More on Letterman’s Birthchart and What is Rectification?

Last updated on: October 6, 2009 at 3:26 pm by Lynn Hayes

More on Letterman’s Birthchart and What is Rectification? 2009-10-06T15:26:15-04:00 Lynn Hayes

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The other day I wrote on Dave Letterman’s chart as it affects his situation at the moment, embroiled in a blackmail scheme and needing to make major apologies to his wife and staff. My anonymous commenter Chiron questioned the birth time of 6 am which has been put forth by the wonderful people at Astrodatabank which is now posted on astro.com and is listed with a Rodden rating of A.

Rectification is the art, or fantasy depending on how you look at it, of assigning a time of birth to a person where no birth time is known, using the astrological correlations with certain events in a person’s life.

Rectification is more reliable when we have a smaller time range, for example, if I know that someone was born in the afternoon I can generally narrow down the time using rectification methods. But if we have no birth time, such as in the case of a celebrity, and we rectify based on what we THINK we know about that celebrity, we are not doing ourselves or the field of astrology any favors.

The example of what happened with Susan Boyle’s birthchart is a good one. Susan Boyle, as you may recall, exploded into public view overnight. Nothing was known about her, but when a birth time was found astrologers all over the world began publishing what we thought were extremely accurate portrayals of her birthchart using this birth time. Unfortunately for us, that birth time turned out to be incorrect and the correct birth time did not appear to be so accurate based on what we assumed we knew about Susan Boyle.

That said, the 6 am time for Letterman comes from a staffer and from his biography so it is reasonably reliable although when I see a rounded-off time I am always somewhat skeptical. Still, this time does set up a chart that appears to be accurate when we look at certain planetary transits to the angles (the angles are the ascendant and midheaven, and they are dependent upon the time of birth).

For example, in January of 2000 David Letterman was rushed to the hospital for quintuple bypass surgery. At the time, his progressed Midheaven was exactly square to his progressed Sun within minutes. The Sun, either in the birthchart or by progression, is nearly always implicated in diseases of the heart and aspects from the progressed Midheaven often indicate a major change in a person’s life. The Midheaven also in some cases represents the father, and Letterman’s father died of a heart attack so this event certainly would have been a major turning point for him.

The timeline of the current extortion attempt is also reflected in the chart provided by Astrodatabank with the 6 am birthtime. Letterman said Thursday night that three weeks before he was approached by the blackmailer. At the time, transiting Mars (aggression) was conjunct his progressed ascendant (his public persona) and transiting Mercury (messages) was opposite Mars (war and defense) in his natal chart. Any one of these events could have brought about an event of aggression, but the combination of the two would have accelerated the drama of the event.

Shortly thereafter, on September 20, transiting Mars made a challenging square to his progressed Moon, threatening his security and that of his family (Moon) but at the same time, transiting Chiron (wounding and healing) was in a harmonious trine to his Sun (Self), facilitating his desire to work through the problem rather than allow it to bury him in disgrace.

Mars has been very active throughout the period from September 14th to the present, activating Letterman’s chart and energizing him for the conflict to come. But what clinches the deal for me is that on October 1st when Letterman made the announcement, transiting Mars (conflict) sat right on the Nadir of the chart, opposite the Midheaven which is the point at which we project ourselves into the public arena. The Nadir/Midheaven polarity requires that we balance our inner world (Nadir) with the outer world of our profession (Midheaven), and in Letterman’s announcement he was seeking that balance in a very public way.

Astrology

Celebrities

David Letterman Astrology

David Letterman blackmail

Mars opposite Midheaven

progressed chart

rectification

Previous Post

October 5, 2009

The Astrology of David Letterman's Extortion Announcement

Next Post

October 6, 2009 "Cosmic rays have hit a space age high"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2012 Age of Aquarius Astrology Astrology in my world Astrology in the news Astronomy Business Celebrities Consciousness Conspiracy Crime Death Ecology Events Fate Favorite posts Featured posts Financial Markets Future Shock Generations Health & Healing Holidays Inspiration Jupiter in Leo Lessons Life Lynn's favorite posts Mercury retrograde Miscellany Money and markets Moon Mysteries People Planetary cycles Planets Podcast Politics Popular Culture Predictions Psychology Relationships Religion Saturn in Scorpio Saturn Return Science Signs Skywatch Sports Sun Sun signs Technology Uncategorized Uranus square Pluto Wonders of the universe

Select a Month September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 August 2000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was Barnabas' original name?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Silas Mark Joseph Timothy