Planetary Correspondence
As above, so Below – One of the most famous of alchemical axioms. But, we can also translate this to: As within, so without. This relationship of inside to outside or, above to the below, is known as the Law of Correspondence. You may also hear it referred to as the doctrine of signatures.
The simplest way that alchemists had to relate the inside to the outside was by pairing heavenly bodies and their associated archetypes with their corresponding centers in man, or in other realms of matter, such as the plants, animals, minerals, and metals. What does that mean? It means that anything is related to everything else. Lines can be drawn to connect any two perceived things, weaving together a fabric of reality so tightly knit that you experience it as a really real thing. Knowing the correspondence of any one thing is the holding of understanding, unity, and truth.
The simplest way that alchemists had to relate the inside to the outside was by pairing heavenly bodies and their associated archetypes with their corresponding centers in man, or in other realms of matter, such as the plants, animals, minerals, and metals. What does that mean? It means that anything is related to everything else. Lines can be drawn to connect any two perceived things, weaving together a fabric of reality so tightly knit that you experience it as a really real thing. Knowing the correspondence of any one thing is the holding of understanding, unity, and truth.
In ancient times the “heavens” or the space out there was known as the Macrocosm. In contrast, life on Earth was considered to be the Microcosm. The Macrocosm was the Above in the axiom of "as Above, so Below." It was considered to be the Heavens, space beyond our earthly realm, the home of the giant star beings of the sky, the abode of the Gods, and was also considered to be an invisible, internal, and immortal realm. In contrast, the Below was synonymous with the Microcosm. It was the earthly realm of form and matter. It was the residence of mortal existence, and was a direct reflection of the Macrocosm. The below could be seen as the stage for 'Gods creation.'
The Macro and the Micro were reflections of one another. Since the above is the internal invisible landscape of the immortal soul, and the below is the external, visible form, then it is found that all that is out there is reflected in here through a system of correspondence. Considering that the abode of God is related to the internal plane, and that the external stage of form is where God places his creations, then we can see how we can relate the internal experience of awareness and thought to being the generator of our external experience. It must be remembered that we continuously find the theme of consciousness as all within alchemy. Since consciousness is all, that means that consciousness is the only thing that actually exists. If you can validate for yourself right now your own existence, then that would also mean that you are this one thing that exists, which is consciousness. With all things as consciousness, this leads to the conclusion that all things are you, since you exist and consciousness is all. Everything in your reality is a reflection of your Self. This is where and how the Law of Correspondence really comes in to play - when we begin to understand the patterns that our consciousness morphs its thinking process in to so as to shape our external experience.
The Macro and the Micro were reflections of one another. Since the above is the internal invisible landscape of the immortal soul, and the below is the external, visible form, then it is found that all that is out there is reflected in here through a system of correspondence. Considering that the abode of God is related to the internal plane, and that the external stage of form is where God places his creations, then we can see how we can relate the internal experience of awareness and thought to being the generator of our external experience. It must be remembered that we continuously find the theme of consciousness as all within alchemy. Since consciousness is all, that means that consciousness is the only thing that actually exists. If you can validate for yourself right now your own existence, then that would also mean that you are this one thing that exists, which is consciousness. With all things as consciousness, this leads to the conclusion that all things are you, since you exist and consciousness is all. Everything in your reality is a reflection of your Self. This is where and how the Law of Correspondence really comes in to play - when we begin to understand the patterns that our consciousness morphs its thinking process in to so as to shape our external experience.
Traditionally it was the Heavens that reflected its archetypical patterns down to the forms of Earth. These reflections give rise to the many forms we experience in our reality - All of the plants, animals, mountains of stone, people, or stars you might perceive. Each one of these objective experiences could be classified into one of four categories. Within alchemy, we find that there are four realms. The first realm is the Metallic realm. The Metallic realm is our foundation and was said to give life to the Mineral realm. The mineral realm gave life to the vegetable realm, and the vegetable realm gave life to the animal realm. These are our four realms – Metallic, Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal. Each one of these realms reflected within itself the stars of the heavens.
The stars that are referred to here are mostly/actually planets. From Earth, where the alchemists resided, there appeared to be stars that moved across the sky. The positioning of these stars/planets, against the backdrop of the constellations that they moved across, gave rise to clear, concise, and obvious reflections regarding this physical manifestation. The study of tracking and translating these motions of the sky is known as Astrology. Alchemy and astrology should be seen as tangled intimately together.
The stars that are referred to here are mostly/actually planets. From Earth, where the alchemists resided, there appeared to be stars that moved across the sky. The positioning of these stars/planets, against the backdrop of the constellations that they moved across, gave rise to clear, concise, and obvious reflections regarding this physical manifestation. The study of tracking and translating these motions of the sky is known as Astrology. Alchemy and astrology should be seen as tangled intimately together.
There were seven basic planets or heavenly bodies utilized by ancient Alchemists for the purpose of self- reflection – the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The Earth too is also considered at times. The Chart above relates the planetary symbols to their appropriate planets for reference. Each of these seven planetary bodies was considered to be a major reflection of the archetypical patterns that the mind creates the effectively express consciousness through form. Each planet is essentially a reflection of an aspect of your mind. These reflections of mind then of course shape the physical reflection that you see as your body and your external reality. Each planet had a corresponding organ, and mental archetype. If you factor in eastern alchemy as well then, the planets also have corresponding chakra centers, which also relate to corresponding endocrine system glands.
If we then overlay this information over the body, we can get the following image
Although this image may be relatively simply, it encodes into itself a wealth of knowledge. Each colored orb represents a specific manifestation of mind (archetype) and where it seats itself energetically within the body. You can relate these energetic or mental centers to the basic eastern chakra system. Each center also relates to a planet. If we understand the translation of these planets through the lens of astrology, then we can understand the over-arching mental archetype that they represent. Each archetype of mind seats itself into specific areas of the body, and in return creates physical mechanisms by which they may then express themselves and also seat themselves into a physical reality (organs and glands).
Your body is just a smaller reflection of the larger body that makes up you – the universe. Because you believe you reside here, in this solar system, your current physical manifestation is most relevant to the astrological organs (planets) that make up you. Your body reflects this. Everything exists as a reflection of you, because you is all that exists. The largest physical bodies you have, and are aware of, relate to astrological objects. These astrological bodies are what make up the bigger picture and that which creates foundations for your physical existence. This is why the planets relate most readily to your mental patternings, because it is the mind, which organizes its thoughts and structures them to give the illusion of a concrete reality. From there, these mental patterns create physical houses (structured thought) for themselves. These “houses” are your organs and endocrine glands, which are just reflections of the archetypes of your mind. These Archetypes of course being patterns that your consciousness readily creates which are the foundational platform from which you think from. Consciousness is the programmer, the mind and archetypes are the program, and this reality is the appearance the program projects - the game that you to interact in.
Your body is just a smaller reflection of the larger body that makes up you – the universe. Because you believe you reside here, in this solar system, your current physical manifestation is most relevant to the astrological organs (planets) that make up you. Your body reflects this. Everything exists as a reflection of you, because you is all that exists. The largest physical bodies you have, and are aware of, relate to astrological objects. These astrological bodies are what make up the bigger picture and that which creates foundations for your physical existence. This is why the planets relate most readily to your mental patternings, because it is the mind, which organizes its thoughts and structures them to give the illusion of a concrete reality. From there, these mental patterns create physical houses (structured thought) for themselves. These “houses” are your organs and endocrine glands, which are just reflections of the archetypes of your mind. These Archetypes of course being patterns that your consciousness readily creates which are the foundational platform from which you think from. Consciousness is the programmer, the mind and archetypes are the program, and this reality is the appearance the program projects - the game that you to interact in.
When engaging in alchemy, we can use the Law of Correspondence to relate to anything in our reality, and then understand its underlying archetype or theme. It was believed that the metallic realm was the foundation from which all other realms rested upon. If we think about it, our planet gives life to a plethora of mineral, plant, and animal life. Its center is believed to be an iron core. Without this metallic molten core, life on this planet would not be possible. All of the metal on this planet has come from the stars. A star lives for billions of years. When it finally collapses in on itself due to its own gravity and dies, its lighter atoms of helium, hydrogen, oxygen, or nitrogen press into each other with so much force and energy that they fuse together (nuclear fusion) and create new elements during the blast (supernova) that sends the stars guts hurling out into space. These newer fused elements are the elements that we find today on our planet - all of the metals, and carbons that make up the diverse rock and organic life of Earth. Metals are truly our foundation. Made from stars and grounding us in this vacuum of space. Because metals are so dense and are very much their own elements rather than a series of complex molecules, we find that they have only one planetary correspondence.
If you take the metallic kingdom and pair it with another element, such as: Nitrogen, Oxygen, or Sulfur, you will get a mineral. Any mineral tends to be an ore that incorporates metal into its structure. Quartz crystals are made with metal (silicon), turquoise is Copper and Aluminum. Most minerals have a metallic backing. This dual nature gives Minerals dual planetary correspondences. Sometimes minerals can even have more than two planetary correspondences if they incorporate a multitude of elements.
Since plant life relies on the mineral kingdom – the minerals of course relying on that metallic kingdom for their existence – means that the plant life has a plethora of planetary correspondence. When working with an herb, you can understand where it goes in the body medicinally, and how it affects the mind and emotions by understanding the plants planetary correspondence. Most herbal medicines are found to do a multitude of things that have effects over the entire body, this is because of their multi-layered influences from the planets. Plants are Microcosms in their own right, but it is the animal realm that includes the signature of all of the solar system in its expressed nature. One of most significant differences with animals amongst the realms is that animals incorporate the planet Earth. This aspect is reflected in animal life as having a stomach and full digestive system. Possessing this organ has given the animal realm the ability to take the putrefying nature of the Earth with it, so that it no longer has to be stuck to the soil. Plants must be rooted to the ground because they rely on the putrefying nature of the earth to break necessary nutrients up into smaller parts so that they can be absorbed. Animals however take this quality with them by embodying the earth energies. The animal realm is a full microcosmic reflection of the macrocosm that is the heavens.
Understanding the archetypes of the planets is a big part of being able to identify the qualities of different medicines found throughout the realms. There are many charts out there that pair herbs with their planetary counterparts. Many of the lists you will find differ. This is due to the multi-layered planetary influences that plants have as described above. Many authors do not take this into consideration and instead attribute a certain herb as only having one planetary influence. The best way to truly know and understand what planetary energies are working with the material of any realm is by studying that things qualities.
Researching a material and understanding its character is vital to pinpointing its major planetary influences. Knowing what environments and conditions it prefers, understanding its traditional and modern medicinal uses, looking into the chemistry, or researching any associated mythologies are all great methods for better knowing the character of any one thing. There is also working with that substance physically. Imbibing its essence and paying close attention to how it makes you feel, think, or experience reality. Engaging in practical alchemical works will cause you to build close relationships with the natural world. You may find yourself personally cultivating, harvesting, or extracting the materials that peek your interest. The more you understand about the materials you choose, the better you understand yourself and your relationship to this reality.
Researching a material and understanding its character is vital to pinpointing its major planetary influences. Knowing what environments and conditions it prefers, understanding its traditional and modern medicinal uses, looking into the chemistry, or researching any associated mythologies are all great methods for better knowing the character of any one thing. There is also working with that substance physically. Imbibing its essence and paying close attention to how it makes you feel, think, or experience reality. Engaging in practical alchemical works will cause you to build close relationships with the natural world. You may find yourself personally cultivating, harvesting, or extracting the materials that peek your interest. The more you understand about the materials you choose, the better you understand yourself and your relationship to this reality.
For detailed breakdowns of the planetary archetypes, explore the pages we have featured here concerning our different metallic oils. Each metal embodies one archetypical pattern that is directly related to your mind, body, and soul making it a concise study in the orientation that astrological systems have to you.
When it comes to metallic essences, each one fully embodies the planet that it corresponds to. This makes for very clear reflections in regards to those archetypes of mind. Each page will inform you of the physical, mental, and emotional qualities that the planet represents. These qualities can be applied to any realm of matter, since these planetary archetypes are visible in all things.
When it comes to metallic essences, each one fully embodies the planet that it corresponds to. This makes for very clear reflections in regards to those archetypes of mind. Each page will inform you of the physical, mental, and emotional qualities that the planet represents. These qualities can be applied to any realm of matter, since these planetary archetypes are visible in all things.
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