Planetary metals
Under planet metals means those seven metals , which in ancient times the then-known planets were assigned. These metals should reflect the characteristic properties of the respective planetary deity; For example the weapon metal iron, the god of war Ares or Mars , or the mirror metal copper, the goddess of love and beauty Venus .
Assignment
| planet | Deity | metal | weekday | Astronomical symbol | Unicode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | Sol | gold | Sunday |  |
U + 2609 ☉ |
| moon | Diana | silver | Monday |  |
U + 263E ☾ |
| Mars | Mars | iron | Tuesday |  |
U + 2642 ♂ |
| Mercury | Mercury | mercury | Wednesday |  |
U + 263F ☿ |
| Jupiter | Jupiter | tin | Thursday |  |
U + 2643 ♃ |
| Venus | Venus | copper | Friday |  |
U + 2640 ♀ |
| Saturn | Saturn | lead | Saturday |  |
U + 2644 ♄ |
history
In ancient times, the assignment was not uniform. It was customary to equate heavy lead with slow, faint Saturn, gold with the sun and silver with the moon. But Origen, for example, associated copper with the reddish Mars, tin with the shiny Venus and the alloy ( bronze ) with Jupiter.
These planetary metals and their elemental symbols retained their meaning until the 18th century and were an important part of astrological and alchemical teachings. (In a similar way, seven plants were assigned to the stars). In the Paracelsus medicine influenced by this, for example, they played an essential role. Even today, the planetary metals, dosed homeopathically , are used in anthroposophic medicine .
Further
After the discovery of the planet Uranus in 1781, the tradition was continued and platinum was assigned to it. 
One of the two uranium symbols is also derived from its alchemical symbol . As Martin Heinrich Klaproth in 1790, however, the uranium discovered, he named it after the new planet Uranium . Likewise, the elements neptunium and plutonium discovered in 1940 were named after the planet Neptune, discovered in 1846, and the dwarf planet Pluto , discovered in 1930 and still classified as a planet at that time . The element cerium , discovered in 1803, also takes its name from the dwarf planet (1) Ceres, which was discovered two years earlier . The element palladium , discovered in 1803, takes its name from the asteroid (2) Pallas discovered a year earlier .
No planetary metal was assigned to the earth as it was not considered a planet in ancient times. However, one of its symbols, the glyph ♁ , stands for antimony in alchemy .
Individual evidence
- ^ Maurice P. Crosland: Historical Studies in the Language of Chemistry. Courier Dover Publications, new edition 2004, p. 80 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
- ↑ In the Enlightenment , the relationships were questioned, e. B. Georg Wilhelm Wegner: Show place of many inconsistent opinions and tales. Volume 3, Berlin 1742, p. 479 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
- ↑ See for example Adalberto Pazzini: Virtù delle erbe secondo i sette pianeti. L'erbario detto di Tolomeo e quelli di altri astrologi (Cod. Vat. Lat. 11423). Milan 1959.
- ↑ Frank Meyer: Metals - Planets - People . In: Info3, Issue 9/2010 ( article online ( memento from February 6, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )).
- ↑ Monthly Topic 2007: “Uranus - God of Heaven” Astronomical Working Group Laufen eV
- ^ Library of the Mandragoras School .
- ↑ Alchemy symbols ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
