Planetary Hours

Planetary hours are not the same as the sixty-minute hours that we use for normal time-keeping. The day is split into two periods, daytime and nighttime. Sunrise to sunset is considered daytime. Sunset to sunrise of the next day is nighttime. Then these two periods are each divided into twelve equal length hours, which are the planetary hours. The planetary hours of the day and the planetary hours of the night will be of different lengths except on the Equinoxes, when light and darkness are balanced.

Each planetary hour is associated with a planet. These can be used to fine-tune a magickal working. This is one step up from performing magick on the day ruled by the planet best suited for the goal. This will give you a specific hour to work the magick.

So say you're planning to cast a money spell. Jupiter rules money and prosperity, so you'd want to perform your spell on a Thursday. But to make the spell more precise and give it more "weight", you can calculate the planetary hours for the upcoming Thursday. Four planetary hours are ruled by Jupiter (two of day, two of night), so once the exact times are figured out, you have your pick of those hours in which to perform that money spell.

Planetary hours are also good for when you can't wait till the appropriate day. If you needed that money, like, yesterday, and today is Saturday, do the spell today but aid it along by doing it during one of the Jupiter hours.

These can also aid you when other things may be working "against" you, or if you're sick but still have to work some magick anyway.

Do you have to use the planetary hours? 'Course not, silly. But it certainly doesn't hurt, it may help, and besides, it's fun.

Calculating Planetary Hours

Find out the time for the sunrise and sunset. You can obtain that information from the U.S. Naval Observatory website or from your local newspaper in the Weather section.

Divide the number of minutes between sunrise and sunset by 12. This gives you the length of a daytime planetary hour.

Subtract the number of minutes in a daylight hour from 120. This gives you the length of a nighttime planetary hour.

For example, say the sun rises in your area at 7:00 a.m. and sets at 5:00 p.m. This would give a daylight period of 14 hours, which is 840 minutes. Dividing that 840 by 12 gets 70. So, for this day, there would be 70 minutes in the daytime planetary hour. This means that the first daytime planetary hour would run from 7:00 a.m. to 8:10 a.m., the second would run from 8:10 a.m. to 9:20 a.m., etc. Subtracting 70 from 120 gets 50, so there would be 50 minutes in the nighttime planetary hour. The first nighttime planetary hour would run from 5:00 p.m. to 5:50 p.m., the second would run from 5:50 pm. to 6:40 p.m., etc.

The Sequence of the Planetary Hours

These tables of the planetary hours are from 'The Greater Key of Solomon', and are the most widely used.

Book of Shadows