Psyche is the sixteenth asteroid, found by Annibale de Gasparis at Naples on 17 March 1852. It is about 220 kilometres across and belongs to the M class because of its high metal content. The NASA spacecraft Psyche launched in 2023 and is expected to reach it in 2029.
Its name comes from the Greek psyche, which means both soul and butterfly. In classical astrology Psyche has no rulership, exaltation, sect or joy. This page tells the source and the sense of the tale.
The glyph of Psyche stands at the centre. The branches around it show the symbolism in four colours: goddesses in gold, archetypes in blue, traditions in green and narratives in red. Touch a branch and its explanation opens below the map.
The Greek psyche means breath, soul and butterfly at once. The three senses of one word carry an old idea that pictures the soul leaving the body as a winged insect. The word psychology comes from the same root.
The only complete telling of the tale of Eros and Psyche is the Metamorphoses of Apuleius, also known as The Golden Ass. The story is told in the middle of the novel by an old woman to comfort a kidnapped bride. No older written Greek version survives.
Psyche is so beautiful that people leave the temples of Venus to come and look at her. The goddess treats this as theft of her own due and sends her son Cupid to make the girl fall in love with the most wretched creature alive. The son does not carry out his mother's order and wants her himself.
The oracle of Apollo orders Psyche to be left on a mountain top for a monstrous husband. Her family carries her to the rock in a wedding that looks like a funeral procession. The wind Zephyrus lowers her to an invisible palace below.
Psyche lies each night with a husband she cannot see and spends the day alone in the palace. He asks one thing of her, that she never try to see his face. That prohibition is the single rule that carries the whole tension of the tale.
Her sisters persuade her that the husband is a serpent. Psyche lights a lamp at night, sees the sleeping Eros and a drop of hot oil falls from her hand. Eros wakes, sees the betrayal and flies away, and the palace vanishes with him.
Venus sets Psyche four impossible tasks. Ants sort the mixed seed for her, a reed tells her when the golden rams sleep, an eagle fetches the water of the Styx, and a tower explains the last task. Each time the help comes from outside the human world.
The final task is to go down to the underworld and bring back a box of beauty from Proserpina. Psyche manages the journey but opens the box on the way home and falls into the sleep of death inside it. Eros wakes her, and the tale does not hide that the rule was broken twice.
Jupiter intervenes, gives Psyche ambrosia to make her immortal and marries the two formally. Their daughter is named Voluptas, meaning pleasure or joy. It is the only ancient tale of the soul that ends with the consent of the gods.
Late antique and Renaissance readers took the tale as the ascent of the soul to divine love. That reading was added later, since Apuleius presents the story as a consolation. The two layers should be kept apart.
On ancient mosaics and sarcophagi Psyche is shown with butterfly wings. The wing is the visible form of the soul leaving the body. The glyph on this page is made of that wing with a star above it.
Psyche is the largest known M type asteroid, marked by its high metal content. It was once thought to be the core of a planet, but newer measurements weaken that idea. The spacecraft launched in 2023 will reach it in 2029.
Those who use Psyche read it through sensitivity, inner life and its bond with Eros. Its literature is thin. These readings have no link to the classical system of dignities and cannot be added to it.
Unicode has no sign for Psyche. The glyph on this page is taken from historical drawings: a butterfly wing with a star above it. The wing stands for the soul and the star for the immortality she is granted at the end.
The idea of picturing the soul as a winged creature is widespread. The counterparts below are not equivalents of Psyche but traditions that use the same image.
The word means both soul and butterfly. On grave monuments the soul of the dead appears as a small winged figure.
See in the family treeThe Latin word for soul and breath. Apuleius wrote in Latin and kept the Greek name Psyche as it was.
A part of the soul drawn as a bird with a human head, able to leave the tomb. The image of wings is shared while the concept differs.
See in the family treeIn folk belief the butterfly is taken for the soul of the dead. It is a case of the same image arising independently.
See in the family treeThe lingering spirit of the dead, which troubles the living if it is not fed. There is no wing imagery, so the comparison is only about the concept of a soul.
See in the family treeIn the Upanishads the individual soul, whose unity with Brahman is sought. The concept is philosophical and has no narrative in the form of a tale.
In Irish folk tales the butterfly is the soul of the dead having left the body. The records are late and rest on no ancient source.
Psyche lies with her unseen husband at night and never sees him by day. Her sisters come in jealousy and tell her the husband is a monster she must kill in his sleep. Psyche waits for night and prepares a lamp and a knife. When she lifts the lamp she sees the sleeping Eros and her hands shake. A drop of hot oil falls on the shoulder of the god, he wakes, and he flies away without a word. The palace disappears in the same moment.
To avoid accepting the bride, Venus sets Psyche four tasks in turn. First she must sort a heap of mixed grain before nightfall, and ants do the work. Then she must gather the wool of savage golden rams, and a reed tells her at what hour they sleep. The third task is to bring water from the spring of the Styx, and the eagle of Jupiter fetches it. The fourth is to go down to the underworld and bring a box from Proserpina, and a tower explains the road and its rules. Each time the help comes not from the gods but from a speaking natural world.
When Psyche opens the box in the last task and falls into the sleep of death, Eros comes healed and wakes her. He then goes straight to Jupiter and asks that the marriage be recognised. Jupiter gathers the gods, gives Psyche ambrosia and makes her immortal. The wedding is held on Olympus and Venus accepts the rite. The daughter of the couple is named Voluptas, pleasure. Apuleius ends the tale there and the old woman reminds her listener of its consolation.
| Rulership | None. In classical astrology domicile belongs to the seven traditional planets alone. |
|---|---|
| Exaltation | None. Degrees of exaltation are defined for the seven planets. |
| Sect | None. The division by sect belongs to the classical seven. |
| Joy | None. Joy is tied to the house system and does not cover asteroids. |
| Type of body | M type asteroid, about 220 kilometres across and rich in metal. |
| Discovery | 17 March 1852, Annibale de Gasparis, Naples. |
| Orbit | It circles the Sun in about 5 years. |
| Modern use | Its ephemeris is available in common software. Its interpretation belongs to modern asteroid literature. |
The position of this school is plain: Psyche is not a planet and rules no sign. It has no place in the dignity table. For the detail see Essential and Accidental Dignities.
These correspondences come from the discovery record, from the mythological sources and from twentieth century asteroid literature. They are not part of the classical system of dignities and should not be read as if they were.
| Discovery | 17 March 1852, Annibale de Gasparis, Naples |
|---|---|
| Class | M type asteroid, the largest known metal body |
| Spacecraft | NASA Psyche, launched 2023, arrival 2029 |
| Glyph | Butterfly wing and star |
| Main source | Apuleius, Metamorphoses IV to VI |
| The word | Psyche: soul, breath, butterfly |
| Partner | Eros, Cupid in Rome |
The only complete telling is the Latin novel of Apuleius from the second century. Older images exist, so the story may have an oral past, but no written Greek source survives.
She is made immortal at the end of the tale and taken among the gods. She begins as a mortal king's daughter, so her divinity is won at the close of the story.
No. It is an asteroid found in 1852 and holds no dignity in the classical system.
Unicode has no sign for Psyche. The glyph on this page is the butterfly wing and star of the historical drawings, drawn directly.
In this school the reading is built from the seven planets. Asteroid positions can be seen out of curiosity, but reading them like planets breaks the system of dignities.
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