Planets, Signs & Magical Timing
Choose the day and the hour for every working, the way the old books didThe Old Astrologers' Craft
Choose the day, the hour and the Moon for any working, from the old astrologers' own rules, with the reason beside each one.
- Find the hour you're in tonight, in ten minutes, with a clock and your sunset.
- Know the why: each herb's planet in Culpeper's and Lilly's words, every quotation dated and checked.
- Work with the Moon by day or night: the old rules go by her age and her sign, and both hold all day.
- Make it yours: worksheets and a log for the rule you followed and what you noticed.
160 pages · 7 x 10 in paperback · black-and-white interior with Gerard's woodcuts of 1633.
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Choose your hour the old way, and know the reason behind every rule.
You're the one who wants to know why. Why rosemary belongs to the Sun. Why sowing waits for a growing Moon. Who said so, and when.
Much of the old astrologers' craft was choosing when: the day, the hour, the Moon. They called a chosen time an election. The almanacs on the kitchen shelf printed what each day and each Moon was good for.
Now you work from their pages. You'll read Lilly's rule for the hours, Culpeper's planet for each herb and the almanacs' Moon in every sign, then follow four steps to a time of your own.
Tonight takes ten minutes: today's planet, your sunset, a clock. Then a sprig of that hour's herb in a cup of water, and one line in your log.
You go looking for when, and you get...
"Wait for the full moon." "No, the new moon." "Never in daylight." Three answers in one thread.
Correspondence lists that give rosemary a planet and never say who said so, or when.
Horoscope columns about who you are, and not one word about when to begin.
Apps that hand you a number and nothing to do with it.
That's what's left when the working half of astrology gets dropped.
Every rule with its book and year: Lilly 1647, Culpeper 1653, Digges 1555, Tusser 1580. Or the word Modern, said plainly.
Each herb's planet in Culpeper's own line, with Lilly and Agrippa beside it where they differ.
Where the old books disagree, both of them side by side, and a line to write down which you chose.
Every date, hour, sunrise and Moon computed, then checked against NASA JPL Horizons and the US Naval Observatory.
Numbered steps for today, and a log for what you did and what you noticed.
YOU ALWAYS KNOW WHEN, WHY, AND WHO SAID SO.
Work with the Moon by daylight, with the old almanacs behind you.
"Can I do a moon working in the daytime?" Online, the answers cancel each other out. The old books answered it plainly.
"I gather them about noon, on the day of the full of the moon"
Samuel Deane, a minister and farmer in Portland, Maine, wrote that of his apples in 1790. At noon that day the Moon was under the ground. He went by her day, not her light.
- The old Moon rules go by her age and her sign. Growing, full or waning, her day of the month, the sign she's in: all of it holds from sunrise to sunset.
- The almanacs printed her sign beside each day, not each night.
- Only the planets' hours split day from night, and you count those from your own sunrise and sunset.
The one old rule that leans the other way is about felling timber, and the page prints it too. Want the quiet of the night anyway? Choose it for yourself. The book labels that answer Modern, because it's ours.
Gather rosemary in the Sun's own hour, by Culpeper's rule.
OLD PATTERN, ADAPTED · CULPEPER, 1653 · LILLY, 1647
Culpeper gave every herb a planet, and for some he gave the hour to gather it. For angelica, in 1653:
"let it be gathered either in his hour or in the hour of Jupiter"
Then he added: "Observe the like in gathering the Herbs of other Plants". The page carries his rule to rosemary, which is the Sun's in his lists and in Lilly's, and the dashed box says what was left out: the parts that need a full chart.
Then you do it:
- Pick your Sunday and its Moon, then the hour: the first starts at sunrise, the eighth seven day hours later.
- In that hour, cut a few sprigs. Take from several stems, never more than a third of the plant.
- Tie them and hang them head down in a dry, shady place for about two weeks, away from candles, the stove and heaters.
- Write it down: the date, the hour, the Moon, and which old book you followed.
Worked for you: Sunday, June 20, 2027, New York, hour 1 from 5:25 am to 6:40 am. Full Moon or waning? The old books differ, and the page prints both. All seven planet chapters end this way: a working, its election card, and a page to make it yours.
Open it anywhere and find the time for your next working
Five parts: before you begin, the seven planets, the Moon's month, the twelve signs, and choosing the time. Then the hours tables, four worksheets and your timing log.
Start with what you're doing
Thirteen needs, from protecting the house to sowing seeds. Each row gives the planet, the day, the Moon the almanacs chose, the herbs and the page that says why. The facing page gives every day's planet and hours.
The day a queen was crowned
At Lord Robert Dudley's command, John Dee wrote what the old astrologers would make of the day set for Elizabeth I's crowning. We computed the day itself: a Sunday, the Sun's day. Every planet opens with a documented story like this one.
Each herb's planet, in Culpeper's words
Rosemary, angelica, marigold, salad burnet, saffron and bay: Culpeper's line, his 1652 list, Lilly and Agrippa where they differ, how you use it, and its pet line from the ASPCA.
Apples picked at noon
In 1790 Samuel Deane gathered his apples about noon on the day of the full Moon, and kept them sound till May. At noon she was under the ground. The old books went by her day, not her light.
Twelve signs, read for timing
Each sign on two pages: its element, its planet, what Lilly and Ptolemy wrote, what the almanacs chose the Moon in that sign for, and her 2027 dates in it, waxing or waning.
The planet of every hour
One grid for every week of every year, and sunrise and sunset tables for Houston, New York, London and Sydney, so you can count the hours where you live.
Your own record
A minister's almanac diary of 1767 shows the way. Then rows for the date, the working, the hour, the Moon, the rule you followed and what you noticed.
What you'll be doing with the book open
A few of the things to do, with the pages they're on.
- Find the hour you're in tonight. Today's planet, your sunset, a clock and ten minutes, with a worked Friday night in New York beside the steps (p 11).
- Look up any need on one spread. The Timing Finder gives its planet, day, Moon and herbs, and the page with the old book's reason (pp 6 to 7).
- Cut sage on a Thursday morning, in Jupiter's first hour. Lilly's gathering rule for Jupiter's herbs, with the Moon in his signs if you can (p 42).
- Write a letter in Mercury's hour. On a Wednesday, in the first half of his hour, as the book of 1663 advised, with the Moon in Gemini, Cancer or Virgo (p 82).
- Sow cucumber seeds in a growing Moon in Cancer. In the Moon's own hour, in full daylight: Digges' sowing signs of 1555 and Hill's first quarter of 1577 (p 99).
- Read each planet's card. Its day, its hours, its metal, its colors, its sign and its herbs, each with the book that gives it (pp 24 to 93).
- Add up Agrippa's square of the Sun. Every row, column and diagonal makes 111, as he wrote in 1651. Seven squares, number for number, his spirits and seals left out (p 57).
- Choose your own time, and write it down. Four worksheets, a page for when the old rules clash, and a timing log (pp 148 to 153).
Check any rule yourself: the book, the year, the page.
Ten old books on one line of time, from Ptolemy, about 150, through Chaucer, the shepherds' Kalender, Digges, Tusser, Lilly, Agrippa and Culpeper, to Franklin and Sibly.
- Every quotation checked word for word against the text of its source, old spelling kept, with a plain reading beside it in italic.
- Lilly's Christian Astrology of 1647 read on the page images of the Wellcome Collection copy.
- Three labels on the rules: Old, Old pattern, adapted, or Modern. When a rule was re-keyed, a box says what changed and why.
- You can check them. The sources, where to read each old book free online, and how to check a quote are at the back (pp 154 to 156).
Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and the newspaper sun-sign column came later. Where they appear, they're labeled Modern.
Made for the witch who wants the when and the why
Skip it if you want
- Sun-sign readings of who you are
- Forecasts of love, luck or money
- A time chosen to move another person
- Spirits, seals or conjurations
- Astrology as medicine
It's for you if you want
- To choose the day, the hour and the Moon for your own workings
- The reason behind each correspondence, with its book and year
- Steps you can follow tonight with a clock and a kitchen herb
- A pet line from the ASPCA on every herb
- Worksheets and a log to make the timing your own
Learn the method here, then keep a whole year of it on your shelf
This book teaches you to choose a time and gives you the old books' reasons. The 2027 Book of Hours prints every day of 2027, its planet and its Moon, and what the old almanacs chose it for.
Same old sources, same sky engine. The hours tables in this book use the same minutes as the 2027 Book of Hours.
A clock, your sunset, one kitchen herb. Choose the hour, and know why.
Open to page 11 and find the hour you're in tonight. Then follow the Finder to the day, the hour and the Moon for whatever you do next, with the old book's reason beside each one.
You're covered by our 30-day money-back guarantee. Read it, time your first working, keep it on your shelf. If it isn't the book you wanted, you get your money back.
The questions people ask first
Straight answers, from the book itself.
1.I'm new to astrology. Can I start with this book?
Yes. Page 5 shows how to use it, page 11 gets you to your first timing tonight in ten minutes, and pages 20 to 22 work the four-step method through once, start to finish. You need today's sunset and sunrise from any weather app, a clock, and division by twelve. No birth chart: where an old rule needs a full chart, the page says so and keeps what an almanac shows.
2.Does it predict anything, or read my sign?
No. It predicts nothing: no luck, love, money or events. It shows how the old astrologers and almanac makers chose a day and an hour, in their own words, and leaves the choosing to you. Sun-sign readings of the "your sign means you are..." kind are modern, and the book says so.
3.Can I do a moon working in the daytime?
Yes, and the book shows why on pp 96 to 97. The old Moon rules go by her age and her sign, and both hold all day. The almanacs printed her sign beside each day of the month. Only the planets' hours split day from night.
4.Do I need the Practical Grimoire books?
No. Each of the seven planet chapters has its own working with steps: barley, sage, basil, rosemary, strawberries and thyme, a letter, lettuce. Part Three adds cucumbers sown by daylight. Where a Practical Grimoire holds a matching working, the Finder and the election cards give its title and page, if you have it.
5.Will it work where I live?
Yes. The hours tables cover four bands of latitude: Houston, New York, London and Sydney, with the cities each one covers, from the southern US to the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Anywhere else, count from your own sunrise and sunset; page 11 and the worksheets show how.
6.The examples are in 2027. Will the book go out of date?
No. The worked examples and the Moon's dates are for 2027. The rules, the grid of the planet of every hour and the method don't change: the grid holds for every week of every year. The four cities' sunrise tables stay within 1 to 2 minutes from 2026 to 2035, the clock change aside.
7.Is it Wiccan? Is there religious content?
No. It follows no single path. It quotes old books, from Ptolemy, about 150, to Sibly in 1784, as history, and leaves the practice to you. Agrippa's spirits, their names and seals are left out; his number squares stay, as numbers.
8.Are the herbs safe around my pets?
Every herb has its pet line from the ASPCA plant list, fetched October 20, 2026. Plants toxic to dogs and cats, like bay, are marked and kept out of reach, and drying herbs hang away from candles and the stove. Herbs are for the garden, the kitchen and the house: the book gives no medical advice, and the Man of Signs appears only as history.
9.Do I need to buy anything?
A clock and your sunset come first. The herbs are kitchen and garden plants: rosemary, sage, basil, thyme, dill. A few workings name something to buy, like barley seed sold for sowing. No kits, crystals or anything sold as magic.
10.Will choosing the right hour make my working succeed?
The book makes no such promise, and neither do we. Lilly chose a day and an hour for a king in 1648, and the king waved it aside. Lilly also met a man whose "greatest skill was to elect young gentlemen fit times to play at dice", and called him a cheat. What the book gives you is the old method and its reasons, so you know exactly what you chose and why.
11.How big is the book?
160 pages, 7 x 10 in, paperback with a matte color cover and a black-and-white interior. The herb plates are Gerard's own woodcuts of 1633; the wheels, tables and squares are drawn in code. Published by WitchWish.
12.How does shipping work, and what if I change my mind?
Your copy is printed for you and shipped to your door. You'll see the delivery estimate at checkout. Every order comes with our 30-day money-back guarantee.