The Magic of Planetary Days
Many years ago, a singer named Dinah Washington had a major hit with the song “What A Difference A Day Makes.” The song’s message was simple: in 24 hours the singer had gone from loneliness to love, and all it took was a “moment of bliss” and a “thrilling kiss.” Though finding love is nice, the fact is that many things in life can change from one thing to another from day to day. We can go from happy to sad, sad to happy, from an empty bank account to a check in the mail that fills it up — the possibilities are endless, so the changes we experience from one day to the next make life interesting.
By the way, did you ever wonder why our lives are divided into weeks of seven days each? According to history Colorado State University instructor Kristin Heineman, writing in a recent issue of Discover Magazine, the practice began with the ancient Babylonians, as it fit conveniently into their 28-day lunar calendar. Babylon, which is now modern day Iraq, is considered by most historians to be the birthplace of astrology. In Babylon, each day of the week was ruled by either the Sun, the Moon, or one of the visible planets: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. The order shown in this list reflects the order of the names of the seven days of the Babylonian week.
This system was spread to other cultures through successive conquests by Persia, Greeks, and Romans, and each time it was absorbed into a new culture its seven-day week with the planetary names would go (day of Mercury) in France, in England it is referred to Wednesday, which is identified with Woden, a Norse god similar to Mercury.
