On the most basic level, Ogham is a form of writing developed by the Druids. It consists of a series of lines (from 1 to 5) that are carved across a stemline called a “druim.” The druim is usually found on the edge of a stave of wood (called a “flesc”) or on the edge of a standing stone. The characters are written from the bottom to the top of the druim and, if more room is needed, the druim is extended to another edge of the stave or stone, until the entire message is finished.

In some cases, this can include up to four edges of a stave or a stone. If the Ogham is written on paper or a flat surface, then the druim is usually drawn as a line from left to right (parallel with the paper’s edge). The Ogham symbols are grouped into sets of five symbols each called an “aicme.” The name of each of the first four aicme is taken from the Ogham name for the first character of that grouping. These characters correspond to the normal letters of “B,” “H,” “M” and “A.”

These characters have the Ogham names of “Beith,” “Huath,” “Muin” and “Ailm” (they are also the Ogham formed by a single stroke of the knife or the pen in reference to the druim). The consonants in this alphabet comprise the first three aicme and are formed by longer parallel strokes, usually called “scores.” Parallel lines to the right of the druim form Aicme Beith, while Aicme Huath is formed by strokes to the left of the druim. Aicme Muin is formed using oblique lines that usually flow from the top left to the bottom right across the druim.

Some authors believe that the early Ogham alphabet consisted only of the consonants and refer to this form of Ogham as Consaine Ogham (this would make the writing practices of the Druids similar to those of early Hebrew, which also uses only consonants). The vowels that are found in the fourth Ogham group, Aicme Ailm, are usually made with a shortened scoring which is referenced as “notching.” These notches or lines are usually horizontal. The fifth group of Ogham characters are called the “Forfedha” (“extra characters”), and are thought by some authors to have been a Medieval introduction, even though tradition says that these characters were provided from Manannán’s “Crane Bag.”

These five Ogham are much more complex in their formation than are the others and are also very similar to the Norse Runes in their appearance. The Ogham characters themselves can also be called “fidh” or “fedha” (which are the Old Irish words for “wood” and “woods”). The primary names of the Ogham characters are given as Irish tree names. Another name for the Ogham alphabet is the Bethluisninn (named after three letters of the first aicme, B, L, N). Ogham were also assigned to other names and classifications: colors, pigs, fortresses, kings, cattle, etc… These names were correlated to the Ogham symbols based upon the similarity of their initial sounds. It was in this manner that the Ogham were originally used to establish correspondences for most of the information that was available to the early Celts and the Druids.

Many debates occur over the validity of the more esoteric Ogham meanings and the many available tables of correspondences that have been linked to them. Some of these correspondences were found within documents from early medieval Irish monastic writings. Other lists of correspondences have come from the more traditional assignments used by the Irish family Bards of the 17 th century. After this time, they ceased to exist as an established order, following the oppression of the English and the atrocities of Cromwell.

Some of the more recent correspondence tables that are in circulation have been intuited (as in the case of those provided by Robert Graves and Iolo Morganwg). Finally; some of these lists have been produced by modern writers using whatever sources were available (tree lore, musical toning, Cabala, Tarot, Runes, Imagination, Imbas, Awen, etc.). I shall endeavor in this study to develop a set of Ogham correspondences that are based upon their Old Irish names, their mundane and esoteric associations, and the kennings from the ancient lore.

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