Planetary Hours:
the Method and the Magick for Quick Timing Decisions
Date: 2003-10-30 By: Maria Kay Simms
Success often depends on being in the right place at the right time. How
often have you heard that said? Is it luck, or something more?
Obviously, having a tool to predict the right time would give one an
advantage. That thought was, and is, most likely the major motivator for
the continual development of astrology through the ages.
Many methods of astrological timing exist, and most of them are quite
technical astrology is a complex field. One method stands out as easy
enough to be used by non-technical types who have studied astrology only
very little. Planetary hours can be used by anyone with the patience to
learn to recognize seven planet symbols and to understand basic
interpretive meanings of each of those seven planets. This article will
introduce you the method, and also to the magick that I consider to be a
highly important ingredient for the most effective use of any
astrological technique for electing (choosing) the appropriate timing
for planned actions.
The Method:
One of the oldest methods of choosing the most propitious time with
astrology is the symbolic system of planetary hours. Because this system
was developed many centuries before the invention of the telescope, it
uses only Sun, Moon and the five planets that are visible to the naked
eye: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These seven planets,
according to a Chaldean order that arranges them from slowest to fastest
in motion, are said to rule the hours of the day in a repeated sequence
that is quite elegant in its structure. Each day of the week is named
for a planet. The planet ruling the day also rules the sunrise hour and
then each hour the next planet in the Chaldean order rules following in
a repetitive sequence. The next day will be the one that is named for
the planet that, in this repetitive sequence, has become that days
sunrise planetary hour. The simple elegance of this system can best be
seen in a spiral design.
Until the recent revival of ancient methodology through translations of
historical texts, modern astrologers had neglected the planetary hour
system, possibly because it is symbolic and thus deemed not as
scientific as the actual daily positions of the planets according to
precise astronomical calculation. Practitioners of magick, however,
continued to use planetary hours as they had through the ages, both
because using them is easy, and because they work! Within the past few
years, many astrologers have rediscovered planetary hours and in
observing how they work, have found the method to be well-worth
reviving.
In using planetary hours, it is important to realize that a planetary
day is not the same as our calendar days, nor does an hour necessarily
contain 60 minutes. Planetary days begin at sunrise, so the hours
between midnight and sunrise belong to the previous day. In order to
account for the seasonal difference in length of daylight, the amount of
time in each hour is different in the day from the night. Only at the
equinoxes are hours about 60 minutes each day and night. At Summer
Solstice (the longest day of the year) the daytime (diurnal) hours are
much longer than the nighttime (nocturnal) hours. At Winter Solstice
(the longest night of the year), the nocturnal hours are much longer
than the diurnal hours.
You can figure the planetary hours out for yourself if you know the
sunrise and sunset times for your area. For diurnal hours you figure the
total amount of time between sunrise and sunset and then divide by 12,
to find out how many minutes to assign to each planetary hour. For
nocturnal hours you figure total time from sunset to the next sunrise
and divide by 12. This method is slow, though. Quick methods are easily
available.
With perpetual planetary hour tables such as are included in my book A
Time for Magick you can do a quick look-up of the planetary hour for any
day of any year in any location. To interpolate the time in the tables
to be correct for the time zone in which you live, you need only one
simple + or time correction for your location. An extensive city list
with time corrections is also included in the book. The most useful and
least expensive computer option currently available for planetary hours
is Sundial Software by Arlene Kramer, www.arlenekramer.com. From Sundial
you can print out pages of daily listings in the clock time for your
time zone and location.
The choice of which planetary hour will be best for your planned action
is a matter of knowing which planet most favorably corresponds with your
intent for that action. Most of the text of A Time for Magick is devoted
to helping the reader understand the energies of each of the planets
through knowledge of their traditional correspondences and also
intuitively, through meditation and ritual. Because intents can be
complex and each planet has many correspondences, additional study
beyond this article is highly recommended. Still, many activities can be
matched with this simple summary:
Hour of the Sun: for career success, employment, promotion, making
presentations, public speaking, improving social status, approaching
authority figures, improving health
Hour of the Moon: for doing things that are likely to change or are not
intended to be permanent or binding, for increased intuition or
imagination, for all domestic activities
Hour of Mercury: for abstract thinking, mental alertness, speaking,
signing papers, sending significant mail, fixing computer problems, or
in general, for any activity related to communication, provided you are
in the frame of mind to be logical and rational. (Mercury can be a
trickster when you are mentally fogged or emotionally upset.
Hour of Venus: for social occasions, love, courtship, marriage,
improving appearance, for financial investments, to reconcile after a
disagreement, to mediate a dispute, to achieve calm after stress, to
work for peace
Hour of Mars: good for activities that require muscular exertion,
boldness, courage and active enterprise, when your feelings are in
check. Caution is needed if you are angry or stressed, and especially if
a relationship is involved, for Mars can be confrontational.
Hour of Jupiter: for success in just about any activity you can imagine
and for beginning anything important. The only downside would be where a
tendency to over-indulgence or excess is a factor.
Hour of Saturn: for getting organized, plowing through tedious work,
breaking unwanted habits, accepting and dealing with responsibilities,
and for contemplation or meditation especially if you find yourself
feeling tired and needing a respite from activity
Ive found it interesting to have a planetary hour listing at hand while
silently observing a group activity, and you might try that, too, in
order to get a feeling of how moods can change with the hours. For
example, I remember observing a meeting where during the Moon hour the
debate over issues went round and round with many feelings expressed but
no resolution. Just when the hour changed to Saturn, the mood became
quite serious. The group got down to business and decisions on several
issues were resolved. Then, the lunch break was announced and everyone
got up and began chatting happily. I looked at my planetary hour list
and sure enough, the hour had just changed to Jupiter.
Here are a few examples of how planetary hours might be used in daily
planning:
Schedule an appointment with
your doctor for the hour of Sun.
Plan a dinner party in the hour of Moon. Try out a new recipe.
Install and learn a new computer program in the hour of Mercury.
Schedule an appointment for a new hairstyle for the hour of Venus.
Do your daily exercise workout in the hour of Mars.
Call a friend or business associate to ask for a favor during the hour
of Jupiter.
Clear your desk of that piled up paperwork during the hour of Saturn.
Get it done!
Ask your boss for a raise in the hour of the Sun.
Shop for ideas for redecorating your home during the hour of the Moon.
Send an important piece of mail in the hour of Mercury.
Meet with a friend in the hour of Venus to reconcile a disagreement
between you.
Tackle that heavy clean-up job in the hour of Mars.
Open a new business or launch a new enterprise within your business in
the hour of Jupiter.
Consult with an elder about how best to resolve a problem in the hour
of Saturn.
A Personal Anecdote of Planning
Actions with Planetary Hours
In order to demonstrate how one can work with the planetary hours and
other transits, Ill tell you about a workshop I conducted a year ago at
an astrological conference. It was at a time when Ill bet that some
people, having looked at their own transits, as I did, might have
wondered if staying home might be a wise move. It was less than two
months past Sept. 11, and I was to fly to Toronto on a Full Moon
Thursday evening, and then on Friday afternoon I was to do my three-hour
workshop on astrological timing and ritual. The much talked about
Saturn-Pluto opposition was exact on the day of my workshop, and the
degrees in which it was exact put Pluto precisely on my Ascendant and
Saturn on the Descendant. Jupiter was stationary retrograde and the Moon
was void of course when my workshop was to begin. In the string of Moon
aspects following her entrance into Gemini a little over an hour into my
workshop time, she would conjunct Saturn and oppose Pluto. If all that
astro-jargon evades any readers, lets just say that if Id been allowed
to freely choose my time to do this workshop, this time would not have
been it! But if I'd attempted to duck that time, Id be denying important
points Id fully intended to make in that workshop and intend to make
again within this article in The Magick section to follow. Obviously
walking my talk meant accepting the challenge to work well within
whatever time I was assigned. I planned my workshop to use the planetary
themes of the three-hour period in which it was scheduled, including a
ritual design based on the Moon as mediator between the clashing Saturn
and Pluto,
The workshop began in the hour of the Moon and would change to the hour
of Saturn less than a half hour later. The Jupiter hour would take the
greater portion of the middle hour, and the final hour of the workshop
would be Mars. I began with a general introduction to easy timing
techniques, with a major focus on the lunar phases. I announced to the
group when the Saturn hour was beginning, saying that wed use its theme
at its best to cover the technicalities of the planetary hour system in
a disciplined manner. I used an overhead and transparencies to
demonstrate the use of the tables and the time corrections for Toronto.
With the Jupiter hour I introduced the value of ritual and magick for
the intuitive understanding of the planets and for helping to focus the
mind toward desired goals. I asked for volunteers to take various parts
within the ritual, gave the two key players, Saturn and Pluto, a little
skit for their part, and called a 10-minute break to set up. Only a few
of the class had any previous experience with ritual and because of
this, I knew some would be uncomfortable with it, so I let everyone know
that their choice to participate or watch was entirely voluntary and
fine with me either way. As it turned out, I was extremely fortunate in
my two main volunteers, for both had a wonderful flair for improvised
dramatic effect and they made terrific use of the break time to talk
over how theyd do the skit.
The ritual began with somewhat over half the class gathered in a circle
around a center table and the rest remaining in their chairs to watch. I
led them through a simple casting of the circle, followed by four
volunteers who called the four elements (air, fire, water, earth) to the
cardinal points. After invoking the Goddess Moon and the two Dark Lords
Saturn and Pluto, the fun began, with a skit that was both very
meaningful and also entertaining as my two Dark Lords squared off to the
point of pushing each other around as they argued their points about the
necessity to tear down and transform old structures and rebuild newer
and better ones. By the time I, as Moon, had interceded, and Pluto began
to pass out small black stones in which participants could will those
old habits and structures they wished to banish, everyone in the room
was ready to participate and all did. I collected the stones to return
to Earth Mother, and then Saturn passed out cords for knot magick. The
intent and action of that was for each person to make one or more
commitments to positive and responsible future action (building anew).
The act of tying a knot firmly into the cord would be to bind oneself to
carry out the commitment. Now into the Mars hour, we raised energy to
charge the magick with a spirited chant, after which each person was
invited to choose three little paper stars Id scattered on the center
table face down. The stars were of three different colors, one of which
carried a symbol for one of the planets, another the number of a house
and the third color, a symbol for one of the zodiac signs. Since all
participants were astrologers, they could easily interpret the three
stars they drew for a personal message.
The workshop concluded with the sharing of experiences within the
ritual, and questions and answers centering mostly on the use of magick
and ritual. All in all, it was a good experience for me and appeared to
be for the participants. I experience absolutely no downside
Saturn-Pluto events during this time, despite the exact transits of the
two to my own chart. I like to believe that this was one of a number of
personal examples Ive given myself that if I deliberately choose to do
my transits in a positive manner, more often than not, positive
manifestation prevails.
The Magick
Nearly always, after an event has passed, a clear and appropriate
correspondence of the event to astrological phenomena can be
demonstrated. Looking ahead is far less exact. Why is that? Primarily
because nothing in astrology can be interpreted in only one way, at
least not in any detail. Each planet or planetary configuration has a
general theme, but within that theme there are multiple potentials with
wide range from good to bad, depending on ones point of view. Obviously,
picking the right planetary time is not enough. Your intent and your
will to carry out that intent are not just equally as important, but
more so.
A common phrase youve probably often heard is thoughts are things,
referring to the observation that if one thinks strongly enough about
something, the thought often becomes reality. This can happen naturally,
when one wishes or fears so strongly that, for good or ill, what is
wished for or feared becomes a self-fulfilling prophecyand from that has
emerged another phrase youve probably heard: Be careful what you wish
for, because you may be so unfortunate as to receive it. Some might
prefer to call the act of strongly and deliberately focusing the mind to
achieve a desired purpose creative visualization or mind control. I
prefer to call this magick. Whatever you choose to call it, the point is
this: focused intent can effect desired change within ones
consciousness, and when change occurs within, change in ones outer world
occurs, as well.
Magick is a good one-word definition for an attitude and a belief that
the primary power to direct ones future flows from within. The k
differentiates the practice from the stage magic of sleight-of-hand or
the experience of sparkly feelings without focused intent. The
practitioner of magick knows that all is energy, and with a keenly
focused mind and spirit energy can be moved such that will, intent and
purpose becomes manifest in reality. Within astrological language
specifically, effective use of magick depends on your attitude in
believing that ones power comes not from the planets, but from within.
Electional Astrology (the specific branch of astrology for choosing the
most propitious time in advance of an action) has been called the
closest astrological methodology comes to magick. To make that true, it
is essential to understand that a very big part of deciding what time
will, in fact, be propitious (have a favorable correspondence with
intended action), is dependent upon the astrological interpretation
attached to the time chosen, and that can vary widely. Each planet has a
unique general theme of expression, but within that are many possible
interpretations, some of which could be bad for what you want, others
good and others varying in shades in between. In electing a planetary
hour, it is important to be very clear that you are also electing
(choosing) your interpretation of the planet! Since you are doing the
choosing, it seems only common sense to do so with the focused intent
and belief that you can and will carry out the proposed action according
to your chosen interpretation of the planetary hour in which you will
begin that action. Magick can be done with the mind alone, but often
ceremony in a meditative state of mind, including the use of tools of
ritual that appeal to all the senses, will greatly aid focus, as well as
enhance your ability to intuitively understand the planetary energies. A
Time for Magick offers specific meditation exercises and ritual designs
for each of the planets.
Try planetary hours! Among astrological techniques, this one lends
itself best to the times when a quick timing decision must be made with
no time to do more complex astrological computations, even if you know
how. For those who do take the time to consult an astrological calendar
for timing decisions, or to do complete election charts, it is well
worthwhile to consider the planetary hour, too. Choose the planetary
hour that best fits your intended action and take that action with the
commitment, the will, the focus and the faith of magick. My view is
this: if electional astrology is not being used with magical intent, it
ought to be!
About the
author:
Maria Kay Simms is a well-known astrologer, currently the elected Chair
of National Council for Geocosmic Research (NCGR). She is also a Wiccan
High Priestess. In addition to A Time for Magick, she is author of The
Witchs Circle and various astrology books including Future Signs and
Dial Detective. Maria writes a monthly column called Moon Magick on the
web site http://www.starcraftsob.com that she shares with her daughters
Starcrafts store in Ocean Beach, CA. Here youll find interpretations of
the current lunar phases and other astrological transits, including a
variety of ideas for magick and ritual ideas based on astrological
themes.
Maria Kay
Simms
 Maria
Kay Simms, an astrologer for 26 years, is widely known
throughout the astrological community as an author and former
administrator of Astro Communications Services, Inc. Maria was
recently elected to a three-year term as Chair of National
Council for Geocosmic Research, Inc., a prominent professional
organization for astrologers. In more recent years, she is also
known as Ladi Mari, High Priestess of Circle of the Cosmic Muse.
The Circle is part of a growing network of Wiccan groups
practicing a tradition that has been dubbed "West Coast
Eclectic." Maria is an Elder Priestess (credentialed minister)
of Covenant of the Goddess.
Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd.
Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. grants permission to use this article as originally
posted at:
The Llewellyn Journal -- www.llewellynjournal.com
P.O. Box 64383
St. Paul, MN 55164-0383
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