Lucky and unlucky days and hours

Ancient Egyptian division of a month into days and of days into three periods. The periods were then labeled either good or bad, with the symbol resembling an arrow pointing upwards making good periods and that resembling a flaming torch making the bad ones.

Amulets and Superstitious by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge is an interesting theoretical source detailing ancient talismans from different cultures. Unfortunately, no magical application for this data is shared with respect to ancient magical trinkets, it being solely detailed for academic purposes. 

Even so, the following information may be used in tandem with that on days and hours from Asteria, even for experimental purposes. It consists of days and hours considered lucky or unlucky in the past. They can be taken into account when planning a ritual, based on the intent.

"The teaching of the astrologers of the Middle Ages was that the Lucky Days of the week were:

Monday, or Moon's day, a day of peace and happiness.

Wednesday, or Mercury's day, a day of success in business.

Thursday, or Jupiter's day. a day for courage,

Sunday, or the Lord's Day, a day of happiness and test.

The Unlucky Days were: 

Tuesday, or Mars's day, a day for quarrels, litigation, and discord.

Friday, or Venus's day, the Passion of Christ, cessation of all work.

Saturday, or Saturn's day, a day of danger and death.

The lucky and unlucky days of the week, according to the Arabs, are:

Sunday - A day for planting and building, because on this day God created the 7 spheres, the 7 planets, the 7 hells, the 7 earths, the 7 seas, the 7 members of man. and the 7 days of the week.

Monday - A day for business and travelling, Idris went up to heaven, Moses went to Sinai and on this day The Unity of God was revealed.

Tuesday - A day of blood. This day Eve first menstruated. Cain killed Abel; and John the Baptist, Zachariah, and George (St.?) were killed.

Wednesday - A day of calamity and catastrophe.

Thursday - A favourable day for business. On this day Abraham obtained the freedom of Sara from Pharaoh. On this day Pharaoh's butler entered the prison of Joseph, and Muhammad returned to Mecca.

Friday - A day for marriage. On this day the Prophets married and Adam consorted with Eve, Joseph with Zuleikha, Solomon with Balkis, Muhammad with Khadija and ' Aisha, and ' Ali with Fatimah.

Saturday - A day for fraud and trickery. On this day Joseph's brethren sold him to the Ishmaelites."

I find it interesting Friday was considered unlucky. In Romanian folklore Saint Friday was often depicted as a benevolent woman with magical powers who in most cases offers a certain degree of assistance to the hero. Tracing back her figure to pre-Christian times, there are images of her next to the Danubian Rider, aka Thracian Knight, being the goddess figure who blesses the knight. Saint Sunday is also depicted in a similar fashion, but she is a more rare occurrence.

Thracian Knight and female figure

In contrast, Tuesday and Saturday share similar meanings here. Tuesday is said to have "three evil hours" signifying bad luck and such. Simeon Florea Marian's Romanian Mythology speaks of Marțolea is the ruler of Tuesday, or Marți in Romanian. He is depicted as having a physical appearance similar to Pan and shares some of the god's attributes but also some of the god Mars. He can appear as a malevolent lover but can also be rewarding. In some areas Marțolea is a feminine entity.

The lore surrounding Saturday is also ominous. "To bear someone's Saturdays" to this day means to have enmity towards them to the point one would manifest it physically towards that individual. "Gone down Saturday's stream" refers to something permanently lost, even someone who died. Saturday is associated with the dead an every every Saturday people go to church to pray and give offerings to their dead. Moșii or The Old Men is a two-fold celebration of the dead, taking place on a Saturday both during the warm and cold seasons, respectively. Because of its association with death, Saturday is considered unfortunate for undertaking things of the living.

At any rate, Bugde's book also mentions lucky and unlucky hours during the week.

"Sunday 

Lucky: 3:00pm to 4:30pm, Unlucky: 4:30pm to 6:00pm

Monday 

Lucky: 1:00pm to 3:00pm, Unlucky: 7:30pm to 9:00pm

Tuesday 

Lucky: 12:00pm to 3:30pm, Unlucky: 3:00pm to 4:30pm

Wednesday 

Lucky: 10:00am to 12:00pm, Unlucky: 12:00pm to 1:30pm

Thursday 

Lucky: 9:00am to 10:30am, Unlucky: 1:30pm to 3:00pm

Friday 

Lucky: 7:00am to 9:00am, Unlucky: 10:00am to 12:00pm

Saturday

Lucky: 6:00am to 7:30am, Unlucky: 9:00am to 10:00am"

I find it funny that at least in the case of Thursday the planetary hour of the ruling plnet of the day hppens to fall during unlucky hours, at least partially.

It appears that, as I've told Mr Farrell regarding his articles on Arabic interpretations of geomantic figures, I think local traditions and customs, religious and cultural beliefs play an important part in people's view of things. Another example is the Chinese lunar mansions, as well as the Indian decan system we presented in Asteria. Thus, no universal interpretations can properly be established.