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For as long as Saturn remained the boundary of the solar
system, the Sun, Moon and five planets explained and defined the totality
of human experience in a remarkably complete and comprehensive way. Symbolically,
the number seven is a number of completion, harmony and balance. There
are seven notes in the octave, seven colours in the rainbow, seven wonders
of the world and seven ‘ages of man’, describing our expanding awareness
as we grow to maturity:
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they
have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many
parts, his acts being seven ages. [24]
The Planetary days
The seven days of the week are particularly significant
astrologically, since each of the days in the week is named after one
of the planets. The table below describes the derivation of the names
of the days of the week.
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Day
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Planet
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Derivation
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Sunday
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Sun’s Day
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French: Dimanche
German: Sonntag (Sun’s day)
Italian: Domenica (Lord’s day)
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Monday
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Moon’s Day
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French: Lundi (la Lune)
German: Montag (Moon ‘s day)
Italian: Lunedi
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Tuesday
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Mars’ Day
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French: Mardi
German: Dienstag
Italian: Martedi
Anglo-Saxon: Tiwesdaeg, after the Teutonic god of war
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Wednesday
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Mercury’s Day
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French: Mercredi
German: Mittwoch (‘midweek’), but associated with Wotan or Wodin
(Odin), a shape-shifter god of wisdom, poetry and magic words,
lord of the Runes
Italian: Mercoledi
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Thursday
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Jupiter’s Day
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French: Jeudi, derived from the Roman god Jove
German: Donnerstag, ‘thunder day’, after Thor, the Norse god of
thunder
Italian: Giovedi (Jove’s day)
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Friday
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Venus’ Day
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French: Vendredi
German: Freitag
Italian: Venerdi
Anglo-Saxon: Frigedaeg, the goddess Freya’s day
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Saturday
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Saturn’s Day
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French: Samedi
German: Samstag
Italian: Sabato (Sabbath)
Anglo-Saxon: Saeternesdaeg
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What is interesting about the seven-pointed star above is
that, if you follow the arrows from planet to planet, they describe the
order of the days of the week. In addition to this, the planets around
the outside of the star follow the ancient ‘Chaldean’ order of the planets,
based on their increasing speed from the point of view of the earth:
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus Mercury Moon. You may even remember
the traditional nursery rhyme describing the characteristics of people
born on each day of the week:
Monday’s child is fair of face (round and pale like
the Moon)
Tuesday’s child is full of grace (the strength and grace of an
athlete - Mars)
Wednesday’s child is full of woe (after Wotan or Wodin, inventor
of language and writing, compared to Mercury)
Thursday’s child has far to go (after the wide-ranging and restless god
Thor, Norse god of thunder)
Friday’s child is loving and giving (with
the qualities of Venus)
Saturday’s child works hard for a living
(with the qualities of Saturn)
But the child who is born on the Sabbath
day (Sunday) is bonny
and blithe and good and gay (with the qualities of the Sun)
The point about this is that for thousands of years
astrology has been based on the idea of seven as the number of completion.
Saturn represented the ultimate temporal authority, the ‘ring pass not’ of
the solar system and of the psyche. The discovery of the three outer
planets and of Chiron has catapulted us into a very new world indeed,
and we will look at these next.
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