The Horoscope of Greece: Searching for Soul….

The Greek Soul: Part II in a Series by astrologer Myrthe Sardjoe:

It’s always difficult to set one moment for the birth of a nation. Nevertheless there are two horoscopes of Greece which have been used and studied well and seem to work.  The first one (25^th of May 1821) marks the beginning of the end of Ottoman rulership in the area and the first moment Greece was put back on the map. This horoscope describes in my opinion the Greek soul, the Greek identity and her roots.  The second horoscope dates from the 24^th of July 1974, the start of the recent democratic Greek republic. It seems to me this horoscope shows us the momentarily state of Greece, the aims, the dreams of it’s inhabitants. It shows us the way Greece is managed today. And how it is perceived. Both horoscopes are currently hyperactive.

25^th of March 1821: 1^st Greek Horoscope.  This chart is set for noon as no exact time is available. So it is wise not to put to much emphasis to the ASC, MC and the division of the houses.

The Greek history is full of trouble. From the fall of Constantinople on the 29^th of May in 1453 Greece fell under the rule of the Ottoman Empire of the Turks. This lasted many centuries. In 1821 Greek freedom fighters liberated the Peloponese from the Turkish occupation. The city of Nafplion became then for some time the capital. Greece’s territory was still very small at that time.

If we are looking for ones identity, we look in the first place at the Sun. The Sun is in this horoscope in very close conjunction with Jupiter and Mercury: Greeks love to talk, to joke, to tell stories. And they can be quite philosophical. This conjunction might reflect the inheritance of ancient Greek philosophy too.

Greek language and scripture had a hard time under the Ottoman occupation. It has been mainly the effort of the Orthodox church that its script survived: In churches and monasteries Greek writing and reading was taught to common people. (Sun/Mercury/Jupiter)

The strong emphasis on Aries in this horoscope could indicate the fighters who liberated Greece from the Turks. Personally I don’t experience much of the Aries energy in Greece. Yes, the Greeks can be macho. They talk quite loud and quite fast. If you are not familiar with them, they might seem aggressive, impatient etc. but still…

Interesting in this horoscope is the square between Sun/Mercury/Jupiter and Uranus/Neptune.

Uranus conjunct Neptune corresponds here with the freedom fighters and the Orthodox church who joined forces to defeat the Turkish enemy. Until today the Orthodox church takes a big part in Greek everyday life (Neptune). It is an essential part of the Greek identity. So is her rebel spirit (Uranus). Greeks consider it a national sport to evade the law, to evade taxes, etc. Foreign interference is felt as something very negative.

Another national sport and social ritual is to smoke secretly with friends: Like in most countries, drugs are illegal in Greece. Until 1931 this wasn’t the case, though. In many pubs you still can find old pictures of men smoking water pipe. Many Greek songs are about the use/abuse of drugs. This too, we can lead back to the Neptune/Uranus conjunction in connection to the Sun.

Another Greek issue is the sadness of being far away from your loved ones and your country. Being a naval nation, many men went to sea, while wives were being left behind. Permanent migration caused a lot of sorrow too. Last century a substantial part of the population moved abroad (to Australia, US and Germany). It is said that there are more Greeks living abroad, then there are living in Greece.

In 1923 more than a million people lost their home and family. Many songs were written then about this theme. Today those songs are still very popular.*

Sun/Jupiter/Mercury: foreign countries, travelling etc square Uranus/Neptune: freedom/the sea, losses.

*From 1919-1922 Greeks and Turks fought each other again. At the end of this war in 1923 the so called Megali Catastrophe took place: A compulsory exchange of populations of Turkey and Greece. At that time Turkey threw out approximately 1.100.000 Greeks, mainly from Constantinople and Smyrna. In return some 380.000 Muslims were being transferred to Turkey. Most of the Greeks from Turkey settled in the North of Greece, in and around Thessalloniki. Here they lived in great poverty. They had hardly taken more than their memories and their music from Turkey. In this environment arose the Rembetika, the typical Greek music/sound, and a subculture of the ‘Mangas’: The atmosphere of the time resembled much the atmosphere in the work of Berthold Brecht.

Today Uranus in transit is in conjunction with radix Pluto and Pluto transits the radix Uranus.

Transiting Pluto makes a square with the radix Sun/Jupiter/Mercury. Transiting Saturn makes an opposition to the radix Sun/Mercury/Jupiter. Altogether this clearly describes the current crisis. Greece has arrived at another critical moment in her existence! Since this constellation will last the whole of 2010 we can be sure there is more to come.

In the 3e part of this series, Myrthe continues her search for soul in the horoscope of Greece …