Astrology
Background
Worship of heavenly bodies History of astrology Astrology and astronomy Glossary Planets Behenian Classical Zodiac Traditions, types, and systems Astrology and science Astrologers Astrological organizations
Traditions
Babylonian Chinese Hellenistic Hindu Islamic Jewish Tibetan Western
Branches
Natal Electional Horary Medical Financial Locational Psychological Meteorological
Astrological signs
Aries Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo Virgo Libra Scorpio Sagittarius Capricorn Aquarius Pisces
Symbols
Planet Metals
v t e

Aclassical planet is anastronomical object that is visible to thenaked eye and moves across the sky and itsbackdrop offixed stars (the common stars which seem still in contrast to the planets). Visible to humans on Earth there areseven classical planets (theseven luminaries). They are frombrightest to dimmest: theSun, theMoon,Venus,Jupiter,Mercury,Mars andSaturn.

Greek astronomers such asGeminus^[1] andPtolemy^[2] recorded these classical planets duringclassical antiquity, introducing the termplanet, which means 'wanderer' inGreek (πλάνηςplanēs andπλανήτηςplanētēs), expressing the fact that these objects move across thecelestial sphere relative to the fixed stars.^[3][4] Therefore, the Greeks were the first to document the astrological connections to the planets' visual detail.^[5]

Through the use oftelescopes other celestial objects like the classical planets were found, starting with theGalilean moons in 1610. Today the termplanet is used considerably differently, with a planetbeing defined as anatural satellite directly orbiting the Sun (orother stars) and having cleared its own orbit. Therefore, only five of the seven classical planets remain recognized as planets, alongsideEarth,Uranus, andNeptune.

The Babylonians recognized seven planets. A bilingual list in the British Museum records the seven Babylonian planets in the following order:^[6]

• The Moon,Sin.
• The Sun,Shamash.
• Jupiter,Merodach.
• Venus,Ishtar.
• Saturn,Ninip.
• Mercury,Nebo.
• Mars,Nergal.

InMandaeism, the names of theseven planets are derived from the seven Babylonian planets.^[7] Overall, the seven classical planets (Classical Mandaic:ࡔࡅࡁࡀ,romanized: šuba,lit. 'The Seven';ࡔࡉࡁࡉࡀࡄࡉࡀšibiahia, "planets"; or, combined,šuba šibiahia "Seven Planets"^[8]) are generally not viewed favorably in Mandaeism, since they constitute part of the entourage ofRuha, the Queen of the World of Darkness who is also their mother. However, individually, some of the planets can be associated with positive qualities. The names of the seven planets in Mandaic are borrowed fromAkkadian.^[7] Some of the names are ultimately derived fromSumerian, sinceAkkadian had borrowed many deity names from Sumerian.

Each planet is said to be carried in a ship. Drawings of these ships are found in variousMandaean scriptures, such as theScroll of Abatur. The planets are listed according to the traditional Mandaean order of the planets as mentioned in Masco (2012).^[9]: 87

The astrological symbols for the classical planets appear in the medieval Byzantine codices in which many ancient horoscopes were preserved.^[11] In the original papyri of these Greek horoscopes, there are found a circle with one ray () for the Sun and a crescent for the Moon.^[12]The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have been traced to forms found in late Greek papyri.^[13] The symbols for Jupiter and Saturn are identified as monograms of the initial letters of the corresponding Greek names, and the symbol for Mercury is a stylizedcaduceus.^[13]

A. S. D. Maunder finds antecedents of the planetary symbols in earlier sources, used to represent the gods associated with the classical planets.Bianchini'splanisphere, produced in the 2nd century,^[14] shows Greek personifications of planetary gods charged with early versions of the planetary symbols: Mercury has a caduceus; Venus has, attached to her necklace, a cord connected to another necklace; Mars, a spear; Jupiter, a staff; Saturn, a scythe; the Sun, acirclet with rays radiating from it; and the Moon, a headdress with a crescent attached.^[15]A diagram in Johannes Kamateros' 12th centuryCompendium of Astrology shows the Sun represented by the circle with a ray, Jupiter by the letterzeta (the initial ofZeus, Jupiter's counterpart inGreek mythology), Mars by a shield crossed by a spear, and the remaining classical planets by symbols resembling the modern ones, without the cross-mark seen in modern versions of the symbols.^[15] The modern Sun symbol, pictured as a circle with a dot (☉), first appeared in theRenaissance.^[12]

ThePtolemaic system used inancient Greek astronomy placed the planets by order of proximity to Earth in the then-currentgeocentric model, closest to furthest, as the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.^[16] In addition the day was divided into seven-hour intervals, each ruled by one of the planets, although the order was staggered (see below).

The first hour of each day was named after the ruling planet, giving rise to the names and order of theRoman seven-day week. Modern Latin-based cultures, in general, directly inherited the days of the week from the Romans and they were named after the classical planets; for example, in SpanishMiércoles is Mercury, and in Frenchmardi is Mars-day.

The modern English days of the week were mostly inherited from gods of the old Germanic Norse culture – Wednesday isWōden’s-day (Wōden orWettin eqv. Mercury), Thursday isThor’s-day (Thor eqv. Jupiter), Friday isFrige-day (Frige eqv. Venus). Equivalence here is by the gods' roles; for instance, Venus and Frige were both goddesses of love. It can be correlated that the Norse gods were attributed to each Roman planet and its god, probably due to Roman influence rather than coincidentally by the naming of the planets. A vestige of the Roman convention remains in the English name Saturday.

Inalchemy, each classical planet (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) was associated with one of the seven metals known to the classical world. As a result, the alchemical glyphs for the metal and associated planet coincide. Alchemists believed the other elemental metals were variants of these seven (e.g. zinc was known as "Indian tin" or "mock silver"^[18]).

Alchemy in theWestern World and other locations where it was widely practiced was (and in many cases still is) allied and intertwined with traditional Babylonian-Greek style astrology; in numerous ways they were built to complement each other in the search forhidden knowledge (knowledge that is not common i.e. the occult).Astrology has used the concept ofclassical elements from antiquity up until the present day today. Most modern astrologers use the four classical elements extensively, and indeed they are still viewed as a critical part of interpreting the astrological chart.

Traditionally, each of the sevenplanets in theSolar System as known to the ancients was associated with, held dominion over, and"ruled" a certain metal.

The list ofrulership is as follows:

• TheSun rulesGold ()
• TheMoon,Silver ()
• Mercury, Quicksilver/Mercury ()
• Venus,Copper ()
• Mars,Iron ()
• Jupiter,Tin ()
• Saturn,Lead ()

Some alchemists (e.g.Paracelsus) adopted theHermetic Qabalah assignment between thevital organs and the planets as follows:^[18]

Indian astronomy andastrology (jyotiṣa) recognise seven visible planets (including the Sun and Moon) and two additional invisible planets (tamo'graha); rahu and ketu.^[21][22]

Chinese astronomy andastrology recognise seven visible planets (including the Sun and Moon). Chinese astrology flourished during theHan dynasty (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD).^[23]

Mercury and Venus are visible only in twilight hours because their orbits are interior to that of Earth. Venus is the third-brightest object in the sky and the most prominent planet. Mercury is more difficult to see due to its proximity to the Sun. Lengthytwilight and an extremely low angle at maximumelongations make optical filters necessary to see Mercury from extreme polar locations.^[25] Mars is at its brightest when it is inopposition, which occurs approximately every twenty-five months. Jupiter and Saturn are the largest of the five planets, but are farther from the Sun, and therefore receive less sunlight. Nonetheless, Jupiter is often the next brightest object in the sky after Venus. Saturn's luminosity is often enhanced by its rings, which reflect light to varying degrees, depending on their inclination to theecliptic; however, the rings themselves are not visible to thenaked eye from the Earth.^{[citation needed]}

• Antikythera mechanism
• Behenian fixed star
• List of former planets
• List of Mesopotamian deities § Major deities
• Monas Hieroglyphica of John Dee
• Olympian spirits
• Worship of heavenly bodies
• Wufang Shangdi (the Classical planets in Chinese mythology).
• Navagraha (the Classical planets in Hindu mythology).

• Powell, Martin J."The Naked Eye Planets in the Night Sky (and how to identify them)".Nakedeyeplanets.com. Retrieved2023-10-01.
• Powell, Martin J."Wandering Stars: The Movements and Visibility Cycles of the Naked Eye Planets".Nakedeyeplanets.com. Retrieved2023-10-01.

• Chronology of Solar System Discovery

• Ancient astronomy
• Planets of the Solar System
• Solar System

• Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Classical Mandaic-language text
• Articles containing Sanskrit-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2023