Ogham runes: mantic Terra Incognita. Part 1 (Anyi Muin)

Yew that is old in churchyard-mould,
He breedeth a mighty bow.
Alder for shoes do wise men choose,
And beech for cups also.
But when ye have killed, and your bowl is spilled,
And your shoes are clean outworn,
Back ye must speed for all that ye need,
To Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!

Rudyard Kipling “A Tree Song”

Dia duit!

Plants. What could be more familiar in the landscape around us than trees, bushes and other daisies? We often don’t even notice them: well, who cares, a birch or a pine, they grow and grow, they don’t bother anyone and don’t ask for food. And have you ever thought what kind of wood the table you are sitting at is made of, where it grew before, what it was like?
But somewhere in the world there is a tree growing from which your coffin will one day be made. What would you feel looking at its crown and knowing this fact?
Or how about the fact that the element of Wood is one of the leading ones in the physical plane of the Universe. It is produced by the planet Jupiter, permeates all the space around us and is not as harmless as it seems, not so utilitarian and boring. And it is good not only for tables and coffins, because if a certain material is EVERYWHERE, then you can influence and spy through it everywhere too.

Speaking of coffins. In the Ogham plant mantic system there is the Yew tree. It is the last in the series of the main Fedas and carries the energies of death, transformation and exit to a new level of existence. That is, exit from reincarnation, which is preceded by other stages of development. Yew is considered one of the longest-living trees, and in Ireland they were highly revered and even given names. There is one historical or semi-legendary fact with an interesting background. At the time when Christianity was already gaining more and more strength in Ireland, a local “saint” decided to cut down this named yew and build a house of sermons for adherents of the famous religion out of it. The doors of this nice establishment were also made of yew. Symbolic, nothing to say: locked gates made of wood that was previously alive and carried the energies of transformation. And now a lock has been hung on the door, the physical plane has begun to condense more and more, and exit from reincarnation has become an extremely difficult matter. Symbolic, isn’t it? There is some truth in many legends, often sad ones.

There will be two articles about the Ogham system. The one you are reading is the main one, in it I will explain what the Ogham oracle is, where it comes from, who worked with it, in what ways. And how anyone interested can work with it in our time. Moreover, after reading the article, you will be able to create your own personal set of Fedas, including those plants that you like best – or use the classic one and its meanings, which I will describe in the second part of my research.

Let’s go.

We all want to know the future. Don’t be shy – curiosity, especially about your destiny, is normal. Throughout the history of the physical plane (hereinafter “Phys”), humanity has used various crutches for such peeping – mantic systems for viewing probability lines, starting with pebbles and bones, and ending with weighty Tarot decks, of which there are now a huge number for every taste. Recently, the northern Futhark runes have been mega-popular, although personally I hardly understand why exactly they are. And somewhere in the backwoods, almost unknown to anyone and purely regional, the Ogham oracle vegetated for a long time. Of course, there were enthusiasts and lovers of Celtics, they wrote something about it, then others were found, they copied from the first, and so copy-paste in a circle. Rarely among these “researchers” appear those who at least tried not to copy what had already been written by their predecessors, but tried to dig into the original sources. Like, for the sake of variety.
But at the moment there is no one who, without books created by the same people, would open non-physical eyes and read information from subtle flows, would delve into the essence of this system, into its original mechanics. And if in the English-speaking space there is only copy-paste from copy-paste, then in the CIS everything is quite sad: these are translations of copy-paste from copy-paste. And it’s a pity.

Do you know what the problem is with paid courses from the Internet, where they promise to teach you all the intricacies of working with Tarot, Lenormand, northern runes or Ogham runes? No one of them explains HOW mantics works, why it can tell you that in a week you will receive a bonus or meet the love of your life. The courses and books do not contain anything about probability lines, their features and what they are, nothing about the elements and the formation of events. But there is a lot of information about myths, some long-forgotten gods, heroes and their adventures, which you and I absolutely do not need in mantics.

It looks something like this: “God So-and-so patronized blacksmiths, had a magic hammer and spoon, loved young Irish women and drinking tea with Heather in the morning.” So Heather is tightly connected with this god. Oh yeah, all descriptions are strictly and necessarily in the past tense! Apparently, he died later and stopped doing all of the above, because we don’t see any information now. Why do I need all this archaism and how can mythological facts help me learn to tell fortunes? Especially since mythology has a folk and historical context that is incomprehensible in other countries.

I understand why it is so… The most obvious reason is that mythology and ethnography are trying to fill the gaps in understanding the system’s operation due to the lack of clear information about it on Phys. Because if you talk about the system, you will have to talk about the mechanics of its operation, and there is no such information. Less obvious reasons are that the courses’ creators either do not know why mantics works, or they know, but are afraid to talk about it, not to scare the potential clients off with the words “subtle plane” and “lines of probability”. They want to remain within the framework of civilized information accepted by the majority, decent and polished, carefully broadcasting from around the corner and not calling things their proper names. However, working with mantics is already entering the territory of the marginal and subtle. This is Terra Incognita and the antipode of the familiar and civilized, especially ethnography. Such an approach is at the very least dishonest, and at the most harmful, because human mythology will not teach you to guess normally if you do not understand the mechanics, the basis of this process and what you are actually working with. “The history of Ogham is confusing, there is contradictory information, opposing opinions of scientists, etc.” (c) – as we can see, a sad, purely civilized picture is emerging with a simple question: why do we need the opinions of scientists in mantics?

There is practically no clear information left about Ogham in the dense world.

There are several theories about the origin of Ogham among Celtologists. Naturally, they all looked in only one direction – the dense plane. For example, that Ogham was invented by some educated Gaul who knew Latin. People who were closer to esotericism put forward their own versions, like Ogham is a gift from some Ogma. He composed it and gave it to people, like some kind of Irish mantic Prometheus.
In fact, this complex and multi-level system was invented on the Sixth Tree of Life, they loved such entertainment there and are closely connected with the plant world themselves. The system was thrown into the information flows for general use and was read from the flows by people of vision. It took root remarkably in the Celtic environment, especially among the Irish druids, although in some shorted form. Many Wiccan practices were taken from there. But modern Wiccans, as a rule, take everything on faith, without digging “where the legs grow from”. Where did the horned god of Wicca and the Wiccan goddess come from, which everyone reveres so much.

And it all began like this. The Druids are the Council of Teachers on the physical plane of reality. Priests who worked with the subtle world, who had seals of initiation from the gods or other subtle-plane inhabitants, who for one reason or another were interested in transmitting adequate information about the world to dense people. The priestly council consisted of incarnations and developed, conscious people who were one step away from leaving dense Samsara. They worked with various elements and nature, especially with the element of Wood, since it runs all the show on Earth and this is direct work with probability lines. The Druids were, in fact, bridges-conductors connecting two planes. In addition, the Celtic priests had serious power in society. Initially, power generally belonged to them only. Later, the military aristocracy was quite outraged and decided to bite off a piece for themselves.

The Druids established laws (past tense is appropriate here, alas), monitored laws observance, acted as judges, served local kings as advisers and felt politics like a fish in water. Some Druids were more involved in healing others, some found themselves in military affairs, there were many options. But all of them at the beginning of their journey studied the types of Ogham, memorized them, since the Celtic culture at that time was strictly oral.

Why oral? Because the guys easily threw any information into the flows and personal memory channels and took it from there – those days it was much easier than now. There was no need for writing. They also learned to work with Ogham runes not only as a mantic tool, but also as a tool for influencing reality, which will be disclosed below.

The study of Ogham was figuratively visualized as climbing a tree, to its very top. A gradual understanding of the energies and principles of each Feda, the ability to see and apply these principles in life and practice developed.

Christians perceived the Druids as direct rivals and as a threat to themselves, which is not surprising. The new religion was extremely disadvantaged by those who could reveal them and who knew the whole truth about the world.
They were denigrated in every possible way in the eyes of society, expelled from key positions, and often killed. Not the best fate awaited these priests after death. The merciless system erased their memories and personalities, already formed and conscious, and threw them back into the wheel of endless incarnations, somewhere deep in the hole, so that they would never again dare to even think about what was the meaning of life and work before their death.

But no matter how carefully they tried to erase and destroy – even after dozens of embodiments, the craving for the ancient craft awoke in many of them, after the fall of the Agreements (you can read about the Agreements on our website Archaic Heart). Thanks to the connection with the Druids, Ogham is often called Celtic runes, although this is not entirely correct. It is unlikely that the Celts lived on the Sixth Tree at the time of the Ogham creation. 🙂 This is a subtle system that came from the subtle plane and was partially adapted by the Celts. Most likely, the Celts pulled only the plants known to them from the streams. It is unlikely that they had ever seen a palm tree, for example, or an orange, let alone subtle plants. And it is difficult to use something not from your reality. Modern Wiccans partially pulled out old information about the Druids and presented it in a new way in the form of neo-paganism and Wicca magic. And there is a horned god of Wicca, a triune goddess of Wicca, symbols of the Moon and much more. But no one has a hunch that Wicca is a very truncated knowledge of the Druids.

But let’s return to Ogham. What is remarkable is that Ogham is not only plant-based. There is such a system for birds, colors, tools, arts, etc. I do not work with them, I am only interested in Ogham of plants, but their base and mechanics are the same: observation of the object’s properties. And here is one interesting nuance: in the subtle-plane flows now hang from 54 to 60 Ogham signs, and on Phys we know only 25:
— three main families of Fedas, which after reading were associated with consonant sounds. Each family has 5 signs.
— the fourth, later, associated with vowels.
— the fifth, called the Forfedas family. Its letters denote diphthongs.

The Ogham feds look like this, as in the picture above.

They are also written like this, on a single “trunk” – a straight line, from the bottom up, like trees grow. Fortune-telling sets most often consist of wooden, round plates up to 5 cm long. Each plate has a Feda on it, a certain plant corresponds to it. The type of wood from which the ogham sets are made can be any, but there are sets made specifically from the designated wood. There are also paper decks like Tarot and other oracles.

In the second part I analyze the first 4 families, that are 20 Fedas. In general, they are enough for a classic set and full-fledged fortune telling:

Руны Огам: Значения классических фэд.Часть 2 (Anyi Muin)

There are detailed articles on Archaic site about how mantics works. I will only say briefly that there are small probability lines – for example, the line of a hypothetical person for one day of his life. All the events and data of this day are one line. It is inscribed in the lines of other people, all together they make up large lines of cities, countries, peoples, time, etc. Any mantic tool looks at what will happen with the greatest probability, what decisions will be made and what paths will be chosen, Ogham is no exception in this regard. The meanings of cards, runes, Fedas give about 50% of the information, everything else is the work of your ajna and subtle vision. Well, and experience, of course. The more and longer you do mantics – the better you can interpret combinations.

All mantic systems differ from each other in the scale of viewing (tarot looks at smaller and more detailed lines, oracles and runes – larger ones) and in the approach to symbolism and its interpretation. But for any system it is important that 3 mantic principles are observed: 1) random occurrence of signs 2) pre-set meanings of symbols and 3) a clear question.

The Ogham system teaches you to guess by the behavior of a plant type. For example, there is a bush, and there is a liana, these are different types of the same conventional tree. A liana needs support, it twines around other trees and can even destroy them, blocking access to light and oxygen – oops, here is the meaning of something flexible, dependent, potentially dangerous in a situation. It can imperceptibly entwine you, you will be a support, eternal vest or rescuer for it, it will manipulate you, and then “strangle” you.

There are deciduous trees, and there are conifers. The life cycle of deciduous trees is clear, cyclical and much shorter than that of conifers – these signs can be applied to some time frames in fortune telling. For example, pedantry and conservatism, the impossibility of change, strict adherence to tradition can be designated as a deciduous type. There are umbellate plants, poisonous, fruit-bearing, with and without a smell, prickly (and the nature of the thorns is also taken into account) and smooth. The areas in which the plant grows, whether it likes moisture or only dry areas. There are plants that bloom on stones – the meaning of amazing adaptability and survivability of anything.

You can consider parts of a plant – underground, above ground, the root – as hidden from the eyes, implicit. A weak root creeping along the surface – unfixed, unreliable, weak of what is being asked about. Strong, deep roots, respectively, on the contrary. Seeds, nuts, fruits, flowers, etc. For example, unripe fruits – immaturity of the situation. Flying seeds – everything that is associated with lightness, airiness, movement over long distances, as well as what can easily fly away from you or from the situation. The appearance, shape of fruits, seeds and flowers – everything plays a role.

Let’s remember at least a banana, what a broad interpretation it can have, apply it to any situation 😉
The behavior of seeds in different environments – for example, some will not sprout after a few days in a dry place, and moisture can save them for a very long time: your situation needs resources, additional sources of nutrition so that it does not dry out. The flowers of the Dicentra plant look like a broken heart, this is their second name. Here is the answer to love layouts. Or a foul-smelling plant: the situation is clearly “off”, which is worth paying close attention to. Imagine how many meanings can be derived only through the properties, appearance, type of plants and their behavior!

The field is unplowed. In essence, it turns out that each individual plant and who/what it was associated with in myths is not important, but what was listed above is important: the plant itself and its behavior. Therefore, in the Ogham set, you can write down even 1000 Fedas, the main thing is that they fall out randomly and you know the features of each unit. Having grasped the essence of working with a system based on the external signs and behavior of plants, you can easily and pleasantly work with it, it is open and self-developing.

Interpretation of Ogham runes

The plan of action is approximately as follows:
— Choose a plant that you want to add to your Ogham set.
— Naturally, look at it. Go to a park, a forest, a meadow, your garden with flowers or vegetable garden, if you want to see and touch it live. If you are too lazy or don’t have the opportunity, welcome to the Internet, it’s OK.
— Look at it, note some of its features. Take any botanical atlas or atlas of medical plants, open Wikipedia, find our green comrade. Read more characteristics of it, how it odds out from the line of others.
— Work out the meanings based on the appearance, type and behavior of the plant (examples above, and I will give another one after the instructions).
— Point with *, for advanced users: try to “feel” the plant in subtle ways and pull information about it in this way as well.

Done.
Choose and describe about 20 of them — then transfer them to a wooden or paper carrier. You can choose icons for each plant to your taste, you can ask the plants to show you what icons they want to be in your Ogham 🙂 Suddenly the answer will come in a dream or in some other way. The main thing is that you understand them and connect one with another.

Let’s add to Ogham… Beetroot. Its finest hour has come 🙂 Believe me, it has been waiting for a long time.
We all know it, have seen it, eaten it. What is it?

This is a root vegetable, that is, its yummy grows underground, in silence and darkness. It is dark burgundy, dark red or simply red, depending on the variety. Quite a juicy vegetable.
Personally, I clearly read the meaning of some hidden skeletons in the closet, secrets, mysteries, generally hidden – until the time comes. A person keeps them away from prying eyes (Beetroot is underground, only a humble top peeps out), and if they come to light (we pull Beetroot out of the ground), then a person is very ashamed (red color of the vegetable, redness of the face from shame). Moreover, the situation will often be such that your shameful secrets are found out by accident, unexpectedly and in the most awkward circumstances. Is it interpretation? Yes, of course.

By the way, Beetroot was unloved in Ancient Persia, where it was considered a symbol of gossip 🙂 What they consider now – we do not know, but most likely this fact is a thing of the past. The meaning of rumors, gossip, hints (peeping out of the ground) and eventually emerging to the surface, various juicy facts also fits here quite well.
If there is also a Rowan Feda nearby, then the disclosure of secrets will be accompanied by an emotional fire, will cause a series of rapidly succeeding events. If Hawthorn – you may be paralyzed for a long time by the fear that rumors will reach certain individuals. Everything depends on the context of the layout.
I think the principle is clear.

Associative magic and Ogham

I would also like to add about fortune telling by space and signs in it, including plant ones. You leave the house, ask your question into space, tune in and move in the chosen direction. Along the way, you begin to notice signs – as if “highlighted” for you objects or, in our case, plants. The eye catches them, you intuitively understand that this is it. There are no random signs or mistakes, believe me. Ratio will only disturb you in such a walk-meditation, ask it to go out for a smoke and switch yourself to the emotional spectrum, in which the whole world around works. If you come across a flowering tree or a dried-up tree, you can easily decipher the answer yourself. Or a tree with green, unripe fruits will also be a clear answer, as well as a cut down one blocking the road. Pay special attention to the branch that fell on your head 🙂 The principle is simple: if the space consists of elements, you consist of elements, then you can ask questions into the space and receive answers from the same elements.

Druids and bards worked with Ogham not only as a mantic tool, but also for associative magic and influence on reality. Actually, like Tarot, it was originally invented to fill symbols with energy, and not for fortune telling. Ogham was used as a basis for staves – scripts, in amulet making, in associative magic. There are objects that have survived with formulas applied to them – good wishes, spells, prayers and other things, made with the help of Ogham letters. Also, through Ogham Fedas, the energy that was embedded in each Feda was conducted with intention in meditation and brought out into reality, often in the form of oral formulas – spells. Druids and bards in Celtic society could “kill with satire” or improve someone’s life for the better. Of course, in exchange for some benefits. A verse was composed, which was in fact a rhymed formula – a spell, working on the vibrations of Ogham and the element of Wood. Then it was most often sung towards the one for whom it was composed. Judging by the evidence from various sources, the effect of such “songs” was powerful.

Why were poems-spells sung and what kind of vibrations are there? Futhark, Northumbrian runes and the like have a purely energetic influence on the lines. We pour energy into the line – it unfolds. In essence, this is a force action. Ogham, like all near-musical systems, works on vibrations and conducts the necessary type of energy through them, like shamanic drums, for example. Vibration is created because through the element of the Tree itself, it goes, like an intangible hum, which appears everywhere where there is a tree (as an element). In the process of work, each plant through its meaning can color the general vibration with a certain energy and thus influence. It can be “colored” with good energies, or with harmful ones, depending on the goal.

In February 2020, the Earth’s hum began in many places, felt on the Subtle plane. After it, the coronavirus epidemic occurred, taking many lives. Then in 2022 – war. I would not be surprised that this elemental vibration was launched by the graha of Jupiter, perhaps together with the graha of planet Earth. A kind of launch of a huge program on a planetary scale, also associated with a change in the cycle of our Tree and through vibrations influencing the destinies of millions.

The element of Wood is in every creature, at least on Phys for sure. Through this element and its vibrations, the program that is launched with the help of Ogham’s Fedas begins to slowly but surely penetrate where the operator needs, and it is impossible to track the work of such Ogham programs. Roughly speaking, this is a punch, and we look where this punch came from. Since both shamanic drums and Ogham work through vibrations, it turns out that a person begins to be affected at a very, very subtle level, which affects the immune system, the musculoskeletal system (muscles, tendons), eyes, liver, gallbladder, i.e. the Jupiter plane. And the plane itself vibrates in such a way that certain changes occur in a person – depending on what the general vibration was “colored” with. Here the connection between singing, pronouncing formulas with the voice, voicing them, and the work of the Ogham system is clearly visible, since singing, and any sound in general, has a vibrational nature and thus the influence is more significant.

Today we can use this information quite effectively in our practices.
We take a suitable Feda, imagine it or a plant associated with it, and conduct energy through it so that the properties of this plant are transferred to the situation we need. For example, you want to launch your startup. Great, the Birch Feda will help you with this: it will give a powerful push to the new business and protect it at first stages.
There is also no great science with associative magic: if you want to get the truth out, then pump up with the energy of Beetroot 🙂 But before I give an example, I will say a few words about associative magic itself, in case someone has no key about it.

Associative magic is a way of influencing space, situations, etc. by conducting energy through symbols – associations. Like, a heart is associated with love by almost everyone, chains are shackles, obstacles, something that does not let you in, holds you still. A sword, a knife – wounds, damage, harm, etc. In this case, practitioners work wonderfully with the arcana of classic Tarot decks, where there are a ton of different symbols, which makes you wonder whether mantics was the primary reason for creating such decks.

As for Ogham, you will conduct energy through a young tree in one way, and through a dead, dried-up tree in another. Through a fresh, juicy fruit and through a rotten fruit, also in different ways and with different tasks. Who loves to sing – a whole new world can open up for you thanks to Ogham spells, if you can compose and sing them 🙂
As for making amulets, scripts from Ogham, I will not touch this topic in detail in this article. Actually, everything there is about the same as in working with runic staves – of course, taking into account the vibrational and plant nature of Ogham. Maybe this will be a topic for subsequent articles.

Let’s sum it up.
With the help of the Ogham system we can:
— practice mantics in the classical sense, using plates or paper cards. Thanks to the flexibility and openness of the system, you can create your own personal fortune-telling set of plants.
— tell fortunes through space (signs)
— conduct the necessary energy through ogham staves, amulets, meditation, song, poetic formulas – spells.
— associative magic.

* * *

In conclusion of the article I want to say the following.
We live in an era of change, as if a global repair or an endless retrograde of all planetary planes has come to us at the same time.
It is a difficult time, but interesting and full of opportunities. What was forgotten, was shoved into a dark closet with a guard at the door, is beginning to come out. But the old Agreements fell. The government, having done its deeds, fled or died, the guards also fled, and ancient knowledge, lost or banned by the dictatorship, began to slowly raise its head, cautiously peek out of dusty closets and look for those who once worked with it in order to once again unite efforts to expel obscurantism and tyranny, in which we were all forced to exist for the last 2000 years.
I hope I managed to make my modest contribution to this important and necessary process.

Have a delicious tea with heather honey!

I would like to thank all those on this and other side who helped me create this article by sharing information.

(c) Anyi Muin \ Archaic Heart project material