Planetary Hours
Planetary hours are a critical part of natural magic and alchemy. While there are systems of magic that do not take them into account, the majority of systems of occultism currently practiced make some reference to them. There are in fact two systems for calculating planetary hours for each day. One system is fixed, with each day beginning at 6:00 a.m. and ending twenty-four hours later, but this system is rarely used. In the more common system, each day begins at sunrise and continues until sunrise of the following morning. This means that the length of each planetary hour in each day will change with the seasons and needs to be calculated every few days to take into accordance the change in the amount of sunlight each day possesses.
Despite appearances, calculating planetary hours is simple, and an entire week can be calculated fairly quickly using one set of numbers. You may want to advance it one minute for each additional day. However, operations rarely start exactly on the time calculated for an hour. It is best to be prepared and wait a few minutes for the inner response that the time has begun. This can be as much as ten minutes after the calculated time. Sunrise and sunset times are often listed in local newspapers.
1. Starting with Saturday, find the actual time of sunrise.
2. Find the actual time of sunset.
3. Find the time for sunrise on Sunday.
These three times establish the length of a planetary hour.
1. Take the period from sunrise to sunset and calculate the number of minutes involved.
2. Divide this number by 12. This will give you the length in actual minutes of each planetary hour for the daytime period.
3. Subtract the daytime number of minutes from 1,440 (the number of minutes in a twenty-four-hour period) to derive the length of the evening period.
4. Divide this number by 12. This will give you the length in actual minutes of the planetary hours for the night.
5. Based on the actual time of sunrise, graph your hours and the times they occur. Repeat this for the nighttime hours.
Example
If sunrise on Saturday is at 5:28 a.m. and sunset is at 6:30 p.m., we have 772 minutes of sunlight. This gives us 12 hours of slightly under 65 minutes each. So, our first hour begins at 5:28 a.m. and ends at 6:33 a.m. Our second hour begins at 6:33 a.m. and ends at 7:38 a.m., and so on until all 12 planetary hours of the day are calculated. With sunset at 6:30 p.m. and using the same sunrise for Sunday as on Saturday, we have 668 minutes of nighttime. We divide 668 by 12 for the hours of the night and get slightly over 55 minutes in a planetary hour, and this we round up to 56 minutes. Our first hour of the night begins at 6:30 p.m. and ends at 7:26 p.m.; our second hour begins at 7:26 p.m. and ends at 8:22 p.m.; and so on.
The order of the planets begins on Saturday and follows the Tree of Life, giving us Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon for the first seven hours and then simply repeating the cycle across every hour of every day of the week. This has the unique result of the first hour of each day corresponding to its rulership. As such, the first hour of each day will always be Saturn for Saturday, Sun for Sunday, Moon for Monday, Mars for Tuesday, Mercury for Wednesday, Jupiter for Thursday, and Venus for Friday. The first hour of every night will always be Mercury for Saturday, Jupiter for Sunday, Venus for Monday, Saturn for Tuesday, Sun for Wednesday, Moon for Thursday, and Mars for Friday.
Study the charts that follow and practice calculating planetary hours until you can be sure that your calculations match the flow of the planets outlined.
Calculating Exact Planetary Hours
The reason there is a delay between the calculated beginning of the planetary hour and the actual beginning of an operation is to allow for the natural rotation of the earth and its reception of planetary energies to “catch up” with the artificial timelines established. If you want to calculate the actual beginning of a planetary hour in coordination with local time, you need to know the longitude of the location you are calculating for. Four minutes is deducted from Greenwich Mean Time for each degree the location is west of Greenwich, and four minutes added for each minute east of Greenwich. This will allow you to calculate an exact beginning and end to planetary hours.
Table One
The table on the next page shows the planetary hours for one day. The day is a Friday, because the first hour of the day is Venus. The first hour lasts from 6:12 a.m. until 7:23 a.m. and is 71 minutes long; the hour that follows, a Mercury hour, starts at 7:23 and continues until 8:33 a.m.; and so forth. If we examine the exact point at which the daylight hours have reached their halfway point, we find true Mid Day or Noon, which for this day falls on a solar hour. True Mid Night falls at the halfway point of the nighttime hours, which are shorter, and comes during a Jupiter hour. For the majority of work done in spagyrics, alchemy, talismans, and various forms of planetary magic, this simple breakdown of the planetary hours across the day is all that is needed. However, those seeking a more advanced use of the hours can use an extended breakout.
Simple Version
|
Ve |
6:12 |
|
Me |
7:23 |
|
Lu |
8:33 |
|
Sa |
9:44 |
|
Ju |
10:54 |
|
Ma |
12:04 |
|
So |
13:15 |
|
Ve |
14:25 |
|
Me |
15:36 |
|
Lu |
16:46 |
|
Sa |
17:57 |
|
Ju |
19:07 |
|
Ma |
20:17 |
|
So |
21:07 |
|
Ve |
21:57 |
|
Me |
22:46 |
|
Lu |
23:36 |
|
Sa |
0:26 |
|
Ju |
1:15 |
|
Ma |
2:05 |
|
So |
2:55 |
|
Ve |
3:44 |
|
Me |
4:34 |
|
Lu |
5:24 |
|
Sa |
6:13 |
Detailed Version
Each day and hour is ruled by the passing of the elements as well as the planets. The daylight hours are ruled by the active energies of fire and air, while the nighttime energies are ruled by the passive energies of water and earth. Each element rules six hours of planetary time. In addition, each hour can be further broken down into discrete segments of elemental influences and synthesized by the energies of Spirit. These elements are symbolized in the following chart by the Hebrew letters Heh (earth), Vau (water), Heh (air), Yod (fire), and Shin (Spirit), which are read from left to right to match the progression of the hour from start to finish.
From this information, is it possible to create a tincture, in this case a Venus tincture, that is biased toward an element by changing the period of the day or night it is started under, as well as adding in some additional planetary influences if the hour is moved from a Venus hour to one supportive of the function of the tincture. For example, a tincture oriented toward magic, but with the intention of being very psychic in nature, could be started during the water phase of the day and under a lunar influence. This hour starts at 23:36, or 11:36 p.m. If additional secondary effects are desired, such as material (earth), emotional (water), intellectual (air), spiritual (fire), or harmonizing (Spirit), the appropriate time within the hour to begin the operation can be discovered as well. Using these smaller units of time across the hour can be tricky; however, it is worthwhile to use them several times to gain the experience. In general, using the dominant elemental influence of the phase in which one works during the daytime or nighttime hours is sufficient modification to the work at hand.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
E |
W |
A |
F |
Q |
||
|
Ve |
6:12 |
6:26 |
6:40 |
6:55 |
7:09 |
||
|
Me |
7:23 |
7:37 |
7:51 |
8:05 |
8:19 |
||
|
Lu |
8:33 |
8:47 |
9:01 |
9:15 |
9:29 |
||
|
Sa |
9:44 |
9:58 |
10:12 |
10:26 |
10:40 |
||
|
Ju |
10:54 |
11:08 |
11:22 |
11:36 |
11:50 |
||
|
Ma |
12:04 |
12:19 |
12:33 |
12:47 |
13:01 |
||
|
|
So |
13:15 |
13:29 |
13:43 |
13:57 |
14:11 |
Mid Day |
|
Ve |
14:25 |
14:39 |
14:53 |
15:08 |
15:22 |
||
|
Me |
15:36 |
15:50 |
16:04 |
16:18 |
16:32 |
||
|
Lu |
16:46 |
17:00 |
17:14 |
17:28 |
17:43 |
||
|
Sa |
17:57 |
18:11 |
18:25 |
18:39 |
18:53 |
||
|
Ju |
19:07 |
19:21 |
19:35 |
19:49 |
20:03 |
||
|
Ma |
20:17 |
20:27 |
20:37 |
20:47 |
20:57 |
||
|
So |
21:07 |
21:17 |
21:27 |
21:37 |
21:47 |
||
|
|
Ve |
21:57 |
22:07 |
22:17 |
22:27 |
22:36 |
|
|
Me |
22:46 |
22:56 |
23:06 |
23:16 |
23:26 |
||
|
Lu |
23:36 |
23:46 |
23:56 |
0:06 |
0:16 |
||
|
Sa |
0:26 |
0:36 |
0:46 |
0:55 |
1:05 |
||
|
Ju |
1:15 |
1:25 |
1:35 |
1:45 |
1:55 |
Mid Night |
|
|
Ma |
2:05 |
2:15 |
2:25 |
2:35 |
2:45 |
||
|
So |
2:55 |
3:05 |
3:14 |
3:24 |
3:34 |
||
|
|
Ve |
3:44 |
3:54 |
4:04 |
4:14 |
4:24 |
|
|
Me |
4:34 |
4:44 |
4:54 |
5:04 |
5:14 |
||
|
Lu |
5:24 |
5:33 |
5:43 |
5:53 |
6:03 |
||
|
Sa |
6:13 |
This is the first hour of the next morning |
|||||
Table Two
Planetary Hours of the Day
|
Hour |
Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
|
1 |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
|
2 |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
|
3 |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
|
4 |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
|
5 |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
|
6 |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
|
7 |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
|
8 |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
|
9 |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
|
10 |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
|
11 |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
|
12 |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Planetary Hours of the Night
|
Hour |
Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday |
|
1 |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
|
2 |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
|
3 |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
|
4 |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
|
5 |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
|
6 |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
|
7 |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
|
8 |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
|
9 |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
|
10 |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
|
11 |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
|
12 |
Mercury |
Jupiter |
Venus |
Saturn |
Sun |
Moon |
Mars |