Days of the Week
Thursday
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Thursday is Jupiter's day, dies Iovis in Latin, and Thor's day in English, after the Germanic thunder god identified with Jupiter under interpretatio germanica, since both gods wielded the sky's weapon and ruled by right of strength. The Romance languages keep the Latin planet directly, giovedi and jeudi both preserving Jove by name. Traditionally associated with fortune, growth, expansion and abundance, following the qualities classical astrology assigns Jupiter, historically read as the greater benefic among the seven planets.
Facts
Observance
Observance NoteIn the grimoire scheme of the planetary hours, each day is divided into twelve daylight and twelve night hours cycling through the seven planets in the Chaldean order, and the first hour after sunrise always belongs to the day's own planet; on Thursday that first hour, and the day itself, belongs to Jupiter. 2 Origins
Origin of the NameNamed for Thor, the Germanic thunder god read as the equivalent of Jupiter. 1 Attributions
Ruling Planet Learn More
Thor, Jupiter and the Naming of Thursday
Dies Iovis, Jupiter's day, named for Jove, another name for Jupiter, became Thor's day among the Germanic peoples, preserved in English as Thursday. The equivalence drawn between Thor and Jupiter rested on their shared role as the chief sky god of their respective pantheons and, more specifically, on both wielding the sky's characteristic weapon, Jupiter's thunderbolt and Thor's hammer Mjolnir, a resemblance concrete enough that interpretatio germanica matched the two gods more readily than it matched some of the week's other pairings.
The Romance languages again kept the Latin planet directly: giovedi in Italian and jeudi in French both preserve Jove's name without Germanic substitution, continuing the same pattern already seen in Tuesday and Wednesday, where languages descended straight from Latin carried the planetary names forward unchanged while the Germanic branch translated them into locally meaningful equivalents.
Sources Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and BeliefsJohn Lindow with Deutsche MythologieJacob Grimm
Jupiter's Day in Practice
Thursday carries Jupiter's significations: fortune, growth, expansion, generosity and the pursuit of meaning through law, philosophy or higher learning, following the qualities classical astrology assigns to the greatest of the seven visible planets and, historically, the greater of its two benefics alongside Venus. Older astrological and magical handbooks recommend Thursday for undertakings concerned with wealth, legal matters, education, and any enterprise meant to grow beyond its starting scale.
Because Jupiter was read as an almost uniformly favourable influence, Thursday accumulated a reputation in folk tradition as one of the luckiest days of the week for beginning new ventures, second in most accounts only to Sunday's own association with fresh starts, and the pairing of a Thursday working with a Thursday hour of Jupiter was considered a particularly strong combination for anything meant to expand or prosper over time.
Sources A History of Western AstrologyNicholas Campion with Grimoires: A History of Magic BooksOwen Davies
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Sachiel is paired with Thursday and Jupiter in the scheme of the planetary hours that also names the weekday. Sachiel does not appear in Agrippa's own table of the seven planetary angels at all.
Tin, Metals Agrippa's occult philosophy assigns tin to Jupiter among the seven planetary metals, the same correspondence already recorded as tin's own ruling planet.
Corresponds To
In jyotisha, Thursday (Guruvara) is the vara ruled by Guru, also called Brihaspati, the Jupiter graha.
Named For
Thor, Deities English Thursday is named for Thor, the Germanic thunder god read as the equivalent of Jupiter under interpretatio germanica, since both gods wielded the sky's weapon.
Related To
Sources
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