(an artist's concept of Eris)
Greece is taken over by unknown forces! Forces the nature of which we essentially ignore! All we can say with certainty is that these astrological forces are omnipotent, primordial and somehow fatal. They will radically change the shape and the "soul" of this ancient country. A new Greece is been hatched now, a Greece that if it will be finally "born" and raised it will have nothing in common with the old Greece of the 20th century (or of the first decade of the 21st century). I wrote "if it will be born" because this is a delicate phase, where always lurks the danger of extinction. The astrological influences on Greece are extremely powerful now! And they largely stem out of a planet that has just been discovered and whose nature we must decode promptly!
Actually, modern Greece has never before received such extreme astrological influences! Especially in the last 3 years it has been the "target" of a mysterious primordial planet (dwarf planet to the astronomers) that moves on the very edge of our solar system and which is called "Eris"! This planet is big enough - as big as Pluto - but it is so far away from us that we discovered it only in 2005. When it was first discovered many people considered it to be the legendary Tenth Planet of our solar system! We are not talking here about a "boulder" but about an important celestial body, which we astrologers owe to include in the astrological charts we erect and interpret it properly. Very little we know about its nature and its astrological properties. It will probably take another 20 to 30 years to form a complete picture of its astrological "identity". The thing is though that Eris has spent the last years being in a severe frontal collision course with the horoscope of Greece. And it is the first time since the foundation of this mediterranean country that Eris is influencing in such a negative way. This is a major astrological event, which as far as I know has not been studied yet! An event that requires us to determine directly the mysterious properties of Eris, because they ultimately determine to a large extent the course of Greece in 2012 - and in the years to come!
Eris is now at 21 degrees of Aries and it is currently
forming an acute square aspect to the natal Sun of modern Greece (22 degrees of Capricorn, and a few minutes - not sure about Greece's time of "birth"). Essentially, Eris is hovering over the 22 degrees of Aries since 2010 (the year the huge crisis in Greece started). And because of its extremely slow motion and its many retrogradations Eris will keep hovering around 22 degrees of Aries until 2017 - forming continuously a square aspect for 8 consecutive years to Greece's natal Sun! Considering the adverse influences of Uranus - Pluto too in the natal horoscope of this country (you can see it here), you realize how crucial this period is for modern Greece.
Since each planet has its "flip" side (i.e. Pluto contains the "destruction" but the "regeneration" too), our interpretation will not be complete unless we find first this Eris' "flip" side . We have already taken a first idea of the "destructive" side of Eris, but we completely ignore its "creative" side, namely how will Eris "reform" and "re-build" the future Greece (of the 2020's - 2030's)!
(a BBC photo)
The most conspicuous elements of the mythological Eris that its namesake planet triggered in Greece's case are the next:
1) The sense of the sudden and unexpected breaking of the "wedding party". Greece lived in the previous years a largely fictitious prosperity and suddenly - under the influence of Eris - the "party" broke! From a rather "celebrative" mood the Greeks fell soon to a depressive and even suicidal mood!
2) The element of the "uninvited", of the "unwanted" (Eris was the only deity that was considered undesirable and was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis). This is how the Western European Union is treating now Greece, like a "pariah" country.
3) The friction and "discord" that occurred in Greece (the endless ptotests and clashes on the streets of Athens and the tension between the various social strata).
4) "Lawlessness" (a parliamentary minority - which basically does not represent the will of the Greek people - is now legislating and deciding the fate of the entire country).
5) The "chain reaction" effect. In the Eris myth something small and insignificant, like the golden apple that Eris threw in the room where the marriage of Peleus and Thetis was taking place disrupted some delicate balances and caused strong chain reactions that eventually led to the Trojan war. On a superficial reading, the responsibility for the conduct of the Trojan war could be attributed to Eris. In reality, however, Eris intervention was just the "drop" that overflowed the already full - of egos and rivalries between the gods - glass." Such a role of an "international trouble maker" has been lately attributed to Greece (which is generally depicted as a heavily indebted country inhabited by lazy, irresponsible, corrupted people).
Every time, now, a memorandum is passed for voting in the Greek parliament all the stock markets of the world are (apparently) anxiously awaiting the outcome of the voting, as if a tiny country and economy like the Greek could affect the stock exchanges of our entire planet! This is completely absurd, and yet many people believe that Greece is largely responsible for the current course of the stock markets all over the world! And indeed Greece has a huge exterior debt. But this debt largely consists of all kinds of "toxic debts" that certain foreign banks and funds unethically dumped upon Greece! In any case, this mediterranean country has suddenly become extremely important to the entire planet, it is the country most often heard in the news all over the world! It has gained an unprecedented worldwide publicity - but mostly of a negative kind, at this stage!
And to step into the paths of the "jungian synchronicity" there are some other elements that do not stem from the mythological Eris but from the "spirit" of the period in which Eris was discovered:
1) planet Eris was given a Greek name - of a Greek deity - and soon after its discovery Greece suddenly became the most "discussed" country all over the world!
2) the element of "demotion". The "demotion" of Pluto occurred as a result of Eris discovery. Since Eris looked a lot like Pluto the astronomers suddenly realize that they both belong to another realm - to the Kuiper belt - and not to our very Solar System. But the fact of Pluto's demotion into a dwarf planet caused confusion and upset to millions of people around the world who were accustomed to regard Pluto as a planet. Similarly, the "international rating agencies" constantly downgrade Greece lately. Moreover, the very standards of life dramatically slipped in the last couple of years in Greece (and we are talking in material terms here, because under the human point of view the Greek society has ameliorated, the human approach between the individuals in Greece became warmer, stronger, more fraternal - than in the previous consumistic Era).
3) The "capsizing" of the scene. By 2005 we knew that our Solar System ended to Pluto, that Pluto was the last planet. And suddenly in 2005 (with the discovery of Eris) we realized that a vast new world - filled with many planetoids - extends beyond our Solar System and that eventually Pluto is not the last of the planets but the first of the planetoids! This is a sort of quantum leap, a momentous shift in human consciousness! So I think that Eris is associated with properties like those of the "unexpected capsizing of the scene," of the acquisition of a "more advantageous point of view" and of a "profound mass awakening."
All these elements have been strongly manifested in the - under the siege of Eris - today's Greece. Like many citizens across the world, the Greeks were previously conducting - blissful and unaware - their lives within their "Greek mini-universe" and suddenly the horizons opened up and Greece was flooded by the agony of so many nations and international stock markets which apparently - for some mysterious reason - were dependant upon Greece! The Greeks suddenly realized that their "Greek microcosm" was ultimately composed of more dimensions than they never thought of, that their country is crucial and relevant to the entire world! They painfully realized the huge responsibility of their current and previous governments, of their fellow citizens and themselves as well for the colossal crisis they are going through. Quite paradoxically, the Greek governments that previously were expressing the will of the people now seem to express quite the opposite: what is against the will of the people! Under these circumstances the Greeks have somehow lost their "bearings" and are in confusion and despair now, they cannot understand what is actually going on, what is happening to them - as everything around them seems so grim and chaotic (another Eris' property), unstable and threatening!
Thus, if we want to discover more Eris' properties Greece is now our chance! As this country is currently under the siege of Eris, we should simply observe and differentiate the particular results of Eris upon Greece. One such key element is what I call the "schizoid paradox." While the everyday Greek citizens experience at first hand the cruelty and brutality of the various "memoranda", cuts and undemocratic measures the Greek politicians maintain that they are taking these steps "for the people's own good"! I have the impression that one of the astrological properties of Eris will prove to be that of the "schizoid paradox" (two opposite things that seem equally plausible). The fact is that one cannot liberate him/herself from the entanglement of such a paradox unless s/he possesses a higher level of consciousness and an ability of "second reading").
I personally marvel at how much "collective" and "universal" Eris seems to be. It is far more collective and universal than Pluto! Thus, Eris creates some very particular ties between the "differentiated" and the "universal", advocating the "inter-connectiveness" of all things. For example, apparently it is Greece that currently has a "huge" problem - "discussed" world-wide - but ultimately it turns out that Greece just happened to be the carrier of some very deep and profound "collective messages" that are resonating to the entire humanity! That is why many protesters in various European and other capitals rally to support Greece. They don't actually do it purely for Greece but for themselves too. Because they know that what Greeks faces today they will probably face tomorrow. Greece represents to them a "condensed" symbol of something much bigger going on, to which every single citizen on this planet partakes! As the Australian author/journalist Guy Rundle put it: «Greece is now the cutting edge of the world»!
Some of the above mentioned attributes of Eris are in a way consistent with the view of certain astrologers who claim that Eris is the higher "octave" of planet Saturn (the method of "octave" turns to be an unexpected assistance to us, in our effort to decode the properties of Eris. According to it, the higher octave of Mercury is Uranus, Neptune of Venus and Pluto of Mars). Somehow, Eris appears to have expressed several "Saturnian" properties in the case of Greece. He brought a sharp decline in its people revenues, shortages, privations, hardships (many homes have no heating while many people by now resort to public messes in order to eat). An international scorn fell upon the people of Greece - foreign goverments argue that the Greeks are lazy and they cannot tidy up their country. If Eris is ultimately the higher octave of Saturn then it will work really hard and it will probably bring Greece to the very point of extinction. From a certain point on though Eris will "mature" Greece and it will begin to build this country on a new, stronger foundations - transforming this Mediterranean country into a more vibrant, progressed and competitive country!
My personal view however is that Eris is the highest octave of Uranus. Between Pluto and Eris there are two more large planetoids, "Haumea" and "Make-Make." If we want to keep the hierarchy then we should consider Haumea as the superior octave of Jupiter and Make-Make as the one of Saturn. In such a case, Eris would be the higher octave of Uranus. This means that in the near future the people of Greece will probably experience a resounding overthrow of their established order - through extreme social uprisings and a general impoverishment and "lawlessness" that could initially dominate (another intrinsic element of Eris). I believe though that in a second phase some creative elements of Eris will manifest, which I personally asign to the Eris' "odd singularity" principle (these elements will manifest especially from 2020 onwards, when the intensity of the square aspect of Pluto to the natal Sun of Greece will begin to wane). Eris will change in a strange way Greece in the late 2020's. Of course by then Greece will be pretty much owned by its today's creditors. But as Eris is wisely teaching us polarities are somehow an illusion. All is One and there should be no distinctions. A creditor and a debtor are intrinsincally related and thus the creditor can turn to a debtor and the debtor to a creditor! Thus, by the 2030's many of the actual creditors - who are grooming now for the take over of the Greek wealth, resources, properties and assets - will be turning themselves (if living in Greece) into Greek citizens!
All in all, Eris will radically reshape Greece and turn it literally to a new country, a country more efficient and advanced, with better institutions and a more just society. Greece of 2020-2030 will be probably resembling a Mediterranean Sweden!
Thomas Gazis
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This is a Thomas Gazis original article
Copyright: Thomas D. Gazis
