Wednesday 11th May is an exceptional day for invoking Mercury. In fact it is a very good day for invoking a number of planets, as I shall explain shortly. Mercury is the planet of Communication, but it is also associated with businesses and businessmen: the words “Merchant” and “Mercantile” and indeed “Market” all derive from “Mercury” who was in ancient times the God of Merchants and traders. There are spells for attracting customers to ones business in The Greek Magical Papyri
which involve invoking Hermes, the Greek equivalent of Mercury. Indeed, one of my most fondly-remembered money spells involved me creating a Mercury Talisman.
So, when I was trying to work out when would be a good day to start a new business venture – e.g. announcing the launch of my new book – I endeavoured to draw up an electional chart for some time when Mercury was auspiciously placed. My criteria for drawing up the chart were as follows:
- It ought to be when the Moon is waxing – this is traditionally a good time for attracting and invoking.
- Mercury must not be retrograde.
- The Moon should be well-aspected to Mercury – conjunct, trine or sextile.
- It ought to be on the day and in the hour of Mercury.
- Mercury should preferably be well aspected to Jupiter (which amongst other things represents good-fortune in the long-term), the Sun (which in financial matters indicates ready-cash), and should have as few bad-aspects to other planets as possible.
By definition the Moon is waxing fifty percent of the time, so this could only be in 26 out 52 weeks in any given year. By avoiding when Mercury is retrograde this narrowed it down somewhat: by specifying the day and hour of Mercury this narrowed it down even more specifically to sunrise on a Wednesday morning. NB: there are other Mercury-hours during the day of course, but I thought that dawn would be when I was most likely to have time available for Magick.
This left me with the task of checking the various remaining Wednesdays in 2011 to see when (a) the Moon formed a good aspect with Mercury; and (b) when Mercury was well-aspected to other planets. Soon, one particular date stood out noticeably in comparison to the rest: Wednesday 11th March (see diagram).
Electional chart for sunrise in London, UK, on Wednesday 11th May 2011.
What first struck me most about this chart is that there is an interesting four-way Stellium in Aries consisting of not only Mercury and Jupiter but also Venus and Mars as well. Moreover – the Moon forms a Trine aspect to the lot of them. Thankfully the presence of Saturn which cast a baleful influence over the nuptials of Wills & Kate two weeks ago has now moved on.
The only possible downer is the Sun – there is a only a very weak semi-sextile between Mercury, although at least this is better than nothing. The Sun however does form a square to the Moon. I interpret this to mean that although a business venture begun tomorrow is likely be successful in the long term, large amounts of cash will not be forthcoming immediately – e.g. not until late 2012 to middle 2013.
So my new book will be a slow-burning success! All attempts to defy the stars by making it a bestseller sooner rather than later will however be greatly appreciated. 😉
Sol Ascendans - The Website of Alex Sumner 