Michael Jackson Horoscope

Complete Birth Chart

All work and no play...

(November 21, 2009) I am several months late with Michael Jackson's horoscope. I thought about it when he sadly passed away in June, but at that time I couldn't find any trustworthy birth date. Since then, one has appeared.

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It's from his own astrologer, it seems — Chakrapani Ullal, a Vedic astrologer who claims to have had Michael Jackson as his client for a number of years, from the mid 90s until just a few years before Michael's death. Chakrapani Ullal has stated clearly that he got the birth time directly from Michael.

If this is correct, and I am inclined to think so, Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, on August 29, 1958, at 7:33 PM. That's the date I used for this chart and my interpretation of it. So, please note that if the birth time of 7:33 proves to be inaccurate, then much of what I say below is wrong as well.

Michael Jackson complete horoscope chart.

Michael Jackson's complete horoscope chart, based on the birth time 7:33 PM.

Work more than fame

What strikes me first of all is the concentration of planets to Michael Jackson's 6th House. Five of the twelve planetary points I use in my horoscopes are in that House. That's almost half of them.

The 6th House governs work. Not fame or fortune. It shows what kind of work people do, and how they do it. Michael has that House in the sign of Leo, which means that he worked with himself and his charisma. Certainly he did.

Still, it's odd that this concentration is not in the 11th House, which governs fame, or the 10th, which governs social influence, or for that matter the 1st, which shows what other people see of the person. The bunch of planets in the 6th House doesn't point out a celebrity, particularly, but what must be called a workaholic. On the other hand, that's what they say about art: 10% talent and 90% hard work.

So, he worked almost manically on himself and the impression he could make with his own person — an impression on others as well as on himself. He sort of worked to be his own foremost admirer.

The planets involved in this are Uranus, Venus, and Mercury. The two remaining ones, Pluto and the sun, are in the part of the 6th House controlled by Virgo. In the horoscope, this develops through time, from one planet to the next.

The start with Uranus at 13,5° Leo shows that Michael began this lifetime work in order to understand himself. A process of self-realization aimed at revealing his own mystery to himself. The old "Who am I?" Michael began the work of expressing himself, because that was his way of getting to know himself.

Venus comes next at 17° Leo, giving him the creativity to pull this personal quest off. Venus in that sign can be described as charm and attraction. If it was in the 1st House he would be born with it, but in the 6th House it is something he has had to work to achieve. He felt the need to remake himself in order to be as striking as he wanted. One could even call it an act of elaborate seduction, where he struggled hard to get better at it, so that he would seduce himself as well as others.

Mercury at 25,4° Leo shows that he later learned to sweet talk, to convince by words and voice, and use it deliberately to heighten his image and charisma. The planet is Retrograde, which means that it's weakened and a bit confused. So was his speech and his way of communicating with people, but that, too, he could use as a way of shaping his image into something fascinating.

The last ten degrees of the 6th House are in Virgo, which shows that what started off as a work to illuminate his person gradually became just work. That surely took a lot of the fun out of it. It was not about his person anymore, but the work he did demanded more work, to the point where it overshadowed its original purpose.

Here is Pluto at 2° Virgo, signaling a dramatic event that made the turning point. What had been a joyous way of expressing his personality became a necessity, demanding ever so much more of him. And there was definitely a threat that all he'd done previously would be cast aside, as if meaningless.

The sun later on, at 6° Virgo, brings some light on it. He might have found that he actually enjoyed the hardship, regarding it as proof of his inner character — maybe even his karma. Work was his fate, and he just had to accept that.

The sun in the horoscope is also a representation of the father. So, Michael worked all his life, with increasing hardship, just to find out that the true reason for his struggle was his father. From above, behind, and ahead, his father pulled him, forcing him to work that hard. Michael Jackson worked to find himself, but found his father instead, as the root to it all.

It's not that easy to figure out how Michael related to this discovery. He was probably quite ambiguous about it. Pluto in the neighborhood suggests some drama and calamity. So do the aspects to the 8th House, which I will come to — but the sun's position at the end of the 6th House also suggests acceptance, although taking its toll.

Surely, both his need to become a father and the way in which he took on that role, was a way for him to come to terms with the imprint his own father had made on him. A much needed therapy.

A confusing destiny

The sun, Pluto, and Mercury in the 6th House are connected with sextile aspects to Jupiter and Neptune in the 8th House, which is that of mystery, death, and other things outside of one's control.

The sextile is a friendly aspect, showing fruitful cooperation. So, the planets in the 8th House inspired and assisted Michael Jackson in his effort to expand his personality, particularly when that effort became a thing of its own. Work for its own sake.

Jupiter and Neptune are just four degrees apart, which would put them in a conjunction — but this one is odd, since they are in separate signs. Jupiter is in 28,5° Libra and Neptune in 2,5° Scorpio. That makes their joining quite an intricate one.

Jupiter in the chart stands for expansion and success. Luck, actually. In Libra this luck is balanced and fair, bringing success according to one's merit. You get what you deserve — in a good way.

Neptune is the planet of imagination, fantasy, and dreams. In Scorpio, the sign of passion and the hidden, this is intriguing, mysterious, and surely quite kinky, too. This is enhanced by the presence in the 8th House in Michael Jackson's chart. That's the House of the occult, death, and things uncontrolled.

So, Michael Jackson's fantasy was occupied with the enigma of life and death, and the drama of it all. Religion and the occult were constantly on his mind, at least in his subconscious and his dreams. They inspired his art and performances, through the sextile links to the planets in his 6th House.

Jupiter's role is less obvious. It signals the success he achieved, and how much he deserved it — which he must have been aware of. It also indicates the importance of his family in this success, since relatives are linked to the 8th House, because one cannot choose them.

I hesitate to regard Jupiter and Neptune as a conjunction, although they are quite close, since they have such different roles in Michael Jackson's horoscope. But they do blend in causing some confusion in his mind. The expansive Jupiter makes the order of Libra less orderly, especially at the end of that sign. The dreamlike Neptune increases its mystery in both Scorpio and the 8th House.

Michael would have had a hard time grasping his role in the world and coming to terms with reality. He preferred to live in a fantasy, which he somewhat found more real than everyday reality.

Unending duty

Medium Coeli (MC, also called Midheaven) in the horoscope shows how the person looks at himself or herself. In Michael Jackson's chart, MC is in the 10th House at 19,5° Sagittarius, and in a very close conjunction with Saturn at 19,1°. This conjunction makes it a very important part of his horoscope, indeed.

The 10th House governs one's social impact and position. Sagittarius shows that Michael really wanted none of it. He wanted to be a free spirit, unattached to social obligations. But alas, Saturn shows that he was very aware that he was not. The more he wanted to break free, the more he was entangled by obligations and the expectations of others. And he had to comply, although it made him less and less free.

So, he tried to use his position in society as a way of propagating freedom and elevated ideals. He used his fame to express a message of what he thought society needed to do in order to reach a better world, although as distant as a dream. By insisting on this message, he felt that he came to terms with the role he could not escape in society.

There is a trine aspect from this conjunction to Venus in Michael Jackson's 5th House, which shows that these ideals of his were very inspirational in his creative work. When he felt strongly that he had a message and expressed it, then he was the most pleased with his art and his performance.

He would have liked it to remain that simple: art as a way of sending a message of hope for the future. But nothing in the world remains that simple for long.

Trouble with friends

The 3rd House governs friends, everyday acquaintances, and one's relations with them. That's where Michael Jackson has a firm Mars in 22° Taurus. It shows that he was slow to trust friends, and quick to break with them when he found them lacking. There were conflicts and trouble caused by friends and his relations with them, often with painful results.

By time Michael learned to keep such relations at a light, almost careless level, which is shown by Gemini in the late part of the House. But through all his life there were still occasional conflicts with friends, or people he believed to be friends. Certainly there were disappointments, but with this strong Mars he had the power to end unwanted friendships, and manage when harassed by people in his immediate surroundings.

He did not allow himself to be controlled by his friends. Instead he could sometimes be very controlling over them. In any case, the tension and conflicts in this private sphere of his continued to gnaw on him, making it hard for him to find peace even in his own home.

Mars has a square aspect to Mercury in the 5th House of Michael Jackson's chart. This is additional evidence of complications in his private sphere — friends that disappointed him, and that he needed to use some force to handle or get rid of. This frustration could be heard in his speech, and what mood it expressed. When he was hurt he could defend himself, but the pain was obvious in his voice and choice of words. Even though he mostly won such fights, he talked like a victim, and often felt like one.

But there must have been a few loyal friends who accepted his control and stayed with him to the end.

A fragile soul

Michael Jackson's Ascendant in 10,1° Pisces shows how others perceived him: a searcher, willingly sacrificing himself for others or for hopeful causes. This is enhanced by the moon, just a few degrees away at 14,9° Pisces.

The moon is the ruler of emotions, and it thrives in Pisces, so Michael Jackson gave people who met him a strong sense of being an emotional man, driven by his feelings. A fragile soul, longing for meaning in his life and meaningful things to do.

Only those who knew him well got to see his willpower and his firm control of things, indicated by Aries in the last part of his 1st House. They were surprised to discover this, since at first he seemed a weak victim of his feelings.

The moon in the horoscope is also an image of the mother. In Michael Jackson's chart it's clear that he was close to his mother, also resembling her quite a lot. He tried to be like his mother — as he perceived her. Self-sacrifice and humility were great parts of this, as was a strong need to commit to the needs of others.

Even in his relation to his own children, he wanted to be more of a mother than a father to them.

Pluto transit dates

Looking at the transit aspects to Michael Jackson's horoscope (comparing actual planetary movements with his chart) I actually don't find his death date very outstanding at all. Other times in his life were of much greater significance.

This is not at all rare in horoscopes, and it is easily explained: In most people's lives, the actual death is much less significant than other events — mainly, but not only, because the moment of death is the end of one's life, and therefore has almost no influence at all on it. Therefore, the point of death is easier to predict in the horoscope by looking at a lack of events than by searching for some particular transit.

In most horoscopes, Pluto's transits are often the most important in one's life. That's because they are so rare, since Pluto is so slow to complete its orbit around the sun. It takes a quarter of a millennium. Also, Pluto is a dramatic planet, signaling drastic and lasting changes.

Michael Jackson horoscope. So, I checked the Pluto transits in Michael Jackson's horoscope. The first important one was a conjunction with Michael's native sun, when he was only three years old, showing a radical change in his relation to his father and in his own well-being. He had to struggle, somehow, to survive that period, but it made him much stronger.

Around September 1962, when Michael was four years old, transit Pluto opposed his Ascendant. Something happened in his relation to someone near, which made his outer appearance change radically. He lost control of it — as much control as you can have at that age.

Both these Pluto transits show that Michael Jackson experienced a lot of drama in his infant years. I would say that the two transits should be understood as events in the same drama, not separate ones. In that case this crisis actually lasted from September 1960 to July 1963, or all the way to August 1965, if we include the Pluto opposition to the moon in Michael's 1st House. And we should. The whole period indicates calamity and change within the family, leaving its scars on Michael.

The next significant Pluto transit came two decades later. From December 1982 to August 1985, Pluto passed over Jupiter and Neptune in Michael Jackson's chart. Symbolically speaking, that's when he became immortal through his fame. Himself, he experienced it as reason for a metaphysical view on his life and the importance of it. He found himself to become larger than life. Also, it made it possible for him to break free from some burdening family ties.

Michael Jackson horoscope. At that period, his album Thriller hit the charts, and made Michael the most successful musician in the world.

By the end of December 1991 he had a crisis in his relation to friends, although he was distanced from them. Transit Pluto had an opposition with Mars in his 3rd House. There was hard conflict and suffering, damaging some of his personal relations for good. This crisis lasted until October 1992.

It was not until the summer of 1993 that he was accused of child sexual abuse the first time, so this event seems not to be involved in this transit — but Pluto events are not precise in dates. Instead, they are longtime processes, so I would still regard this as the explanation of the transit. It probably started earlier than it got official, which might explain the differing dates.

The next important Pluto transit (I skip all but conjunctions and oppositions) was its passage over Saturn and MC in the 10th House of Michael Jackson's horoscope. It started in January 2003, and ended in September 2004. This fits quite well with the second child abuse allegations, starting in 2003. He was acquitted on June 13, 2005.

The transit shows that his official role changed dramatically, also his own view on it and on his person in general. In some sense, it was liberating to him, although the media coverage implied the opposite. He was acquitted, and thereby to himself his honor was restored — whatever others may have thought of it.

Probably, the process made him feel free to step away from the social duties he had been committed to. He wanted out, and the trial gave him reason to take that step. He was done being the king.

The next significant Pluto transit would not come until the year 2031, and it would be a long series of hardships. He would not have wanted to stay around for those.

In March 2009 Michael Jackson announced that he would have a series of concerts on the London O2 arena, which was expected to be a great success as well as quite an ordeal for him, considering his bad health. At the time it was announced, four transit planets in his 12th House opposed his cluster of planets in the 6th House, showing that many forces were against his work on that concert series.

At the time of his death on June 25, 2009, transit Jupiter and Neptune formed a very close conjunction in Michael's 12th House, opposing his native Mercury in the 6th House. The two very same forces that made his great fame opposed his continued work on it.

At the same time, transit Pluto formed a trine with Michael's native Pluto and a sextile with his Neptune, indicating that his fame and worldwide respect would gain on his demise. This has been quite obvious. His life ended in time for his memory to live on.

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