I don't know my birth time...now what? Three tips on how to discover your birth time.

Helpful advice from astrologer Sarah Brynteson

Hi, I'm Sarah Brynteson — mom, astrologer, and intuitive psychic guide, and the voice behind Written in the Stars. I help individuals understand their own energy through their birth chart, and I have a special love for helping parents understand their children's energy, too. I'm a graduate of the Debra Silverman School of Astrology, a former middle school teacher, and someone who believes, deeply, that dreams become reality when we choose to make it so. I write musings about topics that feel important to me — and hopefully helpful to you as well!

A common phrase we often hear is timing matters. It matters when to plant things — both physical and with intentions. It matters when to start something and when to end things. It is a sign of respect, in my eyes at least, when we show up on time because honoring one’s time is important.

As it turns out, astrology feels the same way about timing.

To cast a birth chart we need three pieces of information:

• Your birthdate — Day, Month, and Year

• Your location of where you were born — this may take some digging to find

• The time of birth — yes, exact time matters

Why does exact birth time matter?

Put simply, it sets up the 12 pieces of pie for your chart — otherwise known as the 12 houses. Without the exact time of birth we cannot place a rising sign. That rising sign helps us determine the rest of the house placements.

The exact time also helps to tune into patterns that you have, along with the cycles that are part of your lived experience. Without it we really do not have a place to start.

I’ve had some say we’ll just set it to noon or use sunrise. For me, ethically and practically, that doesn’t work. It doesn’t feel authentic. Yes, you may actually be born at noon — if that is you, great! Go cast your chart and find all the things. Just settling for noon or when the sun rose on the day you were born feels like that…settling.

I don’t believe anyone should settle. Ever.

So what can we do to find the exact birth time?

There are three ways to discover your birth time if you do not know it. I understand that the resources I am about to share are not worldwide and in some respects are not even available in the United States. Either way, it is a place to start.

First, check family records — Look through a baby book or ask your parents if your birth time was documented. That is how I found mine. It was in my baby book, as my mother took the card that was placed in my bassinet in the hospital and put it there. Not everyone has a baby book or access to one. If that is you, maybe the second option is better.

Second, request a Live Birth Record — Some birth certificates don't include the time, but a government agency may have this information. A Live Birth Record is not the same as a Birth Certificate. On my children's birth certificates it lists my husband and I, and the city and state they were born in. It has an embossed seal and that is it. This document gives someone the ability to get a passport yet only really shares their birth name, parents' names, birthday, and location.

A Live Birth Record gives the time and, if it is the one from the hospital, may even include the doctor’s name too. There are agencies like Vital Records that you can request this information from. If you do, I highly recommend writing “I am requesting a Live Birth Record, not just a Birth Certificate.”

I was able to do this for my father’s birth information even though he was born in another state. I just had to share that I am his daughter and the day that he passed away. The process should have only taken about eight business weeks, yet it almost took six months. The day it arrived was Valentine’s Day. I don’t think that was a coincidence — I know it was a gift from him.

If the first two are not accessible to you, don’t lose hope!

The last way you can learn your approximate birth time is through a process called Chart Rectification.

What is Chart Rectification?

Chart Rectification is a method used to determine your approximate birth time when official records or family details aren’t available. Through a collaborative process, we’ll explore what you know about your birth and key life events to uncover your Ascendant (Rising Sign) and refine your estimated birth time.

Think of it like an eye exam. At an eye exam the doctor places different lenses in front of your eyes and asks for feedback until the image comes into focus. The correct prescription is the one that consistently produces clarity. In Chart Rectification the astrologer does the same thing with time.

Different possible birth times are tested against verifiable life events and the conditions of specific areas of life. The correct chart is the one that repeatedly aligns with lived experience. As an astrologer who helps people in this way, I feel this is one of the best gifts I can give my clients.

Before I share how I do this work, I want to make it clear: the only beings that I believe know your birth time are your ancestors, angels, and guides…and you as a baby. My work is to help you find your approximate Rising Sign that is tied to a time of birth. This process is wholly based on how honest and thorough the client is with step one — and likewise, how open-minded they can be with the results.

As an astrologer, I look at this work a lot like a puzzle, with the client providing the missing pieces. If they provide not enough information it will be difficult to put the puzzle together. It is a collaboration between them and me, and I do not take this work lightly. It is an honor to work with someone in this way, and a privilege to have their trust as well. It is something that I was taught by an amazing mentor, Sharon Lair, and I have taken further courses to refine my practice even more. My goal is to someday put it into a book for others to use if they choose. Until then, this is an overview of how I do Chart Rectification.

What does the process look like?

I use several steps to help you discover your approximate Rising Sign.

First, a questionnaire that asks for important and significant dates in your life. Yes, just like exact time matters when casting the chart, exact dates matter here. Knowing the day, month, and year of at least ten or more significant events is needed. If you want to see what the questionnaire looks like, feel free to click the button below.

Take me to the Questionnaire

Once you have filled out the questionnaire, I will send you an email verifying that the information I received is accurate. This is an important step in the process because we are all human and sometimes we mistype when working fast. From there, I start the process.

Then, I take my client’s information and input it into a program called Jigsaw. If they have a rough idea of when they were born — morning or evening, for example — I will ask clarifying questions to limit the 24-hour time period down. For some, morning is when the sun is up, while for others it is after midnight. It helps to ask questions and have an open mind in the process.

From the Jigsaw program it gives me possible times along with possible Rising and Midheaven (AC/MC) degrees. At that point I go to work testing for possible answers.

What follows gets a little technical — I love it there, as it is where the puzzle pieces start to click into place. I think you might too. Stay with me if you want the full picture, or feel free to skip ahead to what comes next.

Testing phase

I personally test each option with three different applications. Why? I believe it is helpful to test and verify. With multiple ways to verify I can be more certain that I am honing in on an approximate birth time.

The first test is taking the Jigsaw information of possible times and AC/MC placements and entering them into a program called astroPeregrine. I learned of this program when I was taking a Solar Arcs class taught by Kathy Rose. It is similar to Solar Fire yet is Mac friendly…and I am a Mac person through and through!

Once I enter the time from Jigsaw and verify it is within the degree range that is part of that report, I pull a Solar Arc Report. I take the answers from the questionnaire that were used to find the Jigsaw times and test them.

With Solar Arcs, the date listed on the report is the exact date of the highest point of energy received during that Arc. If the event for the client happened within six months either way, I have a hit!

Some “hits” I hone in on most are births of children (or fur babies, as the case may be), deaths of significant loved ones, when they travel and where, when they start a new job or end one, graduation dates of any level, marriages or divorces, and times when they may have dealt with childhood wounds — which I could look to their Chiron placement for.

Likewise, if that event did not show up at all, that is considered a miss. If it is within a few months either way I do put it aside as a potential to look back on, though if there are too many outside of the six months either way, I move on to the next option.

For example, as a mom I know how much energy it takes to have a child — whether by birth, adoption, or bonus — so if a client does not have a Solar Arc associated with the birth of theirs, that would be considered a big miss in my eyes and I would move on. I did find it interesting, though, that with one client his last child did not show up in the Solar Arc by his birthday, but he did show up around the time the child was conceived. There is a need to have flexibility of possibilities as an astrologer, just as much as there is for my client to be open to the approximate timing I share with them at the end.

As you can imagine, this is the most time-consuming part, and I set aside several hours to work on it. As I shared earlier, I do not take this process lightly, so I want to be sure I am as accurate as I possibly can be.

If I am running into some snags, I will email the client for clarifying information and also ask if there is anything else that comes to mind before my second test of the Jigsaw report: Saturn Cycles.

In Debra Silverman’s School of Astrology (DSA), one of the things we studied is Saturn cycles. Saturn in our charts represents the teacher — the lessons we “get” to or “have” to learn in this lifetime. These lessons are felt most strongly at our Saturn Returns every 30 years or so. In between those returns we have Saturn Cycles. They happen every seven years, give or take, based on retrogrades. At those points we tend to have smaller learnings — or larger ones, depending on the situation — that help us figure out life.

At this point it is a perfect time to remind you: I believe that planets do not do things to people, people do things to people. We receive their energy just like we can get heat from the Sun by being under its rays. It is up to us to decide to put on the sunscreen or not. That part is free will — and that is always important, in my opinion.

When the client replies back with the clarifying information, and if anything was added from the Saturn Cycles, I can continue on narrowing down the options. My end goal is to have no more than two or three to choose from. Since I started using my third test I have been able to narrow it down to one or two options. Again, there is a need on the client’s part to be open to the idea, as I am only working with the information that is shared by them.

The third and final test that I use is the Uranian Astrology 90-degree Dial. This form of astrology is newer and there are not many resources outside of direct instruction for it. The reason I felt it was necessary to add this to my testing is the precision that Uranian Astrology is known for. Once I have the narrowed-down times, I place them in the dial. I test the four axes to see which Trans-Neptunian points, Midpoints, and 68 asteroids placed in the axis are activated.

The overall question that is always on my mind is: Does it make sense given the information the client has presented? Since I started incorporating my third and final test, I truly believe my accuracy is spot on. I am continuing to test this method with each client so that when I have consistent data to back it up, I can put it all together in a book that outlines it all — so as to help other astrologers help people in this way.

What comes next?

Last, we will meet to share the results. This is done over Zoom and I do give the option for my clients to do this with or without a separate birth chart reading. This meeting is not a normal consultation you would have with an astrologer. It is simply a conversation to review the data that was collected, the timing that resulted, and confirmation that the information is as accurate as it can be.

If the client chooses to have a birth chart session as well, they can — we would just set it up for a time outside of this meeting, with their rectified time in hand. Then they can use this rectified time in any courses they want to take, future appointments with astrologers they wish to work with, or just to know.

This is sacred work to me that I take very seriously. I continue to take courses to refine my practice and hone my skills in this area. I believe knowing your birth chart helps empower people to truly understand themselves and the energy they were born with. Having a known birth time — or rectified time — does that for a person. That brings me joy, and I know it is helpful to them as well.

If discovering your approximate birth time feels like the next right step, I would love to help. Click the button below to learn more about the process and get started.

Get Started

I hope something here resonated with you. Maybe it was the idea that your birth time is still out there waiting to be found, or simply knowing that there is always a place to start. Either way, I'd love to hear your thoughts — drop a comment below or share this with someone in your life who might be ready to hear it too.

With love and stardust,

Sarah