Planet Rise, Planetary Culminations, and Planet Set
There are many ways to determine how and when one should perform workings that draw on the energy and attributes of a celestial body. We can consider planetary days and hours, or astrological positioning.
Something I have yet to see anyone else talk about is considering the physical position of a planet in relation to one's position on earth. Specifically, is a planet "visible" in the sky above you?
The planets, like the sun and moon, rise, traverse our sky, and set. Now, they don't always make it above the horizon, or to a truly visible height above it, just something to keep in mind.
There are four major events for the planets each day:
Rise: The time the planet crosses above the horizon.
Upper Culmination[1]: The time the planet reaches its highest point in the sky for the day.
Set: The time the planet crosses beneath the horizon.
Lower Culmination[1]: The time the planet reaches its lowest position in the sky for the day.
For planets that will not truly rise or truly set in a day (akin to the midnight sun and endless nights experienced by the poles), you will still have culminations, but no rise and set.
These four events can be used in much the same way that we use moon phases, with rise being like waxing, upper culmination like full, set like waning, and lower culmination like new. For a planet that will not experience a rise or a set, we can consider it to be "waxing" as it travels from its lower culmination to the higher, and "waning" as it travels back from its upper culmination to the lower.
More generally, we can also consider a planet's influence to be stronger when it is above the horizon, and weaker when it is below the horizon.
This can of course be used in conjunction with other planetary considerations, like astrology, but definitely doesn't need to be. Sometimes a planet just isn't in a notable sign for the work you want to do, and won't be for months, years, or even within your own lifetime.
For example, at the time of writing this post (June 2026), Saturn is in Aries, the sign of its fall[2], and will be for almost another year. So, when I looked for ways to invoke Saturn in the making of an Arnica salve (a flower strongly associated with Saturn[3]), I looked for when it would be above the horizon in my location. The entire creation of this salve will take place within this time frame.
Alternatively, you could try to weaken or block a planet's influence by working while the planet is below the horizon and therefore blocked from you by the earth itself!
Where to find rise and set times:
theskylive.com
This is what I personally have been using. It provides, rise, upper culmination, and set times for the planets based on your location. This site is good to see what's going on at present and over the next day.
in-the-sky.org
This website shows you a summary of all the planets at a given location and time, and lets you set any time you want! Great for planning into the future. It also notes visibility based on light and if the planet rises high enough over the horizon.
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