MODERΝ GREECE'S NATIONAL HOROSCOPE

As we know, not only the individuals but the countries too have a zodiacal sign. Everything born in a particular moment in time bears the quality of that moment. Thus, by knowing the time of birth of a country we can determine its natal chart - provided of course we can identify the country’s moment of birth! Because, contrary to a human being - the birth of which is evident to the people around it - the countries may have many and different kinds of “births”, some of which are not so evident. Take Greece for example. When was this ancient country really "born"? This turns to be a rather complicated issue!

First of all, Greece is not a country that was born in the last few centuries - as i.e. the U.S.A. It has been there for thousands of years! Thus, its birth is lost in the mist of time. How and when Greece was born turns to be a sort of a mystery. Did the geographical area that corresponds to Greece remain uninhabited for millennia till suddenly a day the "Greeks" jumped over its fences and poured over this southern "offshoot" of the Balkans? Had that - somehow hilarious - event happened, then yes, we could say that Greece was born into a particular moment in time (and our only concern would be then to identify that moment). In ancient times, however, there was not a single ethnic group called “Greeks”, but various kin-shipped “tribes” who in successive periods descended to Greece (the Dorians, Ionians etc.). The gradual amalgamation of all these tribes eventually gave birth to ancient Greece, but that was done gradually over time and not at a certain specific date. In addition ancient Greece had been mostly a conglomeration of independent city-states and was not a country in the modern sense of the term.

Of course there had been some significant and prominent events out of which we could draw some clues (such as the formation of the “Athenian League” - an almost national institution that came very close to be what we consider today a State) but we do not know when exactly the Delian league was officialy formed! And without a specific date we cannot cast a natal chart! We can only speculate and a plausible speculation would be that ancient Greece was much influenced by the sign of Sagittarius. And this because the major ancient Greeks’ deity was Zeus - Jupiter, the archetypal figure that rules the sign of Sagittarius.

Zeus was the father of all Gods and of all the people. He was very liberated, playful and Jovial (as ancient Greeks themselves were). Moreover, the Greeks were considering the virtue of hospitality - a typically Sagittarian trait - as a supreme one, and people were normally expected to host any stranger they were meeting - as any one of them could be God Jupiter himself, in disguise! Additionally, a unique and unprecedented spirit of freedom and democracy was reigning in ancient Greece, a spirit that was quite rare to its epoch! Not to mention that this ancient country is the cradle of philosophy, a Sagittarius' domain!

But even if we knew with certainty the zodiacal sign of ancient Greece then a new question would arise: does the sign of a country remain the same as the millennia pass over? I think not! First of all, “everything is flux” as the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus stated. The correlation between a nation and the cosmic forces ever changes! On the other hand - if we follow the exact definition of what a “country” is - no country has ever managed to survive as an absolutely homogenous entity for thousands of years. Countries do dissolve and then reconstitute, incarnating each time under a different stately form. What has to do for example today’s Egypt with the Pharaohs’ one? What has to do today’s Greece with the 5th century BC “Golden Century” Greece? Ancient and modern Greece are quite different in spirit and consequently their charts should be different!

When, then, modern Greece was born? In order to find it out we have to wrap back the thread and find out when was the last time that Greece “died” as a free and separate country. Apart a small period in World War II (which was really brief, to alter the essence of Greece) the last time that Greece ceased to exist was when the Turks military occupied the country in the 15th century and annexed it to the then forming Ottoman Empire! Subsequently, Greece was reborn - this time as "modern Greece" - when the Greeks massively revolt against the Turks and expelled them from their country, in the beginning of the 19th century! So, we know the time period but we still do not have a specific date.

First of all, we must set forth the necessary prerequisites for the formation of a new country - stepping a little bit onto onto the terrain of Political Sciences. The basic premise is that there must be a relative “roofless” nation, which has full «conscience of its entity». This nation must have explicitly expressed its will to become a constitutional country - usually in a geographical area historically related to it. Adverse conditions though (usually the fact that such a nation is subject to another country) might have hampered for a long time the materialization of such a will. Another important parameter to consider is that new countries do not come into being on historically insignificant moments but on the very climax of historical events, after a revolution, an overthrow of centuries old regimes etc. In Greece’s case all of the above features are strongly manifested around 1821, in the year when the Greeks revolted against the Turks, who for 4 whole centuries had militarily occupied Greece and the whole of South - Eastern Europe!

The revolution was officially proclaimed (give or take a couple of days) on the 25 March 1821 Old Style (6th of April actual date). So, could this be the date of modern Greece’s birth? The answer is no! The revolution of 25 March mostly denotes a revolt of certain important Greek chieftains against the Turks (a revolt that was neither the first nor the unique) and not the very establishment of the Greek State. This is made clear by a document issued by certain delegates from all over Greece who met at Epidaurus, 9 months after the beginning of the revolution. Almost in an apologetic tone they write: «It should not seem strange that we have postponed till now the political “arrangement” of our fatherland, that we have not yet declared our independence and stand as equals in front of the other legitimate nations of the world. Because it was impossible to think about our political existence unless we first ascertained our physical one”! The authors of this declaration sound like they knew astrology! Because no situation can really exist and prosper in our physical dimensions unless it goes through the stabilizing phase of Taurus. And this phase cannot be obtained unless the generating phase of Aries has been completed first! So, the mystery remains. Which is Greece’s birth date?

Some 20 years ago it came to my attention the copy of an old document, that I felt very significant! It was entitled «Declaration of the Political Existence and Independence of the Greek Nation». Let us see what this document says: «In the name of the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, the Greek Nation that in the last four centuries has been under the horrible Turkish rule, unable to bear any more the heavy and unprecedented tyranny, which with huge sacrifices we have finally thrown off, is proclaiming today - through its legitimate delegates here assembled - in front of all humans and God, its political existence and Independence! Epidaurus January 1st 1822».

There is no doubt that this declaration constitutes the birth certificate of modern Greece! It fulfils all the criteria we set up and unambiguously states the creation of the modern country of Greece. The birthday of Greece is on the 13th of January (it is a Capricornian country). You can see Greece's national horoscope (its natal chart) below:


There is a key expression in this historical declaration that we should emphasize: the one that goes "with huge sacrifices we have finally thrown off". This expression is telling us a lot about the mental state of the people that signed the Greek declaration of independence. Actually, this very expression reveals a "certainty" from the part of the authors of the declaration, the certainty that for the first time ever in almost 400 years of Turkish occupation the Greeks had begun to take the "upper hand" against their oppressors - the Turks - and they were feeling confident enough to establish a sovereign state! For the first time ever they had achieved that "critical mass" which we might call "a certainty they could sustain liberation and independence and establish a sovereign state". This is a very important element that plays a key role in the choice of the date January 1, 1822 as the "birthday" of contemporary Greece. You see, a basic argument of those who reject the date January 1, 1822 as the birth date of modern Greece is the fact that Greece consisted then by just a fraction of its current territory. This element though I do not consider as crucial as the element of reaching that "critical mass" that triggers the permanent and irreversible "dynamics of liberation, independence and establishment of a state." If modern Greece looses or gains - out of a military conflict - some islet should we cast a new horoscope for Greece? Certainly not, because modern Greece was "born" as a state in the 1822 National Assembly of Epidaurus (the Greeks reached then the "critical mass" for their liberation, independence and establishment of a state) and not during any plausible loss or recovery of any partial territory. When the holy fathers of the USA signed the Declaration of Independence (4 July 1776), USA consisted of just 13 eastern states, maybe of the 1/20 of its current territory. Still, the natal horoscope of the USA is considered the one of July 4, 1776 (because it was then when the Americans reached the "critical mass" for their liberation, independence and establishment of a state)!

Cultured astrology is not very advanced in modern Greece and the vast majority of the Greek astrologers (who surprisingly are giving credit to the "highly scientific" methods of the "hearsay" and of the "everybody says so...") believe that their country was born on the 3rd of February 1830 - when by the London Treaty the major forces of the time (England, France, Russia) recognized the independence and sovereignty of Greece. But a country is not born when the foreign forces decide it but when its own people will it! Otherwise Greece should not be considered a sovereign country but a mere protectorate!  

By no means the London protocol defines the birth date of Greece. It rather defines the (imposed by the foreign powers) "Greek Kingdom".  Monarchy though has been constitutionally abolished in Greece since 1974. Thus this 3 February 1830 horoscope is not applicable any more. Obviously Nicholas Campion realized this fact because in his book "The Book of World Horoscopes" he states: "Regarding the significance of the international recognition of 3 February 1830, it should be remembered that Greece was already a fully functioning state with its own government, and had been for some years." Moreover - as you will read below -  the political scientists argue that the mere diplomatic recognition of a country by foreign powers does not constitute its foundation act.

And in any case, if Greece was born as a state when the major powers of the epoch decided it then we should apply the same method in the case of the United States. The founding date of this country should be the one in which the major powers of the period recognized the independence of the United States, on the 3rd of September 1783 by the Treaty of Versailles, France.  The overwhelming majority of the astrologers world-wide though consider the 4th of July as the birth date of the United States. The September 3rd date is by now an obsolete one, a date that has been forgotten in the drawers of history, a date almost no astrologer ever mentions!

The same goes for other countries, as i.e. Argentina. Argentina's horoscope results from the date on which the Argentinian colonies unilaterally proclaimed their independence from Spain (on 9 July 1816 that is). Spain and the other powers of the time recognized the independence of Argentina much later (Great Britain in 1825). And yet, the universally accepted "birth" date of Argentina is the July 9, 1816, when the people of Argentina - by their representatives - unilaterally declared their independence!

Why should we then apply in Greece’s similar case not only different but quite opposite criteria? It makes no sense at all! And ultimately, this is a matter of political sciences too, thus let us hear what a Greek professor of Political Sciences (George Dimakopoulos) has to say. He argues: «the Declaration of the Political Existence and Independence of the Greek Nation is the constitutive act of the Greek State, whose foundation, legally and historically has to be regarded as from January 1st, 1822 (old calendar, meaning January 13 on the gregorian calendar). Certain points of view that appoint it to a different day - ultimately connecting it to the diplomatic recognition of the Greek State by foreign powers - not only are contrary to the applied Greek national law, but to the international law too. The diplomatic recognition of a State by eventual foreign powers does not compose a constituent part of that State»!

So, even the political scientists maintain that modern Greece was born on January 13th, 1822 (the correct date, on the Gregorian calendar.) Those astrologers who believe that modern Greece was "born" on February 3, 1830 instead of January 13, 1822 they are actually maintaining the thesis  that a man/woman is not born when s/he comes out the womb of his/her mother but when s/he is baptized!

Greece is NOT an Aquarian country - as very many people believe in Greece - but a Capricornian one! And it has all the characteristics of a Capricornian country. It is an old country, which due to its glorious past it enjoys the respect of all other countries. It is a conservative country and very much materialistic (easy to spot this in modern Greece) but lacking the material and financial abundance of the other western European countries (should we blame this to Saturn, Grece's ruler (Saturn brings deprivations and hardships)? It is a State whose public sector - associated with the sign of Capricorn - is over-inflated. Out of a population of 11 million in Greece there are almost a million civil servants!

Greece is also a country where social status is extremely important! To realise what I mean just picture this: 2 cars mildly crashing in a Greek road. In many cases, the 2 Greek drivers will jump out of the car and most probably they will yell to each other this line, as a kind of intimidation: «Do you know who I am?» - as if every single Greek were at least a tycoon! This is VERY Capricornian and personally I have never heard it anywhere else in the world!

The fact is that neither any American, English etc. astrologer possessed a documented date for the birth date of Greece (since it was much harder for them to find the relevant sources). In 1994 I met the famous astrologer Nicholas Campion (at his summer astrology school, in the Greek island of Kos). Campion was writing then his very successful book "Book of World Horoscopes» but had no clear view on modern Greece's horoscope. I explained him my findings and he accepted the January 13, 1822 as the birth date of modern Greece (he included it in his book).

One more word on Greece's Ascendant: we know its birthday (13 January 1822) but not the exact time the declaration was pronounced - nor we have some specific information on it! I did some rectification on my own and I came up with a probable Pisces Ascendant - but of course this is just a speculative Ascendant and it needs a lot of additional research. So, I give Greece's chart a rather speculative birth time around 10 AM. The village where modern Greece's "birth" took place is Nea Epidavros, very close to the famous ancient Epidaurus theater!

It is worth mentioning that some astrologers favour a more recent birthday for modern Greece (placing its birth in the period following the fall of the Greek military junta in 1974). These astrologers claim that modern Greece's national horoscope should stem out of the date its last Constitution was adopted (on the 11th June 1975 - soon after the collapse of the military dictatorship). But how proper is it to study astrologically a country not using its "foundation" horoscope but what actually is the horoscope of a posterior constitutional "amendment"? If somebody studies the 1st January 1822 Constitution s/he will realize that it is essentially as democratic and advanced as the Constitution of 1975. Thus, in 1975 we did not experience a major constitutional shift in regard to the VERY Greek constitution (the constitution upon which Greece was founded on). We just experienced a shift in regard to the imposed by the military junta regime -  a regime that lasted only 7 years, not so many to alter the "soul" of Greece and its original constitution.

Some other astrologers claim that modern Greece's horoscope should stem out of the moment its first post-dictatorship Prime Minister was sworn in - on the 24th of July 1974. But as I explained before, the seven years military junta did not essentially change either the "soul" or the constitution of Greece. Why should we then consider the July 24, 1974 chart as the "national horoscope" of Greece and not the original January 13, 1822 one? If we follow the same reasoning then we should argue that a person is not born when s/he comes out of his/her mother's uterus but when s/he gets married for the second time! We have to be very careful and thorough when we study the intricacies of a national horoscope.  

Thomas Gazis
Copyright:Thomas D. Gazis
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