Peter Pan who lived with the lost boys in Never Never Land is how Michael Jackson has seen himself. Particularly, that is, the Peter Pan of the 1953 Walt Disney cartoon film of J.M.Barrie's Victorian stage play. Disney's Peter Pan is a pre-adolescent elfin figure with a turned-up nose; the latter being a physical feature that Jackson emanated through plastic surgery.
Michael Jackson has literally lived in Never Land for many years. His Neverland Ranch was created as a world of endless childhood fun with trees to climb, free fairground rides, free candy shops and so on. He enjoyed having children visit, in some cases having them to stay, in special cases having them sleep over, in extra special cases having them sleep in his bed. Maybe he missed all this in childhood and later used his wealth to make up the deficiency. But where Barrie's Peter Pan was a boy who could never grow up, Michael Jackson is a man of 46 years. More accurately J.M.Barrie's original play was titled "Peter Pan or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" (my italics) so there may be common ground there.
Michael Jackson's birth chart has some uncertainty. He was born with the Sun conjunct Pluto on the day of a Full Moon, 29 August 1958, but there are several rectified birth times to consider. His autobiography 'Moonwalk' (William Heinemann, London, 1988) suggests that the birth was very late at night and this has given rise to variations of Chart 1. The Moon is now a full eleven degrees past being full but the chart has a Gemini ascendant which many consider suitable for Jackson's Peter Pan image. To be fair no one can be expected to remember their own time of birth unless someone in the family also recalls it and Michael was the seventh of nine children so it's unlikely that his mother or father remembered it especially. But what 'Moonwalk' actually says is "I was born...on a late summer night in 1958". "A late summer night" does not necessarily mean "late on a summer night". All it means is somewhen during the night in late summer, and even the memory of it being at night may be unreliable. So the second chart (Chart 2) is from an AFA bulletin in 1994 suggesting a birth time just past mid-day. This puts the Sun on the midheaven and produces a Scorpio ascendant. It also has the Sun and the Moon more closely opposed with the Pisces Moon in the fourth house, emphasising the importance of home and family. (Moon in Pisces: artistic family. Moon in Pisces: he calls his home "Neverland").
Whichever chart we use 2005 has certainly seen things getting shaken up in Neverland because Uranus is in Pisces and close to Jackson's Moon. This seems to give further weight to Chart 2 or rectifications earlier in the day, as transiting Uranus would not reach the natal Moon in Chart 1, the 'Moonwalk' chart, until April 2007. While that may indicate something to do with his home in two years time it is undeniable that Neverland has been in an uncompromising Uranian spotlight during the spring months of this year 2005 while Michael Jackson's trial for child abuse was taking place. There was even been talk of him having to sell Neverland to cover his costs. But with Uranus on the Moon his whole feeling of security has been shaken up too, not to mention his delicate Virgo mind-body balance, as the worst case scenario loomed - the prospect of a home in jail.
Transiting Uranus reached its farthest station for 2005 on 14 June 2005 at 10°45' Pisces, coincident with the jury's final verdict at his trial (13 June 2005). Uranus was opposite the Moon when the jury stated "not guilty" (13.30pm Santa Barbara, California) and the opposition stretched across Jackson's natal Virgo-Pisces Sun-Moon. But even Chart 2, the 12.44pm mid-day chart, has his Moon further placed at 11°26' Pisces, a position that Uranus won't reach exactly until March 2006. An interesting rectification would be to pull back Michael Jackson's birth time to about 11.30am so that his Moon is closer to the 10°44' Pisces position of Uranus in 2005. This chart still has a Scorpio ascendant but with Jupiter and particularly Neptune now rising. The tenth house is packed with planets including the Sun, and Uranus would be on the midheaven (eccentric in the eyes of the world). But this is just playing around. What is quite certain is that Uranus has recently transited opposite to his Sun and his Pluto anyway producing amongst other things uncomfortable personal revelations through the testimonies of others.
The strain of the trial on Michael Jackson was immense, taking a toll physically and psychologically. Wherever his Moon might be in Pisces, Uranus is going to keep on hitting it for some while. And whichever ascendant we choose, the themes it represents are prominent in the planets anyway. Gemini rising puts the emphasis on Peter Pan and youthful sharp-featured nervy Mercury, but Mercury is already the Sun-ruler. Scorpio rising puts the emphasis on Jackson's liking for dark clothes and turning into a werewolf, but Pluto is already conjunct the Sun (and he was born at Full Moon).
