How to find your birth time

The most reliable source for your birth time is the full, long-form version of your birth certificate, or the birth register it is based on. If the time is not there, ask the hospital where you were born, then your family, and look through baby books and keepsakes. For a birth chart the time should be as exact as you can get it, because the Rising sign changes about every two hours.

Where to find your birth time: six places to look

Start with records written down at the time. They beat memory.

1. Your birth certificate, long form. Many places issue two versions: a short one with name, date and place, and a full copy of the original entry. A recorded time is usually on the long version only. If your copy shows no time, request the full version and say clearly that you need the time of birth.
2. The birth register. A certificate is an extract from a register kept by the vital records office or civil registry for the place where you were born. That office can often issue a complete copy of the entry. What is recorded and who may request it differs by country and state.
3. The hospital. Hospitals and birth centers note the time of delivery in their files. Ask the records department. How long such files are kept differs widely, so this works best for more recent births.
4. Your parents and relatives. Ask everyone who was there or was called that day. Ask for anchors, not only for a number: Was it light or dark outside? Before or after a meal? Who was phoned, and were they asleep? Two memories that agree are worth far more than one.
5. Baby book and keepsakes. Look at baby books, birth announcement cards, the hospital wristband, the back of the first photo, a diary from that week. Parents often wrote the time down exactly once, in a place like this.
6. Health records from the birth. The booklets and papers a mother and a newborn are given around the birth sometimes include the time of delivery.

Why the birth time matters for a birth chart

Most of a birth chart depends on your date of birth. The Sun and the planets stay in a sign for many days at a time, the Moon for about two and a half. Three parts depend on the clock.

The Rising sign, also called the Ascendant, is the sign that was coming up on the eastern horizon at the moment you were born. Because the Earth turns once a day, all twelve signs rise within 24 hours, on average one sign every two hours. At the Rising point the houses begin, the twelve sections of a chart that stand for areas of life. And the Midheaven, the highest point of the zodiac at that moment, moves at a similar pace.

The date gives you the signs of your planets. The time gives you your Rising sign, the twelve houses and the Midheaven, which is read for career and public role.

A birth date tells you where the planets stood. Only the birth time tells you which way the sky was turned.

How exact your birth time needs to be

The Rising point moves about one degree every four minutes, and a sign has 30 degrees. These two numbers show what an uncertain time does to a chart.

• Exact to a few minutes. The Rising sign, the houses and the Midheaven can be read as calculated.
• About 15 minutes off. The Rising point shifts by about four degrees. The Rising sign stays the same in most cases, and a planet close to a house border may move into the neighboring house.
• About an hour off. The Rising point shifts by about 15 degrees, half a sign. The Rising sign may be a different one, and the houses move with it.
• Only "in the morning" or "at night". The planets keep their signs. The Rising sign and the houses cannot be relied on.

Recorded times are often rounded, for example to the nearest five minutes. That is exact enough, unless the calculated Rising point lies in the first or last degrees of a sign. Then read the neighboring sign as well.

Common mistakes with birth times

• Morning and evening mixed up. A 12-hour error moves the Rising point about halfway around the zodiac. Check whether a noted 7:30 means morning or evening.
• Converting the time. Use the local clock time at the place of birth, exactly as recorded. The place tells the calculation which time zone applied. Do not convert the time to the zone you live in now, and do not add or subtract an hour for daylight saving time yourself.
• Family legend. A time repeated for decades can still be two hours off. Treat it as approximate until a record confirms it.

What to do if you cannot find your birth time

Some birth times were never written down, and some records no longer exist. You still have options.

• Use a chart without a time. It leaves out the Rising sign and the houses, and the planets keep their signs. The guide to a birth chart without a birth time shows what stays and what goes.
• Work with a window. If you know "early morning" or "just after dinner", a window of two or three hours often leaves only two or three possible Rising signs. Read their descriptions and keep the one that fits as a working guess.
• Know what rectification is. Some astrologers estimate a birth time from the dates of important life events. The result is an estimate, not a record.
• Do not invent a time. Noon as a placeholder produces a Rising sign and houses that look real and mean nothing.

What to do next

1. Check the documents you already have at home, including your parents' folders.
2. Request the full copy of your birth record and mention the time of birth.
3. While you wait, ask your family and write down what each person remembers.
4. Once you have a time, enter it exactly as recorded and look at your Rising sign first.

A Birth Chart Reading is calculated from your exact birth data. Without a time it still works and leaves out the Rising sign and the houses.