Magickal Timing There are a number of things that can be taken into account when it comes to timing your magick. What follows is a brief description of some aspects that may be important or useful. If you don’t want to do any of these you don’t have to. Magick and magickal practice is often very personal and people work with what they know works for them.    Moon Phases Moon phases are a common way of working out when to do a spell, and can be used with the planetary day or hour if desired. The moon’s cycle lasts 28 days, because that’s how long it takes to orbit the earth. The moon has no natural light; the light we see is reflected from the sun. However, the earth is orbiting the sun, and the moon is orbiting the earth causing shadows over parts of the moon. As a result there is only one day in this cycle that the full ‘face’ of the moon is reflecting (full moon) and there is also one day of the month when none of the moon can be seen (new or black moon). This is what causes the moon phases.

Generally speaking if you wish to do a spell that requires growth, or development then it is best to do it when the moon is Waxing (i.e. between dark moon and full moon when the portion of the moon that is visible is increasing). An example of this sort or spell would be a money spell or a spell to aid learning etc. If the spell you wish to perform involves destruction or lessening then it is best to do it when the moon is waning (i.e. between full moon and dark moon, when the portion of the moon that is visible is lessening). An example of this sort of spell would be a spell to end a relationship or to destroy a disease or something. The full moon is often associated with love, friendship, relationships and with completeness. It is also associated with Motherhood, so any spells that involve those sort of things should be done at full moon, while the black moon is associated with death and regeneration, secrecy, dark arts etc. This is a good time to work with past lives, to raise the dead, to perform exorcises and to do curses.

In some forms of paganism the moon phases are attributed to the different aspects of the goddess, Maiden, Mother and Crone, maiden being the waxing moon, mother being the full moon and the crone being the waning moon. The black moon is associated with the dark goddess who rules over death and the underworld, as well as secrecy, seeds, orgasms, etc. anything that is internal or hidden. These are often transposed onto times of the year and the festivals that take place there. The maiden being spring, the mother being summer, the crone being autumn and winter and the dark goddess being the depths of winter when everything is dead, though I see her as always being around to be honest. Obviously these timings have religious roots and would not be applicable to people who don’t follow those religions

DARK MOON - divination, astral travel, seeking the wisdom of the Dark Goddess, arcane knowledge

WAXING MOON - beginnings, increase, growth, health, healing, purification, psychic awareness, beauty, fertility, and positive magick.

FULL MOON - all positive magick, increase, growth, protection, love, healing, purification, psychic awareness, money, travel, obtaining.

WANING MOON - decrease, removal of problems, banishment of habits and addictions, disease, negative thoughts, jealousy, guilt, hurts, changes from old to new.

SOLAR & LUNAR ECLIPSES are dramatic moments both for their observers as well as for magicians. In the past, magicians were urged not to perform magick during eclipses. Today, many natural magicians use the suggestive power of an eclipse to fuel spells involving banishments, including the destruction of disease. These have been some timing suggestions. Let them be guides, not shackles!

 Time of Day

SUNRISE - time for rituals purification, business, success, study, employment, breaking addictions, travel releasing guilt and jealousy, healing disease, the conscious mind.

NOON - time for sunrise rituals as well as those involving magical and physical energy and strength, protection, money and courage.

SUNSET- rituals involving breaking addictions, weight loss, banishing misery and pain, transforming anguish and negative habits.

NIGHT - time for beauty, dreams, psychic dreams, psychic awareness, spirituality, sleep, sex, purification, love, friendships, peace, releasing stress, healing wounds.

 Weather

LIGHTNING STORMS are periods of intense energy. Rituals done during storms will be empowered by them, and may prove to be more effective. Protection rituals are ideal at these times.

RAINSTORMS are fine for purification, love, compassion, friendship, beauty rituals, & releasing guilt & jealousy.

SNOWSTORMS are the time for gentle magick, purification, & stilling emotions. release unrequited love.

HEAVY WINDS empower rites designed to break addictions, assist study, & travel spells.

SEARING HOT DAY charge rites of protection, courage, & energy.

THE FOUR WINDS  - You can use the wind to add strength to your spells. If you find that one day the wind happens to be blowing in a certain direction, you may find a way to use that influence. Figuring out which way the wind's blowing from is as easy as getting a windsock and weathervane or a compass.

When the wind blows from the north, the appropriate spell work might be those things that deal with practical matters, such as money or level headedness or planning.

When the wind blows from the east, the appropriate spell work might be those things involving change and rejuvenation, and catalytic spells, as well as artistic and spiritual endeavors.

When the wind blows from the south, the appropriate spell work deals with the passionate world and any spells that have to do with emotion at all.

When the wind blows from the west, the appropriate spell work has to do with healing and fertility (both literal and figurative), as well as matters having to do with intuition.

 The Seasons

The powerful effects of the seasons can also, according to some Earth magicians, subtly affect magickal workings. Traditionally, these types of magick are performed during these seasons:

SPRING is a time for healing; purification spring cleaning is one survival of this); psychic awareness; paying bills; fertility; planting magickal gardens; & ecological rituals. Air magick.

SUMMER is a time for love, marriage, friendship, beauty, protection, courage, magickal energy, physical energy, & strength. Fire magick.

AUTUMN is a time for money, employment, new possessions (including cars & homes). Water magick.

WINTER is a time for banishments of disease, habits & addictions, seeking past lives. This is a time for introspection, meditation, reading, & magickal exercises designed to renew the magician for the coming spring. Earth magick.

 Months

January: Safety, passages, protection
February: Well-being, forgiveness, restitution
March: Success, excellence, winning fights
April: Luck, openings, youthful energy
May: Development, advancement, Earth magick
June: Dedication, constancy, love
July: Authority, dignity, self-regulation
August: Peace, accord, symmetry
September: Spiritual attainment, understanding
October: Growth, positive change
November: Psychism, perception, kindness
December: Wisdom, sensibility, discretion

 The day correspondences are as follows:

The easiest way of timing your spells is to work on the day that corresponds to the magick you are planning on doing.

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

 Planetary Correspondences

Different planets tend to correspond to different sorts of magick too, so you would pick your day depending on what you were doing and the planet that influences it. The basic correspondences are as follows:

Moon = Intuition, Astral Travel, Women’s cycles, Birth and motherhood, Divination, Dreams, The Sea, Illusion (or Glamour magick) etc.
Mars = Courage, Power, War, Male issues, Lust, Energy, Revenge, Willpower, Discipline, Discord etc
Mercury= Communication, Business, Education, Employment, Information, Exams, Logic, Science, Travel, Magick (the learning and formal/scientific side of it) etc.
Jupiter = Career, Honor, Education, Philosophy, politics, Religion, Law, Luck, Money, Authorities etc.
Venus = Love, Beauty, Art, Friendship, Pleasure, Lust, Children, Relationships, Young women etc.
Saturn = Hardship, The Elderly, The Outdoors, Time, Animals, Drama, Grieving, The Home, Money, The Old Religion, Studying, Success, Property etc.
Sun = Peace, Power, Confidence, Friendship, Prosperity, Status, Success etc.

As you can see there is some overlap with some topics, but each planet has a general ‘feel’ about it and some topics are more obviously attributed than others.

 Planetary Hours

First,  these very rarely are actually hours. This is a method based around the basic principles of astrology. In astrology the sky is divided up into 12’s. There are 12 signs of the zodiac and 12 houses (portions of the sky). It is the interplay of these plus the position of the planets which astrologers use to predict the future and produce personality birth charts. When using the planetary hours the times of sunrise and sunset are necessary. These are often printed in diaries, or failing that an ephemeris (a table showing the daily movements of the sun moon and planets-you can get astronomical or astrological ones) will often show it or tide charts etc.

First, you need to decide whether or not you are working during the day or during the night. If you are working during the day you need to add up how much time (it’s easier to work this out in minutes) you have between sunrise and sunset. If you are working at night you need to work out how much time you have between sunset and sunrise. When calculating this it’s important to remember that time works in 60’s there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour and so on. Everything else in mathematics works in tens. Once you’ve calculated this you need to divide it by 12, this will give you the length of each planetary hour for that day.

So for example, let’s say you wanted to work magick on the 22nd of February 2002 during the daytime. The sun rises at 07.01 and sets at 17.28. There are 10 full hours between sunrise and sunset, so that’s 10*60=600. There are 27 minute’s left over so you add this to that number making 627 minutes. Divide this by 12 and you get 52.25 minutes. That is the length of each planetary hour for the daytime of February 22nd 2002. Needless to say the length will alter very slightly day to day, during the summer the planetary hours of the day will be long while they will be short at night, and vice versa during the winter.

The next step is to work out what planet you want to work with using the correspondences above. If you want to work with a particular Deity or force they are often attributed to a particular plant as well and so invoking them at a favorable time might be a good idea. Once you have decided which planet to work with the table below shows the order of the planetary hours for each day. Remember that if you are working during the day the first hour starts at sunrise and continues for the duration of that day’s hour, and at night the first starts at sunset and follows the same principle.

If you wanted to perform a long running spell, you could begin it in one hour and finish it in another, either in the same day or another day, (though if you want to finish it the same day, make sure there are 2 planetary hours for that planet on the day you wish to work). If you wanted to take this further you could apply further principles of astronomy to it. If you wish to work with, say, the planet Venus, but it is badly aspected or running retrograde (backwards) on the day or time you wish to work, it would be a good idea to wait until it is in a better position. However generally only people with a good knowledge of astronomy and an Ephemeris would choose to take this into consideration.

If you wanted to work during the day, with the Moon on the 22nd of February 2002, you work it out as follows. We’ve already calculated that each planetary hour last for 52.25 minutes. In this case it doesn’t get too complicated because 0.25 is a quarter, so each hour is 52 minutes and 15 seconds long. The moon is the 4th hour of the day, starting 3 planetary hours after sunrise. So sunrise was at 07.01, 52.25*3 = 156.75 or 156 minutes and 45 seconds so the moon hour start 156.75 minutes after sunrise which works out at 09.47 and 45 seconds, the moon hour will finish 52.25 minutes later which is 10.40. To be honest seconds don’t really matter unless you’re being REALLY pedantic, if you’re not counting seconds it will actually finish at 10.39 because the extra minute comes from adding the seconds together-however, over the course of a 12 hour period you will end up with 3 ‘spare’ minutes at the end if seconds are not taken into consideration.