The astrology of Greta Thunberg

I am often asked to profile good people for a change, instead of the mass murderers and psychologically unbalanced individuals that fascinate me.  So I picked Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish woman who at age 15 has become an internationally known climate activist.  Greta has been diagnosed with Asperger’s and, curiously in light of her subsequent emergence as an outspoken activist, something called “selective mutism” in which a child is unable to speak under certain circumstances.

Greta’s astrological birth chart shows that she has the both the Sun and Moon in the practical sign of Capricorn.  Capricorn people like to Get Things Done, and Greta was born just after the Capricorn New Moon so there is a sense of beginning something new.  The New Moon personality has a quality of innocence combined with an intense energy to begin something new and create sweeping change. Her Mars (depicting her drive and the way she asserts herself) is in the intense and powerful sign of Scorpio, and it is aligned with Venus which shows she is intense and independent in all of her interpersonal dealings.

Click to enlarge

Greta’s Sun is conjunct Chiron, the dwarf planet of wounding and healing.  This alignment signifies an individual who came into this world with a deep soul wound that she will be faced with throughout her life so that it can eventually be healed.  The Chiron archetype is that of the mentor – having healed our own wounds we then can choose to become a healer of others and a mentor to those who share our own affliction.  Saturn, planet of tests and challenges, faces off in a stressful opposition to Pluto, adding more stress to this dynamic.  It’s not surprising that Greta suffered from OCD.  At the age of 11 transiting Pluto, the planet of deep transformation, triggered this deep soul wound of the Sun/Chiron and Saturn which coincides with a deep depression that caused her to stop speaking.  Often when we go into the underworld of a Pluto cycle, even at such a young age, we can re-emerge with renewed resolve and empowerment which seems to be what happened to Greta.

Mercury in her chart, the planet of thought and communication, is also in Capricorn, suggesting that her thinking tends towards the practical – not just ideas, but how to turn them into something solid.  Her Mercury is retrograde in the chart, which is interesting in light of the mutism, and harmonizes with both Mars and Venus which sometimes denotes an individual who enjoys debate. Uranus, the planet of rebellion and social justice, is in a powerful square to both Mars and Venus – she is a radical at heart (Mars/Uranus) and likely finds personal relationships a challenge because she is so independent (Venus/Uranus).

We would likely not have heard anything from Greta had it not been for the fact that her Jupiter (confidence, search for meaning) is in the sign of Leo, the sign that celebrates the Self.  Those with Jupiter in Leo feel an inward push towards recognition from the outer world and the need to do something important.  That Jupiter conflicts with Mars in a challenging square which amplifies any frustration or anger that arises in her and creates the need for an outlet of some kind.  That Jupiter is also harmonizing in a trine to Pluto, bestowing on her the power of personality to effect transformation through destruction of the old way and renewal.

Greta is of the Pluto in Sagittarius generation born between 1995-2008, the generation that the media calls Generation Z.  This is the generation that grew up in the media age (Sagittarius rules media, of course) and their obsession with media is both their superpower and their undoing (as described by Pluto).  I am so excited about these young people like Greta, who have big ideas (also Sagittarius) to hopefully fix this world that has been so damaged by previous generations.