As in birth there is the seed of death, so in death there is the seed of birth. With the killing of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, at the hands of Navy SEALs, it became possible to determine an ascendant for the hitherto-unknown birth chart of the world’s most famous terrorist.

Bin Laden in an interview gave March 10, 1957, as his birth date. He was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to a wealthy family with Royal connections and a billion-dollar real estate empire.

Some Vedic astrologers have already discussed bin Laden’s life and death using the chandralagna chart shown here. As you’ll recall from Jyotish 101, when we don’t know the birth time, we rotate the chart to treat the Moon as the ascendant.

But this is a backup plan, when we don’t know the birth time. However, what if we could figure out the ascendant based upon the time of bin Laden’s death?

On May 2, 2011, approx 0130, Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by a team of US Navy SEALs. The death chart shown here has Capricorn rising, Sun and Moon waning in Aries, and a cluster of four planets in Pisces. But the Moon is key.

The Moon is in Ketu nakshatra and Venus sub. Ketu is in Gemini, and therefore delivers results for its dispositor Mercury. Ketu also delivers for Mars and Saturn, both of whom aspect it.

Venus is in Pisces, in a Mercury nakshatra, as are three other planets in the same nakshatra. This means a lot of planets working to deliver Mercury results at the time of bin Laden’s death.

Bin Laden’s birth chart has Mercury and Venus in planetary war. This is a potent combo. Astronomically, the two planets crowd each other’s space within one degree and astrologically, both were activated when he died. Therefore, they should indicate death in his birth chart.

What’s a death indication? Let’s start with 8th and 12th house combinations. Specifically, Mercury and Venus in 8/12 combos…

Starting with bin Laden’s chandralagna, Gemini, we see the Mercury-Venus graha yuddha (planetary war) occurs in the 9th house. Mercury is lord of 1st and 4th. Venus is lord of 9th and 12th. Both are in the nakshatra of Rahu in the 5th. No connection with the 8th.

We move on to Cancer rising. Here the Mercury-Venus war is in the 8th. Bingo! Mercury now rules 3rd and 12th houses. Both Mercury and Venus are in Rahu nakshatra. Rahu sits in the 4th but does proxy work for his dispositor, Venus in the 8th. Another score. So with this ascendant, we get Mercury and Venus generating 8th and 12th house results, eg, death.

Despite the rest of the zodiac to test, Cancer already looks very good as a hypothetical ascendant. Ascendant lord Moon in the 12th house suggests a life in exile, which was bin Laden’s reality from age 22 to his death. Over these 32 years he lived in Afghanistan, Sudan (where his Saudi citizenship was revoked), Bosnia and Pakistan.

Within Cancer, we have 2.5 nakshatras, one of which is Ashlesha, associated with immense ambition, cunning and manipulation, sedition and secrecy.

In 1967, bin Laden’s father died in a plane crash. Bin Laden was running Rahu-Venus. Rahu gives results of sign dispositor Venus in the 8th, and also of its nakshatra dispositor Jupiter, lord of 9th. Bhukti lord Venus in the 8th is 12th from the 9th, ie, loss of father.

During the latter part of his Jupiter dasa, bin Laden got educated and married four wives. Jupiter is in Sun nakshatra, and Sun owns the 2nd, governing education and family.

Upon the outset of his Saturn dasa, age 31, bin Laden created al Qaeda. Natal Saturn in the 5th is the deep dark mind of an ideologue. Saturn rules the 7th house of outright war, and the 8th house of death.

When a dasa runs, its lord delivers results for its nakshatra dispositor. Thus Saturn during its dasa did work for its star lord Mercury, who is in the 8th and owns the 12th. Thus, Saturn can deliver violence and death.

In 1988, bin Laden’s eldest brother died in a plane crash. Bin Laden was running Saturn-Saturn, delivering double results for Mercury, lord of the 3rd (siblings) in the 8th.

Every bhukti lord to follow had some connection with the 8th or 12th houses. Throughout Saturn dasa, bin Laden increased the scope of his activities – helping the mujahideen drive the Soviets from Afghanistan, executing hotel attacks in Aden and Luxor, US embassy attacks in Africa, the attack on the destroyer USS Cole, the 9/11 attack, and subsequent bombings in Bali, Madrid and London.

During Saturn dasa, Bin Laden managed to dodge an attack of cruise missiles on his base camp, a drone missile in his vehicle, and a SEALs assault in Tora Bora, Afghanistan. His very luck in evading capture or death must have convinced both him and his followers that Allah really was on his side.

Then Mercury dasa kicked in. Remember, this Mercury is a virulent planet. It owns the 12th house and is locked in graha yuddha with Venus in the 8th.

During Barack Obama’s election campaign, he vowed that under his administration the USA would capture or kill bin Laden. Criminal charges from around the world had already been laid against bin Laden during his Saturn dasa. But under Obama’s mandate, the CIA’s special activities division stepped up their search.

The SEALs raid on May 2, 2011, came during bin Laden’s Mercury dasa, Venus bhukti, and Venus sub-period. Both planets carry the weight of 8th and 12th house associations. In addition, Venus is also the bhadaka (killer) planet for a Cancer ascendant.

Transits that day (see Chart 2) further propelled bin Laden’s fate toward death. Four planets in Pisces (Mercury star) gave results of bin Laden’s Mercury, his occupant of 8th and owner of 12th. Sun was in Aries (Venus star), giving results of bin Laden’s Venus, his bhadaka in the 8th house.

To recap, we started by looking at the Moon’s nakshatra and sub at the time of bin Laden’s death, and worked backwards to construct a birth chart wherein Mercury and Venus played the role of killers in their conjoined periods.

Admittedly, this is hindsight, but that’s no less a reason to learn from it. After all, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.