chaosjelly:

I feel like one major weakness that many magic practitioners don’t realize when making correspondences is that they aren’t specific. 

Yes, basil and rosemary are both good for protection. But what kind of money spells? What kind of protections? 

A protection could work by hiding you, by filtering things out, by being an impenetrable wall, by dispelling negative energies. And if you were to pick from one or two of those- you could still be even more specific. 

How does it become an impenetrable wall? Is it the bricks themselves, or is it the cement that holds it together? 

And even then-how good is the cement? Would rosemary’s cement work better? 

Don’t just stop there- consider the different forms of the material. 

Is dried basil better at certain things then fresh basil? How does it act in a potion, in an oil, in a tincture? 

Be specific in making your correspondences to truly find out the differences between materials. It is pointless to have a list of 50 different herbs for a purpose if you do not know the different ways they carry out that purpose, because you cannot combine them to maximize their effects.