Associations and Correspondences

Associations and Correspondences are things YOU relate together - the idea of one makes you think of the other. There are 4 types of association:

1) Personal - something you associate based on your own mind and life experiences (like the smell of grandma's cookies makes you happy)
2) Familial - something you are raised to associate together, sadly this also includes prejudices as well.
3) Regional - something your area tends to associate - like in the North East where most people are way liberal, not so with the south..
4) Traditional- these are associations based on the Path you follow, its an accumulation of all the above in regards to the people who came before you on that Path.

So what’s the point? Well, correspondences/associations tend to help us short-cut. You are trying to achieve a specific result, so you tend to use things that make you think of it. So, here's an example....
You want to connect with your Grandfather in the spirit world during a spirit walk (astral projection), to find this one spirit among the billions you need a strong connection to him. Having his picture, maybe his favorite fishing lure or hat, etc. This way your mind is over-loaded with things that remind you of grandpa. This builds the psychic connection. This is exactly how associations work.. Someone needed to achieve a purpose (like hooking up with grandpa) so they used all the tools they could find to help the connection. When it worked they made a list of all their tools and thus the Contact The Spirit correspondence list began.
So, even if you bought a book on Celtic Correspondences and Associations, and you are a strict Celtic Pagan - you may find NONE of the correspondences work for YOU!! The lists are meant to be a guide - what has worked for like-minded people in the past. But as you get more comfortable with practicing you'll make your own list of associations - things you relate together.