Lost w/ so Many Herb Meanings

I agree with Corvin. It can also be based very heavily on what you associate the herb with personally! To follow your example with bay leaves, I associate that with protection more than anything else because I use them quite a lot in my protection spells. Chamomile can be associated with peace but it can also he associated with happiness (which I use it for happiness spells because it's a very gentle energy to me)

So experiment! :) feel it out!

I'll just add a little historical perspective to Corvin & Kalimonster's really good answers. :-) We are all very spoiled these days -- it's taken a global pandemic and the related panic buying to actively get in the way of just walking into any number of stores and having our choice of literally dozens of individual herbs -- dried, powdered, granulated, even fresh. Historically, practitioners would be limited to what could be grown and/or purchased locally -- and even some of the best-known plants have relatively restricted ranges, so what was an everyday garden herb for one person could be an extremely rare and exotic import for another. Under those circumstances, it was almost impossible for different herbs to not be used for the same purpose, or assigned the same correspondences, by practitioners in different geographic regions. (It's also relatively common in nature for different substances & compounds to have similar effects, further reinforcing the overlap in herbal associations, uses, and correspondences.) It might be easier to cast your thoughts in the direction of, "Oh, good, a back-up!" instead of "Why so much overlap!?" -- and then experiment to see how different mixes interact with your intent. Keeping all the usual caveats about being extra-careful with anything you intend to ingest or inhale -- have fun! :-)

It's up to you to decide which corresponding herb suits your needs the best. Also, if you don't have a specific herb, you can replace it with another herb with the same correspondence. Or you can use different herbs with the same corespondence to sort of "stack" it. Let's say for example that a spell is using cloves for protection. But what if I don't have cloves or I don't like using them? Well, I can use something else instead, rosemary for example. Or I can use both rosemary and cloves to stack the energies and make it even stronger. It depends on what the correspondence is, not what the herb is. As long as the correspondence somehow matches the desired effect and it's not completly off, it's fine. And this applies to other magickal ingredients as well. For example, a lot of people see eggshells as strong protection, and I agree, but in my opinion, walnut shells are stronger so I use those for protection more often or in conjunction with the eggshells. But beware if you're gonna be burning or digesting the herb. Make sure the replacement herb is safe.

You can also find a lot of correspondences in the Wonderlust Herbal Reference Guide under The Green Witch's Garden category.

I agree that it's really up to you and your personal preferences and associations with the herbs/ flowers/ plants. And like

Here's my general rule for herbs:

1. Use only what you like.

2. Use what is available.

3. Use special herbs for special things. Interpretations of "special" can be rare & hard to acquire herbs to herbs you've grown or were given to you by someone close to you.

I grow a lot of herbs in my garden to use: rose, jasmine, hyssop, mint, rosemary, lavender, yarrow, sage, verbena, thyme, oregano. But I will buy special things that I can't grow like palo santo, cinnamon, vanilla, etc. I try to use only what my ancestors could have used.

Hope this helps💫