The Ogham


by Celtwitch

Ogham is the only known form of lettering used by the ancient Celts. It is believed to have originated in Southern Ireland and has never been found outside of either Ireland or Great Britain. The alphabet itself is made up of twenty five characters, five of which were added to the original list at a later date.

Ogham (pronounced "O~am", with the "O" as in "hot" and a very slight "y" sound between the o and a) is considered by many people to be no more than a tree alphabet. This is because most of the characters are also the name of the various trees. Ogham, however, has been attached to the other name list such as place ogham, hound ogham etc. The link with trees is deep. Ogham were considered to be branches of the Tree of Wisdom and therefore sacred.

The original twenty characters are divided into four groups consisting of one to five straight lines, cut across or up to a vertical straight line. When the line is horizontal, the letters are read from left to right. Where it is vertical, the letters are read from top to bottom. The origins of Ogham are shrouded in mystery and are to be found in the stories and myths of the Celts. In particular, they are believed to have been invented by the God Ogma, god of eloquence and literature. He was a son of the Dagda and was skilled in dialects and poetry.

Ogma carving an ogham stone.

In fact, we know very little about Ogham's true origins but it seems reasonable that it developed from a sign language. According to Graeme K. Tallboys (Greywind), sign languages were thought to be common in druidic colleges and rules of silence were common. This in turn (as in so many things) spilled over into the Christian communities. The fact that it is based on one to five straight lines (or fingers) lends support to this theory.

If nothing else, a study of Ogham can teach us a huge amount about trees. As we learn the script, so we learn about the way in which Celtic peoples viewed their world, "..as a flowing and universal interconnectedness, a deep forest of mystery into which we must all travel, a place where the very letters they used are living branches of the great and sacred trees that watch over us and teach us ~ if we can but take the time to learn".

Pronunciation is open to question, but "c" is a hard letter as in "Keltic", and s is always soft as in "hiss" rather than "hiz".

I would like, at this point, to make it clear that this is not meant to be a piece of dogma. There are many variations with characters having different associations for different people. I feel very strongly that this should in no way diminish the enjoyment (I hope) of learning about this ancient form of Celtic alphabet. One variation is as good as another, in my opinion.

What this article is designed to do, is open your eyes to the possibilities of using Ogham in divination, spellwork, pathworking etc.

In future articles, I'll be looking at each character individually and I will begin with birch.

With thanks to Julie White & Graeme K . Tallboys and the "Path Through the Forest".