Earthquake in Greece
Zip Dobyns
The eclipse path of the August 11, 1999 solar eclipse has lived up to its reputation as a danger zone. One week after the terrible August 17 quake in Turkey, a large aftershock collapsed more buildings there, killing one person and injuring many. Just 2 weeks later, on September 7, 1999 at 14:56, Greece was shaken by a 5.9 magnitude quake which collapsed more than 100 buildings, killed 109 people, and buried more under the rubble of homes and factories. The quake only lasted 10 seconds, and most of the damage was in poor suburbs north of Athens, though chunks of shattered concrete, glass, and marble rained down on people in central Athens. As in Turkey, the collapsed buildings were the poorly constructed ones.
Jupiter, Uranus, and Juno were among the most conflicted factors. Limiting all factors to one-degree orbs, Juno was on the Part of Death in 1 Sagittarius, though Mars was just over a degree past them. Jupiter was quincunx Vesta and trioctile the Ascendant, which it ruled. The placement of the Ascendant ruler in conflict aspect to the Ascendant is a sign of some kind of self-destruction. Uranus was conjunct the true south lunar node, opposite the Moon, and quincunx both the Sun and Mercury. A trine from Venus and Ceres to the Ascendant did not protect the area, but if we allow a wider orb, Saturn was square the whole Leo stellium in the 8th house and widely quincunx the Ascendant.
The usual asteroids were featured. The Greeks associated earthquakes with Poseidon, called Neptune by the Romans. Poseidon was conjunct Aeternitas, immortality, and both squared the Ascendant from 19 Virgo and were trioctile Jupiter. The Ascendant was also quincunx Libitina, the Roman goddess of death, in 19 Cancer. Libitina also squared Hel, a Norse death goddess, which was in 19 Libra. Pallas was conjunct Atlantis, with both square the MC from 9 to10 Cancer. Karma in 4 Cancer squared Vesta and was octile Venus. Atropos, another death goddess, was in 0 Libra, octile Hestia in 15 Leo and the Ascendant/MC midpoint in 14 Scorpio. Hestia was the Greek name for Vesta. The East Point was octile Gaea, the earth, in 22 Scorpio 51. Richter, the scale which measures quake magnitudes, was in 27 Cancer, octile Pythia, the title of the priestesses of Delphi, the famous, ancient Greek shrine. Pythia’s square to Mercury connected it to Richter with an overlapping orb. There was no modern Pythia to give advance warning of the quake. More asteroids could be mentioned, but we will end with Athene, the patron goddess of the city of Athens. She was in 10 Leo, on the mean north lunar node, opposite the south node.
The conflict aspects seem less dramatic than in the chart for the Turkey quake, but when we allow wider orbs for the traditional planets and bring in midpoints, we get a stronger network of aspects. Both Mars and Pluto were widely quincunx Jupiter, but the aspect from their midpoint was exact within one degree. Their midpoint was also quincunx Karma to create one yod, and it formed another yod with Vesta and Karma. As with the Turkey quake, the major damage and loss of life was due to poor construction. Mars rules the 4th house, the land and buildings built on it, and its closeness to Juno, an alternate Pluto, and to the Part of Death, with wider aspects to Pluto and Jupiter fit the damage. This need for strict rules for construction was the major lesson from the quakes, but one positive potential might also be cited. Despite their long, historic enmity, the Greeks sent help to Turkey after their quake and Turkey reciprocated after the Greek quake. A lessening of the traditional enmity between the two countries is at least possible as a consequence of their shared tragedy.