154 The Law of the Rhythmic Breath 



second hour; Mars, the third; Sol (sun), the 

 fourth; Venus, the fifth; Mercury, the sixth; and 

 Luna, the seventh. Every planet reigns the first 

 hour of its own day, and the eighth, fifteenth, and 

 twenty-second. Three repetitions carry us through 

 the twenty-first hour; Saturn rules the twenty- 

 second; Jupiter, the twenty-third; and Mars the 

 twenty- fourth, finishing the day. Then Sol rules 

 the first hour of the succeeding day, which is Sun- 

 day; called by the Romans Dies Dominica, or 

 Lord's Day, the day of the Lord Sun. Some au- 

 thorities count from the rising of the sun; but a 

 very old work, Arcandum's Astrology, reckons this 

 planetary rule of hours from midnight which agrees 

 with the modern reckoning of time. 



The orderly repetition brings Luna the moon 

 in as ruler of the next day, hence, Monday; 

 Mars, (French, Mardi], Tuesday; Mercury, Wed- 

 nesday; Jupiter, (Saxon, Thor), Thursday; and 

 Venus (Saxon, Frea), Friday. All of the Latin 

 tongues preserve in the names for the days of 

 the week their planetary origin; but the Saxon de- 

 rivation of English nomenclature has in ours ob- 

 scured it in part. 



All possibility that chance or pure arbitrary se- 

 lection had any part in thus naming the days seems 

 eliminated when we consider the double harmony 

 ruling the order. The succession of the planets 

 is not only from the slowest, Saturn, to the swift- 



