Post by wren on Jan 23, 2007 12:38:08 GMT -5
There are many types of Ogham other than the Tree Alphabet preserved in the manuscript tradition. Some of them have lists of apparently obscure correspondences. Sow Ogham, for example, gives these associations for the second group of Ogham (h, d, t, c, q): ‘Accompanying litter of a white (i.e. milch-) sow h, gray d, black t, amber c, blue q’. Further variants of Ogham from the Tract include River-pool Ogham, Fortress Ogham, Bird Ogham, Color Ogham, Man Ogham, Woman Ogham, Agricultural Ogham, King Ogham, Water Ogham, Dog Ogham, Ox Ogham, Cow Ogham, Blind Man Ogham, Lame Ogham, Boy Ogham, Foot Ogham and Nose Ogham. Indeed, the sources reveal to us over one hundred variants, some entire scripts being explained by no more than a few cryptic words.
What is to be gathered from this mass of detail? Whatever the gaps in the sources and possible misunderstandings in the knowledge of the scribes who set them down, one simple unifying feature emerges from all this. The crucial point is that the Ogham correspondences in these various scripts are organized quite simply according to the first letters of what is being represented. For instance, the first five letters of Tree Ogham are b, l, f, s and n. In Fortress Ogham, the first five fortresses are Bruden (b), Liffey (l), Femen (f), Seolae (s) and Nephin (n). In Color Ogham, the first five colors are bán (b), liath (gray), flann (red), sodath (fine-colored) and necht (clear). The sequence of letters is identical.
We can conclude that the Ogham scripts of the insular manuscripts were alphabetic systems that also had an encyclopedic function. The various scripts systemized knowledge under their subject headings (rivers, colors, fortresses, etc.) in an alphabetic sequence, thus aiding the memorization of large bodies of learning on diverse subjects under the one system. There is no suggestion that the compartments of knowledge thus learned relate across these different form of Ogham; that, in other words, the Bruden fortress relates in any way to the color bán, other than by virtue of their first letters. When we look for Tree Ogham associations, therefore, we should not read too much into these independent lists. Creating magical correspondences of this kind, as some esoteric commentators have attempted to do, can lead to confusion. We should instead look to the trees themselves and their associations in Celtic lore and myth, divining with rods made solely of their fair wood, so to speak.
What is to be gathered from this mass of detail? Whatever the gaps in the sources and possible misunderstandings in the knowledge of the scribes who set them down, one simple unifying feature emerges from all this. The crucial point is that the Ogham correspondences in these various scripts are organized quite simply according to the first letters of what is being represented. For instance, the first five letters of Tree Ogham are b, l, f, s and n. In Fortress Ogham, the first five fortresses are Bruden (b), Liffey (l), Femen (f), Seolae (s) and Nephin (n). In Color Ogham, the first five colors are bán (b), liath (gray), flann (red), sodath (fine-colored) and necht (clear). The sequence of letters is identical.
We can conclude that the Ogham scripts of the insular manuscripts were alphabetic systems that also had an encyclopedic function. The various scripts systemized knowledge under their subject headings (rivers, colors, fortresses, etc.) in an alphabetic sequence, thus aiding the memorization of large bodies of learning on diverse subjects under the one system. There is no suggestion that the compartments of knowledge thus learned relate across these different form of Ogham; that, in other words, the Bruden fortress relates in any way to the color bán, other than by virtue of their first letters. When we look for Tree Ogham associations, therefore, we should not read too much into these independent lists. Creating magical correspondences of this kind, as some esoteric commentators have attempted to do, can lead to confusion. We should instead look to the trees themselves and their associations in Celtic lore and myth, divining with rods made solely of their fair wood, so to speak.