by Steven Forrest, copyright 2000.
This article first appeared in The Mountain Astrologer

PLEASE NOTE: STEVEN NO LONGER DOES RECTIFICATIONS HIMSELF.

FOR RECTIFICATIONS BY JODIE FORREST, Email Jodie. You can also visit our  DIRECTORY OF ASTROLOGERS TRAINED BY STEVEN FORREST.

"I don't know the time of my birth." Any working astrologer hears that line a few times a month. In rectification—the craft of discovering the true Ascendent of a birthchart—the first rule is never accept an "I don't know" statement on face value! Always, without fail, make a strenuous attempt to discover the recorded birth time...which is often actually available, many times quite easily. Don't let a client's hesitation to search compromise your work!

Interview with Steven and Jodie Forrest

Interview by Geraldine Hatch Hannon. Copyright 1997 The Mountain Astrologer. This interview first appeared in the June 1997 issue of The Mountain Astrologer.

SF: Oh yes.

TMA: Is that how you met?

SF: Jodie came to me for a reading. She was already quite an advanced astrologer. Sufficiently advanced to know it is almost impossible to read one's own chart.

JF: I had been reading astrology books since I was eight years old. I started as a child and I simply never stopped. Astrology had been sort of a sideline passion. When I met Steve, I was finishing up a graduate degree in languages, but I had never stopped astrology.

TMA: So when you met and saw each other's charts, did you look at them in terms of compatibility?

by Steven Forrest

Jodie and I are often asked to comment on the old "fate versus free-will debate." Our short answer is a very emphatic focus on personal responsibility, creativity, and choice. Here's the long answer. (This article was originally published in the journal, The Mountain Astrologer.)

First, a review of the full Moon: Remember that the Moon rules the ocean's tides, and that water is a primordial symbol of feeling. Everyone's emotional "tides" are running higher (or lower) during a full Moon. This effect is more emphasized if you have a Cancer Sun, Moon or Ascendant, or a full or new Moon natally, or the Moon in an angular house natally. Try to give everyone a bit more compassion and understanding, and remember that they (and you) are more subjective under the full Moon. 

If the transiting full Moon falls within about 4 degrees of a conjunction OR an opposition to one of your natal planets, then how you express that planet *vis-a-vis other people* is lunarized for the two lunar months before and after that full Moon. The month before the full Moon is probably felt more strongly, and the month after involves more reflection and processing.