Schwartz, Jacob. Asteroid Name Encyclopedia.St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.PRUDENTIA
Prudentia, asteroid 474 (the 474th asteroid to be discovered, on February 13, 1901), is
approximately 26 kilometers in diameter and has an orbital period of 3.8 years. Its
name is a personification of the word prudence. In a natal chart, Prudentia’s location
by sign and house indicates where and how one is most likely to be prudent. When
afflicted by inharmonious aspects, Prudentia may show imprudence. If prominent in a
chart (e.g., conjunct the Sun or the ascendant), it may signal an exceptionally pru-
dent person.Sources:
Kowal, Charles T. Asteroids: Their Nature and Utilization.Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Ellis
Horwood Limited, 1988.
Room, Adrian. Dictionary of Astronomical Names.London: Routledge, 1988.
Schwartz, Jacob. Asteroid Name Encyclopedia.St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.PSYCHE
Psyche is the name of an asteroid as well as the soul or mind. Psyche, asteroid 16 (the
16th asteroid to be discovered, on March 17, 1852), was named after a beautiful
woman in a Greek myth, said to represent the soul. It has an orbital period of 5 years
and is 248 kilometers in diameter (making it the same size as Juno). Psyche is one of
the more recent asteroids to be investigated by astrologers. Preliminary material on
Psyche can be found in Demetra George and Douglas Bloch’s Astrology for Yourself,
and an ephemeris (table of celestial locations) for Psyche can be found in the second
edition of their Asteroid Goddesses.
Unlike the planets, which are associated with a wide range of phenomena, the
smaller asteroids are said to represent a single principle. George and Bloch (1987) give
Psyche’s principle as “psychic sensitivity”; their tentative key phrase for Psyche is “my
capacity to be psychically sensitive to another person.” Zipporah Dobyns views Psyche
as either the capacity to understand and care for others or the incapacity to do so if
one is self-centered or insecure. J. Lee Lehman regards Psyche as representing the
unconscious aspect of the mind, particularly one’s unconscious mental habits. Jacob
Schwartz gives the significance of this asteroid as “psychic and physical bonding, erot-
ic love, raw psychological wounds and recovery.”Sources:
Dobyns, Zipporah. Expanding Astrology’s Universe.San Diego: Astro Computing Services, 1983.
George, Demetra, with Douglas Bloch. Asteroid Goddesses: The Mythology, Psychology and Astrol-
ogy of the Reemerging Feminine.2d ed. San Diego: Astro Computing Services Publications,
1990.
———. Astrology for Yourself: A Workbook for Personal Transformation.Berkeley, CA: Wingbow
Press, 1987.
Lehman, J. Lee. The Ultimate Asteroid Book.West Chester, PA: Whitford Press, 1988.
Schwartz, Jacob. Asteroid Name Encyclopedia.St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.Prudentia
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