Days of the Week
Friday
Also Known As Fridays
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Friday is Venus's day, dies Veneris in Latin, and Frigg's day in English, after the Germanic goddess of love and marriage identified with Venus under interpretatio germanica, though some scholarship argues the underlying Germanic figure was instead Freyja, and the two goddesses had become difficult to fully separate by the time the day name was fixed. The Romance languages keep the Latin planet directly, venerdi and vendredi both preserving Venus by name. Traditionally associated with love, beauty and pleasure, following the qualities classical astrology assigns Venus.
Facts
Observance
Observance NoteFriday (Yawm al-Jumu'ah) is the day of congregational prayer in Islam; the noon Jumu'ah prayer, held communally at the mosque, is obligatory for Muslim men, and the Quran's sixty second chapter takes its name from the observance. 2 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 Friday that first hour, and the day itself, belongs to Venus. 3 Origins
Origin of the NameNamed for Frigg (or, on some readings, Freyja), the Germanic goddess read as the equivalent of Venus. 1 Attributions
Ruling Planet Learn More
Frigg, Freyja, Venus and the Naming of Friday
Dies Veneris, Venus's day, became Frigg's day among the Germanic peoples, preserved in English as Friday, matching the Roman goddess of love and beauty to the Norse goddess of marriage and the hearth under interpretatio germanica. The identification is genuinely debated in scholarship: some sources hold the day was originally named for Freyja, a separate Norse goddess more directly associated with love, beauty and desire and therefore a closer match to Venus's own character, and argue that Frigg and Freyja had become difficult to fully distinguish by the time Old English and Old Norse sources describing the day name were written down.
The Romance languages kept the Latin planet directly, as with the rest of the midweek: venerdi in Italian and vendredi in French both preserve Venus by name. Whichever Germanic goddess actually stood behind the English name, the underlying logic follows the same pattern as Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, a Roman planetary deity matched to the Germanic figure judged closest to her in character and function.
Sources Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and BeliefsJohn Lindow with Deutsche MythologieJacob Grimm
Venus's Day in Practice
Friday carries Venus's significations: love, beauty, pleasure, harmony and the cultivation of relationships, following the qualities classical astrology assigns the planet nearest the Sun after Mercury and, alongside Jupiter, one of the two classical benefics. Older astrological and magical handbooks recommend Friday for matters of romance, artistic work, social gatherings and anything meant to build goodwill or attraction between people.
Friday's reputation varies more by culture than most of the week: in some folk traditions it carries an ill omened association, particularly when it falls on the thirteenth of the month or coincides with religious observances of a solemn character, while in astrological practice proper it retains Venus's generally favourable and sociable reputation without that specific superstition attached. The two readings, folk caution around the calendar date and astrological confidence in the planetary day, coexist in the wider culture without either displacing the other.
Sources A History of Western AstrologyNicholas Campion with Grimoires: A History of Magic BooksOwen Davies
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Anael is paired with Friday and Venus in the scheme of the planetary hours that also names the weekday. Agrippa's own table gives Venus to Haniel, a variant of the same name.
Copper, Metals Agrippa's occult philosophy assigns copper to Venus among the seven planetary metals, the same correspondence already recorded as copper's own ruling planet.
Corresponds To
In jyotisha, Friday (Shukravara) is the vara ruled by Shukra, the Venus graha.
Named For
Frigg, Deities English Friday is named for Frigg, the Germanic goddess read as the equivalent of Venus under interpretatio germanica, though some scholarship argues the underlying figure was instead Freyja.
Observed In
Friday (Yawm al-Jumu'ah) is the day of congregational prayer in Islam; the noon Jumu'ah prayer at the mosque is obligatory for Muslim men.
Related To
Sources
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