Born: January 17, 1942, 6:35 PM local time, Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Source: Astro-Databank, Rodden rating AA.
The AA rating means the birth time comes from a birth certificate or an official record, so the rising sign, the Midheaven and the houses below can be read with confidence. Open Muhammad Ali's chart on Astrolas to follow along.
One structural fact runs this chart. Six of the ten planets sit in just two houses: the Sun, Moon and Mercury all land in the 6th house, and Jupiter, USaturn and Uranus all land in the 10th. The Astrolas library reads the 10th-house group as a career that advances through persistence and sudden turns rather than a straight climb, and the 6th-house group as an identity built almost entirely through daily work. Both match a career that ran through a stripped title, a multi-year ban, and a comeback that won it back.
Two more features round out the picture: Moon, Mercury and Venus together in xAquarius, and Mars pushing hard on belief in the 9th house.
Three planets in the tenth house: Saturn conjunct Uranus, Jupiter nearby
Saturn at 21ยฐ40' and Uranus at 26ยฐ28' both sit in Taurus, in the 10th house, a conjunction with an orb of 4ยฐ49'. Jupiter, retrograde at 11ยฐ57' Gemini, sits in the same house just past the sign line. All three planets are retrograde.
The Astrolas library reads Saturn conjunct Uranus as drive and leadership built from reconciling bold, unconventional thinking with practicality, a combination that rarely pays off right away and needs maturity to reach its full shape. Retrograde in the 10th house, Saturn reads as ambition that advances through cycles of setback, self-assessment and rebuilding rather than a clean climb, with success typically arriving late but solid. Uranus retrograde there reads as a career marked by sudden, hard-to-explain turning points, reputation that can arrive and then vanish before it is fully used, and achievement built through quiet reinvention rather than one public breakthrough. Jupiter retrograde in the same house adds success through re-examined, persistent effort rather than open luck.
He won an Olympic gold medal in boxing at the 1960 Rome Games, then turned professional and won the world heavyweight title in 1964. In 1967 he was stripped of the title and banned from boxing for more than three years after refusing induction into the US military on religious grounds; the conviction was later overturned by the US Supreme Court. He returned to reclaim the heavyweight title in 1974, becoming champion a third time before retiring in 1981.
Sun in Capricorn, with Moon and Mercury, in the sixth house
The Sun sits at 27ยฐ18' vCapricorn in the 6th house. The Astrolas library reads this Sun as ambition built on patience and discipline, a drive to climb steadily rather than leap, with each challenge treated as a chance to prove competence rather than an obstacle. In the 6th house, it reads as an identity built almost entirely through work: high standards, a demanding relationship with one's own effort, and little patience for leisure.
The Moon and Mercury share that house, both in Aquarius, in a conjunction with an orb of 1ยฐ05'. The library reads Moon conjunct Mercury as a sharp, retentive mind that lends confidence to speech, though decisions lean more on feeling than logic, open to the pull of whoever is nearby.
He trained with a famously exacting regimen and talked through nearly every fight in advance, in rhymed predictions that rarely missed their mark by much.
Moon, Mercury and Venus together in Aquarius
Moon at 12ยฐ26', Mercury at 13ยฐ31' and Venus at 20ยฐ40', retrograde, all sit in Aquarius, spread across the 6th and 7th houses. The library's Aquarius Moon reads as clear-headed and humanitarian, pulled toward the unusual and sometimes detached from ordinary practical concerns. Its Mercury in Aquarius reads as an original, somewhat ahead-of-its-time mind, drawn to debate, philosophy and the future of humanity, willing to look eccentric in the process. Its Venus in Aquarius reads as idealistic and nonconformist in love, placing personal freedom and friendship ahead of convention, with charm that leans toward larger causes over passing romance; the library notes that success through this placement tends to arrive late.
He changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali in 1964 after joining the Nation of Islam, a conversion that put him at odds with mainstream expectations of a champion. Decades later, in 1998, the United Nations named him a Messenger of Peace.
Mars in Taurus, ninth house: fighting for belief
Mars sits at 3ยฐ03' Taurus in the 9th house, the house of belief, higher learning and travel abroad. The Astrolas library's Taurus Mars describes energy expressed through patience and endurance rather than impulsiveness, a "slow and steady" strength that outlasts rather than overwhelms. Through the 9th house, that same Mars reads as an intense faith in personal ideals, ready to fight fiercely to defend them, with trips abroad bringing honor and real opportunity for growth.
His title fights carried him overseas more than once: the 1974 bout against George Foreman in Zaire, where he absorbed round after round of punishment on the ropes before overwhelming a tired opponent late, and the 1975 fight against Joe Frazier in the Philippines. Both fit a Mars that wins through endurance as much as speed.
Neptune in Virgo and Pluto in Leo: two generational signatures
Neptune sits at 29ยฐ48' Virgo, retrograde, in the 2nd house, and Pluto at 4ยฐ48' gLeo, retrograde, in the 12th. Both are generational placements, shared by everyone born in these years. The library ties Neptune in Virgo to a generation uneasy with the social status quo, drawn to critique outdated conventions and improve conditions for the wider community. It ties Pluto in Leo to the generation shaped by the Second World War and the early rise of celebrity culture, driven by ambition, self-expression and a pull toward using personal power for something larger than the self.
The 12th house makes the Pluto placement personal: the library reads an inner life far more intense than it appears from outside, a sharp read on other people's real motives, and a capacity for quiet influence and healing from behind the scenes rather than through open confrontation. He became a public critic of racial injustice during the civil rights era, and spent much of his later life as a global, largely nonpartisan goodwill figure.
Leo rising, and the tightest aspect in the whole chart
The birth record puts the Ascendant at 19ยฐ31' gLeo, the Descendant at 19ยฐ31' Aquarius, the Midheaven at 12ยฐ13' Taurus and the IC at 12ยฐ13' Scorpio. The Astrolas library doesn't yet have entries for this rising sign or this Midheaven sign. The tightest aspect in the entire chart also touches these angles and has no library text yet: Moon square the Midheaven, orb 0ยฐ13'. Venus opposite the Ascendant (orb 1ยฐ09') and Saturn square the Ascendant (orb 2ยฐ08') are close behind. Those contacts are real, by the chart's own numbers, but this piece won't build a reading on what the library doesn't yet cover.
What the chart adds up to
The chart doesn't explain the speed or the showmanship, and it can't account for what it actually takes to survive fifteen rounds. What it does show is a repeated pattern: a 10th house crowded with slow-building, hard-won achievement, a 6th house built on daily discipline, and a 9th-house Mars that treats belief as something worth fighting for.
He died in Scottsdale, Arizona, in June 2016, at age 74.
Open Muhammad Ali's chart on Astrolas, look at the three planets stacked in the 10th house, then compare it with a chart you know.
Questions people ask
What is Muhammad Ali's rising sign?
Leo, at 19ยฐ31', based on his AA-rated birth time of 6:35 PM. The Astrolas library doesn't yet have a specific entry for this Ascendant.
What are Muhammad Ali's Sun and Moon signs?
His Sun is at 27ยฐ18' Capricorn in the 6th house. His Moon is at 12ยฐ26' Aquarius, also in the 6th house, conjunct Mercury.
What is the strongest feature of his chart?
Six of his ten planets cluster in just two houses: Sun, Moon and Mercury in the 6th, and Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus in the 10th. The Astrolas library ties that 10th-house group to a career built through persistence and sudden turns, which matches a title won, stripped, and won back.