A magical aid to help you find good times for practical enchantment!
Magical timing is a complex subject, even if you aren't looking for "the day and hour of Saturn, with Mars in Aries or Scorpio and a waxing moon"! Of course, it doesn't have to be. That's one of the keys to "practical" enchantment, isn't it? You are not necessarily constrained by some particular system's baroque schedule of when things can get done. That does not mean, however, that one shouldn't do everything to optimize their chances at success, though. Am I right?
What you see here has its roots in Gordon White's Black Calendar from his excellent book: Pieces of Eight, but also from his course in Sigils from the Rune Soup site. Ivy, from Circle Thrice, contributed some nice tech to the course materials for that Sigils course; and she continues to dole out good advice each week.
Glutton for punishment that I am, but also being spectacularly bad at advance planning, for the last year or so, I've taken to compiling this information into an online calendar so I can see at a glance what's coming up or to take a really long view at my advance planning (and to remind me, for when I forget to look up, that the New Moon is coming). Skip ahead a bit to March, 2019 to get a look at what a full month looks like. April 2019 is coming soon.
So what's he mean by "auspicious"
I totally chose the term auspicious on purpose. Yes, it refers to the discipline of Electional Astrology, but more on that later.
We take into account Planetary Days and Hours, but we are also looking at the placement of the Moon and Sun (see Lunar Auspicious and Solar Auspicious). Further, we've got the Lunar Days and their uses according to the text of the Hygromanteia along with the hours of each day and the Angels and Demons ruling each hour (this, for me, is the clearest reception from the PGM material; though it has been expanded). Some of this material is likely going to be superfluous, but is included for inspiration's sake (and does hearken back to the course work for Gordon's Sigils course... have I recommended that, yet?). I'm also taking into account Void of Course Moon for these calculations based on Sun or Moon placement.
Besides the days marked as Lunar/Solar Auspicious, you'll see various days of personal or greater significance: feast days of saints and dieties, archangels and more. In March, we have the Feast of St. Joseph, the Death of Thomas Aquinas, the Death of Fred Phelps, and the Feast of St Gabriel. We'll also mark Full and New Moons whether they are in other ways auspicious or not.
Lunar Days are of varying lengths, trying to take this into account and note when they change on various noteworthy days (April is a little cleaner in this regard). But as far as days of the week go, they start at dawn and go until dawn the next day. Pay attention for these shifts of Lunar Days and Void of Course.It bears stating that much of this is location specific: magical hours, lunar days...these are related to the rising of the sun and moon, so its a good idea to check them for your location (I use Lunarium.)
This is not full on Astro-Magic
Damn it, Jim, I'm a magician not an astrologer!
I mentioned before that "Auspicious" referred to Electional Astrology. It bears stating that this is not "Astrology", we are borrowing from Astrology and whenever possible we are blending the disciplines of Astrology and Magic. The lines blur, I know. But we're not casting charts here (though if you want to, go for it; just don't come crying to me when you find that Electional Astrology is an unforgiving mistress); we're just taking into account the prominent "space weather" and where that interacts with our magical calendar.
From a bigger picture perspective, it helps to know that Jupiter is in Sagittarius for most of 2019, and the sign of the Archer is Jupiter's home. Or that we are in the middle of a three year long slog of Saturn in Capricorn. It always helps to know when Mercury is retrograde.
The deeper your Astrology, the more insight you have. Notice I didn't say options.
We are looking for those beneficial (or perhaps malefic) moments that will give our magic that extra "oomph". Don't get too bogged down in the details, this is Magic not Astrology. Magicians make their own luck.
Once More 'round The Sun
Or fleshing out the rest...
There's plenty of room to add to the calendar: religious holidays of a particular persuasion, feasts I am not aware of, etc, etc.
Personal Astrology
You know your Natal Chart, don't you? You've got some good things in there, like that Mercury in Gemini or Mars in Scorpio. Take advantage of those. When the Moon is the appropriate sign and it lines up with the Planetary Day, that's a good day for you. And you don't need the text of Hygromanteia and its tables. What is it we said about practical enchantment at the beginning of this little piece: You are not necessarily constrained by some particular system's baroque schedule of when things can get done. And that includes WHAT can get done. That's only limited by your imagination and your understanding of the moment in time. Which leads us to my next point...
Personal Mythology
Write your own mythology. Its much better than leaving it to someone else. The birth and passing dates of important people in your life; important milestones or significant meetings; these all have inherent power already, they are just waiting to be ritualized and used for appropriate magics. You're a wizard, your life is already magic. Memorialize the magical moments.