Fragallia

Pirts day

January 22, 2025 · computed for Rīga

Every layer is read at this time; sunrise and sunset are the chosen day's.

Waning moon 45% illuminated

The waning moon was long held as the best time for a pirts visit. This was when cleansing and letting go were most encouraged — heavier whisking and a longer, more thorough visit were favoured.

1 5 10 15 20 25 30
23

The crocodile

Heavy day Anti-phase: day 9

A stress point, where the Moon's vibration changes direction. An appetite that cannot be stilled, a leaning toward fights, nightmarish ideas.

Was favoured
  • + Guarding the home: cleaning, burning a candle, smoking it with herbs
  • + Fasting; dairy
  • + Forgiving, repenting
Was avoided
  • − Anger, gluttony, revenge
  • − Cutting nails, operations
  • − Ventures, a sedentary regime
Symbol
a crocodile, a chimera, Cerberus
Body
the female organs (Muladhara); the spine
Stones
black nephrite, smoky topaz

Health — a divinatory system, not medicine

The spine was to be protected; strengthening treatments for it were welcome. Illness long but not dangerous.

Dreams

To be read as the exact opposite.

Moon in Scorpio water

Depth, secrecy, passion, transformation. A strong sign for cleansing, investigation, and shedding the surplus. At the same time — jealousy, suspicion, the pull toward revenge.

Sources disagree on this day

Canon: Russian sources: the female organs, the ovaries, Muladhara.

epadomi.com: Latvian sources stress the spine.

epadomi.com is a divergent branch, shown for cross-checking — not the reference.

Latvian folk tradition

a separate layer · by moon phase, not by numbered day
  • On the waning moon — pirts, water treatments, casting off the surplus.
  • Trees felled on the old moon rot less.

Source: Pēteris Šmits, Latviešu tautas ticējumi. Not the numbered-day corpus above.

♄︎ Saturn 4. of the day

Planetary week

a third, independent system

Wednesday · Mercury ☿︎. Words, documents, roads, trade, talks. The best day of the week to sort papers, write letters, study, buy and sell, bring people together. The mind is quick but shallow, so large decisions are better left. The day calls for honesty and precision: what is said today is remembered. The shadow side is chatter, distraction, small lies.

Current planetary hour: Saturn ♄︎ — hour 4 of the day.

Limits, discipline, ordering, closing off. Slowness is an advantage here: archives, debts, repairs, fasting, casting off the old, anything where you must say “no.” A poor hour for beginnings and celebrations. The shadow side is heaviness of heart and fear.

♈︎ ♉︎ ♊︎ ♋︎ ♌︎ ♍︎ ♎︎ ♏︎ ♐︎ ♑︎ ♒︎ ♓︎ Meteņi Lieldienas Ūsiņi Jāņi Māras Miķeļi Mārtiņi Ziemassvētki ☉︎ 7.8 h

The year wheel

Last: Ziemassvētki
Next: Meteņi, in 13 days

72% through this eighth of the year

The sun

Sign
♒︎ in Aquarius, 2.6° air
Day of the solar month
day 3
Next turning point
the spring equinox, in 57 days
Day length
7.8 h · sunrise 08:40 · sunset 16:30

The sun in Aquarius still moved through the hardest cold, but the days were noticeably lengthening now, and tradition read this as a season of quiet waiting rather than action. People gathered close around fire and each other, since warmth from without was scarce and had to be shared to matter. The body was thought to want company now more than solitude.

The day, read as one

Several threads converged here on cleansing rather than new beginnings: lunar day 23 counselled guarding the home and forgiving old grievances, the waning moon and its Scorpio placement both pointed toward pirts and water as ways to shed what no longer served, and Latvian folklore agreed that the old moon was a fine time to cast off surplus. The crocodile day's warning about appetite, nightmares, and the pull toward anger sat close to Scorpio's shadow of jealousy and suspicion, so a visit was perhaps better spent in quiet release than in settling scores or testing the body's limits. Wednesday's Mercury added little to the bathing question itself, beyond cautioning against big decisions and loose talk, while the sun's passage through Aquarius suggested the day favoured gathering with others near warmth rather than solitude. Taken together, the traditions leaned toward a pirts of fasting, forgiveness, and washing away the old — not one for ambitious plans, sharp words, or anger carried in.

Generated with Claude · cached for this day and updated when the corpus changes

Your lunar birth day

computed on your device · only the day (1–30) is used, never the date

This is folk and divinatory material, not health advice. It is written in the past tense on purpose — "was avoided", "was considered" — and describes what tradition held, not what you should do. A pirts visit is a real load on the heart and circulation; judge heat, duration and frequency for your own body.