Rectification
1. Research
Try to find your birth time through all conventional means first.
2. Assess
Determine whether or not you still need a rectification.
3. Compile
Compile your life’s key events into a chronology.
4. Schedule
Schedule an appointment, upload your chronology and complete payment via the form below.
5. Analysis
I’ll analyze your chronology and natal chart possibilities before we meet.
6. Discussion
If I’m confident, I’ll explain and test my model when we meet. If I’m uncertain, we’ll collaborate on narrowing down the possibilities.
7. Test/Follow-up
A follow-up may or may not be necessary depending on how well the model holds up in your own testing, if the time can be further narrowed down, or how conclusive my rectification attempt was.
Rectification is the practice of using astrological methods to determine someone’s birth time and/or rising sign/degree if it is unknown or uncertain. Rectifying a natal chart involves matching up biographical events of someone’s life to the potential natal charts available in the timeframe of their birth.
Please make sure you have done your due diligence to find your birth time through conventional means before ordering a rectification, such as the following:
• Birth Certificate: This is usually reliable, but be aware that the birth time on the birth certificate might not be completely correct, especially if the birth minute is rounded to the nearest hour or half-hour. Depending on when and where you were born, the birth time might not be recorded on the birth certificate at all. If you were born in the United States, a good place to start searching for your birth certificate is here. If your state-issued birth certificate lacks the birth time, the county version might have it, or it may be on the long-form version of your birth certificate which you may have to specifically request.
• Hospital Records: If you were born in a hospital, the time may be on your hospital bracelet if it was kept. The hospital may still have records containing your birth time in their archives.
• Family Records: Usually, if your parents kept a baby book or other family records, the time could recorded in there.
• Birth Announcement: If you were born when births were announced in the local newspaper, you may be able to find the newspaper released after your birth in newspaper archives, the birth time or clues about the birth time can sometimes be there.
• Email/Social Media: If you were born when your parents might have had email or social media accounts, there could be clues or records there.
•Ask Parents/Relatives: Even if they don’t know the exact time, they may be able to give you some clues as to what part of the day it was. Keep in mind that memory can be unreliable.
• If you still have no clue at all about your birth time: Make sure you’ve tried everything in the above section.
• If you only have an approximate time: Ex. A parent vaguely remembers you were born “in the morning” or “around 6 pm“
• If you have a recorded birth time that is potentially rounded: A recorded birth minute ending in ‘0’ or ‘5’ is statistically more likely to be rounded, especially on the hour and half-hour, such as 3:00 pm, 3:30 pm, 3:15 pm, 3:45 pm, etc.
• If you have a recorded birth time with planets/points that are close to a sign boundary: The angles and the Lots are very sensitive to minor birth time changes. If the Ascendant/Descendant, MC/IC or the Lots of Fortune/Spirit/Eros are at 29° or 0° of a sign, it’s reasonable to wonder if you could have been born slightly earlier or later than your recorded birth time, especially if it’s a potentially rounded time. You can check these and more here at Astro-seek.com.
• If it’s ambiguous if you were truly born during the day or at night: If you were born close to sunrise or sunset, it can be uncertain if you’re truly a day or night chart. Knowing whether you were born during the day or at night can have important implications for the interpretation of your natal chart and for knowing the correct positions of the Lots which affects the timing of your life via the Zodiacal Releasing procedure. It has been observed that sometimes people born with the Sun a few degrees below the horizon before sunrise can still have functionally day charts. Similarly, those born just after sunset can have charts that behave like day charts.
Generally no, but it also depends on the complexity and specifics of your case. On average, the Earth’s angles move through the zodiac about 1° every 4 minutes. Unless there just happened to be a way to differentiate times within a 4 minute span, this is the narrowest range an astrologer could reasonably claim to rectify a natal chart. The primary goal I hope to achieve with rectification is to establish the correct rising sign where it is unknown or uncertain, or to narrow down the degree range of the Ascendant as much as possible when the rising sign is known. Even an extremely well-reasoned rectification is still speculative, so my analysis can only produce probabilities and ranges rather than exact birth times.
If you have no clue about your birth time: The first goal will be to determine which sign was rising at your birth, which we only have a 1/12 chance of getting right. Narrowing it down beyond that becomes far more speculative with even higher chances of inaccuracy.
If you have an approximate birth timeframe that spans more than one rising sign: Again, the primary goal will be to simply determine the correct rising sign, and we’re lucky if it can be rectified down to a narrower degree range.
If you have an approximate birth timeframe that spans within the time one sign rises: This is the case where we can more confidently proceed with rectifying down to a narrower degree range.
It is not often that I can get validation on my work in rectification. However, it has happened a handful of times, with a few successes and failures which I detailed in the Birth Time Rectification Course.
• I narrowed down the rising sign and rising degree range for a client with a 24-hour birth timeframe which was independently corroborated by their estranged parent’s memories.
• I narrowed down the rising sign for a client with a birth timeframe spanning 3 rising signs which was confirmed by the discovery of the birth time on their long form birth certificate.
• I narrowed down the rising sign for a client with a birth timeframe spanning 2 rising signs which was confirmed by the discovery of the birth time on their hospital records.
• I chose the rising sign for a client who was uncertain about whether their birth time was recorded as ‘am’ or ‘pm’, which was independently corroborated when the client reconfirmed with their mother what general time of day they were born.
• I publicly speculated on Elon Musk being an Aquarius rising, which was disconfirmed by the release of a biography which indicated he is a Cancer rising.
• I chose a rising sign for a client with a birth timeframe spanning 2 rising signs which was disconfirmed by the discovery of the birth time on their birth records.
Ideally the more precise dates you have in your chronology the more data I can consider in my analysis. Understandably we don’t always have perfect records of our own histories, so if you don’t know the exact date of an event, the month, the season or at least the year can still be helpful.
Personal: Others’ first impressions of you vs your self-image, changes in physical appearance, presentation or identity
Relationships: Birth data of significant others, first meetings, relationship starts/ends, weddings/divorces, other changes
Jobs: Career goals over time, job starts/ends, promotions/income changes, involvement in groups
Education: Enrollments, interruptions, graduations, travel
Moves: Moving days, apartment leases/home purchases, mortgages/loans
Family: Birth/death dates of family members/children, other notable family events
Health: Illnesses, accidents, surgeries
Hobbies: Activities you do for fun, pets
Ultimately I need to know some essential facts about your life. If someone were going to make a movie of your life, what would be impossible to leave out? That’s what I need to know.
Personal Chronology
I can only work with what I’m given. The more data I have and the more accurate and/or precise data I have to work with, the more certainty I may have with my rectification. It’s to your benefit to take the time and effort to work on your chronology before scheduling a rectification appointment.
Device Recommendation
I strongly recommend using a desktop or laptop computer so you can conveniently record your own copy of our session through Zoom which will immediately download into your specified downloads folder once the session ends. If you use a phone or tablet, Zoom will not let you record onto your device. If you gave consent for me to make a backup recording, I have limited space on my drive and can not guarantee that you will receive a recording of our session expeditiously.
Before scheduling an appointment…
• Please make sure that you would not be driving during the time of the appointment.
• Please make sure that you would not be on shift at work during the time of the appointment.
• Please make sure that you would not be leaving young children unattended during the time of the appointment.
• Please make sure that you would not be excessively interrupted or preoccupied during the time of the appointment.
• Please make sure that you would otherwise be in a safe, secure and private environment during the time of the appointment.
• My main priority here is safety! If you’re having trouble finding an appointment time that works with your schedule, I do offer night-time and weekend appointments through my Priority and Off-Schedule appointment options.
Before the scheduled appointment time…
• Please make sure that you have a stable internet connection.
• Please make sure that your microphone is working.
• If you want to appear on camera, please make sure your camera is working. You do not have to be on camera unless you want to be.
• If you are using a mobile device, please make sure that it is charged or that you have a charger on hand.
• Please have a phone on hand as a backup in case of technical difficulties.
• Please make sure you are using only your personal device/account to ensure your privacy.
• Please make sure you have access to the email address you provided to setup the appointment in case I need to contact you or you need to contact me close to the time of the appointment.
• Please make sure my email address (patrickwatsonastrologer@gmail.com) is whitelisted so that any emails I might send to you don’t get filtered into your spam folder, or check your spam folder as well as your inbox close to the time of your appointment.
Yes! If you’re sure the person you’re buying it for has exhausted conventional methods for getting ahold of their birth time, a Rectification gift certificates makes a great gift and can be purchased here.
Yes! You can purchase a Rectification with cryptocurrency, the link is coming soon.
Yes, I manage payment plans through Paypal for those in need. Please email me to arrange a payment plan that works for you.
Video/Audio Recordings
• You are free to record our session through Zoom or a third party recording software/app.
• Please be aware you will only be able to make a recording through Zoom if you are using a desktop or laptop computer, not a mobile device like a tablet or phone.
Backup Recordings
• Out of respect for your privacy, I will only have a backup recording available if you gave me consent to record.
• If you request a backup recording, I will make it available for download from my Google Drive as soon as I can, but I cannot guarantee expeditious delivery. Once you confirm you have downloaded it, I will remove it from my Google Drive.
• I store any recordings on an external hard drive that is disconnected from the internet. I can delete these recordings by request.
Transcripts/Summaries
• I do not currently offer these as part of my services, but they can currently be generated by third party transcription/summarizing apps/services.
Appointment Management
• Up to 48 hours before the appointment, you can use the “Change/Cancel Appointment” button in your confirmation email from Acuity to reschedule or cancel.
Appointment Extensions
• Appointment extensions are not available at checkout.
• If we mutually agree to extend our session I can only do so up to a max of 15 minutes past the scheduled end of the appointment, but I cannot guarantee this. Otherwise a follow-up appointment will need to be scheduled.
Rescheduling
You:
• Rescheduling up to 48 hours before: Free rescheduling.
• Rescheduling within 48 hours: Email me for a rescheduling link ($25 short notice rescheduling fee).
Me:
• If I need to reschedule: I will email you with a link to reschedule from my earliest slots without a fee or you can cancel for a full refund.
Cancellation
You:
• Canceling up to 48 hours before: Full refund.
• Canceling within 48 hours: Email me for 50% refund.
• Canceling after having already rescheduled: 50% refund.
• Canceling an appointment scheduled through a gift certificate: No refund.
Me:
• If I need to cancel: Full refund.
Anticipated Lateness
You:
• If you expect to be late, email me beforehand. We’ll aim for a full session at an adjusted time (if we’re available) or a shortened session without partial refunds for missed time.
Me:
• If I expect to be late, I’ll email you beforehand. We can continue with the full session at an adjusted time (if we’re available) or a shortened one with a partial refund for missed time.
Unanticipated Lateness
You:
• If you’re over 5 minutes late: I’ll email a reminder. If you respond or arrive within the next 10 minutes, only the remaining time of the appointment is honored.
Me:
• If I’m over 5 minutes late: We can continue with the full session if you’re available, or a shortened one with a partial refund for missed time, or I’ll email you a link to reschedule from my earliest slots at no charge, or you can cancel for a full refund.
No-Show
You:
• If you don’t show up within 5 minutes, I’ll email a reminder. If you don’t respond or arrive in the next 10 minutes, no refunds or rescheduling will be available. A new appointment would have to be made at full cost.
Me:
• If I don’t show up within 15 minutes: Full refund or a new session at no cost.
Technological Difficulties
• Technological difficulties happen. Should technical issues from either end unacceptably disrupt more than a quarter of our scheduled session, you can choose to conclude the session early. I will then provide you with a link to reschedule from my earliest available slots at no charge.
Special Circumstances
• Medical, family and personal emergencies happen. I reserve the right to adjust policies on a case-by-case basis.
Refunds
• Processing Times: I process refund requests manually through Paypal and Chase Bank wire transfers. While I strive to fulfill refunds within 24 hours, depending on fund availability and bank processing times, it could take up to 7-10 business days for the refund to be completed.
• Crypto: For purchases made using cryptocurrency, refunds will be issued in USD based on the original USD value of the transaction at the time of purchase, not the current value of the cryptocurrency. Please be aware that you assume the risk of cryptocurrencies’ volatility.
My books are closed for now until summer 2024 while I finish working on something truly exciting…