Greta Thunberg

“Skolstrejk for Klimatet”

School Strike for the Climate

Swedish schoolgirl Greta Thunberg was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this week, a week which saw the second day of school strikes on behalf of the climate (a month after the first) in the U.K, with similar action around the world.  She began this action last August in Sweden, with the powerful words:

“We kids most often don’t do what you tell us to do. We do as you do. And since you grown-ups don’t give a shit about my future, I won’t either. My name is Greta and I’m in ninth grade. And I refuse school for the climate until the Swedish general election.”

At the age of 16, she is a similar age to that of Malala Yousafzai at the time she won the Peace Prize, but it is quite rare for one so young to make such an impact.

Birth Chart

Greta has a concentration of planets in Earth sign Capricorn, the sign of seriousness and responsibility.  Her Sun in Capricorn exactly conjunct Chiron, so she is a healer and problem-solver.  Both her Sun and Moon are in this sign, and they may be conjunct, i.e. she may have been born on  a New Moon, or at least close to one.  That would confer the ability to  bring a freshness of outlook, energy and thought to bear on a longstanding problem.  Jupiter trine closely with Pluto gives her an enormous power and energy with a global reach.  Mars in Scorpio gives her a power and intensity, which can have great integrity in that sign.  She has Neptune trine her North Node, which gives her a spiritual karmic mission, but can also make her a spiritual leader.  Mercury sextile Venus gives her eloquence.  Saturn trine Uranus gives her a strong personality structure, and one which knows how to balance and preserve what is valuable in the old, while bringing in the new.  Her Venus is exactly square Uranus, a rebellious aspect.  Half her planets are in the Fixed signs, which gives her a strong will.

Life

Greta has an interesting family background. Her mother is a Swedish opera singer who took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009.   She refuses to travel by airplane because of its effect on the climate.

A distant relative of her father was the famous scientist Svante Arrhenius.  Arrhenius made calculations showing that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide increase the Earth’s surface temperature, which led in the 1960s to the discovery that carbon dioxide emissions can cause global warming.  Greta’s North Node sextiles the Saturn in Svante Arrhenius’ chart, indicating a karmic link, or perhaps a baton passed on, on behalf of climate change.

According to the New Scientist: “After learning about climate change when she was 8, Greta later developed depression when she was 11, which she links partly to the issue.”  She also has Asperger syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder and selective mutism.  She was responsible for her family becoming vegan and giving up flying.  However she sees her Aspergers condition in a positive light, that it helped her to see the crisis clearly.

Activism

Greta started her protests on 20th August 2018, sitting outside the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm.  Her astrological triggers at the time were Mars on her Mercury (taking action), and Jupiter exactly square her natal Jupiter (a huge risk, breaking the law).  Thus was a movement born.  She wasn’t planning a worldwide revolution, but from small acorns mighty oaks do grow.

The Movement grows

At Stockholm in November, she spoke about her awareness from the age of eight about climate change and its threat.  “We can’t change the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.” she said, expressing the rebelliousness of Uranus squaring her Mars/Venus conjunction in Scorpio in her natal chart.

On 23rd January, she took a train to Davos, to attend the World Economic Forum.  There she gave voice to the Saturn-Pluto opposition of her peer group, desperation fuelling a sense of urgency: “Our house is on fire” adding “I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day.”  She had a good few important transits during that time: Mercury returned to its natal position, so she was speaking with a clarity of intellect; Jupiter was exactly trine her natal Jupiter, bringing success to her endeavours (the world was listening); Uranus was square to Mercury (she was not afraid to shock), Pluto was sextile her natal Mars (speaking with great energy and moral force).  She added  “We owe it to the young people, to give them hope.” (giving voice to the transit of Jupiter trine her natal Jupiter, on behalf of all young people).

School Strikes around the World

February 15th 2019

Friday February 15th marked the first school strike in the U.K. as well as in Europe (notably in Paris and Berlin) and around the world.  Greta’s message had taken hold, and spoken to the younger generation. 10,000 schoolchildren here in the U.K. joined in the strike, 3000 in London, 2000 in Oxford, 1000 in Exeter and 1000 in Brighton, with hundreds in other cities.

At this time, Pluto (power) was still trine her Mars (energy), and the North Node (karmic path) trine her natal Venus, but the whole issue had gone beyond the personal.  Perhaps the chart of her original strike takes over in importance, after a certain point of the growth of her movement.  Jupiter trined Neptune exactly in that chart: a huge trine in importance, from which indeed small acorns can grow into mighty oaks.

March 15th 2019

By the time of the second U.K. and worldwide strike on Friday, the whole movement had grown.  The Guardian reported: “From Australia to America, schoolchildren put down their books yesterday to march for change in the first global climate strike…Across India and Uganda, and in the Philippines and Nepal – countries acutely affected by climate change – tens of thougsands of children and young people went on ‘strike'”.  30,000 children marched in Sydney.  Dear Donald, are you listening?

Crowds gathered in Stockholm to hear Greta speak: “We are facing the greatest existential crisis humanity has ever faced.  And yet it has been ignored.  You who have ignored it know who you are.”

Awards and Nominations

On International Women’s Day (8th March 2019) in her home country Thunberg was declared the most important woman of the year in Sweden in 2019.  On 14th March she was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize.  But Greta only wants action.

When Caroline Lucas of the Green Party recently called for a debate on climate change in our parliament, hardly any MPs (40 out of 650) turned up, so engaged are they with the subject.  In spite of this, Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary endorsed Friday’s action:

“Collective action of the kind you’re championing can make a difference, and a profound one.  Together can beat climate change.  It will require us to change the way in which our energy is generated, change the way in which our homes are built, change the way in which our land is managed and farming operates.  But that change is absolutely necessary.”

~ Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, 15th March 2019

The Observer Leader this morning concludes with the words of Anastasia Martynenko from Kiev:

“We are happy to be the driving force..because when our children ask us what have you done for our future, we will have an answer.”

Aspects

Tomorrow in the early hours, Mercury is sextile Mars, a good time to start a worthwhile movement of your own!  This makes the start of the week (be it a working week or a more leisurely break) quite dynamic.  You can put new offices practices into play, new initiatives in your lifestyle, or plant new seeds in your garden.  It is a day to take action.  You may find shortcuts to your usual way of doing things.

The engine is still running on Wednesday (20th), when Mars is trine Pluto.  You may act with great energy and moral force, for example on projects you initiated on Monday.  This aspect speaks of self-empowerment, but you have to remember that everyone also has this force!  It is the sort of energy with which Hercules would have cleaned out the Augean stables.  This of course may run the risk of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, so if you do feel empowered, tailor the force of your action appropriately!  At this point, you may be feeling on a roll…

The next aspect, also on Wednesday, is a little more measured.  So after you have expended all that energy, you might need to pace yourself (don’t run the risk of adrenal burnout!).  A great aspect for sitting down, taking stock, and doing the practical paperwork or planning, or making serious phonecalls to back up your more physical efforts appears in the form of Mercury sextile Saturn.  If you are ladies who lunch, the conversation could turn from a passionate survey of the state of the world to a realistic evaluation of what might be done.  If you are still in the office, the overall work ethic is spot on.

In the evening, the Sun enters Aries (the Vernal Equinox), and on some level you may register that Spring has sprung.  It is the start of the Astrological New Year, the beginning of a generally more active, conscious, dynamic way of relating to the world (from the Sun’s more introspective time of its recent passage through Pisces).  If you have been wallowing, or experiencing compassion fatigue, it is time to do something about the issues you might have been fretting about, whether personal or worldwide in nature.

But first, there is the hurdle of managing emotional tension, either within your own psyche or from those around you, as the Full Moon in Libra occurs in the early hours of Thursday (21st).  The Full Moon in Libra requires balance, equilibrium, harmony, but is opposed by the Sun in Aries.  So while Sun in Aries likes everything his own way, direct and immediate, it gets off to a more complicated start in this sign, and may take a while to reach its stride.  Other people have to be considered, and the Ram’s impatience has to be curbed for the time being.  Aries and Libra have to come to some negotiation, just as the U.K. and the E.U. have to.

There is a bit of a battleground of the sexes occurring that day, because as well as the fact that Venus rules Libra and Mars rules Aries, Venus actually squares Mars that day.  You may want different things than your partner, and different parts of you may want different things again.  It is a time to examine your wants and desires, and put them perhaps in order of priority.  Look at what you really need, what you might need, and what you don’t need, and put them in appropriate piles according to whether they spark joy (!).  Then let go of one pile or another and if practical, take them to the nearest charity shop, or if not release them to the ethers in meditation.

Help is at hand, though, for a trine between Venus and Jupiter follows on (one of the best aspects of the year, if not the best).  Just as you may be flagging from emotional tension (the Full Moon) and the war between Venus and Mars, you may get happily distracted by a social whirl, a celebration, or a new friendship.  Someone may lend a hand with your baggage, or a stroke of luck may rescue a difficult situation.  Thursday should end happily!

Friday (22nd) may bring a new conundrum, with the Sun conjunct Chiron.  This may be a healing crisis, or an awkward situation – do you have space in your life for all these new contacts you made at Thursday’s party now on Facebook?  Fortunately, Chiron transits often come with their own in-built solutions, because its ultimate purpose is healing.  You just need to turn the appropriate key.  It is a bit like being on the Crystal Maze…Something is ready to be released, and if your mind can’t work it out immediately, take a quiet moment and allow the answer to emerge.

The week in bullet points:

  • Tomorrow – brisk work
  • Wednesday – full steam ahead; attend to the fine print; celebrate the Spring
  • Thursday – emotional tension; men are from Mars, women are from Venus; more joy and celebration
  • Friday – healing crisis and solution

 

Date: Mar 17th, 2019 · Comments RSS · Tags: News