Over the last week I have posted a series of blogs exploring the symbolism of the sigils used for each of the classical planets.  In this blog, I continue on the topic of planetary magic, and again draw from my book Practical Planetary Magick to provide insights to those who are new to exploring Planetary Magick.  I often find that when a student is able to relate theory in a practical way to themselves they start to better connect and understand the practices which they are working towards.

This extract comes from one of the appendices of the book, and provides insights on how the planetary energies relate to the human body.  This should provide quite a lot of interesting ideas for those of you who are already using a lot of physical work in your magical rites, but also to those engaged in healing, massage and other practices which relate to the human body.

The Planets & Mankind

The ancients attributed rulership of different parts of the body to the planets.  This association of the planets to the body was known as melothesic (zodiacal) man.  By working with the appropriate planets, healing work was performed on the body.  These attributions developed into the subsequent astrological rulership of parts of the body by the twelve astrological signs.

Likewise the planets were also attributed to the periods of human life, known as the Seven Ages of Man.  This is referred to by Shakespeare in his famous quote in As You Like It (II.viii), which begins with the line “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”.  He gives the seven ages as being the infant, the school-boy, the lover, the soldier, the justice, old age and the lead-up to death, which clearly correspond to the classic planetary associations.

 

Planet	Melothesic Man	Planetary Age	Virtue
Sun	Sense of Sight, Right-hand Side, Brain, Heart, Sinews	Fourth Age of Man which is 23-41 years	Virility
Mercury	Speech & Thought, Bile, Buttocks, Tongue	Second Age of Man which is 5-14 years	Education
Venus	Sense of Smell, Liver, Flesh	Third Age of Man which is 15-22 years	Emotion
Moon	Sense of Taste, Left-hand Side, Belly, Stomach, Womb	First Age of Man which is birth to 4 years old.	Growth
Mars	Genitals, Kidneys, Left Ear, Veins	Fifth Age of Man which is 42-56 years	Ambition
Jupiter	Sense of Touch, Arteries, Lungs, semen	Sixth Age of Man which is 57-68 years	Reflection
Saturn	Bladder, Bones, Phlegm, Right Ear, Spleen	Seventh Age of Man, which is 69 years to end of life	Resignation

 

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Taken from: Practical Planetary Magick by Sorita d’Este & David Rankine.
(c)2007, d’Este & Rankine.  All rights reserved.

Practical Planetary Magick is available directly from thiswebsite, from the publishers, or from most of the large online bookshops, as well as all good occult shops.