Where to find it, and what to do if you can't.

The Rising sign changes about every two hours and moves one degree every four minutes, so the time matters more than anything else you enter. Here is where it usually lives.

United States

The long-form birth certificate (not the short abstract) records the time in most states. Order it from the vital-records office of the state you were born in; many have online ordering. Hospital records are a second source for births after about 1980.

United Kingdom and Ireland

English and Welsh certificates record the time only for multiple births. Scottish certificates record it for everyone. Irish certificates since the 1980s often do. Otherwise: the hospital, the red book, a baby book, or a parent.

Canada, Australia, New Zealand

Provincial and state long-form certificates generally record the time. Ask for the full version.

Continental Europe

Most civil registries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia) record the time on the full extract. Ask the town hall of the birthplace for the complete copy.

If you only have an approximate time

Enter your best estimate. The note inside the reading tells you how far the chart holds either side of it. "Early morning" or "just after lunch" is often enough to fix the Rising sign; the note will say when it isn't.

If you have no time at all

Choose "I don't know it". The chart is cast for noon and the reading leaves out everything the time controls: Rising sign, houses and the Moon's exact degree. The $14 Big Three is the honest buy. When you find the time, re-run the chart from your account at no charge.