This is just one/some approach/es out of infinitely many, so feel free to take them as you please and use it as something to chew on while figuring out your own magical path!
All the power we need we already have. That’s right, you could theoretically cast any spell with just intent and energy work, and many magic users don’t use any tools or items at all. However, doing something really huge would either take a very specific method or a metric crap-ton of effort. Since most of us are human beings with limits and nobody ever truly masters magic, items, tools, and correspondences help us focus, filter, and direct our own energy so that the result is more concentrated and more powerful than if we did it on our own. Like differently-shaped strainers.
All items have their own power. Everything from that double-terminated quartz to that old Snickers wrapper can be good for something. Most items are good for more than one thing, even on a mundane practical level. Some items are better suited for certain tasks, though, which is where you get those quick-and-dirty lists of key words from. When we use items for their own power, we’re taking the aspect of them we find most useful, focusing, and amplifying it so that it works its own magic. If all your ingredients work for lots of things but all of them work for luck, that aspect will shine through strongest.
They work WITH your energy… putting a bunch of ingredients together without energy, effort, or meaning is like building a computer but never charging the battery. Or throwing together a salad but never eating it! Correspondences make our job go a lot more easily, quickly, and effectively, but they aren’t reliable simply on their own. (In my view, it’s because the energy is unfocused and there’s a lot of extra noise.) So find a rhythm and a balance between your energy and your tools/ingredients and find what works for you!
fair--y backup 