"I think so, but they are not needed in this operation."

"They are indispensable, madam, for without them one cannot work with any
certainty. I drew Solomon's pentacle on the thigh of Count de la Tour
d'Auvergne in the hour of Venus, and if I had not begun with Arael, the
spirit of Venus, the operation would have had no effect."

"I did not know that. And after Arael?"

"Next comes Mercury, then the Moon, then Jupiter, and then the Sun. It
is, you see, the magic cycle of Zoroaster, in which Saturn and Mars are
omitted."

"And how would you have proceeded if you had gone to work in the hour of
the Moon?"

"I should have begun with Jupiter, passed to the Sun, then to Arael or
Venus, and I should have finished at Mercury."

"I see sir, that you are most apt in the calculation of the planetary
hours."

"Without it one can do nothing in magic, as one would have no proper
data; however, it is an easy matter to learn. Anyone could pick it up in
a month's time. The practical use, however, is much more difficult than
the theory; this, indeed, is a complicated affair. I never leave my house
without ascertaining the exact number of minutes in the day, and take
care that my watch is exact to the time, for a minute more or less would
make all the difference in the world"