by Tom Moldvay
One of the basics of traditional Western
magic is “As above, so
below” (usually attributed to the Emerald
Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus).
This concept reached its fullest expression
in the
doctrine of planetary correspondences.
All earthly things were con-
sidered to be but a reflection of the
seven heavenly bodies of our
solar system visible by the unaided eye.
These heavenly bodies were
all known as “planets,” though two of
them, the sun and the moon,
are not planets per se.
The seven planets represent ideal archetypes,
somewhat similar
to the Platonic concept of the ideal.
Each planet has its own magical
sphere of influence. Knowledge of the
various correspondences
proper to a planet enabled the magician
to plan a ceremony which
would maximize the influence of the ruling
planet or planets: For
example, battlefield necromancy would
best have been done under
a combination of Mars and Saturn. The
magician would have chosen
a time, at night, when both planets were
in conjunction. He or she
would have dressed in reds and blacks,
carried objects made of iron
or lead, sacrificed a toad or a wolf,
etc.
Planetary correspondences can be useful
in D&D && AD&D
as
aids to the DM’s imagination. They can
help stimulate creativity, and
provide the DM with a quick, ready source
to help him or her fill in
the kinds of detail which make a dungeon
more interesting and more
mysterious.
For example: “You
open the door and see a room 49 feet
square,
bathed in a strange emerald light. Each wall is painted with a
scene
of the same countryside in a different season. In the center of
the
room is a throne carved out of a single huge block of green jade.
Seated
on the throne is a beautiful woman with exaggerated physical
features.
Seven
copper braziers burn an incense made from
. . .”
Planetary correspondences can also be helpful
in designing new
magical creatures or new magical items.
Among other treasure, the
party might find a silver bracelet on
which is the outline of a panther
formed with small, inset, white seed pearls.
By experiment, or acci-
dent, the party members eventually find
that the bracelet allows the
wearer to travel on the astral
plane, once per day, in the guise of a
panther (though no one yet realizes that
there is an 05% chance that
the user will become insane
each time the bracelet is used, believing
that he or she is a panther even when
back on the Prime Material
Plane in normal form).
Planetary correspondences can be used to
design those super-
natural servants of the Cleric’s deity
whom he or she calls upon each
day to obtain his or her third, fourth,
and fifth-level spells in AD&D. If
the cleric’s deity were Zeus,
for example, the Cleric might pray to
Zeus through Corael, who appears as a
giant stag with eyes like blue
star sapphires, and whose antlers are
wreathed with holly and vio-
lets. The same planetary correspondences
can also help Clerics
design an altar, temple, or chapel.
The tabulation of the categories below
comes out of medieval
natural philosophy, with some later adjustments
by various schools
of magicians. Possible roots can be traced
to Hebrew cabalism, and
the Orphic mysteries of classical Greece.
The sources are often
contradictory and have been simplified
and/or reconciled by edu-
cated guesses whenever necessary. The
best primary sources, for
those who may wish to consult them, are
the three books of Occult
Philosophy or Magic by Henry Cornelius
Agrippa (originally pub-
lished in 1533, and available on microfilm
in most larger libraries).
Spells, magic devices, artifacts,
and relics are known ways to travel to the
planes. You can add machines
or creatures which will also allow such
travel. As far as the universe
around your campaign world goes, who is to
say that it is not possible
to mount a roc and fly to the moon(s)? ar perhaps
to another planet? Again,
are the stars actually suns at a distance? or are
they the tiny lights of
some vast dome? The hows and wherefores are
yours to handle, but more
important is what is on the other end of the
route. - DUNGEON MASTERS
GUIDE, TRAVEL IN THE KNOWN PLANES OF EXISTENCE