"Planetary-Magickal Time" is our term for an easy to use, classic magickal tool which is used to determine or predict the duration of the predominant planetary influence ruling any given Date, Time and Place combination. PMT is literally 'grounded' within the study of the Calendar as other forms of Astrology are based upon the study of Star-Charts: Like two sides of a coin, either approach is based upon the inherent correspondence of Earth (Time and Place) and Sky (Celestial Influences), deriving information about One from the study of the Other. Like other forms of Astrology, PMT may stand alone as it is, or be more potently combined and weighted against more well known astrological evaluations of the skies, i.e. electional or horary charting combined with PMT to get a comprehensive view -- but the system as is -- which is simple -- provides the magician with a ready picture of celestial tides that can be taken advantage of for the pursuit of Earthly endeavors.
This ancient system is venerable in the extreme and has passed through a succession of ages under different names, including "De Horis Planetarum","Planetary Hours," "Unequal Hours," "Magickal Hours," or "Power Hours" according to age and context. In this site, the Merchants of Atlantis use the label "Planetary-Magickal Hours (or Time)" in order to be recognized by as wide an audience as possible: Within this essay we will shorthand our subject as PMT.
(1) "The Occult Key to Timing that integrates Magick and Astrology"
G rasping the mechanics of PMT delivers up a true KEY that unlocks the modern "Magickal Philosophy" we have inherited from the past, and which integrates astrology and magick according to a most ancient plan that is still evolving and unveiling itself. Our peculiar magickal language of "correspondence, Macrocosm, Microcosm" and other core terms -- as old as they are -- have themselves evolved from unfathomably ancient roots. PMT is the living fruit of one of those ancient roots which we may call the primordial "Astral Religion" of ancient Sumeria, a very early system where Earth, Sky, Gods, and Time were all corresponded through the means of the Calendar they invented and the core piece of which -- the Week -- now forms the uninterrupted basis of Calendars the world over.
PMT is in fact the explanation for the adoption and survival of the Week and its Days, the Occult Key which unlocks the power of this otherwise arbitrary system. A 7 Day lumping of time makes no sense exoterically, and the labeling of the individual seven Days is equally arbitrary, even absurd compared to alternatives that might otherwise be. Have you ever wondered that a seven day week doesnt break down a year, or even a month, evenly into whole units? Imagine if the meter or the yard only contained sub-units that didnt divide equally into them, i.e. 9.72 inches in a foot or something equally absurd? A 5 day week would be most elegant in breaking down the 365 whole days of a year and seems the logical choice. Further, why name the days at all? If the Calendar were concerned simply with measuring the passage of time, why not simply number the days of our improved 5 day week 1,2,3,4 and 5! Why has such a bizzare system never been scrapped and remade? Clearly there is a Key that needs to explain the purpose for retaining the 7 day week.
One last example of the oddly unquestionable 7 Day week -- The Genesis account of Creation in the Bible & Torah takes a seven day week and practically binds YHVH to create by its rythm as if this seven day week pre-existed his own Genesis. And this is exactly the case historically -- Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, was originally a Sumerian coming from "Ur of the Chaldees," the land that planted astrology into the Western Mystery Tradition. Coming from Ur of the Chaldess places Abraham at the tail end of Sumerian civilization from the revived city of Ur at a time when that culture was called Chaldea. And it is "the Chaldean order of the planets" that forms the basis for PMT, and as we shall soon demonstrate, it is PMT that is the basis for the Week system of the calendar and explains its occult significance and practical use.
(2) The Chaldean Order of the Planets, Weeks, Days and Hours
This is the sequence called the Chaldean order of the Planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, then repeating endlessly Saturn, Jupiter, etc. An erudite sister site called "RenaissanceAstrology.com" describes the order from an exhaustively mechanical perspective as follows: "The Chaldean order indicates the relative orbital velocity of the planets. From a heliocentric perspective this sequence also indicates the relative distance of the planets from the center of their orbits, i.e., the distance of the planets from the Sun (with the Sun switching places with the Earth in the sequence) and the distance of the Moon from the Earth. From a traditional geocentric perspective the Chaldean order also shows the arrangement of the planetary spheres." This mechanical viewpoint needs to be supplemented with an understanding of why anyone would care abou which planet is farther away from earth than another.
The "arrangement of the planetary spheres" is the clue
-- the sphere concept is an ancient astrological idea that arranges descending Celestial Influence into zones of
character defined by the apparent nearness of each ancient planet to earth (as indicated by
the speed which they crossed the sky) from
down here in the geocentric perspective as if
everything orbited the earth at the same speed and differing distances.
This is most easily brought home to the typical magician by
relating the correspondence of the Chaldean order of the planets with the
Tree of Life diagram, which is a perfect fit (by accident? Nope). The Macrocosmic
Sephira on the Tree of Life -- from Yesod to Daath (or Binah if you
wish) -- exactly correspond with the Chaldean Order of the Planets:
From Moon up to Saturn (or Saturn down to Moon), the
planets on the Tree of Life draw the Macrocosmic Hexagram above Mallkuth and below
the purely Supernal realm, and in ancient times -- and perhaps once again now
as the general magickal understanding increases in this age -- ASTROLOGY served to physically
correspond that intermediary realm of Divine Influences with the concept of descending
divine influence.
OK, so to get to brass tacks, the
Chaldean Order of the Planets depicts a descending HIERARCHY of Celestial
Influences, a concept quite familiar to most magicians through the Tree of Life
through such metaphors as the "Lightning Flash." It is a cycle of Creational
Energy Flowing from the One to the Many, and when APPLIED TO THE CALENDAR
through the PLANETS, quite naturally creates the Week and its Days &
Hours and explains the shifting tides of Cosmic Energy moving through time
-- the Key that opens up the exoteric shell of the Calendar to reveal its
essence.
| 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 | |||||||
| Hours | 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 |
However, the planetary hours
are not the same as the sixty minute hours beginning at midnight that we use for
normal timekeeping. The planetary days are divided into twenty four planetary
hours with the first hour of the day beginning at sunrise and the last hour of
the day ending at sunrise of the next planetary day. The period that extends
from sunrise to sunset (daylight) is divided into twelve hours and the period
extending from sunset to sunrise of the next day (nighttime) is also divided
into twelve hours giving the twenty four hours of the planetary day.
Accordingly, as
the duration of daylight and darkness varies except at the Vernal and Autumnal
Equinoxes, on a particular planetary day the length of the hours of the day will
differ from the length of the hours of the night. Thus another name for the
planetary hours is the unequal hours as mentioned in Agrippa.
 |
| Figure One |
Our first practical problem is how to calculate the planetary hours. From a purely heuristic point of view, this problem is solved by our free Calculator -- the Only full service free calculator on the web! Further, if you dont want to be bothered with having to get online, Renaissance Astrology offers TPHP ("The Planetary Hours Program") as a desktop program for $16, the only other reliable programmatic source I know of although I have heard of Timaeus from Curtis Manwaring at Zodiasoft Technologies. Timaeus is a system tray application that monitors the passage of the planetary hours providing a quick look into the changes of mood during the day. It is like having an "astrological weather forecast" for your local area on a continual basis. This shareware program can be downloaded from Zodiasoft Technologies on a free 30 day trial basis..
Otherwise you can do it by hand a few times just to see what it is like without the free calculator for experience sake. First, you must obtain your local sunrise and sunset times from the newspaper or the US Naval Observatory . Take the time from sunrise to sunset and divide by twelve to get the length of each planetary hour for the day. Take the time from sunset to sunrise the next day and divide that by twelve for the length of each planetary hour by night. Then starting with the planet that rules the day, e.g. Saturn for Saturday, follow the Chaldean order and assign the proper planet to each planetary hour of the day and night that you have just calculated. While simple enough it certainly isnt quick or painless and explains why I made the calculator!
I hope this explanation has helped to tie a few things together for you and expand your magickal understanding of the way everything hangs together. If it has brought you to a better appreciation for the integration of magick and astrology or expanded your sense of the historical descent and future of our traditions than I'm well repaid. Enjoy Planetary Magick!
