How to Figure Out the Correspondences of a Plant
For those who've been visiting me for a while, y'all know that I moved from KY to KS in March. My biggest fear was getting here and finding that the plants would be so foreign to me and that I wouldn't find any that I could use in my herb blends and spell works.
How would I know what the plants were and how they could be used? Yes, looking them up online and in books would tell me what they were. But, how was I to know how to use them? Would I find their correspondences already in my books? Or would they be plants that I have no clue how to find their correspondences?
In KY I had ALL the plants I could ever dream of using & needing, both magickally and for mundane purposes, such as teas & soaps. Yarrow, Mullein, Dandelion, Ironweed, Goldenrod, and many, many others.
Oh, me of little faith! The first plants I saw were the Dandelions. Duh. Those probably even grow on the Moon. LOL The herbs that I prefer, I'm growing myself, which I've always done anyway. But what about all the thousands of plants here on the property? What are they? How can I use them?
So, let's pick one and y'all can go through the learning process with me. Here we go!
Well, there are lots of these really mean looking plants with pretty yellow flowers:
See the pretty flowers?...
Now see all those thorns and the burs?! OUCH!
These pretty, but mean, plants are very abundant all over the property. They're called Buffalo Bur (Solanum rostratum), appropriate, don't you think?!
Buffalo Burs sure as hell don't show up on any correspondence tables that I've found and use for resources. So, I do what any good Granny would do - I figure it out for myself!
Buffalo Burs (Solanum rostratum) are a member of the Nightshade family. Oh, joy! This is going to be fun!
Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum)
(Not my pic - Flickr photo)
Black Nightshade's correspondences are:
Other Names: Black Morel, Common Nightshade, Garden Nightshade,
L'Homme, Morel, Petty Morel, Yerba Mora, West Indian
Attributes: Honoring the Dead rituals, Hecate honoring, Lunar Magick, Ritual Magick
Gender: M
Planet: Saturn
Element: Air
So, now let's look at my plant, the Buffalo Bur (Solanum rostratum). They're very different plants to look at, that's for sure.
So how to go about figuring out this plant's correspondences?
Here is a table I use that gives the aspects of the plant to look for to help determine the correspondences:
Determining a Plant's Correspondences
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Part:
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Element:
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Gender:
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Planets:
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Root
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Earth
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Masculine
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Earth,
Saturn
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Seed
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Fire
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Masculine
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Jupiter,
Mars, Pluto, Sun
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Flower
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Air
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Feminine
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Jupiter,
Mercury
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Leaf
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Water
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Feminine
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Chiron,
Moon, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, Venus
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But to do that you also have to know a few things first.
When does this plant flower? This particular plant flowers from late May through September, basically all Summer. This screams "SUN!", ok that means the plant's Gender is Masculine and it's Element is Fire. That was easy enough.
But does the Planet Sun fit? What are the Sun's attributes, and is there some other that would be more appropriate? That's easy, no, and yes.
"Sun" does not fit, because the Sun's aspects are one of healing, abundance, good health (for the short version).
Ok, then. What does fit? Let's look at the chart again. The other Planets in the Fire row are: Aries, Jupiter, Leo, Mars, and Sagittarius. (We'll only take a general look at their aspects, as there are far more than I will list here, but these will give a fair description of the Planet).
Aries - Assertive, Egotistical, Fearlessness hides timidity, Headstrong, Innovator, Leader
Jupiter - Blessing, Cleansing, Generosity, Growth, Power, Social matters, Wealth, Wisdom
Leo - Ability, Affectionate, Arrogant, Energetic, Fun, Generous, Giving, Noble, Patience, Powerful, Protection, Proud, Selfish, Strength, Vain
Mars - Aggression, Ambition, Confrontation, Conviction, Courage, Fast results, Motivation, Passion, Physical energy, Protection, Recklessness, Self-assertion, Swift movement
Sagittarius - Enthusiastic, Idealism, Impractical, Instinctive,
Open-minded, Optimistic, Speculative, Strong faith, Truth seeker, Wanderlust,
Wisdom seeker
So, which Planet's aspects fit the look and feel of this plant?
Aries would fit as this plant is a very assertive & headstrong plant, growing where ever it pleases, in an almost egotistical manner too! Its thorns hide the fact that its branches are actually quite fragile (when the plant dies out in the Autumn, it breaks off and becomes a tumbleweed - cool, huh?)
Jupiter just doesn't fit, in the least. No question, this is not the Planetary correspondence for this plant.
Leo while the aspects of protection (the thorns), proud (growing boldly, knowing that in the end it will just break off and tumble away in the wind), and selfish (totally hogging up the areas that it grows) fit, nothing else does. This is not the Planet either.
Mars has so many aspects that fit, that I'm inclined to go with Mars. But we have one more to look at first.
Sagittarius has one aspect that I see, "wanderlust". But that is at the end of this plant's life cycle, so no, I don't think this one fits either.
So. Mars seems to be the Planet with the most aspects that fit the Buffalo Bur plant.
There is one more box in the table we haven't looked at. That of the plant part itself. We know right at the start that the plant's Gender was Masculine. There are 2 plant parts in the Masculine rows: flower, and seed. Sometimes this part may get confusing, because with some plants so many of the plant's parts are used. In this case then, if you've determined Gender, then all you have to do is really focus on the Planetary aspects.
For our plant, the Buffalo Bur, though, it's quite easy. The bur. The seed. This is our final confirmation that we have correctly ascertained the Gender, Planet, and Element for the Buffalo Bur plant.
This gives us an idea of the plant's correspondences, but what about the works that it would be used in? All those thorns should give you a pretty good idea!
Here are just a few I came up with, what can you come up with?
Aggression, Ambition, Assertive, Banishing, Confrontation, Conviction, Courage, Cursing, Egotistical, Fast results, Fearlessness hides timidity, Go Away/Hot Foot, Headstrong, Hexing, Lose Your Way, Motivation, Passion, Physical energy, Protection, Recklessness, Repelling, Self-assertion, Sun Magick, Swift movement, Wanderlust
So here are the Buffalo Bur correspondences:
Buffalo Bur:
Gender: Masculine
Planet: Mars
Element: Fire
Attributes: Aggression, Ambition, Assertive, Banishing, Confrontation, Conviction, Courage, Cursing, Egotistical, Fast results,
Fearlessness hides timidity, Go Away/Hot Foot,
Headstrong, Hexing, Lose Your Way,
Motivation, Passion, Physical energy, Protection, Recklessness, Repelling, Self-assertion, Sun Magick, Swift movement, Wanderlust
But what else is there around here? I guess I'll just have to go through this same process for all them as well. :) LOVE the learning process!
So, there you have it! A lesson on determining the Correspondences for a plant! Now it's YOUR turn! Go find some plants you can't find their Correspondences to, and figure it out for yourself!!!
