Athina Onassis, the heir to a Greek shipping fortune, is gradually emerging from seclusion after her divorce several years ago which turns a focus back onto her family which has been blighted by early deaths, accidents, suicides and dramas.
All the cliches about the curse of money which have haunted dynastic wealth like the Onassis and the Guinness family in Ireland, make it an attractive project for drama producers. Steven Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders, has an up and coming Netflix series looking at the 19th Century House of Guiness starting withBenjamin Guinness – who is credited with the brewery’s early success. Along with their prosperity comes a tragic tale of seemingly endless misfortune for the family.
In the Greek Onassis shipping family, Athina Onassis, 29 January 1985 2.50am Neuilly Sur Seine, was the only child of Christina Onassis and product of her fourth marriage; the only grandchild alive of Aristotle Onassis. Christina within 30 months in her early twenties lost her only brother to a plane crash and shortly after her mother Tina Livanos to a drug overdose, and her father Aristotle (still married to Jackie Kennedy) to ill health. Christina then died aged 37, it is assumed because of heavy medication use, struggles with her weight, stress and a turbulent emotional life.
Her daughter Athina was then 3 and then went to live with her father Thierry Roussel whom latterly she has been estranged from. Her marriage to a Brazilian showjumper was complicated by the two children they took in belonging to his former girlfriend who subsequently committed suicide.
Aristotle Onassis’ marriage to Jackie Kennedy after JFK’s death, which shocked the American public and did not go down well with his two children, was also part of the saga. Never mind poor Maria Callas, Aristotle’s abused and bemused lover who was dumped when Jackie turned up. [See previous posts: Maria Callas in Search].
Athina Onassis has a 3rd house Aquarius Sun square a 12th house Pluto opposition a Taurus Moon, so she would feel trapped with both Plutonic parents outwith her control. She has a defensive Saturn in Scorpio in her 1st opposition North Node and Algol in her 7th house, so relationships will be a challenge for her.
Wading through a handful of Onassis-related charts, Algol is a recurring presence in many. Maria Callas had Algol conjunct her Descendant. Jackie Onassis has Algol in her 7th, (and her father Black Jack Bouvier had Algol conjunct his late Taurus Sun.)
Both Aristotle Onassis and JFK had their Jupiter in Taurus conjunct Algol, as did Tina Livanos (Christina’s mother). Alexander Onassis (killed young in a place crash) had his Mars conjunct Alphard square Algol. Thierry Roussel, Athina’s father, has his Aquarius Sun opposition Alphard and Black Moon square Algol.
Benjamin Guinness, 1 November 1798, who elevated Guinness to rarified heights of wealth, had his Jupiter in Taurus conjunct the North Node and Algol square Pluto. And subsequent generations of the Guinness family do appear to have had more than their fair share of accidental deaths and suicides.
Algol is not specifically related to curses but it has more than a touch of ‘the heart of darkness’ about it. Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas with it in their 7th house of one-to-one relationships would be attracted to men with a ‘dangerous’ aura, like moths to a flame.
Algol does have a positive side when it can harness destructive powers to do good but it takes great strength of character not to be pulled into its darkness.
“Cursed be he above all others Who’s enslaved by love of money. Money takes the place of brothers, Money takes the place of parents, Money brings us war and slaughter.” Anacreon
There are sadly no astrological titbits from the Greek tale of the Fall of the House of Atreus when grandfather Tantalus’s act of hubris initiated the curse. He offended the gods by serving them a stew made from his son Pelops’ flesh to test their omniscience. Bitter feuds, revenge, murder and mayhem followed down the generations. The curse is eventually lifted but it is a potent tale of inherited guilt.
See previous post Algol – light in the heart of darkness.
25th March 2024
Greek Myth of Atropos
Atropos was one of the Three Fates and was known as “the Inflexible One.” It was Atropos who chose the manner of death and ended the life of mortals by cutting their threads. She worked along with her two sisters, Clotho, who spun the thread, and Lachesis, who measured the length. Atropos has been featured in several stories, such as those of Atalanta and Achilles.
When people die you often find Lachesis, life span, death on one of the 4 angles along
with Atropos, signifying endings. Very helpful when rectifying unknown birth times.
Atropos
The asteroid that signifies curses is Atropos, which represents the cutter of the thread. It symbolizes inevitable endings and transformative moments that individuals may face in their lives. Example….Ari Onassis’s family is cursed…..he has Mars, ruling Asc sextile
Atropos in his 4th House of family.
Want an ephemeris for Atropos……click here….www.true-node.com/eph3…
Enter person’s birth data…..Year/month/day and time. For planet/object, erase Sun/Moon
and instead enter Atropos….then click OK…..up pops an ephemeris for 30 days.
View all
Thanks Marjorie. How curious that Athina Onassis is named for the goddess Athena, who originally cursed Medusa because she’d been raped by Neptune/Poseidon in her (Athena’s) temple. Nothing like blaming the victim it seems, a bad habit of humanity.
Algol is fascinating, and does have a positive, creative force alongside all the horror, drama, and intensity. A brief trawl through a few Spencer family line charts shows them to be, potentially, an ‘Algol’ family.
John, 8th Earl Spencer, 24 January 1924: BML 23 Taurus, MC 27 Taurus
Current Earl Spencer, 20 May 1964: Sun 29 Taurus
His son, Louis Spencer, 14 March 1994: Pluto 28 Scorpio, Nodes 27 Scorpio/Taurus, Asc 28 Taurus
Princess Diana, July 1st, 1961: Venus 24 Taurus square Uranus 23 Leo
Prince William, 21 June 1982: Venus 25 Taurus, Chiron 25 Taurus
Harry, Duke of Sussex, September 1984: Moon 21 Taurus
Prince George, 22 July 2013: Asc 27 Scorpio
Princess Charlotte, 2 May 2015: Mars 23 Taurus
Prince Louis, 23 April 2018: Venus 28 Taurus
No doubt there’s more than this. The Taurus theme resonates with that old Edgar chart for the UK too. I’d also like to mention Diana K Rosenberg’s idea of a ‘via combusta’ amongst the fixed stars in the later degrees of Taurus, and early Gemini.
These notable, sometimes dramatic star influences begin around 21 Taurus, arrive at Algol, move on to the rainy Pleiades at 29 Taurus, the Hyades 5-6 Gemini, Bull’s North Eye 8 Gemini, then potent Aldebaran, the Bull’s South Eye at 9 Gemini.
She also quotes Nicholas Culpeper(1616-1654) , herbalist and astrologer, on Algol:
“The Grecian astrologers call him the Devil’s Head; and yet all the astrologers hold Jupiter and Venus to have a share in his nature” (Decumbitures of the Sick)