Class VI: Correspondences
of beetles have so far been identified! Vertical classifi-
cation schemes can be diagrammed as a branching
tree, just like the tree of evolution shown here.
Now think of the Sorting Hat at Hogwarts which
grouped every incoming student into one of four
Houses, according to their essential nature.This is a lateral, or horizontal system of classifi-
cation, in which each of the categories are essentially
equal. Lateral systems of correspondence are the ba-
sis of all magickal ordering. By understanding a thing’s
correspondences, a magician can influence that thing.
The key to their use is simply the number of divisions,
as in these 4 Houses. While one might imagine that
such numbers could go to infinity, for most practical
uses only about a dozen are actually needed. Here are
some examples for each number:1 Singularities: (“There can be only One!”)
2 Dualities: Yin-Yang (Taoism)
3 Trinities, Triads, Triplicities
4 Directions, Seasons, Elements
5 Elements (Pythagorean)
6 Realms of Existence (Buddhism)
7 Days of Week, visible Planets
8 Sabbats in Wheel of Year (see 4.VI)
9 Psychic Centers in Body (Taoism)
10 Sephiroth on Tree of Life (Qabalah—see 5.V)
11 (There are no sets of 11 anything...)
12 Signs of the Zodiac, months of the yearDutch Grey Council member Luc Sala says: “Cor-
respondences are the connections or links be-
tween the various worlds, kingdoms, traditions,
world-views, cultures, etc. If we see the whole of
the Universe as having unseen dimensions, as we
do in magick, then there are innumerable possible
connections between those dimensions or worlds.
However, some of those links are special, and they
can be compared with the nerve connections in
our body in that they take care of the information
flow. They are the invisible but powerful links be-
tween the worlds and can be used to convey the
magickal messages.”- Introduction: Systems of
Classification
NE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS
of magickal thinking is classify-
ing the world in
terms of associ-
ated correspon-
dences. By sort-
ing things into
different catego-
ries, we gain a powerful understanding
of them on a deep symbolic level. Thus
we reduce the infinite diversity of Na-
ture into something that our minds can
grasp and make sense of.
All of the natural sciences began as systems of
classification based on perceived commonalities. In
biology, for example, Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) devel-
oped a sorting system of only seven taxonomic (“ar-
ranged by law”) categories into which every single
living thing is ranked. Originally published in his
Systema Naturae (“Systems of Nature”), in 1735, this
is called the K-P-C-O-F-G-S system, for Kingdom,
Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species,
with each being listed under the previous, as in an
outline. Here’s how the Linnaean classification works
for you (and every other person):I. Kingdom Animalia (animals—contains 10 Phyla)- Phylum Chordata (having spinal chords—
contains 10 Classes)
A. Class Mammalia (having milk glands—
contains 20 Orders)
a. Order Primates (having opposable
thumbs—contains 15 Families)
(1) Family Hominidae (apes—contains 5
Genera)
(A) Genus Homo (humans—now only 1
Species, though there used to be others)
(a) Species Sapiens (“thinking;”
modern humans: us)
Taxonomy is a classifica-
tion system of vertical
hierarchy, in which multiple
members of each group are
subsumed into the next higher
taxon. At the top level of King-
doms, there are only three:
Plants, Animals, and Fungi. But
at the lower levels, there are no
set limits to the number of members
of each taxon; about 400,000 speciesTree ofEvolutionHOUSE GRYFFINDOR RAVENCLAW HUFFLEPUFF SLYTHERIN
FOUNDER Godric Rowena Helga Salazar
Gryffindor Ravenclaw Hufflepuff Slytherin
HEAD Minerva Professor Professor Severus
McGonagall Sinistra Sprout Snape
MASCOT Lion Raven Badger Snake
COLOR Red Blue Yellow Green
QUALITIES Brave, Intelligent, Loyal, Sly, power-
daring witty hardworking hungryCorrected pages 3rd printing.1.p65 44 6/10/2004, 3:00 PM