Focus On: (432) Pythia

Basics

Class: S-type asteroid
Location: Main belt
Orbit length (approx): 3.65 years
Discovered: 18th December 1897, 21:00 UTC, from Nice, France, by Auguste Charlois
Events at time of discovery:

• December 9 – The first issue of the feminist newspaper La Fronde is published by Marguerite Durand in Paris.
• – Birth of Hermione Gingold, English actress
• December 12 – The comic strip The Katzenjammer Kids debuts in the New York Journal.
• December 18 – Birth of Fletcher Henderson, American musician
• December 25 – Birth of Dorothy Peterson, American film and television actress
• December 28 – The play Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, premieres in Paris.
• December 31 – Birth of Rhys Williams, Welsh actor

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Naming information

Name origin: The Pythia was the high priestess and oracle of the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Established by the 8th century BCE (though some sources date the shrine’s beginnings around 600 years farther back), the Pythia became pre-eminent by the 7th century BCE. Widely respected, the priestess continued to be consulted until the late 4th century CE.

Oracle of Delphi: King Aigeus in front of the Pythia. Attic red-figure kylix from Vulci (Italy), 440-430 BCE, Kodros Painter; held at Altes Museum, Berlin. Photo by Zde.

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Astrological data

Discovery degree: 14+ Gemini
Discovery Sabian: Two Dutch Children Talking to Each Other, Exchanging Their Knowledge
Discovery nodal signature: Gemini–Sagittarius
Estimated orbital resonances: Mercury 1:15, Earth 3:11, Mars 7:12, Ceres 5:4, Jupiter 13:4, Saturn 8:1, Chiron 14:1
Discovery chart details: Last quarter phase chart. Pythia was conjunct Pluto. Stellium in Sagittarius. Sun semi-sextile and Venus semi-square North Node. Moon sextile Mars and opposite Pallas; Sun sesquiquadrate Pholus; Venus opposite Pluto. Mars trine Pallas and sextile Juno. Ceres quincunx Saturn, trine Nessus and square Sedna with all four bodies interaspecting. Neptune square Eris.

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Summary and references

Neptune’s Aura Astrology suggests mature handling of prophetic energy “where we can be honest and believed, yet where we can discern when it would be better to [do] nothing”^[1]. Correspondences imply a profound gravity and depth to the responsibility conferred; custodianship of elemental or primal power; the necessity of self-knowledge and self-control.

References:
1) Neptune’s Aura Astrology: Asteroids Kassandra 114, Helenos 1872 and Pythia 432

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Discovery chart for (432) Pythia: 18th December 1897, 21:00 UTC, Nice, France.