OGHAM
What is Ogham Divination?
Ogham divination draws staves or pieces of wood inscribed with letters from "Ogham," the ancient Irish writing system, and reads an answer from the tree symbolism assigned to each letter. The script itself is a genuine ancient writing system, but its use as a form of divination is a modern practice created by the 20th-century Celtic revival movement.
Overview
- System
- Omen Reading (reads from letters drawn at random)
- Origin
- Celtic (Ireland) → revived in the 20th century
- What You Need
- Staves or pieces of wood inscribed with Ogham letters (feda)
- Best For
- Life, work decisions
- Time Frame
- Near term, 90 days
Origins & History
Ogham is an ancient writing system used in Ireland around the 4th to 6th centuries, and it survives today in actual archaeological finds—names and boundary markers inscribed on standing stones. At the time it was used as a practical means of record-keeping, and no ancient evidence has been confirmed that it was used as a tool for divination.
Ogham as a form of divination was created during the 20th-century Celtic revival movement and the broader spread of Druidic belief; the interpretation assigning a tree symbol to each letter is said to have been organized in modern times, prompted by the writings of Robert Graves. Although this interpretation rests on thin academic footing, it is widely embraced as a practice within the contemporary Pagan revival movement.
How It Works
- 01Settle on a single question to ask.
- 02Shuffle the staves or pieces of wood inscribed with Ogham letters well.
- 03Draw the decided number of pieces.
- 04Read the tree symbolism assigned to the drawn letters against the question.
What It Reveals
It is well suited to questions about life direction or work decisions where insight is sought through natural symbolism. Because the correspondence between the letters and trees was created in modern times rather than handed down from antiquity, it is best approached not for the weight of a time-honored divination system, but as a contemporary practice for gaining an intuitive prompt.
Related Methods
References
- Wikipedia: Ogham (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogham)