Ogham Study Group - Introduction

Hi all,
I certainly am not an Ogham expert but I do want to learn. So, to start things off....

Ogham (also spelled Ogam) are letters that are formed by notches intersecting with a stemline or crossbar. Irish mythology states that the god Ogma Sun Face invented the Ogham script. The study of Ogham was a part of an apprentice Druid’s education. There are many different variations of the Ogham (at least 150 different variants) including Tree Ogham, Bird Ogham, Fortress Ogham, Dog Ogham, Nose Ogham, etc., etc. The Tree Ogham is the best known today. The knowledge of Ogham was passed on verbally from Druid master to apprentice. In the Tree Ogham, each letter (ogamfew or just “few”) is associated with a particular tree. Each tree represents a wealth of knowledge and wisdom. Ancient writings include information about the trees and the meanings of the ogamfews. “The OgamTract”, “Scholar’s Primer”, and “Book of Ballymote” are some of the writings that contain useful information. Similar to Nordic runes, the Ogham is both a phonetic alphabet and a means of divination.

The Tree Ogham has 20 letters. An additional 5 letters were added at a later date. The 20 Ogamfews are divided in 4 groups, each group containing 5 letters. The group of 5 is called an aicme. Each aicme is given the name of the first letter in that group. Each letter is made by making 1 to 5 notches or strokes to the side or across a stemline. The stemline is called as the druim. The druim could run horizontal (—) or vertical ( | ). All fews in a particular aicme have similar strokes.

Here is a web site that shows the written ogham:
http://ogham.lyberty.com/otable.html

The first aicme is the Beth Aicme and includes the fews; b (beth or beith), L (Luis), f (fearn), s (saille), and n (nion, nin, or nuin). These letters are formed by making 1 to 5 strokes respectively either below or to the right of the stemline:

The second aicme is the Huath Aicme and includes the fews; h (huath, or huathe), d (duir), t (tinne), c (coll), and q (quert). These letters are formed by making 1 to 5 strokes respectively either above or to the left of the stemline:

The third aicme is the Muin Aicme and includes the fews; m (muin), g (gort), ng (nGetal), ss (straif), and r (ruis). These letters are formed by making 1 to 5 strokes respectively across the druim at an angle:

The forth aicme is the Ailm Aicme and includes the fews; a (ailm or ailim), o (onn or ohn), u (ur or uir), e (eadha or edad), and i (idho, ioho, or idad). These letters are formed by making 1 to 5 strokes respectively across the druim without a slant:

The additional five are for the letters ea (or ch), oi (or th), ui/y (or pe), io/p (or ph), and ae/x (or xi). These letters each have unique symbols that will be covered later.

I wonder if the acimes have similiar or significant meanings to be grouped together in the first place, their meanings to be similiar or rather progressive to be placed together when the ogham itself was made? Hmm have to have a look around for that

Well done on getting this up and running raeanne!

Blessings,
Sezo
x

Hi Inanna_tarot,
There seems to be at least a phonetic connection between all the letters of an aicmi. The Beth group are phonetic "labials". These are letters that are formed with the lips and the front portion of the mouth. The Huath group are the dental/aspirants that are formed more by pushing air out of the mouth. The Muin group are the gutterals which are formed more with the back part of the mouth. The Ailm aicmi are all vowels.

Moved from General Study groups to Divination.

Love

Sulis xx

inanna_tarot said:

I wonder if the acimes have similiar or significant meanings to be grouped together in the first place, their meanings to be similiar or rather progressive to be placed together when the ogham itself was made? Hmm have to have a look around for that

Click to expand...

I found the following correspondences, but do not know the original source. Maybe someone else will know.

I suspect they may have originated with Robert Graves who connected the ogham with the calendar year. because he is not taken seriously among most ogham scholars, take these correspondances with a grain of salt.

First Aicme= Beltain, Sword of Nuada, that defines the Dawn of Spring.
Second Aicme= Lughnassadh, Spear of Lugh, Fires of Summer.
Third Aicme= Samhian, Cauldron of the Dagda, Mannan's Ferry Boat to the Realm of the Dead, the Autumn.
Fourth Aicme= Imbolic, La Faal (Stone of Destiny), Cold Winter Earth.

btw, The study group index is now 'stickied' at the top of the divination board.

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i've chosen not to use the dipthongs, at least until i feel like using the ogham is second nature.

really hard to put this in words... i like to learn from the earliest point first so as to understand, as best can be understood, (and perhaps assimilate) the original meanings/teachings of the divination method used as a whole.

each stave does not stand alone, but has a relationship with the other staves. the aicme themselves have meaning and a relationship. the use of four aicme suggest an inherant balance.

Maybe we can revive this thread/group?
I would love to learn how the staves work together...

I'm with you, Bat

I have recently been studying tree Ogham and find it really really cool. I think it would be great to study!

valeria

This is great! I would love to restart a study as I just got the book Ogam: The Celtic Oracle of the Trees: Understanding, Casting, and Interpreting the Ancient Druidic Alphabet by Paul Rhys Mountfort and also the Ogham: The Celtic Oracle by Peter Prancownik and Andy Baggot (large cards) just a couple days ago.

So far the book is excellent and full of fascinating information.....