Focus On: (275) Sapientia

Basics

Class: C-type asteroid
Location: Main belt
Orbit length (approx): 4.61 years
Discovered: 15th April 1888 (time unknown), from Vienna, Austria, by Johann Palisa.
Events at time of discovery:

• April 11 – The Concertgebouw orchestra in Amsterdam is inaugurated.
• April 13 – Kahisakan, the first coffee shop in Japan, opens in Tokyo.
• April 18 – Westminster School is founded in Simsbury, Connecticut.
• April 21 – The Texas State Capitol building, completed at a cost of $3 million, opens to the public in Austin.
• April 26 – Birth of Anita Loos, American writer
• April 27 – Birth of Florence La Badie, Canadian actress

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Naming information

Name origin: Sapientia is Latin for “wisdom”. The corresponding Ancient Greek term (Sophía) variously translates to “clever, skillful, intelligent, wise”; it also implies “skill in handicraft and art” in Homeric usage, which has been applied to both Hephaistos and Athene. The word in the Hebrew Bible associated with the Greek, and with English ‘wisdom’, is Chokmah. Christian mysticism in various forms has adopted Sophía as a feminine personification of divine wisdom, relating to the Holy Spirit, the Bride of Christ, Mary, or an aspect of Jesus himself.

Statue of the personification of Wisdom (Koinē Greek: Σοφία, Sophía) at the Library of Celsus in Ephesus (second century CE); crop of original photo by Traroth.

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Astrological data

Discovery degree: 7+ Libra
Discovery Sabian: A Blazing Fireplace in a Deserted Home
Discovery nodal signature: Cancer–Pisces
Estimated orbital resonances: Mercury 1:19, Venus 2:15, Mars 6:13, Ceres 1:1, Jupiter 18:7, Saturn 19:3, Chiron 11:1
Discovery chart details: Noon chart. Stellium in Aries with minor T-square between Mercury-Venus conjunction, Ceres and Nessus. Jupiter and Sedna trine North Node and one another. Pallas semi-square Neptune. Ceres sextile and Chariklo square Eris.

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Summary and references

Mark Andrew Holmes delineates Sapientia as “to be smart or be seen as such”^[1]. Associations additionally indicate themes specifically surrounding the dissemination of knowledge, art, exploration and return to base, prognostication and progress, alongside wisdom itself.

References:
1) Mark Andrew Holmes: Sapientia

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Noon discovery chart for (275) Sapientia: 15th April 1888, Vienna, Austria. The asteroid is not depicted.