A correspondence is a relation of likeness. This metal, this color, this number, this hour and this human faculty are held to belong together, so that to handle one is to touch the others. Tables of correspondence are the grammar of ceremonial magic.
What the tables are for
Suppose a practitioner wishes to work for clear and persuasive speech. The tables answer: that is a matter of Mercury. Work on a Wednesday, in an hour of Mercury. Dress the bench in orange. Let the number be eight: eight lights, eight knocks, eight repetitions of the address. A whole rite can be built in this way, in which every object on the bench and every act of the worker says the same word. That unanimity is what holds the attention on a single point, and holding the attention on a single point is the central technique of the Art.
Whether the correspondences are facts about the world or the conventions of a very old language is a question that members of the Guild answer differently. A language need not be a law of nature to be worth speaking correctly.
The four elements
The elements of the Art are not chemical substances. They are four modes in which anything may exist or act: the energetic, the receptive, the mobile and the fixed. A fifth, Spirit, is the ground in which the four meet.
| Element | Qualities | Gate | Instrument | Faculty | Power | Color |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire | Hot and dry | South | Wand | Will | To will | Red |
| Water | Cold and moist | West | Cup | Feeling | To dare | Blue |
| Air | Hot and moist | East | Blade | Thought | To know | Yellow |
| Earth | Cold and dry | North | Disk | The body and its senses | To keep silent | Green |
| Spirit | The ground of the four | The center | Lamp | Attention | To attend | White |
Fire is initiative, appetite and the power to begin. Water is receptivity, sympathy and the power to join. Air is distinction, speech and the power to tell one thing from another. Earth is form, patience and the power to last. An Apprentice spends a month with each: observing it in nature, in the body and in temperament, and noting in the Record which is plentiful in his or her own character and which is scarce.
The seven planets
The seven planets of the old sky, which the Guild calls the Seven Lamps, divide human concerns among them. They are the chief means by which a working is aimed.
| Planet | Day | Metal | Number | Color | Incense | Governs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saturn | Saturday | Lead | 3 | Black | Myrrh | Limits, time, discipline, endings, old age, the land, and things built to last |
| Jupiter | Thursday | Tin | 4 | Blue | Cedar | Growth, law, fortune, teaching, generosity and good counsel |
| Mars | Tuesday | Iron | 5 | Red | Pine resin | Courage, conflict, protection, vigor, and the cutting of what must be cut |
| Sun | Sunday | Gold | 6 | Gold | Frankincense | Vitality, clarity, honor, success, and the center of any matter |
| Venus | Friday | Copper | 7 | Green | Rose | Love, friendship, art, pleasure and reconciliation |
| Mercury | Wednesday | Quicksilver | 8 | Orange | Mastic | Speech, writing, study, trade, travel and skill of hand |
| Moon | Monday | Silver | 9 | Violet | Jasmine | Dreams, memory, tides and rhythms, the home, journeys and the public |
The planets are listed in their traditional order, from the slowest to the swiftest. The numbers are those the planets bear on the Tree of Life, the tenfold diagram of the Qabalah, and they are also the orders of the number squares used in the making of talismans.
On the metals
Lead and quicksilver are poisons and are not handled in the Guild. Members work Saturn and Mercury by color and number, on paper, wood or wax. Gold and silver may be represented by gilt and by any white metal. The correspondence lies in the symbol, not in the assay.
The twelve signs
The signs of the zodiac matter in ceremonial work chiefly for timing: the season of the Sun and the passage of the Moon. Each sign has an element, a mode of action, and a planet that rules it.
| Sign | Element | Mode | Ruler |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | Fire | Cardinal | Mars |
| Taurus | Earth | Fixed | Venus |
| Gemini | Air | Mutable | Mercury |
| Cancer | Water | Cardinal | Moon |
| Leo | Fire | Fixed | Sun |
| Virgo | Earth | Mutable | Mercury |
| Libra | Air | Cardinal | Venus |
| Scorpio | Water | Fixed | Mars |
| Sagittarius | Fire | Mutable | Jupiter |
| Capricorn | Earth | Cardinal | Saturn |
| Aquarius | Air | Fixed | Saturn |
| Pisces | Water | Mutable | Jupiter |
Cardinal signs begin, fixed signs sustain, and mutable signs adapt. A working meant to start something is by custom begun with the Moon in a cardinal sign, and one meant to endure with the Moon in a fixed sign.
Using the tables
- Name the matter. Put the purpose of the working into a single sentence.
- Find its planet. Most errors are made here. A working to find employment might belong to Jupiter (advancement), to Mercury (letters and interviews), or to the Sun (recognition). Choose the planet that names what is actually lacking.
- Take the day and the hour. See Planetary Days and Hours.
- Dress the bench. Choose the color, the number, the incense and the figure from the same row of the table.
- Add nothing that says another word. A rite of Mercury with a red candle in it, because red is one's favorite color, is a rite of Mercury interrupted by Mars.
A caution about tables
No two of the old sources agree in every particular, and a student who collects tables will soon own several that contradict one another. The tables above are those used in the Guild. They are consistent with one another, which is the chief virtue of a table.
They are also meant to be tested. A Journeyman is expected to have worked each planet for a week, recorded the results, and then worked the series again with the attributions deliberately crossed. Members are sometimes surprised by which entries survive.