PLANETARY HOURS
No records that are available to us serve to determine at what period in
the course of social evolution the need for a week of seven days first
made itself felt, nor can we discover who it was first invented it.
Newton believed that Chiron was the first to define the constellations
of the heavens, and this also was the opinion of the Greeks. But that is
to give to the mythical centaur a personal reality. It is true that we
may find him, along with his contemporary Hercules, by whose arrow he
met his death, among the constellations, and if it be the fact that the
Greeks exalted their heroes to the stars and shaped the constellations
so as to record their fame for ever, then we can only conclude that
Chiron did not define the constellations of either Sagittarius or
Hercules, whatever may have been his part in the matter so far as the
rest are concerned.
It is further to be observed that long before the period ascribed to the
famous centaur we have mention of the constellations in the Book of Job,
where Arcturus, the Pleiades, Orion and the Mazzaroth are mentioned.
Both Homer and Hesiod mention some of the constellations, but it is
known that Hipparchus, about 150 B.C., defined the limits of forty-eight
of the asterisms, while Ptolemy gave us a complete catalogue. Some
constellations have since been added by Tycho, Helvetius and others. But
from what has already been said on this subject it will be evident that
the mythology and astronomy of the Greeks was closely connected, but
this does not of necessity prove a Greek origin, for we have yet to
determine the origin of the myths. That many of these are shared by the
Assyfians, Aryans, Persians and Egyptians, seems to show that they had a
Chaldean origin. The Chinese have an astronomy which appears to be
unique and without parallel among other nations.
If we go back to the earliest record, the Chinese, we shall find that
they had no week of days, but a cycle of sixty days, and also one of
sixty years. But the days of the month were reckoned from the Moon’s
age, the day of the New Moon being called the first day. Thus we find in
the earliest record such expressions as “the first day of the first moon
he brought things to a conclusion in the temple of his ancestors,” and
“on the first day of the twelfth moon,” etc. Even the great Confucius
gives no hint of any week of seven days. In his Chun-Tsiu he makes such
entries as the following: “In the fifty-eighth year of the cycle and the
third year of the reign of Prince Yiu Kung, in the Spring, on the first
day of the Second Moon, the day being the sixth of the cycle (of sixty
days), the sun was eclipsed.” All his entries are of the same careful
and explicit nature, and expressed in the same terms, that is to say, in
reference to the Cyclic year, the number of the month, the year of the
reigning Prince of Lu, and the day of the cycle of sixty days.
The earliest divisions of time among the Aryans also follow the
Sixty-year period, and the use of the Tithi or Moon day is also to be
found in the earliest astronomical records. Nothing more, indeed, is
needed for an accurate record of time than an Epoch, a cycle of years
counted from that epoch, the number of the last lunation, and the day of
the month counted from that lunation. The introduction of a week of days
is an adjunct that has no special value in a time sense, and could only
have been the invention of a state of civilization in which ceremonies
and institutions of a weekly recurrence were required to be indicated
and fixed. We find mention of the week, however, in Sanskrit writings,
as Somavar (Monday), Kujavar (Tuesday), Buddhavar (Wednesday),
Brihaspativar (Thursday), Sukravar (Friday), Sanivar (Saturday) and
Suryavar (Sunday), but there do not appear to be sufficient grounds for
fixing an epoch at which they came into use.
The days of the week as we have them appear to be of Hebrew origin, and
probably were derived from the Chaldeans, for in the first place the
appointment of specific duties for the several days of the week,
culminating in the day of divine worship on the seventh or Sabbath day,
requires such a division of time, and in the second place it can be
shown that the order of the days of the week can only be accounted for
by reference to the Chaldean order of the planets, which, as has been
shown, has reference to their apparent velocities.
The Septenary division of days, etc., is distinctly Shemitic in its
origin, and we find accordingly that the system was extended by the
Hebrews to a period of seven years, and to a further period of seven
times seven years which was celebrated as the Jubilee. The cycle of
seven is not elsewhere found. Western nations have done what they can to
break down this old institution by associating the Sabbath with Sunday
instead of Saturday, and by celebrating the Jubilee at the end of fifty
years instead of at the end of forty-nine. But the teachings of the
astrologers and tenacity of the Jewish faith have served to keep the
astronomical and religious aspects of this institution intact.
But whereas we find difficulty in tracing the origin of the week-days
through any authentic records, we have still more difficulty in
ascertaining the principles by which the first day was allotted to the
Sun, the second to the Moon, and so forth. One cannot tell the day of
the week by looking at the sky or by taking into account any known
astronomical factor. But whatever may have been the reason for fixing on
a particular day as the Sun-day and beginning the week with it, it has
been adhered to ever since, and, so far as we astrologers and Kabalists
are concerned, it is satisfactory to know that it works out on empirical
test.
What are known as the Planetary Hours are derived from the succession of
the days of the week, commencing with the planet ruling and giving its
name to the day, and following the Chaldean cyclic order. Thus on a
Sunday the first hour is governed by the Sun, to which follow in
succession, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. On a
Saturday the first hour is ruled by Saturn, to which succeed in order,
Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. Then as there are twenty-four
hours in the day and seven hours in the planetary cycle, the latter will
be contained three times, making twenty-one hours, and there will be
three hours still to run. So if we begin with Sun on Sunday and follow
with the cycle through the day, we shall complete the third cycle with
Mars, and the twenty-second hour will be the beginning of the next cycle
under the rule of the Sun, to which succeeds twenty-third Venus,
twenty-fourth Mercury, and the first hour of the next day will be under
the rule of the Moon, which will accordingly be Monday, as shown in the
following tabular form, which may be extended at pleasure. The planetary
hours differ from the statute hours inasmuch as they are divisions of
the natural day and night. The day is counted from sunrise to sunset,
and the night from sunset to the next sunrise. From sunrise to noon is
the space of six planetary hours, and from noon to sunset six. Hence if
the day is fourteen hours long, each planetary hour will be equal to one
statute hour of sixty minutes and twenty minutes beside, making 1 hr. 20
min. of civil time.
The seventh hour will commence at noon and will last for eighty minutes,
and the eighth hour will begin at 1.20 and will also last for eighty
minutes. The foregoing table shows the afternoon or second quadrant of
six planetary hours on the 5th of July, when the day is found to be 16
hrs. 28 min. in duration, one-half of which is 8 hrs. 14 min. One-sixth
of this is 1 hr. 22 min. 20 sec., which is successively added to Noon to
find the beginnings of the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth
hours. The last hour thus begins at 6.52 and ends at 8.14. The
subdivisions of the hour are one-seventh of 1 hr. 22 min. 20 sec., which
amounts to about 11 min. 46 sec., say 12 min. This being continually
added, from noon onwards, gives the beginnings of the subdivisions of
the Hour, as shown in the table. In my _Kabala_ I have shown the
practical working of these hours and Periods of the day so that there is
no need to repeat the process in this place.
[Illustration: Figure 18. Planetary Hours.]
The Kabalists and Thaumaturgists have always had recourse to the
Planetary Hours for the purpose of performing their operations under
specific influences, and anybody who will take the trouble to note the
time of an event happening and compare it with the nature of the planet
ruling in that hour will find ample reason for confirming the scheme as
we have it from the ancient Hebrews. But this, perhaps, involves a more
intimate knowledge of astrology than is professed by the average man.
[Illustration: Figure 19.]
It may, therefore, be of use to the student if the general
significations of the planets are here given.
The SUN signifies the father, ruler, or person in authority, gold,
health, life, matters relating to government, preferment, honours,
inaugurations and constitutions, male life generally, the daytime.
The MOON relates to the mother, public bodies, silver, white fabrics
such as linen; changes, matters relating to public affairs, women, the
night, and female life generally.
MARS refers to all youths and marriageable men, fire, iron and steel,
anger, strife, muscular force, cuts, burns and wounds, blood, death,
things that are scarlet or red, fevers, enterprises, operations,
incisions, soldiers and pioneers.
MERCURY has reference to boys and scholars, writings, papers, short
journeys, buying and selling, deeds of writing, food, clothing,
furniture and personal equipment, trade, profession, speech, quotations.
JUPITER has relation to affairs of justice, gain, increase, expansion;
to lawyers, insurance, religion, philosophy; affairs of grandeur and
display; hopes and fears, wishes, expectations, money and success.
VENUS refers to young women of a marriageable age, to engagements,
births, weddings, social functions, pleasures, theatres, music, art,
peace, rest and happiness.
SATURN is related to privation, darkness, solitude, coldness, hatred,
jealousy, heavy weights, gravity, soberness, gloom, doubts,
difficulties, falling, loss, sickness, aged people, old associations,
memories, black and sombre colours, mourning, death.
In a word, the characteristics of a letter or event will be: In the hour
of the Sun—Honours; that of the Moon—Changes; that of Mars—Strife; that
of Mercury—Business; that of Jupiter—Gain; that of Venus—Pleasure; that
of Saturn—Loss.
It is to be observed that the use of the statute hour in connection with
planetary action has arisen from the consideration of their
universality, and an equatorial scheme in which the Sun rises at six
o’clock approximately would thus yield a day of twelve hours, and each
quadrant would embrace six hours of little more or less than sixty
minutes each in duration. But the application of the statute hour to
sunrise in high northern latitudes would appear to be without adequate
foundation, and in effect we find that the results depending thereon are
not consistent. It is these inconsistencies, arising from the
introduction of new elements into the ancient scheme, and the general
neglect into which the whole subject has fallen, that has given the
impression that the ascriptions are fanciful and the matter not worth
investigation. I know enough of the matter, however, to warrant my
calling attention to these Planetary Hours as most worthy of close study
by students of celestial influence.
A considerable field of research lies open to the diligent student. It
has to be finally determined, for instance, whether apparent sunrise is
to be taken as the basis of the calculations or the true Sun’s centre
rising. The latter is not subject to corrections for parallax, nutation,
and aberration, but depends on the rising of the Sun’s longitude on the
celestial horizon, the false horizon being ignored. The celestial
horizon, it should be observed, is always 90° from the Zenith. The
formula for this calculation is: Log. tang. latitude of place + log.
tang. Sun’s declination = log. sine of Sun’s ascensional difference. For
North declination add to 90° and for South declination subtract from
90°. The result is the semiarc diurnal of the Sun, and twice this is the
diurnal arc or the time the Sun remains above the horizon. Convert to
time at the rate of four minutes for every degree and four seconds for
every minute of arc.
We have then to determine whether sunrise is the correct starting point,
or whether it should not be noon, as in agreement with the original
Chaldean conception of the division of the circle into “evening” and
“morning.”
I may say that in my experience the count should be made from sunrise,
that the true Sun’s centre rising should be taken, and that the Chaldean
order of the Hours should be preserved. I have also found that the
subdivisions play quite a minor part in the determination of results,
and that all events falling within the limits of the Planetary Hour
should be found subject to the ruler of that Hour, and only in a
subsidiary degree to the ruler of the subdivision of the Hour. I may now
pass to a consideration of another aspect of this interesting subject.