Etheracon notes- Ogham

Jan 24 20:12 UTC 1994

Where to begin? perhaps with an overview of the topics on which I was able to
take notes.  The rituals are another topic entirely.
Out of the many topics presented, I mostly took notes on Norse Runes, Celtic
Religion, and a bit on the Orishas of Yoruba tradition.  I also got to a class
on the use of stones in healing, part of one on psychometry, one on Jewish
storytelling, and one on the use of sound for healing.

I think for this item I will begin with something relatively new to me, to help
solidify my understanding.
Alexi Kondratiev, a Celtic scholar who lives in NYC and is one of my personal 
"demigods" (he's good at what he does), taught a class on the use of Ogham (the
Irish runic alphabet) for divination.  The problem with trying to recreate this
class on.line is that I don't think I can reproduce the actual Ogham: they are
usually written down a vertical axis. Here follows my attempt at the alphabet,
The first family, "Aicme Bethe", consists of B,L,F,S,N.  I wukk 


(oops, hand slipped, try again) I will use the number 1 as the vertical axis
for letters which belong on one side or the other of it (the first 2 families)
and leave out the axis for the families that cross it. Thus, B looks like -1,
and is called Beth which means birch. L looks like =1, is called Luis and means
rowan. Ok, now I don't see any way to write the next three letters in the 
family, but in each family, it is just a process of adding another line in
sequence.  The next letter, F is written with three horizontal lines to the
left of the axis.  Its name is Fern which means alder.  Fourth is Sail which
means willow, and fifth is Nin which is the ash tree.  I'm not going to deal
with pronounciation just now.  I think I will give each family one message,
allowing time for comment and questions, and them go on to the theory and 
method of divination.  By the way, this alphabet has mostly been found on
the corners of stones, and is mostly used for boundary markers and funerary
inscriptions.

2nd family - "Aicme Huathe".  The letters are H,D,T,C (or K),Q. Since H is not
actually a letter in Irish, this is an odd one.  It may be a borrowing.  Any
way, H is written 1-, its name is huath and means terror or hawthorn. D is
written 1=, its name is dair which means oak. T is tinne, the holly or an ingot
or something burning.  C is Coll, the hazel.  Q is cert, a bush or apple tree.

If you are familiar with Robert Graves "tree calendar", tree alphabet, etc.,
ignore it- he made it up.  He admits it later in the book. (So I'm told.  I
never had the fortitude to read so far.) THe names of the letters are often
given as "kennings"- that is, rather than one fixed name and association, each
(oops, scratch that last word.  what I meant to say is-- ) the Ogham may be
given any of a number of sets of associations- trees, birds, phrases, etc.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled trees...

3rd family- "Aicme Muine". The letters are M,G,NG,S,R.  Hey, without the axis
I can write this whole family outt.  M is written \, its name is muin which
means neck (perhaps as in "neck" of grain- a sheaf) or grape vine. G is written
\\, its name is gort which means ivy or garden.  NG is written \\\, its name is
nGetal, which means reed, battle or fury.  S is written \\\\, its name is 
straif, which means sulphur or blackthorn.  R is written \\\\\, its name is 
ruis which means redness or the elder tree.  So you see that not all these
letters are actually named for trees- some of the names actually mean something
else and the tree is just a relevant association.  These three were originally
the whole alphabet, like Hebrew whose vowels are auxilary.  The fourth family,
the vowels, were written as dots but since those are hard to read they became
horizontal lines across the axis. 

4th family- "Aicme Ailme".  The letters are A,O,U,E,I. A is written - , its
name is Ailm which means elm or silver fir.  O is written =, its name is onn
which means gorse.  U , with 3 horizontal lines, is called ur which means
soil or heather.  E is edad which means "it" or aspen.  I is idad which means
yew.  Next time maybe I'll try using an apostrophe after a letter to show it
has an accent.  Next installment- nature of the 4 families and relations betwee
n them.  Maybe divinatory meanings.

Please make suggestions if there is a more convenient way for me to present 
this stuff.  I am trying not to assume prior knowledge but I need input about
that.  Have fun!  Kami  (and now back to our regularly scheduled transcription
of notes onto disk...)

response 2 of 23:

Jan 28 20:10 UTC 1994

Ok, try looking at the 4 families as 4 different "kinds" of trees; the first
are noble, the second tribal, the third peasant- of the land- and the fourth
family combines the other three.  So- that which is "noble" deals with the
basic myth structures that inform and underlie society, large forces, strong
effects, the amount of energy bound up in a situation.  That which is "tribal"
involves dealings with people, the boundaries between people, and political
issues.  That which involves the "peasant trees" is about the body, health,
food, money, or other practical matters.  

At each level of this system there seems to be a "and one more"-- 3 families of
letters, and one more whose meanings combine the other three.  So, in each
family there are five letters- two pairs and one that balances them. 
In Aicme Bethe, Beth-birch- is a solar tree, and sail-willow- is a lunar tree,
so they make a pair in linked opposition.  Fern-alder- is fire and Nin-ash- is
water, so here's another pair.  Luis-the rowan- combines the other 4 aspects
so: red berries on a water-bound island (I failed to write down the origin of 
this image.  Sorry).  
In Aicme huathe, Dair-the oak- represents rising energy or luck.  Tinne- the
holly- represents sacrifice.  Coll-the hazel nut- represents wisdome, intellect
or magic.  It is linked with Cert-the apple- which represents what is emotional
or intuitive.  The complementarity/opposition of this pair of trees is tradit
ional.  Huath-the hawthorn- represents the spirits of the land.  They can be
hlpful but they are never easy.  For example, the maypole is a hawthorn, but
this tree may never be kept inside, even when the maypole has been cut down to
get its power for the crops.

Well, I'm starting to fade out- afternoon sleepies- comment on this stuff and
I'll do the other two families later.  After that let's discuss this concept
of "linked opposition" and "one more to summarize" before we go on to the way
of reading the ogham.  Enjoy.

response 4 of 23:

Jan 30 06:14 UTC 1994

actually, Chris, someone had given Alexei a set of pentagonal- prism shaped
sticks (did I describe that correctly?) with the ogham symbols CARVED into
the edges of them- seems like it could be pretty tactile.  And, of course, the
original inscriptions were carved into the corners of standing stones.  How 
can I make these descriptions more accessible to you, and less obscure in 
general?
It's a bit late for me to carry on transcribing now.  Maybe tomorrow.  Cheers!

response 6 of 23:

Jan 31 17:37 UTC 1994

vidar, you're right.  I'm getting more concise with repetition- also getting
to have a better idea what I'm talking about.

response 8 of 23:

Jan 31 21:56 UTC 1994

If you still have a copy, no problem, use your editor to put it into
your item or response.  (I don't know what editor you're using.)

If you don't have a copy, mail them and beg for a copy of it, then
see above.  >8)

response 10 of 23:

Feb 1 19:34 UTC 1994

imminent meltdown. I don't get it. Aghghgh! help, I'm drowning, no I'm meeeelt
ing! Can I give up now? If I threaten it with magnets, will this hi tech stuff
suddenly make sense? Sob, sob.
Maybe I'd better think about it later.

response 12 of 23:

Feb 2 17:34 UTC 1994

So, these are the sticks that are used?
How do you..."do it". Throw 'em?
-phaedrus

response 14 of 23:

Feb 10 04:18 UTC 1994

at long last, here is the rest of the summary of the Ogham as a divination
system.  Enjoy!

6.) 3rd Family (Aicme Muine): Muin,grape vine or neck (of grain?). Gort, garden
or ivy. nGe/tal, reed or battle or fury. Straif, sulfur or blackthorn. Ruis,
redness or elder.  The pairs are:muin and gort- two vines, one giving an intox
icating drink, the other a poison (or a source of vision in small doses).
Straif and Ruis- again, one curative, the other harmful. nGe/tal is the extra-
not a "tree", but a rush used by the poor folk for light (even nastier than
tallow, I gather)- here's fire and water again...

7.)4th Family (Aicme Ailme): Ailm, elm or silver fir. Onn, gorse.  U/r, soil or
heather. Edad, it (huh? I have no idea what that meant) or aspen. Idad, yew.
The pairs are: Ailm and Idad- fir is a "high tree", yew is for death and resur
rection.  Edad and Onn- Aspen is for the mother goddess and Fall, Furze is for
Brigit, Spring, the Sun.  U/r, heather, is both noble and common and represents
the whole year.

8.) Casting:
1. ask question-- general is better
2.invoke the putative giver of the Ogham, Ogma Grianainech (of the sunlike
face)
        by his attributes: god of language, etc.
3. toss the Ogham-carved sticks, look to see how they landed in relation to the
four directions and the center, directional movement, etc. Apply Celtic attriv
butions of the directions to the letters that show up : North is seat of 
conflict or difficulty, the "most cultural". South is "non cultural", those
things not understood, unexpected patterns. West has the intellect, heat, fire.
east is practical, material.  Center may reflect changes, activity, etc.

There, that's a rough summary of my notes.  I notice that they get VERY sketchy
on the pairs in aicme muine- I seem to have been losing it pretty badly just
then.  At some point I'll ask Alexei to fill it in for me.  Also, this is not
enough information for me to use it as a complete divinatory system yet, but
it may fill out in time.  Good for thinking about, anyway.

response 16 of 23:

Mar 7 21:00 UTC 1995

there are a few, very few, good books available on the ogham.  I think it
best to look at it from the point of view of a linguist, archaeologist, or
the like, to get a good grounding in what we really can know for certain,
and then look at it, if you want, from a pagan/magical point of view.

A couple of books that might be useful:
Ann Ross, in _Everyday Life of the Pagan Celts_, makes some mention of the
ogham and literacy.

Rees and Rees, in _Celtic Heritage_, look at the ogham, the Coligny calendar,
and a whole lot of other neat stuff.

I have a neat little book, a bit dense for its size, by Sean O Boyle,
called _Ogam, The Poets' Secret_. 

Don't trust Robert Graves, he took a little reference and blew it all out
of proportion, did not do his own translation, and took great liberties
with what he was given.  His treatment of "battle of the trees" is a lot
of fun, though.

Unfortunately, things like the "Celtic Tree Oracle" owe more to Graves than
to any serious scholarship.

Have fun!

response 18 of 23:

Mar 8 05:02 UTC 1995

gee, i dunno, the most surprising things happen..
what was that you were saying about an interest in writing systems? <g>

response 20 of 23:

Jul 15 05:59 UTC 1995

What's at Falling Water?

response 22 of 23:

Aug 10 14:58 UTC 1995

I would have put in here all that i've learned about ogham but everone else
seems to have said it for me:(