Hello blog readers!
One thing I knew I wanted to do when I re-opened this here blog was move some of my social media book reviews over to it. This way I can say a little bit more about each book and provide links to purchase. I will primarily be covering tarot & witchcraft book reviews here along with reviews of any books that help or inform my practice or writing on these issues. This might include writing books, books about leftist activism or idealogy, queer theory or history books and so on. To make sure you don’t miss any book talk & keep up with what I’m reading for fun, head to my Instagram. Be warned: furbies, cats and other ridiculousness may show up.
Today we’re looking at Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Correspondences: A Comprehensive & Cross-References Resource for Pagans & Wiccans by Sandra Kynes which is basically exactly what it sounds like.
I got this book as a birthday present off my wishlist from sweet Asali Earthwork this year and I am unbelievably glad that I did. I am a nerd so even when I get a book that is largely or exclusively charts and lists, I do read through it. I do this for a couple of different reasons, namely that it helps me orient. This way I know roughly what is in the book, what isn’t and more or less where everything is. This book is available wherever you buy books or witchcraft stuffs, so I’m just linking the IndieBound page right here.
As a book of correspondences, this book is really stellar. There is a TON in here and it includes a vast assortment of styles of correspondence including astrological, numerological, color etc. That’s on top of the basic animals, plants, deities you’d expect. All of that is still just scratching the surface. Kynes really worked to include a number of different pathways to finding correspondences for your work, and I do think she really succeeded in that.
If you buy this book, I strongly recommend reading the intro passages to each chapter and the introductory material. There is a really cool bubble map exercise in the intro material about how to associate correspondences that I actually adapted for a recent class. In the chapter breakdowns, there are necessary tidbits you might otherwise miss. For example, in the section on plant correspondences, the intro talks about how leaves can sum up the essence of the plant and how branches & twigs can represent expansion. If you’ve been practicing a long time, you might not need this information but for newer practitioners those bits are golden.
Obviously no book of correspondences is complete, and that is especially true for practitioners who are marginalized in our society like queer people, BIPOC and disabled people. This book is NOT a book that has exercises or ideas on how to adapt or change things, so know that going into it. This book is VERY much a correspondence book for Pagan & Wiccans. It’s very up front about that right on the cover but I still wanted some deeper exploring of other metaphysical paths, including and especially paths commonly walked by BIPOC. There is some stuff along those lines in here though, including some who’s inclusion surprised me (in a good way)! I did want to be honest about this shortcoming though. People who’s path leans strongly occultist also may not find what they’re looking for in this book from time to time but I would check out Kynes’ bibliography to get a more well-rounded list of resources.
When I write a review I basically look for “What does the thing set out to do and does it do that?” I also look for “Who is this for and does it address that audience satisfactorily?” The first halves of those questions are pretty objective (though nothing is wholly objective) and the latter are really subjective. This book sets out to be a comprehensive set of various kinds of correspondences, and it is that! I didn’t even put this book on my shelf. I just stuck it on my desk because I knew I’d use it almost every day. This book is for Pagans and Wiccans and tells us that on the cover. While any book that aims to be complete will fall short, I do think this one really stretches and works to bridge the gap between what we have for correspondence lists in the canon already.
I strongly recommend this book for magical practitioners. For some, it may serve as a complete set of information beyond UPG (unverified personal gnosis). For the rest of us, it’s a jumping off point BUT it’s a really thick, dense jumping off point that we’ll be able to happily return to over & over again. There are weeks I will not need to think outside the box or come up with UPG because of this book and that is a gift in and of itself.
If you want to support my work, get works-in-progress writings from me, exclusive offers & writings + so much more, please support my work on Patreon.
