The Powwow Guy

The Pennsylvania Germans have been using astrological information for centuries to plan things like planting, harvesting, weeding, animal husbandry, fixing fenceposts, bailing straw, and any other number of things. Astrological timing is important in powwowing because it can fine tune your work to take place during compatible astrological conditions. The subject of astrology can be extremely complex, but on this page you will find the very basics that can get you started with adding this extra depth to your powwowing. 

In Astrology, there are seven planets that we are concerned with. They are:

The Sun (I know, it's not really a planet.. but in astrology, it is considered one)

The Moon (same explanation as the Sun)

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

You might notice that I did not mention Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. These three are considered "higher octaves" of the planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars respectively. For the purpose of planetary hours, we don't worry about those three planets.

Each planet has specific energies that go along with it. They also each govern different parts of the body and different agricultural activities.

The Sun - rules the heart. Day and hours of the sun are favorable to the destruction of noxious growth. Weeds, briars, and bushes cut off in the waning moon on the day or hour of the sun will be better destroyed than if done at any other time. Wood cut for burning during day or hour of the sun will burn longer and better. Success, fortune, fatherhood, and happiness are energies associated with the Sun. Our pride, our will, our purpose, our goals, all fall under the rulership of the Sun. A favorable day/hour for healing and protection work or uncovering the identity of a witch or powwowing for men's troubles.

The Moon - rules the breasts and womb. Seeds planet during the day or hour of the moon germinate quickly and ensure an abundant yield. Make sure all gardening is done before full moon. If done from full to dark moon, blooms may be abundant but there will be little yield of fruit or vegetable. Motherhood, the home, children, family, things that make us feel safe, and secrets are energies associated with the Moon. Favorable day/hour for divination or powwowing for women's troubles and children.

Mercury - rules the arms, lungs, and hands. Fertilize the ground during the day or hour of Mercury. Best time to plant above-ground vegetables. Communication, breathing, travel, thoughts, writing, speech, siblings, education, and technology are energies associated with Mercury. Favorable time for divination, powwowing for babies troubles, and distance healing.

Venus - rules the throat and neck. Will do well for all root crops of quick growth. Plant potatoes during the waning moon in the day/hour of Venus for best yield. Venus rules such things as giving, sharing, compromise, beauty, love, value, art, money, and the things that bring us happiness. Powwow for throat and neck issues. Make talismans for finance or love.

Mars - rules the head. Seeds planted in this sign produce vines or stalks. All crops that grow above ground should be planted in the day/hour of Mars during the waxing moon. Energy, activity, leadership, survival, courage, battles, war, enemies, all fall under the influence of Mars. Powwow for burns and cuts or bleeding wounds. Anti-hex work can be done in hour/day of Mars. 

Jupiter - rules the thighs and hips. Day/hour of Jupiter is unfavorable for planting above ground crops. Potatoes and radishes will do well if planted in hour/day of Jupiter during waning or dark moon. Exploration, honesty, idealism, expansion, wisdom, wealth, visions, faith, greed are all under the rulership of Jupiter. Talismans for catching thieves are favored at this time.

Saturn - rules the knees and teeth. Produces rapid growth of roots or stalks if planted in hour/day of Saturn. Ambition, restriction, banishing, curse-breaking, verhexing are all favored during hour/day of Saturn. During dark moon, work to return hexes to the witch. During waxing moon, work for protection.

Each day of the week is "ruled" by one of the seven planets, as follows:

Sunday - ruled by the Sun

Monday - ruled by the Moon

Tuesday - ruled by Mars

Wednesday - ruled by Mercury

Thursday - ruled by Jupiter

Friday - ruled by Venus

Saturday - ruled by Saturn

So, for example, if someone contacts you and states they need powwowing for catching a thief, you know from the information above that Thursday may be the best day for making a talisman for such things. If you can't wait for a specific day, you can do the work during the appropriate planetary hour, as explained below.

Just as each day of the week is ruled by a specific planet,  so too are specific hours of each day ruled by the planets. These are known as planetary hours. Every day has 12 planetary hours that run from sunrise to sunset. These are known as daylight planetary hours or, alternatively, as sunrise planetary hours. To calculate, you will need to know the sunrise and sunset times for your area.

For example: Sunrise 5:41am and Sunset 8:24pm

Now you translate this into minutes. 5:41am to 8:24pm is 883 minutes.

Now divide those minutes by 12 to get the length of each planetary hour.

883/12=73.6 which we round up to 74.

You have now divided the daylight minutes into 12 "hours" of 74 minutes each.

The list of planetary hours changes each day, beginning with that day's planetary ruler, as follows:

Sunday

Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars

Monday

Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury

Tuesday

Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter

Wednesday

Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus

Thursday

Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn

Friday

Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun

Saturday

Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon

So, for example, it's Sunday at 5:41am, which means your first planetary hour is ruled by the Sun. The hour of the Sun goes from 5:41am until 6:55am. The next planetary hour goes from 6:56am until 8:00am. It is ruled by Venus. The next planetary hour goes from 8:01am to 9:15am and is ruled by Mercury. Continue in this fashion until you have all 12 hours filled. You will notice that you only have 7 planets. When you get to hour 8, you start over at the beginning with the Sun then continue on until all 12 planetary hours are assigned a ruler.

If you are calculating planetary hours for Monday, then you would start your first hour with the Moon as the ruler and continue through the list for Monday. And so on through each day of the week.

You can also work with nighttime, or sunset, planetary hours. These begin at the minute of sunset and end the minute of sunrise the next morning. You would calculate these exactly the same as you do the daylight hours, by translating the time into minutes and dividing by 12 then assigning each hour a ruler based on the day of the week. Your first nighttime planetary hour will be the planet next in succession after your last daytime planetary hour. So, for example, on Sunday your last daytime hour would be Saturn, so your first nighttime hour will be Jupiter.

For a great planetary hour calculator, so you won't have to do the math yourself, go HERE

It can definitely seem a little overwhelming when you are first using planetary hours. But once you get it, you'll find that timing your powwowing will make things more successful. 

Let's look at a scenario.

Margaret believes she is the victim of a curse. She comes to you and would like four things:

1-She wants to know who put the curse on her.

2-She wants you to remove the curse.

3-She wants you to send the curse back to the witch who put it on her.

4-She wants you to give her a protection charm to protect from future curses.

This is a pretty big list of things for you to do and you'll need all the help you can get, so you will plan your work for correct astrological conditions.

To begin, you will need to do some divination to find the identity of the witch. Sundays are good for this. Mondays are too as the Moon rules secrets. Wednesdays are also good for this. So let's say you choose Sunday to do your divination. To make it even more effective, you plan to do the divination during the sunset hour of the Sun.

Now that you know the identity of the witch, it's time to remove the curse. Saturdays are good for this so you work in the hour of Saturn on a Saturday. Saturdays are also good for sending curses back to the witch, so you plan this part of your work for the late sunset hour of Saturn. If you can't do the second part on Saturday, you can wait until a Saturn hour on Sunday, or even a Mars hour. You do have options.

Finally, your client wants a protective charm. Tuesdays are a good choice for this type of work so you plan to work in the sunset planetary hour of the Moon, or Saturn, or Mars on Tuesday.

As you can see, some situations may be complex and require work at different times. You may also choose to wait for the appropriate Moon phase, as explained below.

The moon goes from New to Full to Dark every 28 days. It begins as a thin crescent, waxes until it's Full, then begins to diminish until it is dark. 

When the moon is new and waxing toward Full, you have 14 days of building energy. You can use this time for positive work, such as healing or creating something.

Once the moon is full, it begins to diminish, or wane. You have 14 more days to work for banishing, eliminating, removing, verhexing, and other types of powwow that will make something go away.

If you combine this information with the daily and hourly planetary information above, you can see how the timing of your powwow can really fine tune things and increase your chances for success.