Psyche

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(astronomy) An asteroid with a diameter of about 155 miles (249 kilometers), mean distance from the sun of 2.92 astronomical units, and unusual (M-type) surface composition; it may be made of solid metal.

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Psyche, depicted with wings, classical sculpture; in the Louvre, Paris (credit: Alinari/Art Resource, New York)

In Greek and Roman mythology, a beautiful princess who won Cupid's love. Her beauty was such that worshipers began to turn away from Venus, and the envious goddess commanded her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with the most despicable of men. But Cupid himself fell in love with Psyche and hid her in a remote place, where he visited her secretly under cover of darkness. One night she lit a lamp and discovered her lover's identity. He left angrily, and Psyche wandered the earth searching for him and was captured by Venus. After Cupid rescued Psyche, Jupiter made her immortal and gave her in marriage to Cupid.

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Psȳchē (‘soul’), the name of the heroine in a tale, told in books 4–6 of the Golden Ass of Apuleius, the narrator being an old woman who is trying to amuse a girl captured by robbers. Psyche was so beautiful that Venus became jealous of her and sent Cupid to make her fall in love with some unsightly creature; however, Cupid himself became her lover. He placed her in a palace but only visited her in the dark, and forbade her to attempt to see him. Her sisters, out of jealousy, told her he was a monster who would devour her. One night she took a lamp and looked at Cupid while he slept, but a drop of hot oil woke him. Thereupon the god left her, angry at her disobedience. Psyche, solitary and remorseful, sought her lover all over the earth, and various superhuman tasks were required of her by Venus. The first was to sort out before nightfall an enormous heap of various kinds of grain. But the ants took pity on Psyche and arriving in hordes did the task for her. By one means or another all the tasks were completed except the last, which was to descend to the Underworld and fetch a casket of beauty from Persephonē. Curiosity overcame Psyche and she opened the casket, which contained not beauty but a deadly sleep, to which she succumbed. Jupiter, at Cupid's entreaty, at last consented to their marriage, and Psyche was brought to heaven. This fairytale has often been interpreted as an allegory of the soul's journey through life and its final union with the divine after suffering and death.

Anglicization of the Greek term for soul which has been adopted in a number of ways by various parapsychological and occult authors and organizations. Among them are:

1. A German spiritualist monthly founded in 1894 and later, following the union in 1900 of the three largest Spiritual-ist societies of Berlin, superseded by a joint organ, the Spiritistiche Rundschau, of which Karl Obertimpfler became the editor.
2. An English monthly magazine devoted to the philosophy and phenomena of life, beginning in 1899.
3. An English quarterly journal which succeeded W. Whateley Carington 's Psychic Research Quarterly in 1921 as a journal of general and applied psychology. It was edited by C. K. Ogden out of London.

In Roman mythology, a beautiful girl who was visited each night in the dark by Cupid, who told her she must not try to see him. When she did try, while he was asleep, she accidentally dropped oil from her lamp on him, and he awoke and fled. After she had performed many harsh tasks set by Cupid's mother, Venus, Jupiter made her immortal, and she and Cupid were married. Her name is Greek for both “soul” and “butterfly.”

Look up psyche or ψυχή in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Psyche (from Greek ψυχή) may refer to:

• Psyche (mythology)
• the Soul
• Psyche (psychology)
  • Ego
  • Self (psychology)

• The psyche butterfly, Leptosia nina

Literature

• Psyché (play), tragedy-ballet of 1671 by Molière, Pierre Corneille and Philippe Quinault with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully
• Psyche (journal), journal focused on the interdisciplinary study of consciousness
• Psyche (entomological journal), entomological journal
• Psyche, 1898 book by Louis Couperus

Music

• Psyché, opera of 1678 with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully
• Psyche (Locke) semi-opera of 1675 with music by Matthew Locke
• Psyche (band), Canadian gothic synth-pop band

Proper names and brands

• 16 Psyche, an asteroid
• HMS Psyche, the name of five ships and two planned ones of the Royal Navy
• USS Psyche V (SP-9), a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919
• Psyche, a code name for Red Hat Linux 8.0
• An alias of Danielle Moonstar, a comic book character
• Psyche (album), 1994 album by PJ & Duncan AKA, now known as Ant and Dec

See also

• Psychidae, the bagworm moths

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