The association between planets and gods was originally a Mesopotamian custom which was later adopted by the Greeks, Persians, Indians and finally the Chinese from the mid-Tang period. The Akkadian Kajamānu corresponds to Kronos (Greek), Saturn (Latin) and Kēwān (Middle Persian) (see Panaino 2015: 253). The latter is the source of the Sogdian Kēwān 鷄暖, which became another name for the planet and deity in China. The deity in East Asia is typically depicted as a bearded Brahmin 婆羅門, black or dark in color, either riding an ox or wearing an ox hat 牛冠. In the Greco-Egyptian tradition of magic, Saturn is associated with the black stone of obsidian (PGM CX 1–12; Betz 1986: 312). Likewise in the Indian Yavanajātaka, Saturn is associated with the color black (Pingree 1989: 3). The figure is depicted carrying a staff 錫杖, which is possibly a development on the earlier depiction of Greek Kronos holding a sickle which he used to castrate his father Ouranos. In Islamic artwork Saturn is a dark-skinned scantily clothed old man with a pickax (Carboni 1997: 6). In Egyptian artwork, the planet Saturn is depicted as Horus the Bull, which is possibly the source of the animal association here (Neugebauer and Parker 1969: 178–179). The bull in East Asia is also sometimes described as black. There is a precedent for this icon of Saturn as a black Brahmin in India, such as the Lagnacandrikā, composed by Kāśinātha in the first half of the sixteenth century in northern India, though earlier sculptures and literature present him as a lone male figure. The Taizō zuzō 胎藏圖象, which visually represents the deities of the *Garbhadhātu-maṇḍala 胎藏界曼荼羅, depicts Saturn as a beardless Indian figure atop a lotus, holding a vase in the left hand (see TZ.2.278, no. 267). The Yavanajātaka describes Saturn as haggard, frail, evil and wearing black garments, which reflects Hellenistic characterizations of an individual born under the influence of the planet. Similar descriptions are found in the Vṛddhayavanajātaka, Bṛhajjātaka, Laghujātaka and Sārāvalī (Pingree 1965).

There are similar apotropaic rituals for Saturn 禳土法 to be done on Saturdays especially included in the Qiyao rangzai jue 七曜攘災決 (T 1308), Kuyō hiryaku 九曜祕曆 (TZ.7.769–773) and Daoist Chengxing lingtai miyao jing 秤星靈臺祕要經 (DZ 289). The latter quotes a *Navagraha-sūtra 九執經 and all three use the loanword Kēwān 雞緩, which indicates a Sogdian or Persian origin, though the rituals were adapted to Buddhism and Daoism respectively. They include an incantation in which one identifies as a disciple, servant or slave of the deity, which indicates a belief in Saturn as a sentient god capable of being appeased and his harmful influences averted. The Daoist version states he presides over practitioners of austerities 苦行, which relates to the planetʼs astrological association with suffering. The Qiyao rangzai jue version states the ritual is to be done when Saturn enters oneʼs natal sign 宿命宮 over the course of three years, which is the approximate time it takes Saturn to transit through a zodiac sign, indicating a direct connection to the practice of astrology. The prescribed incense for Saturn in these rites is 'Persian incense' 安悉香 / 安息香. Cullen and Lo identify this as styrax benzoin (2004, appendix 1). Styrax is also the prescribed incense for Saturn given in a Greco-Egyptian papyrus (PGM XIII. 17–22): 'the proper incense of Kronos is styrax, for it is heavy and fragrant' (Betz 1986: 172).

References:

Betz, Hans , ed. 1986. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation Including the Demotic Spells. Chicago:  The University of Chicago Press.

Cullen, Christopher , and Vivienne Lo. 2004. Medieval Chinese Medicine: The Dunhuang Medical Manuscripts. Routledge.

Kotyk, Jeffrey. 2016. “Kanjiken no bungaku ni okeru saihō-senseijutsu no yōso: tōzai bunka kōryū ni okeru Bukkyō no yakuwari漢字圏の文学における西方占星術の要素:東西文化交流における仏教の役割 .” Bukkyō bungaku kenkyū佛教文學研究  19 : 85–110.

Neugebauer, O., and Richard A. Parker. 1969. Egyptian Astronomical Texts III. Decans, Planets, Constellations and Zodiacs. Brown University Press.

Panaino, Antonio. 2015. “Cosmologies and Astrology.”  In Strausberg, Michael,  Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina, eds. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism. Hoboken:  John Wiley and Sons. 235–257.

Pingree, David. 1989. “Indian Planetary Images and the Tradition of Astral Magic.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 52 : 1–13.

----. 1965. “Representation of the Planets in Indian Astrology.” Indo-Iranian Journal 8 ( 4): 249–267.

Skinner, Stephen. 2014. Techniques of Graeco-Egyptian Magic. Singapore:  Golden Hoard Press.