Mention love and rom-com fans go weak at the knees, their eyes glazing over. But the myth of Psyche, the mortal wife of Cupid, points to the heroic journey demanded before she can come together with her soulmate. She has to undergo trials and tribulations on the path to true love which can only be gained by acquiring wisdom, temperance or moderation, courage and justice.
Psyche is the latest asteroid to be graced with an astrological exploration in Anne-Marie Chabellard’s book In the Name of Love. A French author she has degrees in biological science and psychology with an interest in the Jungian approach to astrology.
As she remarks ‘the relevance of using asteroids is far from winning unanimous support.’ But her own detailed studies of celebrities and her own clients persuaded her that there is a convincing case for keeping an eye on the asteroid Psyche, especially when it is spotlighted by the progressed Sun. She quotes Howard Sasportas as saying he saw “the progressed Sun as a torch which shines on whatever it is touching.”
Psyche, a giant asteroid, was discovered on 17 March 1852 and has a five year cycle round the Sun, spending a variable amount of time in each sign of the zodiac, varying from two to ten months. A NASA mission, launched 2023, is currently under way with findings expected by 2029.
There are examples of Psyche in operation under the prompting of the progressed Sun from John Lennon to Robert Kennedy and Simone de Beauvoir.
Psyche in aspect to the Sun is explained as pointing up the key relationship with the father for example with Maggie Thatcher. Intriguingly also with Jackie Kennedy whose wayward father ‘Black Jack’ Bouvier may have drawn her to Aristotle Onassis. Her Psyche was conjunct Onassis’s Chiron exactly which may explain a little of a relationship that seemed unlikely. J.F.K also had his Psyche square his Sun with his own father issues and his Psyche was conjunct Jackie’s Neptune.
The USA has its Psyche conjunct the Sun. And the Charles/Diana wedding also had Psyche conjunct the Sun. Father issues looming large?
Psyche in interpreted through the 12 signs with preliminary hints on transits.
The Royals are covered with an intriguing connection between the seniors and the late Queen Elizabeth 11’s conscientious 6th house Pluto. Prince Philip had his Psyche exactly conjunct her Pluto and her Psyche fell close to his Sun Mars in Gemini. Theirs may have started out as a soulmate love match but the strains of a Royal life took its toll. They managed against the odds to go through trials and tribulations to remain even closer at the end of long lives so it is noteworthy to see such a strong connection.
As with all astrological research on asteroids, centaurs and Fixed stars, it takes perseverance to winkle out what is most enlightening. What persuaded me looking at the charts of two couples I know with long-lasting marriages which in no way seemed ‘meant’ but have remained united, there are clear Psyche crossovers.
Even Hillary and Bill Clinton are bound together against the odds. Her Psyche is conjunct his Chiron and widely his Jupiter. While his Psyche conjunct his Pluto is square her Chiron and widely conjunct her Mars Pluto (4 degrees).
The Charles/Camilla match have both their Psyche’s in aspect to the other’s Mars for a spark.
Much to learn with further study.
This book is an admirable deep dive into what Psyche has to offer in a chart.
Not astrology-based but this reminds me of the late, great, Jeff Buckley’s brilliantly atmospheric recording, ‘Ulalume,’ narrating an Edgar Allan Poe poem mentioning Psyche which is dark and haunting. Here’s a summary from the net:
Ulalume – a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, published in American Review in December 1847, is a Gothic ballad centered on a narrator’s haunting journey to the tomb of his lost beloved, Ulalume. The poem features a surreal, dreamlike atmosphere, with the narrator accompanied by his soul, personified as Psyche, as they wander through a nightmarish landscape. The poem’s hypnotic rhythm, vivid imagery, and exploration of grief and psychological torment reflect Poe’s signature style. The revelation at the end—that the narrator has unknowingly returned to Ulalume’s tomb on the anniversary of her death—underscores themes of memory, guilt, and the inescapability of sorrow.
And here’s Buckley’s version of the poem, if its allowed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWEhlVf3S20
I was obsessed with the darkest fairy tales as a child. I was particularly obsessed with Beauty and the Beast…. which comes from the Psyche myth.
Later, I read Marie-Louise von Franz’s take on Beauty and the Beast and literally had to slam the book shut for some time because I was so shaken by how accurately that myth described me, my inner process. For a moment I thought, “Do even HAVE my own life?…. or am I simply a pawn in an archetypal story?”. I sorted that out and got back to her book, but it really shook me.
For sure, this myth is in me… what I’ve known I was to do in my life. Everything has been about sorting myself out to be available for a deep, intimate, soul relationship with another. Other people know they want to be an author, or a pilot… I knew this in my bones.
My chart has many close oppositions, 2 planets on each node and Venus opp Saturn (long journey understanding love… late love.. says Liz Greene). So I dive deep into myself, then bring that to the relationship. That would end, and back into my own Plutonian depths… and back into a relationship. Over and over… each a kind of improvement! For heaven’s sake, I was even part of a Relationship Group!!…. 6 couples at the start, whittled down to 4 couples and me…. meeting 3 times a year for a weekend exploration of Relationship!… to ourselves, to partners, to parents, to children, to work…. to the environment even. All deeply intentional…. and way ahead of its time, I’d say.
Psyche is at 8 Scorpio in my 10th conjunct Neptune, which snugs up to my North Node and then Jupiter. Although Psyche is only conjunct Neptune, clearly it is prominent. My work is in health care, but, as many clients note, it’s always much more.
It’s been hard but also SUCH a terrific exploration.
And, by God, I AM in exactly the kind of relationship I dreamed of…. but not until I was 50!!
I instantly noted that Psyche asteroid birth chart has Venus conj Saturn!!!…. in Taurus.
So, again, that long slow learning of love.. and of the flesh!!…. embedded in that natal chart.
Psyche and me… we’ve had, and continue to have, quite the adventure!!
The Psyche myth is at the basis of many ‘Animal Groom’ themed tales. The witch in these stories represents Aphrodite’s role and the tasks demanded are often performed with the aid of animals or birds or sometimes an enchanted being. These stories are found in every continent, every culture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_as_Bridegroom
Liz Greene, in her ‘Mythic Tarot’ uses Psyche’s mythic journey to illustrate the suit of Cups. Psyche is a mortal princess who’s famous beauty had incurred the jealousy of Aphrodite. As a result (and because, let’s face it Aphrodite can be thoroughly nasty when jealous) the goddess uses her son, Eros to strike Psyche with his arrow and make her fall in love with a monster. But instead Eros himself falls in love with the girl.
Meanwhile, her father is told by the oracle of Apollo that his daughter was destined to marry a winged serpent and he was to leave the girl at the top of a mountain from where her husband would take her to his palace. The wind, Zephyr lifted Psyche up and took her to the marital home, a place of extreme luxury. She never saw her mysterious husband – who was in fact Eros – though he came to her every night in pitch darkness.
One day, Psyche’s jealous sisters came to visit her and persuaded her to light a lamp and shine it upon the face of her husband so that she could actually see his appearance. This she did, but a drop of oil from the lamp fell on Eros’s shoulder and woke him. As soon as he did, he said to her: “Love cannot live where there is no trust” and vanished, leaving his wife in sorrow.
She begged Aphrodite to help find him, but instead the goddess compels her to complete a number of near-impossible tasks, including sorting a heap of mixed seeds, retrieving golden wool from a herd of sheep and entering the Underworld to obtain a box containing Persephone’s beauty.
At each task, she is aided by helpers from the natural world – the ants for instance help her to sort the seed and the reeds help her to find the gold wool of the sheep. She is able to go past Cerberus because she gives the 3 headed guard dog cake. She completes this task, but curiosity gets the better of her and she opens it, whereupon she falls into a deep sleep, only to be awoken by Eros who then takes her to Olympus and asks Zeus if she can become immortal so that he can marry her before the gods.
So she seems to represent that part of the human capacity for deep and abiding love on the soul/spiritual level, willing to go through hell itself, through the darkest of times, whereas Venus is more concerned with physical love, surface beauty, pleasure or lust.
Interestingly, my father’s Jupiter conjunct my Psyche and mother’s Saturn conjunct mine Psyche and Jupiter trine it. My parents have Jupiter conjunct Saturn synastry.
Thanks. My Psyche is almost exactly conjunct my Mars in the 11th. What does that say about myself vis a vis groups? My son’s Psyche is almost exactly opposite by degree to his MC in the 11th. He works in government. Thoughts greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Marjorie. It was discovered by Italian astronomer, Annibale de Gasparis who discovered 9 asteroids in total including Hygeia. I have a very tight stellium in Leo in the 12th with my Uranus, North Node conjunct Psyche, BML and Part of Fortune. It trines my husband’s Jupiter in Sagittarius and sextiles his Uranus in Gemini. The year, 1852 saw the anti-slavery movement gaining momentum with such publications as ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ and Frederick Douglass’s ‘What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” speech as well as improvements in both working conditions and educational rights for children.