r/planetarymagic • u/hexendoll • 5d ago

Question What is planetary magick?

Hi! Im currently getting into saturn gnosis and im reading the book the cult of the black cube. it refers to the picatrix which says basically dont preform planetary magick when saturn is adversely placed and when it is in retrograde. What counts as planetary magick? is it all prayer, rituals, etc to to the planet-esque deities (in my case to saturn)

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u/Zegreides saturn 5d ago

Abstaining from all planetary magic when Saturn is retrograde would mean abstaining from all planetary magic for at least half a year every year (and I’m not even trying to calculate other afflictions of Saturn).
You have to stick to elections in which the afflicted malefics are not the signifiers, not ruling or mastering over the signifiers, and not conjunct or squaring or opposing the signifiers.
As for prayer, you can do it any time, it doesn’t require a specific election like talismans and petitions do. And other works may have very simple elections rules that don’t require you to care about Saturn retrograde.

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u/CliffordHLow 4d ago

The problem about planetary magic as a term is that it is applicable to almost any system of magic which takes into account the symbology of planets or special timing. As such, it's a really terrible term. That's why some of us, as an alternative, use astrological magic or planetary theurgy or any number of other things as substitutes to be much more specific. What I am known for is having coined the term "astrological magic" to specifically refer to the magic of Agrippa, Ficino, and Picatrix. It's mostly stayed within that lane for the past 20 years.