Astrological Hours

greek: ὥρα (hōra) — hour, season · latin: hora · egyptian: wnwt

Definition

The seasonal-hour system used in traditional astrology, in which the period from sunrise to sunset is divided into twelve equal day-hours and the period from sunset to sunrise into twelve equal night-hours. The length of an astrological hour varies with the season — longer day-hours in summer, shorter in winter — except at the equinoxes when day-hours and night-hours each equal sixty modern clock-minutes. The system underlies the doctrine of the planetary hours used in horary and electional practice.

In Tradition

The seasonal-hour framework is documented across Egyptian, Hellenistic, and medieval-Arabic astronomical practice. Belmonte and Lull preserve the Egyptian root: wnwt is the Egyptian priestly term for 'hour,' attested in Sauneron's Esna-temple inscriptions and underlying the New Kingdom tomb-ceiling star-clock apparatus. The Hellenistic and Arabic-medieval traditions layer onto the seasonal-hour scheme the planetary-hours doctrine, in which the seven traditional planets rule the twelve day-hours and twelve night-hours in repeating Chaldean-order sequence.

In Practice

Horary and electional practitioners use astrological hours in two interconnected ways. First, the hour-of-the-day is computed in seasonal-hour units (not modern clock-hours) by dividing the local daytime arc and nighttime arc each into twelve. Second, each of those twenty-four hours is assigned a planetary ruler in Chaldean-order sequence starting from the planet of the day (Sun on Sunday, Moon on Monday, and so on), producing the 'planetary hours.' A practitioner electing a moment for a magical, medical, or practical operation chooses an hour ruled by the planet whose nature suits the operation. The system also feeds the day-and-hour rulership table by which the seven-day week was traditionally derived. The Lilly horary tradition uses astrological hours throughout *Christian Astrology* Vol 2 in the planetary-hour-ruler check that accompanies the radicality conditions for a horary chart.

Historical Origin

The seasonal-hour system is documented in Egyptian astronomical practice from the New Kingdom forward — the diagonal star-clocks and decanal star-rising tables on tomb ceilings operate on the seasonal-hour framework. Belmonte and Lull's *Astronomy of Ancient Egypt* (Springer 2018) p. 314 records the priestly term wnwt and its Esna attestations. The Hellenistic-Arabic tradition layers the planetary-hour rulership scheme onto the seasonal-hour framework; Lilly preserves the doctrine in *Christian Astrology* (1647).

Etymology

Origin: Latin / Greek / Egyptian. Meaning: Latin hora, Greek ὥρα (hōra) = hour / season / time-marker; Egyptian wnwt = hour.

Further Reading