Tuesday Planetary Hours: Which Hours Are Auspicious?

You probably know someone who glances at the calendar and says, "It falls on a Tuesday, let's not." Yet the tradition of auspicious hours (eşref saatleri) does not describe Tuesday as a day of fear. It describes it as a day for a particular kind of work. In the tradition, Tuesday belongs to Mars, and Mars can be read first as the star of effort, and only then of conflict. In this article we list each of Tuesday's twenty-four hours with its planet, show how hour length is calculated with a hypothetical example, and gather what tradition favours and postpones on this day in two columns.

Why Is Tuesday the Day of Mars?

In classical timing lore each day of the week is tied to one of the seven traditional planets: Sunday to the Sun, Monday to the Moon, Tuesday to Mars, Wednesday to Mercury, Thursday to Jupiter, Friday to Venus and Saturday to Saturn. The "owner" of a day is the planet that rules its first hour after sunrise. On Tuesday morning that first hour belongs to Mars, and both the day's name in many languages and its character come from there.

Tradition calls Mars the "lesser malefic" (nahs-ı asgar). The phrase can sound alarming, but the word "lesser" is there for a reason. Mars's difficulty is described not as a disaster to run from but as friction, speed and sharpness. It stands for fire, iron, struggle, courage and competition, and in the Abjad star-reading (yıldızname) it rules Aries and Scorpio. Cutting, separating, deciding and holding firm are its domain.

Tuesday's 24 Hours: The Planetary Table

In planetary hours the day is split into two halves: the time from sunrise to sunset is divided into 12 day hours, and the time from sunset to the next sunrise into 12 night hours. The first day hour goes to the planet of the day, and the rest follow the Chaldean order: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, and back to the start. For Tuesday the result is:

A few details stand out. Mars takes four of the twenty-four hours: the 1st and 8th of the day, the 3rd and 10th of the night. The Sun and Venus also appear four times each, while the other four planets get three hours apiece. The last night hour is Venus, and next in the sequence comes Mercury: Wednesday's first hour is indeed Mercury's. The table checks itself.

One small caution: the night here is the one running from Tuesday's sunset to Wednesday's sunrise. Because the Islamic (Hijri) day begins at sunset, "Tuesday night" in traditional usage often means the night that leads from Monday into Tuesday. Planetary hours, however, start the day at sunrise.

Why Isn't an Hour 60 Minutes? A Hypothetical Summer Tuesday

Planetary hours are not the equal hours of a clock face; they are what classical sources call "temporal" hours, which stretch and shrink with the season. Let us show this with purely hypothetical figures on a long summer day:

• Assume sunrise at 05:30 and sunset at 20:42.
• Daytime lasts 15 hours 12 minutes, that is 912 minutes. 912 ÷ 12 = 76: each day hour of this Tuesday is 76 minutes long.
• If the sun rises again at 05:30 the next morning, the night lasts 528 minutes; 528 ÷ 12 = 44. In this example the night hours are only 44 minutes long.
• Under these assumptions the 7th day hour (Jupiter) starts at 13:06 and ends at 14:22; then the 8th hour passes to Mars and lasts until 15:38.

In winter the picture reverses: day hours shrink and night hours grow. That is why memorising the hours as fixed clock times for the whole year is misleading. You need the sunrise and sunset for your own city and date and the same division; the order itself never changes.

What Does Tradition Assign to Tuesday?

Trading tradition treats Tuesday with caution for opening a new shop or company; Thursday is more often recommended for abundance and growth, and Wednesday for buying, selling and agreements. But that caution does not make Tuesday an empty day. The fire of Mars may rush a new beginning, yet it is strong at pushing forward work already under way. The traditional logic in short: Tuesday is less a day for matters that need softness and lasting harmony, and more a day for matters that need effort, courage and clarity.

Tuesday in Two Columns

The right-hand column is not a list of prohibitions; tradition simply finds those matters more in tune with the planets of other days. If something unavoidable falls on a Tuesday, there is no need to force yourself to postpone it.

Tuesday's Softer Hours: Jupiter and Venus

Even on the day of Mars, tradition points to moments of breathing space. Jupiter, counted as the greater fortune (sa'd-ı ekber), comes in the 7th day hour and the 2nd and 9th night hours of Tuesday. Venus, counted as the lesser fortune (sa'd-ı asgar), holds the 3rd and 10th day hours and the 5th and 12th night hours. For a meeting that needs tact, a conversation to mend feelings or a request for help that falls on a Tuesday, tradition prefers these hours. Mercury's hours (the 4th and 11th of the day, the 6th of the night) are associated with correspondence, accounts and preparation.

The Mars hours themselves are not "bad hours" either. Tradition considers them suitable for training, for the first move on a hard task, for competition and for steps that demand resolve. So when planning a Tuesday, the question is not "which hour should I avoid?" but "which task belongs in which hour?"

Is There Such a Thing as an Unlucky Day?

A reminder is needed here. In Islam, regarding days, birds or signs as ill-omened (tiyara) is discouraged; a well-known hadith recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim states that "there is no tiyara". At its healthiest, then, the tradition of auspicious hours should be read not as a calendar of fear but as a calendar of harmony: a view that asks which task fits which time better, while always leaving the outcome to effort, intention and God's decree. Marking Tuesday as a "working day" rather than a "bad day" is also closer to the meaning tradition gives Mars.

Is Mars Your Star?

Everything so far is the same for everyone: Tuesday's sequence of hours runs in the same order in Istanbul and in London. The real difference appears in a person's own dominant star. In tradition, for someone whose dominant star is Mars, Tuesday's Mars hours are thought of not as a harsh wind but as a familiar rhythm. Someone whose dominant star is Venus may find the same hours more tiring and gather strength in Tuesday's Venus hours instead. Which planet is your star is connected to the letters of your name and your mother's name; it cannot be read from a general table.

Are you someone who opens up under pressure and secretly likes Tuesdays, or someone who always wants to get the day over with? Part of the answer may lie in your dominant star.

This article presents the tradition of auspicious hours and Abjad star-reading for information only; it contains no certain outcome, guarantee or judgement of fate. Base your decisions on your effort, your reason and your trust in God.