The Ogham is essentially a script or written alphabet found in Ireland, Scotland, on the Isle of Man, in South Wales, Devon, Cornwall and Hampshire. Like many elements of old and ancient Druidry, its origins are at times disputed, but it is most commonly agreed that the earliest inscriptions date from the fourth century of the common era. Such inscriptions are all declarations of who owns land, or memorials to the dead.
The earliest written evidence about Ogham is found in the Book of Balymote, a fourteenth century Irish text, much of which is in George Caldor's translation and compilation text, A Scholar's Primer. Also called the Auraicept na n-Éces, this was the Ogham tract from the Book of Ballymote
and the Yellow book of Lecan, and the text of the Trefhocul from the
Book of Leinster, and was published in 1917. This speaks of the Ogham as an alphabet used by and for the learned class to whom it was given as a gift by the sunfaced god of inspiration, Ogma. He also gives some 150 meanings for each letter of the alphabet, implying that it was used as a mnemonic guide.
There is no evidence for Ogham ever having been used for divination, but Colin and Liz Murray's card set was produced in 1988 specifically for this purpose. It took the original twenty letters and their commonly used tree associations, together with the later five letters associated with three trees, the Grove and the Sea.
Here I have begun simply with the first twenty ogham, and the tree associations that I find work for me. Here there are clues as to how the Ogham is for me a language: a way of communicating with nature. I have also created a page for poetry.
Contributors to the specific tree pages are myself, Emma Restall Orr (ERO), Christine Cleere (CC) and Simon Chadwick.
