It is important to understand that symbols are not static. They do not carry a single, unbreakable correspondence. Books of correspondences such as 777 are all very well, but when you work on a deeper level rather than merely performing an external ritual, you realise that symbols can be:
1. Universal. A point or a circle, for example, may represent the Absolute, God, and so on.
2. Cultural. A bearded man with long hair is Jesus to a Christian, but to someone from another culture he may have no such symbolic meaning.
3. Personal. Your mother-in-law may symbolise evil and the devil to you, while to the neighbours she is a cultured, well-mannered woman who represents moderation and respect.
And it is precisely at the level of personal symbolism that all the tables of correspondences break down.
This leads us to the understanding that none of these systems is dogma. Memorising a Kabbalistic system does not lead to enlightenment. There is no point in learning lists of demons, their regalia and correspondences by heart. All of these are models, intended to achieve particular goals, not reflections of absolute truth.
Psychotherapy employs a vast range of methods, from outdated forms of analysis to guided affective imagery, from dream analysis to schema therapy and IFS. These systems describe the world in very different ways, yet they all work.
How is that possible? Quite simply, it does not matter which model you use, whether Kabbalah or village magic. What matters is understanding what you are doing. Your actions must serve a spiritual purpose, not merely cast or remove a curse.
You can see the removal of a curse as your calling and as the higher purpose of helping someone. There you have the simplest kind of spirituality in village magic.
Then there are those driven by neurotic cravings for strength and power. They do not understand the essence of the Left-Hand Path at all. It is harder for someone on that path to renounce worldly things later, but not difficult once they become aware of the issue.
And at the extreme is the reification of the spiritual, which I associate with schizotypal disorder. People insist that a successful practitioner must be rich, draped in diamonds like a magpie. How much spirituality does a magpie have?
They also insist that the world can give you absolutely anything, if only you accept it. Well, yes: the world can offer you as much money, goods and services as a given state produces, no more and no less. Until you get off your backside and do something to produce those goods and services, you will receive nothing from the world.
That is why it is important to begin interpreting your dreams today, to discover your own symbols, which can subsequently help you in your spiritual search.
Try analysing a dream: identify its important episodes, then compare those episodes with your own associations and feelings. This is the beginning of the formation of your personal magical space.