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Tables of Hours: Rulership | Magical Names | Attributes | How to Read the Tables

Neron Tzadkiel, our resident qabbalist and oriental scholar, takes a brief look at some of the secrets of time, by unveiling the mysterious arcanum of the hours and their place in the scheme of things.

The tables in this article reveal the planetary rulerships of the hours, as well as the traditional, quabbalistic names and attributes assigned to each magical being and the days and hours over which they have dominion.

Click to view the Tables:
1. Table of Rulership
2. Table of Magical Names
3. Table of Attributes

In order to understand the method of reading the tables, click here:
How to Read the Tables.

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The Hidden Energies of Hours

The ancients viewed life in a very different perspective from that of most of us today. Their perceptions were much more tightly attuned to mysterious forces of nature that have only recently begun to be rediscovered by science, after several centuries of "rational" ignorance and misunderstanding...

Each day is now divided into 24 equal hours of 60 minutes each, as defined by the clock. However, in earlier times, time was not so rigid. For those dwelling in the days when time was measured by the sundial, things were more flexible. This is the time when astrology was first developed, as a way of understanding the natural rhythms.

Each day of the week has its traditional planetary ruler, and the planetary hours are calculated accordingly. Here is a table of the days and their traditional planetary rulers:

Day		Planet
Sunday		Sun
Monday		Moon
Tuesday		Mars
Wednesday		Mercury
Thursday		Jupiter
Friday		Venus
Saturday		Saturn

This table is in the order of the days of the week, starting with Sunday, but the hours of the day are ruled by planets in the Chaldean order from Saturn inward to the Moon. The days began at sunset, not midnight, and the period of daylight was divided into twelve equal parts, as was the period of the night. Thus hours could be more or less than 60 minutes each, as judged by today's "atomic clock standard", though not by theirs (although, or course for more precise measurements as needed, say, in cooking, they did have instruments like the water clock and the hourglass). The astrological day follows the same flexible system.

Hours also vary with the location for which they are calculated. According to Anthony Louis:

"The first hour of the day, starting at sunrise, is ruled by the day ruler. For example, the first "hour" after sunrise on Monday is ruled by the Moon, on Tuesday by Mars, on Wednesday by Mercury, on Thursday by Jupiter, on Friday by Venus, on Saturday by Saturn, and on Sunday by the Sun. The remaining hours are assigned rulers in Chaldean order (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon) so that the 1st, 8th, 15th, and 22nd hours are ruled by the same planet.

"Traditionally, for a horary chart to be considered radical, the planetary hour ruler had to be compatible with the horary Ascendant ruler. Either the hour ruler and Ascendant ruler had to be the same planet, or the two rulers had to be of the same nature or triplicity. In electional astrology, it is considered fortunate to act during the planetary hour whose ruler makes a good aspect to the Moon, especially if the hour ruler is also the day ruler and the planet ruling the hour also rules the matter of the election."

Many people in the 21st century have difficulty in grasping this perspective, the underlying platform of understanding, which imbues the world of the astrologer, the initiate and the shaman. But hidden, mysterious energies are not unknown to science. Scientific instruments and arcane mathematical formulæ are presently calibrating the scale and presence of powerful electromagnetic, nuclear and other forces, dark energy, anti-matter, dark matter and the like, which had been completely unsuspected by conventionally educated men and women the space of a few decades ago.

Yet there are those who would still deny the existence of anything that cannot be measured and defined by current, or often even quite outdated technologies. These individuals, comprising a broad spectrum of our educational and scientific communities, are caught up in a world-view that clearly exhibits signs of its 18th and 19th century origins.

This view of the universe—one that envisages a sort of clanking, mechanistic environment, subject only to the ravages of entropic tendencies—sees our world as being totally devoid of consciousness, empy of spirit. Devotees of the doctrines of materialism and its retarded child behaviourism, have been known to state fervently that consciousness is merely a byproduct of chemical reactions in the brain, or even that the very concept of consciousness is completely imaginary! This materialistic outlook, however, is one that has fortunately begun to fall from favour.

Levels of Consciousness

Many intelligent and sensitive people in our society now recognise that life and consciousness exist on many levels, both concrete and subtle. Our five senses have been proven by science to be quite limited in their ability to perceive reality. Even our most sensitive machinery has been shown to interact with its environment in such a way as to actually affect the results of the experiment that is being monitored (in other words, nothing that is looked at behaves in quite the same way as it would were it not to be looked at!).

The ancients had a rather more relaxed and holistic view of the world, which is after all the matrix of our existence (at least those among them who had been initiated into the meaning of the mysteries of life). They perceived the living unity of reality and its periodic subdivision into a universal system of hierarchies, consisting of greater or lesser degrees of consciousness and life force.

These varying degrees, or units of consciousness, have been described by many people who have come into personal contact with such forces, or beings, in both past and present times. The Church refers to these forces as angelic (or demonic) entities. Knowledge of such powers is widespread and fully documented, though much scoffed at and pooh-poohed in modem times. Perhaps I should add that such energies are also known (and named) in all other religions and ancient philosophic systems, as well as in the Judeo-Christian-lslamic ethos, with which most of us in the West are more familiar.

Myriads of Beings

Myriads of intelligent and crypto-intelligent entities inhabit every part of the universe, at every level. Some are localised; others are extremely wide-ranging. Some are denizens of the earth; some inhabit the elements, according to their natures. People may refer to these energies as Allies, Guides, Guardian Angels, Genii, or Spirits, but every one of us has at least one of these beings assigned to travel with us along our journey through life. Some stay with us always; others appear for specific reasons, like stations on our track.

It is possible to contact and communicate with these beings, or energy structures; it can also be quite useful and mutually beneficial to do so. It has traditionally been considered easier to make contact with these essences at particular times and under conditions that are harmonious with their natures. Without going into any great detail about the methods that should be explored, this article presents tables indicating the planetary and angelic rulerships of the hours of the day.

Please have a look at the tables that I have supplied, so you can put this information to work for you! In order to understand the method of reading the tables, click here: How to Read the Tables.

View Tables of Hours: Planetary Rulership | Magical Names | Attributes | How to Read the Tables