Planetary correspondence, in full
The seven classical planets are the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, the bodies visible to the naked eye that move against the fixed stars. One part of the system is not folklore at all but plain etymology. The weekday names carry the planets in several languages: French has mardi for Mars, mercredi for Mercury, jeudi for Jupiter and vendredi for Venus, and English keeps Sunday, Monday and Saturday intact while the other four took Germanic equivalents.
The metals are equally standard across the sources: gold for the Sun, silver for the Moon, quicksilver for Mercury, copper for Venus, iron for Mars, tin for Jupiter and lead for Saturn. Later tables extended the same seven columns to stones, plants, incenses, hours of the day and numbers. Renaissance magical writing compiled them into reference form, Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy of 1533 more than any other single work, and most modern versions still follow that shape.
The lucky-colour table on this site is one such correspondence set, presented as tradition and nothing more. It runs 1 with the Sun and gold, 2 with the Moon and silver, 3 with Jupiter, 5 with Mercury, 6 with Venus, 8 with Saturn and 9 with Mars. Two entries fall outside the classical seven: 4 is given to Uranus or to Rahu, and 7 to Neptune or Ketu, the second pair borrowed from the lunar nodes of Indian astrology.
- Number culture
- Planetary rulership
A worked example
The weekday link is checkable in any dictionary. Latin dies Martis became French mardi and Spanish martes, both Mars. Dies Mercurii became mercredi and miercoles, both Mercury. English is a loan-translation of the same Latin days with Germanic gods substituted, giving Tuesday from Tiw and Wednesday from Woden. Saturday kept Saturn outright, and Sunday and Monday kept the Sun and Moon.
Sources
The English weekday names are loan-translations of the Latin planetary days with Germanic gods substituted; Wednesday renders dies Mercurii through Woden's day.
Online Etymology Dictionary — WednesdayAgrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy (1533) sets the seven-planet correspondences out in table form, including the planet-to-metal column of gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, iron, tin and lead.
Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book II, "Scale of the Number Seven" (1651 English translation)
See also
Where it comes up on this site
Planetary correspondence: frequently asked
No single answer exists, because the tables differ by source. This site uses 1 for the Sun, 2 for the Moon, 3 for Jupiter, 5 for Mercury, 6 for Venus, 8 for Saturn and 9 for Mars, with 4 and 7 going to bodies the classical scheme had never seen.
Yes, and this is the one part of the system that is documented linguistics rather than belief. The Romance names come straight off the Latin planetary days and English translated the same set with Germanic gods swapped in.
They organise a tradition. Copper on a Friday changes nothing.