Post by wren on Dec 13, 2006 15:01:19 GMT -5
Straif (Blackthorn) pronounced STRAHF)
Botanical name: Prunus spinosa. Status: chieftain tree. Sound: ss.
Elaborations on the Ogham Name Straif: The hedge of a stream is Blackthorn
Word Ogham of Morainn mac Moín: Blackthorn is careful effort, strongest of red; it equals sloe that gives strong red dye on metal
Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Blackthorn equals an arrow’s mist, smoke drifting up from a fire
Word Ogham of Óengus: Blackthorn equals increasing of secrets.
Wounding
A blackthorn tree from whose branches sprout thorns, shafts of swords, spears and arrows.
Straif is a tree-letter associated with pain, wounding and damage. The dense, spiny ‘sloe bush’ is an unpleasant plant to tangle with and drawing this ogham suggests that you have been, or will be, on the receiving end of a rather thorny experience. Yet it is not all bad, for straif also offers initiation into the mysteries of self-conquest and transcendence.
Blackthorn is a blasted-looking shrub, with twisting and angular branches, seldom reaching over twelve feet in height. A woodland-edge-dweller, it was traditionally used in hedgerows, in which it often grows to form a dense, impenetrable thicket. It puts forth white blossoms in early spring and later sloe berries, hence the epithet sloe-bush.
Yet, the most potent feature of the blackthorn is undoubtedly its thorns. These are long, slender and extremely sharp, taking the place of twigs at the branch endings. They are ill-famed for their ability to inflict painful wounds, which often turn septic. This, and the traditional likening of thorns to swords and spears, undoubtedly gave blackthorn its associations with strife, warfare and wounding.
Straif resonates with the images of the sword, the spear and the arrow – all, of course, instruments of war. Traditionally linked to warfare, the blackthorn tree corresponds to the battles we wage in the course of our lives, including wounds received and inflicted. Yet as readers of the Tarot will know, swords function as a more general symbol for conflict that can be mental, emotional, and spiritual as much as physical. The sharp edge of the sword creates division and separation.
Look carefully to see whether the origin of the current strife lies in the outside world or your own mind. The mind is, in many ways, a weapon much like the sword. It is useful for analysis, for dissecting and categorizing, but this strength is also its chief weakness. If you find yourself in constant fruitless skirmishes or buried in protracted battles, could you be engaging in thoughts or engrained patterns that are generating the negativity?
Bizarre as it may be, we often become habituated to our wounds and consequently manifest situations where our worst expectations are confirmed. Thus disappointment breeds disappointment and we can come to live in a perpetual mode of damage control. If this could be the case, remember that you can never control external events but you can change your reaction to them! Seek to cultivate peace within and resolution of the cycle without will naturally follow. Your health may depend on it!
Reversed, straif has a somber role. There is a warning here, for the blackthorn is a gateway tree of transition and even death – the ultimate ‘increasing of secrets’. Ruled by the cailleach or ‘death crone’, it represents the force that swallows and breaks down those elements which have spent their substance and need to be renewed. This is not necessarily an omen of physical death, though it sometimes augurs surgery. It can also warn of the dismemberment of the composite parts of your life so that they can be reintegrated on a higher plane.
Keywords: Pain, wounding, damage (physical or emotional). A thorny experience. Division, separation, conflict. The need to address this at its roots. Disruption, difficulty, adversity.
Reversed: A threat to the order of your life. Transition, dismemberment. Surgery.
Botanical name: Prunus spinosa. Status: chieftain tree. Sound: ss.
Elaborations on the Ogham Name Straif: The hedge of a stream is Blackthorn
Word Ogham of Morainn mac Moín: Blackthorn is careful effort, strongest of red; it equals sloe that gives strong red dye on metal
Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Blackthorn equals an arrow’s mist, smoke drifting up from a fire
Word Ogham of Óengus: Blackthorn equals increasing of secrets.
Wounding
A blackthorn tree from whose branches sprout thorns, shafts of swords, spears and arrows.
Straif is a tree-letter associated with pain, wounding and damage. The dense, spiny ‘sloe bush’ is an unpleasant plant to tangle with and drawing this ogham suggests that you have been, or will be, on the receiving end of a rather thorny experience. Yet it is not all bad, for straif also offers initiation into the mysteries of self-conquest and transcendence.
Blackthorn is a blasted-looking shrub, with twisting and angular branches, seldom reaching over twelve feet in height. A woodland-edge-dweller, it was traditionally used in hedgerows, in which it often grows to form a dense, impenetrable thicket. It puts forth white blossoms in early spring and later sloe berries, hence the epithet sloe-bush.
Yet, the most potent feature of the blackthorn is undoubtedly its thorns. These are long, slender and extremely sharp, taking the place of twigs at the branch endings. They are ill-famed for their ability to inflict painful wounds, which often turn septic. This, and the traditional likening of thorns to swords and spears, undoubtedly gave blackthorn its associations with strife, warfare and wounding.
Straif resonates with the images of the sword, the spear and the arrow – all, of course, instruments of war. Traditionally linked to warfare, the blackthorn tree corresponds to the battles we wage in the course of our lives, including wounds received and inflicted. Yet as readers of the Tarot will know, swords function as a more general symbol for conflict that can be mental, emotional, and spiritual as much as physical. The sharp edge of the sword creates division and separation.
Look carefully to see whether the origin of the current strife lies in the outside world or your own mind. The mind is, in many ways, a weapon much like the sword. It is useful for analysis, for dissecting and categorizing, but this strength is also its chief weakness. If you find yourself in constant fruitless skirmishes or buried in protracted battles, could you be engaging in thoughts or engrained patterns that are generating the negativity?
Bizarre as it may be, we often become habituated to our wounds and consequently manifest situations where our worst expectations are confirmed. Thus disappointment breeds disappointment and we can come to live in a perpetual mode of damage control. If this could be the case, remember that you can never control external events but you can change your reaction to them! Seek to cultivate peace within and resolution of the cycle without will naturally follow. Your health may depend on it!
Reversed, straif has a somber role. There is a warning here, for the blackthorn is a gateway tree of transition and even death – the ultimate ‘increasing of secrets’. Ruled by the cailleach or ‘death crone’, it represents the force that swallows and breaks down those elements which have spent their substance and need to be renewed. This is not necessarily an omen of physical death, though it sometimes augurs surgery. It can also warn of the dismemberment of the composite parts of your life so that they can be reintegrated on a higher plane.
Keywords: Pain, wounding, damage (physical or emotional). A thorny experience. Division, separation, conflict. The need to address this at its roots. Disruption, difficulty, adversity.
Reversed: A threat to the order of your life. Transition, dismemberment. Surgery.