Two planetary seals sit on the same desk. One is traced on virgin parchment with a quill and the ink of a specific hour. The other is painted on a wooden tablet inscribed with Hebrew letters and Enochian names. Both are called planetary magic. Both claim to draw down the power of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. But they operate on fundamentally different cosmologies, and mixing them without understanding the divide is like trying to play a Gregorian chant on a synthesizer—it may produce sound, but it will not be what the composer intended.
Agrippa’s planetary magic and Hermetic planetary magic are two distinct traditions of ceremonial magic that use the seven classical planets. Agrippa’s system, codified in the 1530s, is a Christian–Neoplatonic synthesis of celestial correspondences, planetary hours, and spirit evocation. Hermetic planetary magic, as developed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the late 19th century, is a Kabbalistic–Enochian framework that treats the planets as stations on the Tree of Life, each with its own ritual architecture and initiatory purpose.
Better to understand the difference before you pick up the chalk.
Where Do These Two Systems Come From?
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim published De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres in 1533, though the manuscript circulated years earlier. The work drew heavily on the Corpus Hermeticum (translated by Ficino in 1463), Neoplatonic sources like Plotinus and Iamblichus, the Kabbalah as filtered through Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, and the Arabic grimoire Picatrix (translated into Latin in 1256). Agrippa’s planetary magic is a bookish, encyclopedic system: he compiled the seals, squares, spirits, and hours of each planet from the Picatrix and earlier Jewish magical traditions, then arranged them into a Christian framework where the magician’s piety and purity mattered as much as the ritual.
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn formed in 1888, founded by William Wynn Westcott, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, and William Robert Woodman. Its planetary magic was not a single book but a curriculum of graded initiations. The archive came from Mathers’s translations of the Sword of Moses, the Book of Abramelin, and the Greater Key of Solomon, plus the Enochian material of John Dee and Edward Kelley (1582–1589). The Golden Dawn added the Kabbalistic Tree of Life as the organizing map: each planet corresponds to a Sephirah (or its sphere) and a path. Their planetary rituals were designed for spiritual evolution, not just talismanic effect.
The difference in origin shows in the practice. Agrippa’s system is a library you consult. The Golden Dawn’s is a school you enter.
How Did Each System Understand the Planets?
Agrippa saw the planets as celestial intelligences that governed earthly matters through sympathy and correspondence. Each planet had a day, a metal, a color, a perfume, an angel, a spirit, and a seal. The seal was a geometric figure that could be engraved on a metal tile or drawn on parchment. The square of the planet (a magic square of numbers) was used to calculate the seal. The magician performed the work at the planetary hour, wearing the corresponding color, using the appropriate incense, and reciting the prayers Agrippa gave.
Hermetic planetary magic, as the Golden Dawn taught it, placed the planets on the Middle Pillar of the Tree of Life. The Sun corresponded to Tiphareth, the Moon to Yesod, Saturn to Binah, Jupiter to Chesed, Mars to Geburah, Venus to Netzach, Mercury to Hod. Each planet was also linked to an Enochian Tablet and a set of spirit names. The ritual was not about persuading a spirit to act. It was about vibrating the divine names, tracing the appropriate pentagram and hexagram, and aligning the magician’s own microcosm with the macrocosmic sphere. The goal was to “rise in the planes” and achieve knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.
The cosmological difference is sharp. Agrippa operated in a Ptolemaic universe where the planets moved in nested spheres around the Earth, each sphere inhabited by a hierarchy of angels and spirits. The Golden Dawn used a Kabbalistic universe where the Tree of Life spanned from the physical world to the divine, and the planets were stations on the descent of light.
What Did the Practices Actually Look Like?
Agrippa’s planetary magic was talismanic and evocation-based. To make a Jupiter talisman for wealth, you would wait for the first hour of the day of Jupiter (Thursday), using a piece of tin (Jupiter’s metal) and incense of saffron. You would draw the seal of Jupiter and the appropriate spirit’s name. You would say the prayer for Jupiter given in Book II, chapter 44. Then you would consecrate the talisman with the smoke and a prayer. The spirit (or the angel) was expected to act in the material world.
The Golden Dawn’s planetary magic was ritualistic and initiatory. The Grade of Philosophus (Fire, sphere of Yetzirah) involved the planet Jupiter. The ritual included the Three Pillars, the Enochian chessboard, and the formula of the Neophyte. Planetary magic was not a separate branch; it was embedded in the degree system. The Practicus grade (Water, Mercury) and the Adeptus Minor (Sun) continued the sequence. The planetary pentagram rituals (e.g., the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram is a Sun ritual, but there are variations for each planet) were used for daily practice, not for one-off talismans.
The difference in technique is obvious: Agrippa gives you a seal and a prayer. The Golden Dawn gives you a temple, a robe, a lamen, and a set of vibrating names.
How Do They Compare on the Same Planet?
Take Saturn. In Agrippa, Saturn is Wednesday, lead, the color black, the incense of myrrh, and the spirit Arathron. The seal is a complex geometric figure drawn from the Saturn square. The magician calls on the angel Cassiel and the spirit Arathron, asking for matters of binding, limitation, and death. The tone is commanding but respectful, and the prayer ends with “through the merits of the Most High.”
In the Golden Dawn, Saturn is the sphere of Binah, the third Sephirah. The ritual uses the Saturn hexagram and the name of God YHVH Elohim. The Enochian Tablet of the North (Air) is associated with Saturn. The practice is meditative and internal: the Adept visualizes the sphere of Saturn, hears its sound, and vibrates the divine name. The goal is to experience the constriction and sorrow of Binah, to understand the Mother, not to compel a spirit to bind an enemy.
Agrippa’s Saturn is a tool. The Golden Dawn’s Saturn is a lesson.
What Are the Common Misconceptions?
That Agrippa’s system is the same as Hermetic planetary magic. It is not. Agrippa influenced the Golden Dawn, but they did not adopt his structure. The Golden Dawn used the Key of Solomon and the Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage far more than Agrippa directly.
That planetary magic is just astrology. It uses astrology, but the focus is on the planet’s intelligence and spirit, not the sign or house. Agrippa gives the planetary hours based on sunrise, not the transits of the planets. The Golden Dawn uses the planetary day and hour but also the position of the Moon in the zodiac.
That you can switch between the two systems freely. The seals from Agrippa will not work in a Golden Dawn ritual because the ceremonial framework is different. The names of the spirits are not the same. And the Golden Dawn’s planetary hexagrams are calibrated to the Tree of Life, not to the Ptolemaic spheres.
FAQ
Can I combine Agrippa’s planetary seals with Golden Dawn rituals?
In theory, yes, but you should understand the underlying cosmology. If you use a Golden Dawn banishing ritual before making an Agrippa talisman, you are changing the energetic field. Many modern practitioners do blend them, but they are aware that the original authors would not have recognized the hybrid.
Which system is more authentic?
Both are authentic to their own time. Agrippa’s is closer to the Renaissance grimoire tradition. The Golden Dawn’s is a Victorian reconstruction of older materials. Authenticity is a matter of lineage, not of age.
Do I need to know astrology to practice either?
Yes, at least the planetary day and hour. Agrippa’s system requires the planetary hour for each operation. The Golden Dawn’s system uses the planetary hour and also the lunar mansion for certain works.
What about the Picatrix?
The Picatrix is a shared source. Agrippa used it heavily. The Golden Dawn knew it through the editions of the early 1900s, but they did not base their planetary magic on it. The Picatrix is its own tradition, closer to Arabic astral magic than to either of these two.
Choosing Your Path
The difference between Agrippa’s planetary magic and Hermetic planetary magic is not a matter of right or wrong. It is a matter of universe. Agrippa’s is a universe of spheres and spirits, where the magician stands outside the celestial order and calls it down. The Golden Dawn’s is a universe of paths and grades, where the magician walks upward through the spheres and becomes the call. One is a conversation. The other is a transformation.
We keep both on our shelves. Which one you open depends on what you are ready to do.
For a deeper look at the planetary correspondences in both systems, see our planetary magic guide. If you need to identify the specific spirits Agrippa names, the glossary of planetary spirits is a useful reference. And for a step-by-step walkthrough of a Golden Dawn planetary ritual, try the Middle Pillar exercise with planetary variations.