Ancient Egyptian “day-picking calendars” – also called “fate calendars” – classified the days of the month or year as positive or negative, similar to omens. In some cases they also provided recommendations for behavior and prophecies for the corresponding days.
The earliest attestations of day picking calendars date to the Middle Kingdom (part of the “Kahunpapyri”, Illahun (Fayum), Egypt, pKahun XVII.3 = pUC 32192). In the late period (ca. 664-332 BC), this special form of day picking was merged with the Babylonian zodiac.
Some Greek magical papyri preserve lists of good days and bad days as well as good hours and bad hours for performing rituals, in some cases even including information concerning the type of ritual. The papyrus scroll “PGM VII” (British Library, P. London 121, 3rd century AD, Egypt) comprises a list titled “Days and Hours for Divination” which names the best time for each day of the month to conduct a divination. For example: For the first day of a month it says “dawn”, for the second day “noon”, but for the third day “Do not use”. The scroll contains four more sections with information about good and bad times for ritual practice: An Egyptian calendar of months and days unsuitable (?) for magical operations and a list called “Orbit of the Moon” which outlines the kind of rituals to be performed best in contexts of specific constellations. It says, for example, that “anything is rendered obtainable” when the Moon is in Virgo and recommends to perform love charms when the moon is in Aquarius. Both, the calendar and the list, are preserved twice in the papyrus and the list is written both times below the calendar.
PGM VII, 272-283 (Egyptian calendar with mentioning of selected days)
This section in the ritual manual PGM VII provides a list of the Egyptian months with each month being followed by a number of individual days, but there is no information given concerning the relevance of these days. Ancient practitioners wrote down lists of good and bad days for ritual practice, but it remains uncertain which of those the author of this list had in mind.
Thôth was the first month of the Egyptian flood season and the first month of the Egyptian year.
Thôth: 1, 4, 12, 13, 22
Paôphi: 2, 4, 10, 19, 20
Athyr: 7, 8, 9, 17, 18, 23, 27
Choiak: 5, 6, 13, 15, 16, 24, 25
Tybi: 3, 4, 12, 24, 26
Mecheir: 1, 2, 10, 14, 19
Phamenôth: 7, 8, 9
Pharmouthi: 5, 6, 14, 15, 20
Pachôn: 3, 4, 12, 13, 21, 26, 28
Paüni: 1, 2, 10, 11, 15, 20
Epeiph: 7, 8, 9, 14, 18, 19, 22
Mesore: [10.14], 20, 23, 24, 25
Image: British Library, Papyrus London 121 (PGM VII) © The British Library Board
PGM VII, 155-167 “Days and Hours for Divination”
1 at dawn
2 at noon
3 do not use
4 at dawn
5 at dawn
6 do not use
7 at noon
8 throughout the whole day
9 do not use
10 throughout the whole day
11 in the afternoon
12 throughout the [whole] day
13 throughout the whole day
14 at dawn
15 throughout the whole day
16 do not use
17 do not use
18 at dawn and in the afternoon
19 at dawn
20 at dawn
21 in the afternoon
[22] in the afternoon
23 at dawn
24 at dawn
25 do not use
26 in the afternoon
27 throughout the whole day
28 throughout the whole day
29 throughout the whole day
30 in the afternoon
Image: British Library, Papyrus London 121 (PGM VII) © The British Library Board
PGM VII, 284-299 “Orbit of the Moon”
Moon in Virgo: anything is rendered obtainable
In Libra: Necromancy
In Scorpio: Anything inflicting evil
In Sagittarius: An invocation or incantations to the sun and moon.
In Capricorn: Say whatever you wish for best results
In Aquarius: For a love charm
Pisces: For forcknowledge
In Aries: Fire divination or love charm
In Taurus: Incantation to a lamp
Gemini: Spell for winning favor
In Cancer: Phylacteries
Leo: Rings or binding spells
Image: British Library, Papyrus London 121 (PGM VII) © The British Library Board
PGM VII ist kept at the British Library which is having year-long problems with displaying the images of the papyrus scroll online. Here is the link to their website (which has changed several times of the last years): https://searcharchives.bl.uk/catalog/040-002104501