How To Make Divinations With Ogham?

The Celtic Ogham alphabet, an ancient Irish alphabet, is a powerful tool for divination, with 20 symbols each representing the essence of a sacred tree. This system of divination, known as Celtic Tree Wisdom, is often performed using a comfortable tool like the Ogham. Historians argue that the original Ogham alphabet wasn’t used for divination, but each symbol still holds powerful and magical meanings.

To use Ogham for divination, a set of Ogham staves or sticks is used. These staves are typically made from wood or bone and are read from the bottom up. Ogham divination is a modern way for contemporary Pagans to predict future happenings. The symbols are burned into the branches of the trees themselves, and they are seen in lore such as when the Druid Dalan uses Ogham wands made of ifyew to divine where Midir took Etaín.

Ogham can be read horizontally or vertically, and some stones have an inscription on them. To use the Ogham for divination, one can draw a symbol at random and meditate on its meaning. Each symbol is associated with a different aspect of life, and this book invites readers to forge a meaningful and deep connection with the trees by listening to and learning from them.

In summary, the Ogham alphabet is a powerful tool for divination, with its symbols representing the essence of sacred trees and their significance. By learning about these symbols and their applications, individuals can effectively use Ogham for divination and gain a deeper connection with their environment.

What direction do you read Ogham?

Ogham inscriptions are written vertically on stone or wood and read from bottom to top, while manuscripts are written horizontally and read from left to right. They were used to annotate and display scholars’ names and sometimes contain an arrow at the beginning. All twenty letters of the alphabet are traditionally written in lower-case with no dashes or hyphens. In the 9th century, five more letters were added to denote two vowels side by side.

To meet the modern 26-letter alphabet, some letters are substituted, such as j replacing i, k replacing c, v replacing f, w replacing u, x replacing cs, y replacing i, and p replacing q. The letter P had never been written or spoken until St Patrick arrived in Ireland, and the native people used the letter Q as a substitute.

Who are the Celtic gods of divination?

Brigit, an ancient Celtic goddess, was the equivalent of the Roman goddess Minerva. In Ireland, she was one of three goddesses of the same name, daughters of the Dagda, the great god. Brigit was worshipped by the semi-sacred poetic class, the filid, who also had priestly functions. St. Brigit was taken over into Christianity as St. Brigit, but retained her strong pastoral associations. Her feast day was February 1, which was also the date of the pagan festival of Imbolc.

Brigit had a great establishment in Kildare, Ireland, where her sacred fire burned continually. She still plays an important role in modern Scottish folk tradition, where she figures as the midwife of the Virgin Mary. Brigantia, the patron goddess of the Brigantes of northern Britain, is substantially the same goddess as Brigit. Her connection with water is shown by her invocation in Roman times as “the nymph goddess”.

Is Ogham a pagan?

Neo-druidism and other forms of Neopaganism use ogham symbols for divination, as mentioned in the Irish Mythological Cycle. A divination method invented by neopagans involves casting sticks upon a cloth marked with a pattern, such as Finn’s Window, and interpreting the patterns. The meanings assigned in these modern methods are usually based on the tree ogham, with each letter associated with a tree or plant, and meanings derived from these associations. While some use folklore for the meanings, Robert Graves’ book The White Goddess continues to be a major influence on these methods and beliefs.

Ogham inscriptions in various languages, such as Old Irish, Middle Irish, Scottish Gaelic alphabet, Star Carr Pendant, and Thaana, have been found in various sources. The Ogham alphabet is based on the Celtic vigesimal system invented by Iolo Morganwg for the Welsh language. Later scholastic inscriptions have no definite endpoint and continue into the Middle Irish and even Modern Irish periods, recording names in other languages, such as Old Norse, (Old) Welsh, Latin, and possibly Pictish.

The Ogham inscriptions of Scotland, Coelbren y Beirdd, and the runic alphabet are examples of the various writing systems used by the Picts. The Ogham inscriptions have no definite endpoint and continue into the Middle Irish and even Modern Irish periods, and record names in other languages, such as Old Norse, (Old) Welsh, Latin, and possibly Pictish.

In summary, the use of ogham symbols in Neo-druidism and other forms of Neopaganism has been a significant aspect of their history and beliefs.

The Ogham alphabet, a numbered series of strokes, is a significant part of the Irish language. It is a linguistic system that has been used for centuries to represent the language of Ireland, particularly in the Border States region. The Ogham alphabet is characterized by its alternating order of letters, which would be impossible to change due to its numbered nature. For example, changing the order of N from the third to the fifth letter would require changing its symbol from three strokes to five strokes, as well as the letters F and S. This would lead to confusion and would only be done if there was a compelling reason for the change.

The artificial form idad was likely to make a pairing with edad, as seen in the poem “King and Hermit” by hermit Marban. The poem references the idea that pine makes a pleasing, soothing sound as the wind passes through its needles. The Ogham alphabet is also known for its association with the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids, which is a group of ovates who are associated with the Ogham.

The Ogham alphabet has been a subject of interest in various sources, including Macalister’s The Secret Languages of Ireland, which provides a detailed account of the Ogham alphabet. However, it is important to note that the Ogham alphabet is not a complete language, and further research is needed to fully understand its historical significance and usage.

What religion is Ogham from?

The script of ogham, a type of Irish writing, is believed to have been created by the first Christians in Ireland due to the difficulty in capturing primitive Irish sounds in the Latin alphabet. The earliest known Christian settlements coincide with the oldest surviving ogham stones. Ogham stones were used for grave markers, but their lack of prevalence at known burial sites suggests they were used for property boundaries or monuments to celebrated heroes.

The script consists of twenty letters, or feda, divided into four groups based on stroke direction and position. An additional group of five letters, called the forfeda, was later added to the script.

What did Druids use for divination?

Ancient Druids utilized various divination methods, including weather-witching, bird flight interpretation, animal behavior observation, and planetary configurations. Each element was used for augury, similar to healing. Earth cast on a sheet or drum-skin, clouds, fire images, and pools of water were also sources of inspiration. The Irish Druids used the term Neldoracht for cloud divination, and more complex methods like Tarbhfeis involved the diviner being wrapped in a bull’s hide for clairvoyance.

Divination can reveal hidden dynamics within oneself, relationships, or groups, allowing for self-knowledge and deeper understanding of the hidden causes behind appearances. Modern Druids can use distinctly Druidic methods, such as working with sacred animals and plants, and Ogham, the sacred tree-alphabet of the Druids. Medieval Irish stories suggest that the Druids used Ogham for divination, though actual inscriptions date back to the fourth and fifth centuries.

Although historians cannot confirm the ancient Druids used Ogham, it provides an evocative means of understanding hidden dynamics and future events and has become an integral part of modern Ovate training in the Order.

How did the Celts do divination?

Ogham rune casting is a pagan divination technique where ogham glyphs are etched into objects like stones or sticks to gain insight into a person’s life. The glyphs used are the original sacred trees and recognized natural aspects of the world, with some human icons added in. Common runes in a Celtic casting set include Oak, Hawthorn, Ivy, and Spindle. These icons are also used in Celtic tarot decks.

To perform an ogham casting reading, the reader has their sitter pick and choose which ogham castings they feel most drawn to. The sitter then focuses on the portion of their life they want more insight on and gently tosses the ogham like dice onto a flat surface. This technique is considered the original divination technique used in Celtic druid times, with modern Celtic tarot using the same signs and symbols.

What are three sacred herbs of the Druids?

Ancient Druids were revered and worked with certain plants, including mistletoe, Vervain, Selago, and Samolus. However, the trail of these plants goes cold, and Druids today are in a position similar to the goddess Airmid of Irish mythology, whose father the god of healing Diancecht scattered the 365 herbs of tradition to the four winds. This avoids the burden of dogma that comes with preserved traditions. Druidry has followed a natural cycle of death, with Christianity coming in the 17th century and then rebirth, allowing us to sense our connection back into the past.

This situation encourages us to look deeply and connect to the wisdom that lies within ourselves and the Otherworld, as well as scattered in folktales and literature. This allows us to avoid the burden of dogma and connect with the wisdom that lies within ourselves and the Otherworld.

Is Celtic spirituality pagan?

The concept of “Celtic Spirituality” is a synthesis of pagan and Christian traditions, encompassing both ancient and modern practices within each tradition.

Is Ogham right to left?

The Ogham script, a traditional African language, was inscribed on stones for the purpose of demarcating land boundaries or commemorating community members. Presently, approximately 400 extant stones bear inscriptions that include proper names, ancestral and tribal affiliations, and Latin words.

What is the ritual of divination?

Divination is a ritualistic practice utilized in various African communities for the purpose of interpreting present circumstances and foretelling future events, a practice often colloquially referred to as “fortune telling.” It facilitates the resolution of issues, the treatment of ailments, and the formulation of pivotal life choices.

Do you read Ogham from bottom to top?

The Ogham writing system is a ancient writing system used in Ireland, particularly on standing stones. These inscriptions are read from the bottom left-hand side of a stone, continuing upward along the edge, across the top, and down the right-hand side. There are approximately 380 known inscriptions, with the highest concentration found in Munster. Over one-third of the total are found in County Kerry, particularly in the former kingdom of the Corcu Duibne.

Later inscriptions, known as “scholastic” and post-6th century, are believed to have been inspired by manuscript sources rather than continuations of the original monument tradition. Some medieval inscriptions feature all five Forfeda and are written on stemlines cut into the stone’s face. Ogham was also occasionally used for notes in manuscripts up to the 16th century.

In Scotland, some inscriptions using the Ogham writing system are known, but their language remains a subject of debate. Some argue that the language is Old Norse, while others believe the stones are Pictish in origin. However, due to the lack of knowledge about the Picts, the inscriptions remain undeciphered, possibly being non-Indo-European.