Whispering Woods Ogham Course
Lesson Five – 4th. Aicme

4th. Aicme:

Ailm (AHL-m)

Silver Fir (Abies spp.)
Ailm (AHL-m) elm * In Ireland Ailm refers to the elm (Ulmus procera) which grows all over Ireland.
The Silver Fir is known as the Birth Tree. It was the original Christmas tree from central Europe. The needles are burned at childbirth to bless and protect the mother and baby. Burn Silver Fir for Happiness; Harmony; Peace; Inspiration; and Wisdom.
To a witch, the cones, warn of wet weather and foretells when a dry season approaches. Its cones respond to the environment by opening with the sun and closing with rain.
It offers a clear perception of the present and the future, its wood is used for shape-shifting and magic involving change.

 
Onn (UHN)

Furze, or Gorse (Ulex europaeus)
Onn (UHN), furze – Furze, or gorse, is a thorny shrub growing to six feet tall. It grows in heaths, moors, pastures, and open woodlands. It produces bright yellow flowers around the time of the spring equinox, which were very popular in pagan fertility rituals throughout Europe and the British Isles for many centuries. It is not often cultivated in North America, but is a serious weed in central California and some other areas. Furze is a member of the Pea family (Fabaceae, or Leguminosae).
Furze/Gorse is associated with the Spring Equinox. Furze is a symbol of fertility and has the magickal uses of protection and money. Furze is a good herb to use as a protection against evil. In Wales hedges of the prickly Gorse are used to protect the home against dark fairies, which cannot penetrate the hedge.
Furze indicates a time of life changing events through the acquisition of knowledge.

 
Úr (OO-r)

Heather  (Calluna vulgaris)
Ura (OO-rah), heather – Heather is a shrub growing to six feet. It is a major component of the vegetation type called “heath”, the source of the term “heathen”. It is evergreen, and produces bell-shaped pinkish flowers in the late summer.

There are a number of other plants called “heath” or “heather” in the genera Erica, Phyllodoce, and Cassiope, relatives of Calluna, and are similar in appearance. Calluna is cultivated in North America with several Erica species from other parts of the world. Heather is a member of the Heath family (Ericaceae).
A tea made from the leaves of the Heather was used as an aphrodisiac.
Heather is sometimes carried as protection against rape and violent crime.
Heather is one of the Fairy flowers, and is said to light the flame of fae passions, and may open the portals between the fae world and the human realm.
Make an offering of Heather on “Beltane” eve to attract faeries to your garden.
It is the Midsummer Tree of the Summer Solstice. When it’s burned with fern, heather will attract rain.

 
Eadha (EH-yah)

Poplar (Populus tremula)
Eadha (EH-yuh), poplar – The aspen grows to 65 feet along rivers. It sprouts from the base and may form clumps or thickets. The black poplar (Populus nigra L.) reaches 100 feet in sandy and gravely soil along rivers. The white poplar (Populus Alba L.) is of similar size and habitat, but is more common in southern Europe. Both species are cultivated in North America (the “Lombardy poplar” is a form of black poplar). The North American aspen (P. tremuloides) is very similar to the European aspen. Poplars are members of the Willow family (Salicaceae).
Poplar is commonly referred to as the talking, whispering and quivering tree. In Irish Gaelic, it is known as “Crann Critheac”, the quivering tree.  It is a keeper of language, but it can keep no secrets.
Poplar was used by the ancients to make shields; it is believed to have the power to protect from death and injury.

 
Iodhadh (EE-yoh)

Yew (Taxus baccata)
Idho (EE-yoh), iodho (EE-woh), yew – The yew is a slow-growing conifer, living as long as 1000 years and reaching 65 feet, they are known for their strength and resistance to the cold. It is much less common in recent times because of overharvesting (it’s hard, springy wood was the source of English longbows). The evergreen needles are very broad, and the seeds are produced in red, berry-like cones. Yew is in the Yew family (Taxaceae).
The Yew is regarded as a natural emblem of everlasting life.
In Irish mythology, the yew is one of the five sacred trees brought from the Otherworld at the division of the land into five parts. Known as the Tree of Ross, it was said to be the “offspring of the tree that is in Paradise”, and it brought lasting plenty to Ireland. In the Brehon Laws, it is named as one of the Seven Chieftain Trees, with heavy penalties for felling one.
Staves of yew were kept in pagan graveyards in Ireland where they were used for measuring corpses and graves (taking ones measure).
In the bardic schools, poets used staves of yew to help them memorize long incantations. It is said that the poet “Cesarn” cut (the words) in Ogham into 4 rods of yew. Each was 24′ long and had 8 sides.
In “The Wooing of Etaine”, the beautiful heroine was abducted from her husband, Eochaid, who searched for her for a year and a day to no avail. Finally, he sought the help of his druid, Dallan, who made four rods of yew and inscribed them with Ogham. Through this means he discovered that Etaine was in the sidh of Bri Leith, with the faery king, Midir.
Yew is one of the nine sacred trees for kindling Beltane fires.

 
Quiz:
1. Furze is a good herb to use as a protection against _________.
2. Heather is one of the _______   ________.
3. Staves of yew were kept in pagan _________.
4. The Silver Fir is known as the ______   ____.

Source: Researcher & Author: Crick

Website: The Whispering Woods

Whispering Woods Ogham Course  
Lesson Four – 3rd. Aicme 

3rd. Acime

Muin (MUHN)

vine (Rubus fruticosa)
Muin (MUHN, like “foot”), blackberry* In Ireland Muin refers to the Bramble or Blackberry shrub, which grows wild along every hedgerow in Ireland it has a prickly spreading vine system and fruits in September a rich fruity wine can be made from the fruits.
The Vine is considered one of the Chieftain trees of the Ogham. Its attributes involve Inner development. Vine is considered a tree of reincarnation and eternal life due to the spiraling pattern of its growth. The Blackberry vine is often used in healing and money spells.

 
Gort (GORT)

Ivy (Hedera helix)
Gort (GORT), ivy – Ivy is also a vine, growing to 100 feet long in beech woods and around human habitations, where it is widely planted as a ground cover. Ivy produces greenish flowers before Samhain on short, vertical shrubby branches.

The leaves of these flowering branches lack the characteristic lobes of the leaves of the rest of the plant. Like holly, ivy is evergreen, its dark green leaves striking in the bare forests of midwinter. Ivy is widely cultivated in North America.

It is a member of the Ginseng family (Araliaceae).
The Greek God of Wine, “Bacchus”, wore a crown of ivy.
Ivy is the plant badge of the Gordons who originated in the lowlands of Scotland.
The Greeks and Druid priests gave newlyweds wreaths of ivy to confer a blessing of strength and eternal love. Bards were presented Ivy crowns for their festivals (Eistedfods).
Ivy invokes protection when planted on or near a house.  Ivy is equated with fidelity and is woven into marriage wreaths.

It is also used in charms to bind luck, love, and fidelity to your person.

 
nGéatal (NYEH-dl)

Reed (Phragmites australis)
Ngetal (NYEH-tl), reed – The term “reed” is used with great imprecision in North America, but it is clear that the reed of the Ogham is the common reed (Phragmites australis).

This is a giant grass, with stems as high as 12 feet. It grows in marshy areas, where it often forms dense stands.

The vertical stems live only a single year, dying in the autumn and being replaced with new green shoots in the spring. The dead stems rattle and whisper in lateautumn winds.

In North America it is widespread in cooler climates. Common reed is in the Grass family (Poaceae, or Gramineae).

Reed indicates direct action, and finding direction and meanings for the purpose of your journey. The Reed is symbolic of music, bagpipes and flutes.
A broken reed is the symbol of all that is untrustworthy, for it shows something that is rigid and inflexible. Reed is associated with the salmon of wisdom and most waterfowl.
Cut Reeds were used as pens and symbolized wisdom and scholarship.

 
Straif (STRAHF)

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)
Straif (STRAHF), blackthorn – The blackthorn is a relative of cherries and plums, and is the source of the sloe fruit. The fruit has been used for centuries to make a potent alcohol that was drunk during Pagan rituals in Eastern Europe, and in British Isles.

It is a thorny shrub growing to 12 feet, often forming thickets on south-facing slopes. The blue-black fruits are edible, but bitter until after the first frost. Blackthorns are seldom cultivated in North America. They are members of the Rose family (Rosaceae).
Blackthorn is depicted in many fairytales throughout Europe as a tree of ill omen. A long hard winter is referred to as a Blackthorn Winter.
It is a sacred tree to the Dark, or Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess, and represents the Waning and Dark Moons. Blackthorn is known as “the increaser and keeper of dark secrets”.
The tree is linked with warfare, wounding and death, associated with the Scottish Cailleach – the Crone of Death, and the Irish Morrigan. In Scotland, winter begins when the Cailleach (also the Goddess of winter) strikes the ground with Her Blackthorn staff.
A black rod is a Blackthorn wand with fixed thorns on the end, used to cause harm to others. In British folklore, a witch will use a Blackthorn stang in rituals of cursing. The sharp thorns were reputedly used by English witches to pierce poppets in their curses, called the “pins of slumber”.
In South Devon folklore in England, witches and heretics were burned on Blackthorn pyres. The Devil was said, in medieval times, to prick his follower’s fingers with the thorn of a Blackthorn tree.
The Irish cudgel is called a “bata”, or more popularly, a shillelagh. The shillelagh is usually made from Blackthorn.
In England Witches would carve the Norse rune “Thorn” on a Blackthorn stave for protection.
Blackthorn often topped the Maypole entwined with Hawthorn, and is called “Mother of the Woods”.

 
Ruis (RWEESH)

Elder (Sambucus nigra)
Ruis (RWEESH), elder: The common elder is a shrub growing to 30 feet in damp clearings, along the edge of woods, and especially near habitations. Elders are grown for their blackish berries, which are used for preserves and wine. The leaf scars have the shape of a crescent moon. Elder branches have broad spongy pith in their centers, much like the marrow of long bones, and an elder branch stripped of its bark is very bone-like. Common elders are seldom seen in cultivation. Elders are in the Honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae).

 
Elder is sacred to the Celtic White Lady and the Summer Solstice. The Elder is a tree of Venus and is associated with the element of Air.
Early European legends tell of a dryad called Hylde-moer, The Elder Tree Mother, who lives in the Elder tree and watches over it. Should the tree be chopped down and furniture made of the wood, Hylde-moer would follow her property and haunt the owners.
Elder as a Vampire protection is older folklore than the lore about garlic.
It is said in Irish folklore that it is Elder which is used by witches for their magic “hobby horses” and besoms.
The Elder is also seen in a negative light by the Christian religion, since Judas allegedly hanged himself from an Elder tree and the cross used to crucify Jesus was supposed to be made of Elder.
According to the Rede; Elder is the Lady’s Tree, burn it not or cursed ye be!

 
Quiz:
1. Which Greek God wore a crown of ivy?
2. The Devil used thorns from which tree to prick his victims?
3. The Vine is a  ________  tree.
4. Pins of Slumber come from which tree?

Source:
Researcher & Author: Crick

Website: The Whispering Woods

Whispering Woods Ogham Course
Lesson 3 – Second Aicme

2nd. Aicme

hÚath (OO-ah)

Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.)
Huath (HOO-ah), hawthorn – Like willows, hawthorns have many species in Europe, and they are not always easy to tell apart. All are thorny shrubs in the Rose family (Rosaceae), and most have whitish or pinkish flowers. The common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) and midland hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata) are both widespread. They are common in abandoned fields and along the edges of forests. Both are cultivated in North America, as are several native and Asiatic hawthorns.
Hawthorn is a druid sacred herb which is associated with the Summer Solstice.
Hawthorn is the classic flower used to decorate a maypole as it is considered to be a herb of fertility. At one time Beltain was once reckoned as the day the hawthorn first bloomed.
Hawthorn is sacred to the fairies, and is part of the tree fairy triad of Britain “Oak, Ash and Thorn” and where all three trees grow together it is said that one may see fairies.

Duir (DOO-r)

Oak (Quercus spp.)
Duir (DOO-r), oak – The oak of myth and legend is the common oak (Quercus robur L.).   It is sometimes called the great oak, which is a translation of its Latin name (‘robur’ is the root of the English word “robust”).

It grows in the lowland forests, and can reach a height of 150 feet and age of 800 years. Common oaks are deciduous, losing their leaves before Samhain and growing new leaves in the spring so that the trees are fully clothed by Beltane.

Common oaks are occasionally cultivated in North America. Oaks are members of the Beech family (Fagaceae).

In Scandinavia the oak is considered to be the tree of the Thunder God, Thor”.

Pliny writes that the Druids performed all their religious rites in oak-groves, where they gathered mistletoe from the trees with a golden sickle. The word “Druid” means wise man of the oak.

Strabo describes three Galatians tribes (Celts living in Asia Minor) as holding their councils at a place called, “Drunemeton”, the “oak grove sanctuary”. Druids of Gaul ate acorns as a way of divining the future.

Kildare, where St. Brighid founded her abbey, derives from “Cill-dara”, the Church of the Oak.
The sacrifice at Nemi took place at Summer Solstice, which brings us to the battle between the Oak King personifying the waxing wear, and the Holly King, who ruled the waning year.

At Midsummer, as the year began its turn towards the dark again, the Holly was victorious, but at Midwinter, the Oak King defeated the forces of darkness once again, revealing himself as a Vegetation God who must die each year so that Life can be renewed. It is not surprising, then, that images of the Green Man carved in wood and stone in mediaeval churches most frequently show oak leaves growing out of his ears and mouth.

In the Welsh story “Math, son of Mathonwy”. The hero Lleu is betrayed and killed, but after his “death” he turns into an eagle and perches atop a magical oak tree on a plain, where he suffered “nine-score hardships”.

In Cornwall, a nail driven into an oak cured toothache, while in Wales, rubbing the oak with the palm of your left hand on Midsummer’s Day kept you healthy all year.

Tinne (CHIN-yuh)

Holly (Ilex aquifolium)
Tinne (CHIN-yuh), holly – The holly is a shrub growing to 35 feet in open woodlands and along clearings in forests. Hollies are evergreen, and stand out in winter among the bare branches of the deciduous forest trees that surround them.

Hollies form red berries before Samhain which last until the birds finish eating them, often after Imbolc. Hollies are members of the Holly family (Aquifoliaceae).

The common holly is often cultivated in North America, as are hybrids between it and Asiatic holly species

The Holly or kerm-oak is the evergreen twin of the Oak and rules the dark or waning part of the year. The Sun-king is called the Holly King or Dark Successor (Tanist) in the Druid Calendar. The Oak and the Holly form the pillars of a bridge that crossed the “Rainbow River” flowing into the entrance of Gwynvyd.
The Romans, observed the custom of sending holly boughs, along with other gifts, to celebrate Saturnalia.
In Arthurian legend, Gawain (representing the Oak King of summer) fought the Green Knight, who was armed with a holly club to represent winter.

The holly is the plant badge of the Scottish clans of Drummond, Innes, Maclean, MacNab and Matheson.
Holly has been used throughout the ages as a protection against evil. It was also hung around houses as a protection against lightning.

 Coll (CULL)

Hazel (Corylus avellana)
Coll (CULL), hazel – The hazel is the source of hazelnuts. The wood of the hazel shrub has been used for centuries in the making of wands. It forms a shrub up to 20 feet tall, inhabiting open woodlands and scrubs, hedgerows, and the edges of forests. The filbert nut in North American is Corylus maxima, a related species.

The European hazelnut is cultivated in North America, primarily as an ornamental. Hazelnuts are in the Birch family (Betulaceae).

Hazel wood is one of the nine traditional firewood’s that is part of the Balefire, which the Druid’s burned at Beltane. Hazel is known as the tree of Wisdom. Staffs made of Hazel were once considered as a sign of authority among the Druids.

Celtic legend tell of a grove of Hazel trees below which was a well, a pool, where salmon swam. These trees contained all knowledge, and their fruit contained that knowledge and wisdom in a nutshell. As the hazelnuts ripened, they would fall into the well where they were eaten by the salmon. With each nut eaten, the salmon would gain another spot.

In order to gain the wisdom of the Hazel, the Druids caught and prepared the salmon. But Fionn, the young man stirring the pot in which the salmon were cooking, accidentally burned his thumb with the boiling stew. By reflex, he put his thumb into his mouth and thus ingested the essence of the sacred feast; he instantly gained the wisdom of the universe.

The Hazel is a tree that is considered sacred to the Faeries. A wand of hazel can be used to call the Fey forth. In Irish folklore, the Hazel tree was the home of “Bile Ratha”, the poetic fairy.

Quert (KWAIRT)

Apple  (Malus spp.)
Quert (KWAIRT), apple – When most of us think of apples, we think of the domestic apple, but the ogham tree was most likely the European crabapple (Malus sylvestris Miller). This tree grows to 30 feet in moist fertile soils in oak woodlands, and has been extensively cultivated. The fruits are small versions of the domestic apple, and also show the pentacle when cut across.

Cultivated crabapples in North America are usually Asian species, but this species is a common rootstock for apple trees. Apples are in the Rose family (Rosaceae).

The Common Apple or Wild Apple (Malus sylvestris) is native to Europe and Western Asia. Petrified remains of apple slices on saucers have been found in tombs dating back over 5,000 years.

In Scotland, the Crabapple is the plant badge of Clan Lamont, whose Highland territories were around Cornwall and Argyll.

In Norse tradition, the Apple is the tree of immortality. The Goddess Idunn was the keeper of the apples, which she fed the Norse Gods and Goddesses to keep them forever young. Apple wands were also used in Norse love rituals.

The Earth Goddess, Gaia, gave Hera, the Queen of Heaven, an apple tree when she married the Chief God, Zeus.

That tree was kept in the Garden of the Hesperides, guarded by the dragon, Ladon. One of Hercules’ tasks was to fetch an apple from that tree.

In Celtic tradition, the Otherworldly Avalon was also known as the Avallach, the Isle of Apples, ruled by Fairy Queen, Morgan le Fay.

This is the land of fairies and the dead, where King Arthur was taken to be healed by his sister, Morgan. Like their cousins to the North, the Celts attributed the power of healing and youth, or rebirth, to apples.
And when this course is over I expect a big, red juicy apple (grin).

Apples are sometimes buried in churchyards in an effort to feed the dead.

In the Welsh “Câd Goddeu” (The Battle of the Trees), the Apple is described as the noblest tree of them all, the tree that symbolized poetic immortality.

In the Irish Druid tradition, the Silver Bough is cut from a magical Apple tree, where silver apple shaped bells played a mystical tune, which could lull people into a trance state. Druids could make contact with the Otherworld during a trance enhanced by this silver apple bough.

The Druid Merlin was purported to work in a magical Apple Grove guarded by birds, revealed to him by his master, Gwendolleu.

He was said to receive the gift of prophecy from the Faerie Queen, conferred through the consumption of one of her magic apples. Merlin was also said to take shelter under an apple tree during his bout with madness.

Bards (poets) and Ovates (shamans) carried apple branches, (with bronze, silver, or gold bells), called the “Craobh Ciuil” (Branch of Reason) as symbols of their office.

Quiz:
1. The word Druid means ______   ___   ____.

2. The evergreen twin of the Oak is the ___________.

3. In the Câd Goddeu, the Apple tree is described as the _______ tree of them all.

4. Hawthorn is associated with the ________ ______.

Source:
Researcher & Author: Crick

Website: The Whispering Woods

Since the last two days have been so screwed up. We have decided to give all our precious family members & friends a special treat, an Ogham Course. This is just the first of two courses we will be providing today. The second course is a tie between a Basic Rune course or a Comprehensive Crystal course. Both are wonderful course and provided by our dear friend, Crick. He has given us permission to publish these courses on our site. For that I am deeply grateful. If you enjoy the course, stop by at The Whispering Woods and leave Crick a thank you for being so generous with his research.

Now let’s being our course in Ogham…..

Whispering Woods Ogham Course

The Ogham alphabet consists of twenty distinct letters which are known as “feda”. They are arranged in four series called aicmí (plural of aicme “family”).  Each aicme was named after its first character (Aicme Beithe, Aicme hÚatha, Aicme Muine, Aicme Ailme, or “the B Group”, “the H Group”, “the M Group” and “the A Group”).

The Ogham Tract also gives a variety of around 100 variant or secret modes of writing Ogham (92 in the Book of Ballymote), for example the “Shield Ogham” (ogam airenach, nr. 73). Even the Younger Futhark is introduced as a kind of “Viking Ogham” (nrs. 91, 92). The Druids of yore were said to be very efficient at Ogham writing and signing.

Source:

Researcher & Author: Crick

Website: The Whispering Woods