The tables,
and where they came from.
Correspondence tables are reference, not doctrine. These set out what each system associates with what, where the associations came from, and how far back they actually go. For the workings themselves, see spells & workings.
The Four Elements
The foundation of Western occultism, traceable in this form to Empedocles in the fifth century BCE and elaborated more or less continuously since.
Read →Planetary Hours & Days
The most practical timing system in the Western tradition, and among the best documented. It predates the calendar most people assume it came from.
Read →Color Correspondences
Not an aesthetic choice. A system of association built over centuries, drawn partly from the natural world and partly from what earlier systems had already decided.
Read →Herb & Plant Correspondences
Less symbolic than it looks. Herbs carry volatile compounds and essential oils that do measurable things, which is a large part of how the associations formed.
Read →Crystal & Stone Correspondences
Ancient and not especially mysterious. Stones carry the character of how they formed: the volcanic violence behind obsidian, and so on down the list.
Read →Fiber & Material Correspondences
The closest of these to the dye pots. Fiber carries the nature of its origin: the animal that grew it, the plant that made it, the chemistry that finished it.
Read →Number & Knot Correspondences
One through thirteen, each with a specific set of associations built up from Pythagorean arithmetic onward, and what that means once you are counting knots.
Read →