The Ogham Alphabet: Magical Celtic Script for Divination?

The Ogham script is an early Medieval alphabet primarily used in Celtic Ireland and Western Britain between the 4^th and 6^th centuries CE. Around 400 inscriptions survive, most from the Munster area of Ireland and the Pembrokeshire region of Wales. Some scholars believe that the alphabet was created by Druids specifically as a secret script to keep their knowledge from the Romans.

The alphabet was overtaken by Latin script from the 6^th century CE onwards and fell out of regular use. However, the 14th-century Book of Ballymote contains genealogies and mythologies in the script. The 14^th-century Book of Ogams also preserves important information about the script.

Ancient Irish tradition suggests that the script was invented shortly after the fall of the Tower of Babel, around 4,200 years ago, by the legendary Scythian king Fenius Farsa and a group of scholars. They were investigating the ancient texts kept there that recorded the many “confused languages” that were sent out from Nimrod’s tower early in Biblical history, creating the world’s unique languages and cultures. After ten years of study, they took the best of all the languages to create this Ogham writing system.

The Book of Ogams suggests that the language was developed by the Irish god Ogma, who was associated with communication and writing.

Modern Neopagan use of Oghams as a spiritual alphabet was popularized by Robert Graves’ 1948 publication The White Goddess, in which he proposed a universal European mother goddess – called by many names in different cultures – linked with the moon and its phases. He proposed that the alphabet was developed and encoded with a set of beliefs in the ancient Middle East, and then spread across Europe to the Greeks, Romans, Celts, and beyond, and that the script was preserved in Celtic Ireland by the Druids.

While this theory is impossible to prove, these ideas underpin much modern use of the Ogham script.

The Celtic Tree Alphabet

The alphabet is intimately linked with nature with many Briatharogaim (Irish kennings) for the different Ogham letters referring to trees and plants. Consequently, it is also known as the Celtic Tree Alphabet. Since its use corresponds with the period of Arthurian legends, the script has often been associated with Merlin and the magical arts.

There were originally 20 Ogham letters, called feda, divided into four groups, aicmi, of five. Each aicme is named after the first letter of the group:

Aicme Beithe – “the B Group”
Aicme hÚatha – “the H Group”
Aicme Muine – “the M Group”
Aicme Ailme – “the A Group”

A fifth group, called the forfeda, was added after the 6^th century to adapt the script to changes in the Irish language.

The script is written vertically from bottom to top, however, there are some examples of horizontal inscriptions written from left to right, mostly in manuscripts that mix Oghams with other scripts. The letters are linked together along solid lines.

Each Ogham letter has a phonetic sound, an Irish name, a tree association, and a color association. Some also have a zodiac ruler and a bird.

Letter	Name	Tree	Color	Zodiac	Bird
B	Beith	Birch	White		Pheasant
L	Luis	Rowan	Dark Grey	Virgo	Duck
F/V	Fearn	Alder	Crimson	Leo	Gull
S	Saille	Willow	Yellow/Pink	Aries	Hawk
N	Nuin	Ash	Blue-Green	Aquarius	Snipe
H	Huathe	Hawthorn	Black	Libra	Crow
D	Duir	Oak	Dark Brown	Scorpio	Wren
T	Tinne	Holly	Scarlet	Cander	Starling
C/K	Coll	Hazel	Orange-Brown	Taurus	Crane
Q	Quert	Wild Apple	Apple Green
M	Muinn	Vine or Bramble	Purple	Sagittarius	Titmouse
G	Gort	Ivy	Light Blue	Capricorn	Mute Swan
NG	Ngetal	Broom or Juniper	Light Yellow-Green	Pisces	Goose
STR/SS/ST/Z	Straif	Blackthorn or Wild Plum	Orange-Red
R	Ruis	Elder	Red	Gemini	Rook
A	Ailm	Silver Fir or Pine	Grey
O	Onn	Gorse or Furze	Gold or Sand
U	Ur	Heather	Light Green
E	Edhadh	Aspen	Light Yellow
I/J/Y	Ido	Yew	Earth Red
EA/CH	Ebhadh	Aspen	Green
OI/TH	Oir	Spindletree	Red
UI/P	Uileand	HOneysuckle	Doe Red
IO/IA	Iphin	Gooseberry	Whitish Grey
AE	Phagos	Beech	Black or White

In his text, Graves associated the Oghams with a calendar in a kind of Ogham zodiac, with each Ogham corresponding to a Celtic month.

Beith (Birch) – December 24 to January 20

Luis (Rowan) – January 21 to February 17

Nion (Ash) – February 18 to March 17

Fearn (Alder) – March 18 to April 14

Saille (Willow) – April 15 to May 12

Uath (Hawthorn) – May 13 to June 9

Duir (Oak) – June 10 to July 7

Tinne (Holly) – July 8 to August 4

Coll (Hazel) – August 5 to September 1

Muin (Vine) – September 2 to September 29

Gort (Ivy) – September 30 to October 27

Ngetal (Reed) – October 28 to November 24

Ruis (Elder) – November 25 to December 22

The 23^rd of December is not ruled by anything due to the traditions or the early Irish courts.

Ogham Divination

Most Neopagans focus on the Oghams as a tool for divination, which may have historical roots as it is mentioned in the Tochmarch Etaien, an Irish mythological text in which a druid named Dalab takes four wants of yew and writes Ogham letters on them. He then uses the tools for what seems to be divination, though details of the process are not given. This would also be consistent with Germanic and Norse use of the runes for divination.

Building on both Irish and Germanic traditions, modern Ogham divination involves marking sticks with the Ogham symbols and then casting them, sometimes on a cloth marked with a pattern called Fionn’s window that allows for interpretation based on where the sticks land.

Other traditions suggest that you should line up the marked sticks in front of you and choose seven. Then, while holding them to your heart, ask your question and cast the sticks in front of you. The sticks that land closest to you provide information about the present, and the sticks furthest away the future. Sticks that touch one another are related.

Following much research and discussion, most Neopagans suggest the following meanings when interpreting the Oghams for divination.

• Beith – prepare for new beginnings because things are about to change (new beginnings, creativity, cleansing, purity)
• Luis – seek protection against the control that others have over you (protection, defense, herbalism, inspiration, insight)
• Fearn – seek guidance to make the right choices on your life path (defense, security, spiritual guidance, strength, choices)
• Saille – balance will emerge in your life soon (balance, intuition, harmony, inspiration, serenity, comfort)
• Nuin – you are part of something that is already in motion and will come to pass (transitions, renewal, strength, learning, wisdom, healing, fate, friendships, support)
• Huath – you will feel held back for a certain period of time (protection, loneliness, strife, despair, fertility, celebration)
• Duir – you have gained strength and let go of fear (strength, resilience, endurance, fate, growth, leadership, kindness)
• Tinne – you must find courage to case the coming troubles (analysis, energy, transformation, skills, balance, love, empathy)
• Coll – a broader vision will empower your work (enlightenment, inspiration, wisdom, divination, knowledge, practicality, luck)
• Quert – you are called upon to make a life-changing decision (rest, harmony, choices, vision, psychic cleansing)
• Muin – focus inward on personal development (harvest, celebration, relaxing, play)
• Gort – look inside yourself to your soul for the guidance that you need (wildness, development, abundance, gratitude, foundation, destruction, binding)
• Ngetal – hurt and upset lie ahead (health, vitality, strength, healer, longevity, shelter)
• Straif – you are denying the truth that is before you (challenge, adversity, secrecy, choice, change, magical power)
• Ruis – you have reached an ending of some sort (obsession, jealousy, karma, inspiration, love, life)
• Alim – be careful with your current choices as they have larger consequences (excitement, joy, spiritual, awakening)
• Onn – there is a new opportunity to take your life in a different direction (spiritual path, lust, spiritual guidance, movement)
• Ur – something healing will appear for you (relationships, connections, fairies, good luck, magic, loved ones in spirit)
• Eadhadh – you are currently full of fear and doubt (bravery, perception, divination)
• Idad – prepare for a significant and unexpected change (history, ancestors, aging, death, transitions, thoughts, memories)
• Ebad – you will overcome false ideas from the past (wisdom, enlightenment, harmony, contentment)
• Oir – you need to finish something before moving forward with something new (abundance, creativity, honoring family and loved ones, community)
• Uilenn – proceed with caution (change resilience, secrets, thoughts)
• Ifin – new tidings are on the horizon (divination, releasing guilt or shame, vision, enjoyment of day-to-day life)
• Emancholl – travel is in your immediate future (disease, illness, purify negative energy)

You can find a more in-depth analysis of the meaning of each Ogham on the Learn Religions website.