Planetary Hours Explained

Introduction

After watching my updated How to Start Practicing Magick video, a viewer asked me to explain the subject of Planetary Hours. Believing this will be a great addition to the channel in this one, I’ll do just that, keeping things maximally concise.

What are Planetary Hours

Besides linking the seven classical planets to the weekly days, the planetary hours system designates daily hours to one of them. Invented by ancient astrologers, the method allocates a specific planetary influence for each day and hour. Inheriting that, Magick follows the exact system, especially when working with the planets.

Planets and Days

The day’s name suggests the planet associated with it. Monday is ‘Moon’s Day,’ attributed to the Moon. The French ‘Mardi’ translates into Mars Day or Tuesday. Wednesday is derived from Wodan’s day, associated with the Germanic god Wodan or Odin and the French ‘Mercredy’ or Mercury Day. Thursday, the day of Thor, relates to Jupiter, and the French, ‘Jeudi’ or Jupiter’s day. Friday is Freya’s day, which in French is ‘Vendredi,’ Venus Day. Saturday is ‘Saturn’s day,’ and Sunday needs no clarification.

Duodecimal system

Currently, we use a decimal base system regarded as “base-ten.” Also called denary (or decennary), it employs numbers from 0 to 9 to represent any number. Previously, there was the so-called ‘base twelve’ or Duodecimal system, in which twelve is “10,” indicating 1, twelve, and 0 units. In the decimal system, this quantity is “12,” representing 1 ten and two units. Additionally, the “10” signifies ten in the decimal system. Some remnants of ‘base-twelve’ include the twelve inches in a foot, the solar months, and apparently the planetary hours.

Planetary Hours

As mentioned, besides a particular day of the week, magick associates each planet with specific hours, changing based on the day. Following base twelve, these start the day with a corresponding planet’s hour. More on that in a moment.

After completion, the cycle repeats. The day’s 24 hours are divided into a day and a night halves of twelve. The first to remember is that regular hours don’t match the planetary ones 99% of the time. When they seldom do is on equinoxes, which is twice a year.

Calculating Planetary Hours

Calculating Planetary Hours requires knowing the sunrise and sunset in your area. Having that information, you devide the total of minutes between those exact hours by 12. This gives you the daylight hours. The night hours are found by dividing the minutes from sunset to sunrise. This means the lengths of both hours won’t be identical.

Example

Say the sun rises at 06:00 and sets at 08:00 pm. In such a case, you have a 14-hour daylight period or 840 clock minutes. Dividing it by 12, you get a 70-minute daytime hour. Therefore, your first hour is between 06:00 and 07:10 am. The second, from 07:10 to 08:20 am, etc.

Another way is subtracting 70 from 120 to obtain the nighttime hour. In our case, that would be 50 minutes. So, the first night hour is between 08:00 and 08:50 pm. The second — between 08:50 and 09:40 pm, etc.

Adding Planets

Once having the hours, you attribute the planets. The day starts with its ruling planet. Its planetary hours proceed by following what’s called the Chaldean Order.

Being the astrological motion in space, the Chaldean Order corresponds to the most common planetary ordering on the Tree of Life, going top to bottom.

• Saturn
• Jupiter
• Mars
• Sun
• Venus
• Mercury
• Moon.

The Planetary Hours App

While learning to calculate planetary hours is nice, obsessing about it is an occultic mentality. Instead, I offer availing of today’s technology, employing apps like Planetary Hours. Being my personal choice, Planetary Hours is a web app providing all planetary hours based on your location. Hence, it gives the exact hours for days or weeks ahead.

This is crucial because it spares the mentioned calculations. It lets you invest that time into optimizing other aspects of your magick. One example is formulating maximally clear and impactful charges of intent. Another — engaging more coresponcences, and ensuring you go through all for worlds for the planet. While these are essential, calculating the hours manually isn’t. Nor does it make up for poor preparation and charge of intent.

The Most Impact

Theoretically, using planetary hours maximizes the attunement of your space to a planet or Sephirah. Ideally, that’s on the planet’s day in one or more (of its) hours. Somewhat less optimal scenarios include utilizing the hours, regardless of the day. And the day, despite the hours. A notion from the Renaissance is that while the day is crucial, the hour is even more so.

SRH and GRH

The rituals to use are SRH or GRH, which I prefer. There are also Aurum Solis techniques, which I never used and cannot discuss. According to some sources, GRH is so much better than SRH that it can bypass the whole planetary hours system. Based on personal experience, there’s some truth to that. The reason is the 4 identical hexagrams plus the fifth, which attune the space to the planet’s current place in space without waiting for hours or days. IMHO, this makes the operation maximally present and intentional. On the contrary, adding the day and the hour produces (somewhat) more readily and rapidly noticeable results. Let me know how it goes for you.

StarWalk 2

Previously, astrological maps were mandatory for finding the planets’ direction during their planetary hours. Luckily, that’s no longer the case with apps like StarWalk 2. The same inputs your location, providing the direction of any planet. It is an actual compass, so you cannot go wrong with it, ensuring you have the right direction when the right time comes.

Using Planetary Hours

Knowing all this, here’s an example of how to use planetary hours with the operant model. Feel free to tweak things based on the systems and methods you use.

• You become aware of the hour and the planet’s direction. Then, you become ready with all your tools, correspondences, declarations, seals, sigils, and/or objects.
• The hour starts, and you set the field based on your intent.
• You invoke ‘Godhead’ with a preferred version of the Middle Pillar, the Elevenfold Seal, or the Three Pillars Rite.
• Use a preliminary invocation by choice. An example would be portions from the bornless ritual.
• Depending on your style, you use a rite like 4 Elements SIRP or OBW.
• You declare that in the name of so and so, you will invoke so and so for such and such purposes, going from Atziluth to Assiah.
• Perform your hexagram ritual with all the names and or the Hebrew letter.
• You conjure the appropriate force going through the four worlds.
• You declare your official charge of intent with full force and emotion, again moving from Atziluth to Assiah and engaging as many correspondences as possible.
• You perform a Qabalistic Cross to seal the energy to your aura or an LBRP to disconnect it from it.
• Give license to depart.
• If you’ll meditate, do so before the hour closes.

Probability Shifts

Common reasons to use the Planetary Hours are to maximize the probability of something happening in your life and/or bring specific personality traits and characteristics via GRH, which deserves a separate post.

The Powers of the Planets

The planets’ peculiar characteristics are in 777, particularly in the “Magical Powers Western Mysticism” column. The attributions are Golden Dawn-based. Each planet has mystical and magical/practical aspects — the first is linked to the sphere, the latter — to the path. Such a dual nature lets the operator achieve both practical and mystical aims.

Charging Objects

Charging objects (amulets and talismans) is another reason for using planetary hours. This also follows the Moon’s phases, each lasting approximately two weeks.

A Moon Phase Tracker

To help with that, use a moon phases tracker. While free ones are everywhere, I use and suggest ‘The Moon: Calendar and Moon Phases.’ Made by Vitalli Gryniuk, the app is straightforward and not taxing to my eyes, which is something to appreciate. But that’s just my opinion. (Feel free to let me know what is yours.)