Throughout history, scholars have sought to understand the world through categorization. The earliest scholars of the natural world were magicians, priests, shamans, astrologers and philosophers. They categorized things in ways that are meaningful to them; by comparing them to other things in the natural world, and according to their magical and medicinal uses. These are the basis for modern tables of correspondences.
Some things were categorized according to the doctrine of signatures, assigning meaning to the physical appearance of a thing, others categorized things according to their properties and aligned them to the properties of the planets. Later, elemental correspondences inherited properties of the planets with which they were associated and as new items were discovered and added to the magical formulary, they were assigned correspondences accordingly.
Linneaus categorized plants and animals according to their reproductive traits in the 1700s and brought about our modern methods, which are also useful to know, especially for wildcrafting and plant identification. You can find herbs listed according to the linnean classification system at Herbs Listed by Botanical Family.
For magick users, Tables of Correspondence remain relevant today. They allow us to quickly look up what items contain energy that corresponds to the intent of our spell working. Because there are many different traditions and many different ways of looking at magical energy, you may find that correspondence tables vary.
You may find that you look at the ascribed correspondence to an item according to one source and find that it doesn't ring true to you. In truth, each of us has our own unique experience and that which is symbolic to one person might not be to another. If you disagree with a stated correspondence, try to determine what prompted it. (I try to explain the reasons behind correspondence associations in the planetary and elemental pages to help you with this.) If you simply cannot come to agreement with your source, go with your gut.
The magical correspondences collected here are organized in a number of different ways and presented in a variety of magical correspondence tables for your convenience.
Wanted Pages for this Section:
Eastern Elemental Correspondences
Numerological Correspondences
Lunar Phase Correspondences
How can we improve this section?
What is the origin and/or history of the entire table of correspondences? Is it a compilation of various traditions brought together in similarities? Is there someone who compiled it all or has it been a community effort in a state of evolution?
Are there any logical or scientific reasons for the correspondences? For ex: Why is Gemini associated with Air? Taurus with Earth or Agate with Mercury? Etc etc
The astrological correspondences, planetary and elemental are a classification system derived from ancient alchemical and healing traditions. The Western elemental correspondence system derived as a theoretical construct in ancient Greece and the planets probably originally developed independently and then the two systems combined, the planets represented by Gods who epitomized the specific characteristics of each category. Basically, each element or planet corresponded originally to a body system and the plants that were used to treat that system were assigned those correspondences. The doctrine of signatures came from observations that certain physical characteristics occurred in common in plants that had similar actions (like color, shape of fruit, etc.) and these became clues to the classifications as well. Some New World plants have only recently been categorized under this system as they would never have been seen by ancient physicians. The School of Evolutionary Herbalism used Alchemical correspondences for modern healing with both old world and new world plants and they have very interesting videos. Here's one you can start with if you're interested in this particular aspect of this subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRAMnjxeIXA&t=1784s
There was once not so much as a fine line between medicine and magick, but a split occurred, of course and it seems magick-users took the system with them and broadened it and adapted it away from its original specific use, but the foundation remains the same. We use the correspondences to decide what to use for a specific purpose. For example, we know want to do a spell to encourage open dialog, we might choose a collection of herbs, crystals and other objects that are associated with the element of Air which relates to communication, and/or Mercury because this also relates to communication and perhaps perform it in the sign of Gemini (more communication) or Libra which relates to fair and equitable exchanges. Timing and materials sorted, we can now focus the particulars of a spell.
So basically, in the Western correspondence system, each planet or element symbolizes a collection of characteristics. Plants and crystals are then simply organized under the headings of those planets and elements that best matches its natural characteristics. It's not so different from the modern Linnaean taxonomy except that the Linnaean taxonomy focuses specifically on how the plant reproduces and so combines plants into categories based on evolutionary relationships, which the Western correspondence system combines them into categories based on perceived energetic similarities.
Gemini, is ruled by air (and Mercury) because it is associated with air (and Mercury) things, like communication, seeking knowledge and travel and Taurus is ruled by Earth (and Venus) because it is associated with Earth (and Venus) things, like the fertility and growing things.