from the birth canal. In fact, often enough, the baby takes its first breath well before even the shoulders are all the way out. typically, 1-5 minutes earlier than recorded time is warranted. 

Rarely, I have pushed as far as 10 minutes earlier than recorded time. I was hesitant to push as far back as 10 minutes in the one case where it seemed necessary, but later found out that the birth in that case was very difficult with one arm getting stuck and medical intervention needed. Meanwhile the baby was breathing on its own...

In these cases there are usually other circumstantial pointers. Often the mother is in a difficult Vimshottari period. Mom is ill or ambivalent about the birth, the birth process is not well coordinated between mother & child, and the child will have some uncomfortable graha in lagna/Chandra lagna to match the mother's ambivalence about their birth.

Q: Births are very commonly advanced or postponed these days because of other considerations such as doctor's availability. In such cases, is it correct to still use the actual birth time as the basis?

A: Yes, regardless of birth technology (induced labor, C-section, etc.) the moment of the baby's first breath is used to calculate the radix lagna, which is the astrological point on the eastern horizon at the moment of first breath. 

In rare cases some folks claim to have recorded the moment of conception of their child (adna lagna). This can also be used, (but with caution re: accuracy).

Daylight Saving Time - Aaarrgh

The bane of western astrologers, Daylight Saving Time is fickle and annoying throughout Eurasia.  For USA births in particular, it is necessary to be very knowledgeable about the various passed-then-revoked-then-passed-again state and local DST rules.  A knowledgeable Jyotishi can determine when it is reasonable to rectify a birth-time by adding or removing DST.

My own birth time on 24-Aug-1956 in Chicago IL is recorded in Central Standard Time as 12:17 pm.  DST did NOT apply on birth certificates in Illinois in 1956 because, as an agricultural state, Illinois was beholden to the farmers who hate the confusion and extra work that DST causes them.  (A farmer can't exactly set the cows back one hour every spring and autumn!) 

In fact the local people in Chicago had all set their clocks forward one hour, and my birth time is recorded in my grandmother's diary as 1:35 pm -- one hour later than the hospital record.  

Why is that?  Because the State of Illinois had a law that all legal documents would be stamped in standard time.  Yes it seems bizarre but yes it is true; that was the compromise made in state politics at the time.  The next year, industrial interests in Chicago held sway over the farmers' lobby, and 1957 summer birth times in Chicago are recorded in DST not CST.

Clearly one hour of birth time can make a huge difference in the resulting astrological charts, so be on the lookout for DST as a rectification possibility.  Consider a DST add-drop not only for births in the typical Spring/Autumn change months, but also for births in the American Midwest farm states during the 1950's. 

The state of Michigan did not record DST on birth certificates until the 1960's! Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana (don't get me started on Indiana), Minnesota and Michigan are all suspect until 1966, when federal law imposed uniformity nationwide.  Major portions of Alaska including the panhandle switched zones several times in the last 50 years - and not all software has encoded these switchbacks.

Knowing the DST rules for each USA/Canadian state, province, or tribal reserve; and knowing DST rules governing "military time" at military hospitals worldwide; and being willing to try an adjustment if it seems feasible, are required tools for the western Jyotishi.  

This is a huge amount of detail, and mistakes will surely be made.  Good ephemeris software is a basic requirement, but the rules are so complex & reversals so frequent that a competent Jyotishi must still be willing to double-check the software calculation when birth occurs in a DST trouble-zone.

For a USA birth, if a chart seems to be violating Jyotisha rules for multiple life events and for physical appearance, I will always take that small initial step of adding or removing a DST hour on the birth-time, to see if that small & reasonable adjustment makes all the pieces jump into place.  

The most obvious change will be the navamsha;  it helps to know the time of marriage in order confirm the correctness of the adjustment.

The U.S. Military says:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/daylight_time.php 

"Although standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads in 1883, it was not established in U.S. law until the Act of March 19, 1918, sometimes called the Standard Time Act. 

The act also established daylight saving time, a contentious idea then. Daylight saving time was repealed in 1919, but standard time in time zones remained in law. Daylight time became a local matter. 

It was re-established nationally early in World War II, and was continuously observed from 9 February 1942 to 30 September 1945. After the war its use varied among states and localities. 

The Uniform Time Act of 1966 provided standardization in the dates of beginning and end of daylight time in the U.S. but allowed for local exemptions from its observance. The act provided that daylight time begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, with the changeover to occur at 2 a.m. local time.

During the "energy crisis" years, Congress enacted earlier starting dates for daylight time. In 1974, daylight time began on 6 January and in 1975 it began on 23 February. After those two years the starting date reverted back to the last Sunday in April.

In 1986, a law was passed that shifted the starting date of daylight time to the first Sunday in April, beginning in 1987. The ending date of daylight time was not subject to such changes, and remained the last Sunday in October. 

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 changed both the starting and ending dates. Beginning in 2007, daylight time starts on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November."

"For a very readable account of the history of standard and daylight time in the U.S., see

Ian R. Bartky and Elizabeth Harrison: "Standard and Daylight-saving Time", Scientific American, May 1979 (Vol. 240, No. 5), pp. 46-53."

AM and PM:

Over the period of 30 years' astrological practice, I have found that rectifying a reported birth time from AM to PM (or PM to AM) will often cause many puzzle pieces to fall into place.  

AM and PM times can be switched during the verbal communication process.  Sometimes a chart does not behave correctly - timing of marriage & children violates Jyotisha rules, and the person's character does not match the lagna/Chandra lagna as calculated.  In these cases, unless the Jyotishi can see the original birth certificate,  it may be warranted to try reversing AM and PM in the birth time.  

If AM-PM reversal does cause marriage and childbirth timing to line up properly, proceed then to confirm basic physical appearance indications, timing of marriage, family, educational or career milestones, whether navamsha L-10's role in the adjusted radix confirms the native's career specialty etc.  

If the Vimshottari timing is measurably more consistent with the native's true history, we can presume that making an AM-PM birth-time switch is warranted.  

AM-PM rectification may possibly even be acceptable when the birth certificate is in hand, if such a reversal yield dramatically better conformance with Jyotisha rules for major events in life. If the certificate was not issued by a modern hospital, clerical errors are more likely.

What is Needed to set up a Rectification Analysis?

Case Study: Jyotisha Chart Rectification via Work History

Luckily you have a two-decade established work history. So, we are in a good position to see which patterns best match what really happened over the past 20 years.

Career, profession, the type of work one typically does in society, is indicated by the lord of the 10th navamsha.

The rectification will be successful if we can match *not* what you're interested in, have studied, or think is valuable, but *rather* what you actually do, using the "calendar test" - actual hours worked.

The pattern of your adult work seems to  (1) computer systems programming for management of very large databases and (2) extensive volunteer work with your religious group, which involves lots of setup for important ceremonial events. 

Based on this info, it may be possible to 

A:  Four birth time options to think about:

1. at 00:06 hrs

2. radix lagna = Kumbha; 

3. navamsha lagna = Vrishabha (Taurus). 

4. Lord of the 10th navamsha = Shani. 

5. See which radix (real-world) houses Shani rules. 

For Kumbha lagna, 

• Shani is lord of domain-12 for foreign lands, meditation & sanctuaries, 

• as well as domain-1 for the physical body/social appearance.

The dharma center could be considered a domain-12 setting in that it has sanctuary/enclosure/ashrama structure - although I think it's more about group gatherings (11).

But is Shani the lord of domain-1 as well? That seems unlikely, unless you are in the body business (such as a fashion model or athlete or massage therapist or gym trainer or prostitute).

1. at 00:08

2. radix lagna = Kumbha

3. navamsha lagna = Mithuna (Gemini) 

4. lord of the 10th navamsha becomes Guru. 

5. See which radix (real-world) houses Guru rules.

6. For Kumbha radix lagna, Guru owns domains 11 and 2. 

Domain 2 = usually some type of "values" curator or "assets" management like museum collection curator or rare recordings librarian or national trust or banker etc. 

Most of the people working in domain-2 have something to do with Banking, Collecting, Storing, Hoarding. Most financial businesses and applications = domain-2.

Domain-11 = marketplace/community setting, making connections socially, philosophically, and electronically. Domain-11 rules networks.

1. at 00:14 hrs

2. radix lagna = Meena

3. navamsha lagna = Karka. 

4. Kuja becomes lord of 10th navamsha. 

5. See which radix (real-world) houses Kuja rules.

6. For Meena lagna, Kuja = radix lord of domain-2 = banking or collecting activities

Domain-9 = priesthood: university professor, temple priest, guru, master of ceremonies, teacher, sage. These folks are generally teachers or scholar-administrators. They work in higher education, travel, temples, & every aspect of public morality & religion.

1. 00:20 hrs, 

2. radix lagna = Meena

3. and navamsha lagna = Simha

4. Shukra becomes lord of 10th navamsha. 

5. See which radix (real-world) houses Shukra rules.

6. For Meena lagna, Shukra = radix lord of domain-3 and domain-8. 

Domain-3 is standard business administration in the "world of words" - every kind of office work, sales, writing, any communications media work. 

Domain 8 = healing work like surgery and psychotherapy, as well as Tantra, "private investing", secret meetings and working with big pools of money or energy. Domain-8 work is veiled from public view.

Other rectification items:

• We need to account for the reality of six years in the US Navy, 1984-1990, working on electronics & nuclear power. The karakas for electronics = Kumbha; military = Kuja + domain-6. Those six years = 1984-1990 = Chandra/Budha period until Kuja/Shani. Karka Budha for Kumbha lagna = L-5/L8. Karka = ocean = navy. Domain-6 = military service. 

• If Meena were radix lagna, Budha becomes a pretty amazing literary or performing machine that would have had you in a more glittery communications career at that point. Budha being the bhukti lord when you started a career in military service, should be a in a sign of war or in domain-6. 

• Budha is not in a sign of war (Mesha or Vrischika), but you also perhaps did not see too much active duty during those years. I think Budha being in domain-6 and in Karkata (Cancer) is a good indication of a very young man joining the navy!

• Year-2000 = overseas "wandering" should = a period of either L-12 or Ketu in the Vimshottari dasha. The period of wandering in foreign lands = Rahu/Shani and Shani = L-12. That works fine. 

• But since Shani = L-12 for both Meena & Kumbha lagnas, this fact doesn't advance our quest for the correct radix lagna : ) 

• Running the dharma center = Domain-11 may not pay much (or anything at all!) but it does count as volunteer work; it does receive social recognition as work which has social worth. More proof that whichever graha becomes lord of 10th navamsha, that graha should rule domain-11 in radix. 

• For years, you had paid work as a computer programmer. This is connections-work, making electronic systems talk to each other. And I don't know for sure, but you might be using computer work mainly as a way of meeting goals like saving money for the next dharma trip. 

• I.e. you are not that much ego-involved in the prestige of the work, you just do it instrumentally to meet short-term goals. this points again to a search for a lord-of-10th-navamsha which is also radix domain-11 

• Your dad's death in Rahu/Shukra only makes sense from Kumbha lagna, where Shukra is "8th-from-9th" (end-of-cycle for father) and strong in swakshetra. 

• You bought a house in Rahu/Shukra. Shukra needs to be in domain-4 for that period to produce an event of buying a house. 

• With Meena lagna, Shukra occupies domain-3, which would give the loss of a house.

• The dharma-lord, L-9, should indicate your advanced dharma practice. 

• In Kumbha lagna, Dharma Lord = Shukra (Venus) in a kendra & swakshetra - the Venus in Taurus in house-4. Then a group of felicitous planets including your money-maker Guru go into the bhagya 5th radix, which puts Guru's drishti upon dharma bhava. 

• So even though mystical, detached and lawless Ketu occupies dharma bhava (gurus are potent but unreliable, leave their bodies, generally wander) the Guru drishti is a big plus for having the money and confidence to keep doing religious study. 

• If Meena were lagna, dharma lord would be Kuja (Mars) in house-4 Gemini. That Mithuna Mars/4 isn't a bad planet per se, but this lord would be a malefic, occupying an inauspicious 8th-from-dharma, and Guru would not send the drishti to dharma. Therefore, I think Meena in your case just does not reveal your essential dharma empowerment. 

• since your wife is a religious, internationally traveled foreigner, Rahu looks right in navamsha/7 

• "the dharma found you" in April 2000 in Rahu-Shani-Shani Vimshottari period, where Shani is the lagnesha, karaka for "Self". 

• If Meena was radix lagna, the dharma's finding you would have remained part of your social life (11) or your imaginative life (12), but it wouldn't have redefined your entire sense of self and social purpose (1) - which I think it indeed has.

• Kumbha lagna brings Chandra into 11th house of assemblies, creating a Chandra-lagna of Dhanau (Sagittarius) for religious teachings and Purvashadha for "Victory" through being absorbed into a connection through psychic attraction, like water is absorbed into a sponge. 

• Chandra which shows your psycho-emotional connection to a group of friends (students of the lamas). You do likely feel at home within this group, although Budha being L-6 there is plenty of conflict and dissent, jealousy perhaps or poverty or illness. Lots of problems in the group. 

• If lagna were Meena, Chandra would make you famous with a big house full of rich, interesting, multi-cultural company - more like a national diplomat. And you'd feel comfortable in and attracted to corporations or big government organizations, enjoy being known by the whole hierarchy of folk.

Therefore, my choice based on this reasoning = the 00:08 birth time = Kumbha radix lagna and Mithuna navamsha lagna.

Q: How do we get started on the rectification process? I do have a birth certificate, but the time seems to be wrong ... 

A: Thanks for your note. To get started on a rectification of birth time, we'll need a list of your important life events, such as diplomas, marriages, children, illness, accidents, inheritances, adventures, -- anything that was significant or life-defining (so far in your life) for you, or for society.

Items of career and profession are also very important in identifying "swamsha" -- the "soul's portion" -- which is the nakshatra rising in the navamsha lagna. The reason that having your career/professional info (in your life so far) is so helpful, is that the rashi on the 10th navamsha is an accurate indicator of career.

Also each pada of the rising nakshatra has its own identity. In the navamsha, the rising pada (quarter of a nakshatra= one quarter of 13 degrees 20 seconds). Different authors have different viewpoints on the characterizes of the padas (I have a few author comments posted on my website, and you can see how different the viewpoints are based on author culture and personality). It makes a difference whether the person is male or female, how the Nakshatra express in the nativity...

So, I might have some narrowing-down questions to ask you as the rectification proceeds. It will take several emails between us, most likely.

To get started, may I know:

• Birth date, place, and time from the Birth Certificate

• rectification opinions from any other astrologers you may have consulted.

Your career/professional duties thus far in life. Job titles are helpful, but what is more important is how you see yourself in vocational terms, in the job.

For example, I used to work as a "help desk manager" in a big science company. But I didn't see myself as a scientist or a computer techie. I saw what I did as teaching, because I was helping people learn to use their computers better (this was a long time ago, when PC's were new.)

I have Mithuna (Punarvasu nakshatra) in navamsha lagna, and Guru rules my 10th navamsha. So, I'm a teacher always -- but the job environment can be a university, a corporation, a high-altitude base camp, a website, a kid's playground, a big meeting ... almost anyplace.

It helps to know your job titles but even more important, how do you see your service vocation (thus far in your life). That will help if there is a rashi change within the two possible Nakshatra. My experience with BC times is that they are most commonly "late". The actual birth is often 1-10 minutes earlier, with approx 3-5 minutes earlier than the stated time being very common indeed.

I imagine what happens is that, at least in a hospital birth, the nurses are much more concerned with having a healthy baby than they are with recording the child's first breath, and as a result the birth is recorded as "completed" when the child has fully emerged and its vital signs are approved.

Please let me know the above info, and let's see if we can establish your navamsha lagna for certain.

All the best, Barbara

Q: Dear Madam,

A: Namaste,

If the 12:59 PM, which you are currently using, is known from a certificate of birth signed by the attending physician in a hospital, it is probably correct.

If the birth time is recorded from someone's memory, a long time after the birth happened, it might be incorrect.

The one person who is the least reliable, in my experience, for providing accurate birth times, is the Mother! Mothers often do not remember the child's time correctly, and when shown a birth certificate from a hospital with a time that contradicts mom's personal memory, the Mother may be very surprised about how wrong their memory is! This odd state of affairs does makes sense given the intensity and trauma of the birth experience, when the astral (no-time) and physical planes are so intermixed.

Sometimes I find benefit in moving up a birth-certificate recorded time, perhaps one minute or two minutes earlier, in case the navamsha lagna rashi would shift by doing so, and only in response to known facts about the native's profession.

For example

The rashi on the 10th navamsha is an accurate indicator of profession. If this indicator seems incorrect, e.g. if the person is a long-time schoolteacher which would be Brihaspati, but indeed Kuja has become lord of the 10th navamsha, which would suggest a military professional or an engineer, then sometimes - only sometimes - shifting the birth forward one or two minutes can cause the 10th navamsha lord to match better with the adult profession.

However, normally, I don't make adjustments to the birth-certificate stated time. That is a lot of work. A local village astrologer, who knows his clients' life stories and character very personally, is in a much better position to make corrections to the recorded birth time. However, usually they don't have to make corrections, because they were present personally at the birth!

Rectifications are labor intensive and expensive. If you have a reliable birth certificate time, I would recommend to use that time without further challenge, unless (as in the example above) there is some major item that could be pushed to a better match by making a very small time adjustment.

Wishing you success in your Jyotisha studies,

Barbara Pijan Lama, Jyotisha

www.barbarapijan.com 

Q:  In any large metropolis, several births are bound to occur at the same time and independently, producing essentially the same horoscope. I appreciate that these lives will have different life journeys ahead of them because of past karmic interactions.

However, if you as an astrologer, received two identical horoscopes as a result of such simultaneous but independent births taking place at the same geographical location, would your readings be identical, or is there some other intuitive or spiritual ability that will enable you to distinguish them?

A:  One of the tools by which Jyotishi distinguish apparently identical nativities is the shastyamsha (D-60) . The D-60 lagna changes every 15 seconds. I've looked at Jyotisha nativities for numerous sets of twins, who are typically born 1-5 minutes apart.  There are always significant variations between the nativities of each twin, present in at least one of the vargas.

 In practice, I look first for variations in the dwadashamsha which reveal that each of the two twins have a different relationship to their parents. Then I proceed through the more delicate varga charts, looking for variation in vehicle behavior (D-16), spiritual ambition (D-20), tendency toward accident and injury (D-30) and others up to the D-60.

I understand your question, about it's being logically possible. I've never confronted two absolutely identical births, with same time to the second and exact same long/lat. 

Prima facie, I would say that Jyotisha is not a good tool in the logically possible setting of two children born at the same second, perhaps on two different floors of the same hospital. 

To distinguish the nativities in this extraordinary situation, I would recommend using another tool, such as palm reading, to distinguish the paths of two humans born in extremely close time-and-space settings.

file update: 17-Jul-2010  

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