I was in an online discussion about Saturn when it came up that people were concerned about becoming depressed if they were to work with Saturn. While Saturn can be difficult to work with he should by no means be avoided.
Saturn gets a fearful reputation as the Greater Malific but all the planets have their positive and negative characteristics. What is required is a balance. Here I present something I shared with the group that I realize I have never included in this blog. I put it here for posterity if nothing else. I have not found this idea expressed anywhere else and I think it has some value.
In brief, the effects and influence of one planet can be nullified or reduced by accentuating the properties of the two planets on either side in the days of the week, the day before and the day after.
To counter Saturn, the magician needs the joyful beauty and hedonism of Venus as well as the warmth and vivifying power of the Sun.
To counter the Sun, the magician needs the cold restrictiveness of Saturn as well as the deep watery darkness of the Moon.
To counter the Moon, the magician needs the warmth and vivifying power of the Sun as well as the fiery assertiveness and strength of Mars.
To counter Mars, the magician needs the deep watery darkness of the Moon as well as the mutability and flexibility of Mercury.
To counter Mercury, the magician needs the fiery assertiveness and strength of Mars as well as the law-giving, empire expansiveness of Jupiter.
To counter Jupiter, the magician needs the mutability and flexibility of Mercury as well as the joyful beauty and hedonism of Venus.
To counter Venus, the magician needs the law-giving, empire expansiveness of Jupiter as well as the cold restrictiveness of Saturn.I got the idea for this as I was looking at the glyph of the seven rayed star that represents the Chaldean order and the order of the planets in the week.
The influences of the planets are balanced as their influence ebbs and flows though the week. And as I wrote it out is made a lot of logical sense to me.
I think that there are many potential applications of this idea in ritual preparation and spirit work.
