Ogham can be used for divination in various ways. Ogham staves can be drawn at random from a bag and cast upon a cloth for “open” divination methods, or they can be chosen at random and placed in a sequence or pattern for interpretation in relation to their position.
Preparing for Divination
Divination is the act of accessing spirit or divine wisdom for application and guidance in the everyday world. Divination can be used to seek support and extra insight into a whole host of issues from magical and spiritual matters to the mundane. However, the power to change and act in relation to fate and circumstances is always in the hands of the seeker. No divination technique ever presents the future as if it is carved in stone. As such, it is a tool for advice that suggests layers of meaning. It comments on the spirit threads that connect all things, aiding in our navigation through life, but it does not prophesise.
That being said, all forms of divination involve some level of contact with spirit, often in very subtle ways. We must remember that when we perform a divination, we are not alone—we are interacting with spirit in a very real way. With regards to the ogham, we are interacting with the spirits of the trees and the presiding spirits of each ogham sigil. We also access the ancestral wisdom of the druids and their forebears. For this reason, divination should not be a casual act but one that is performed in a sacred and conscious manner, respectful of the energies and spirits we contact.
Effective divination requires us to consider our tools as sacred, keeping them safe and away from casual observers. Keeping our ogham staves in a purpose-made bag or box is good for this. We also need a surface upon which readings are performed, such as a special silk cloth, or a piece of wood or leather used for this purpose only.
We need to be in a sacred and calm space physically and psychically before performing an ogham reading. Switch off the TV and eliminate any distractions. Clear a space on a table to do the reading. Take some deep breaths, and call in your spirit allies before beginning. Alternatively, only perform divination within a magical circle or other sacred magical space such as a grove.
The last and most important detail is to call upon the spirits of the ogham themselves for assistance. Doing so is very simple: take a deep breath, feel your connection with the earth, and verbally ask the ogham spirits for their help in your own words. Without this conscious connection, we are drawing only on our own innate wisdom, missing out on the hosts of support the ogham trees themselves can offer us. Using the ogham without this conscious connection becomes an empty gesture that exercises our self-reflection rather than our interaction with the web of creation.
Framing the Question
Sometimes framing the appropriate question can be quite straightforward. However, when matters surrounding your enquiry are complex, it can be a good idea to make the question as open as possible to receive a message from spirit that may help you to think outside the box or draw something to your attention you were not aware of. Questions such as “How shall I proceed for my highest good?” are very useful. Another to consider is “What guidance does the ogham offer me at this point in my life?”
Single Ogham Stave Reading: A Message from the Gods
In some ways, this is the simplest way to use the ogham for divination. A single stave is drawn at random from a bag, or from the complete set held bunched in the hand. The single stave thus holds all the meaning and advice given. The message is direct and simple but may hold many levels of meaning—no further elucidation is offered. Drawing a single ogham is good for quick and direct advice, but it may sometimes be the hardest to interpret and follow, as no further oghams are present to assist understanding.
Three-Ogham Stave Reading: The World Tree
This layout uses three ogham staves chosen randomly and placed in a vertical line.
Starting from the bottom and ascending, each of the three positions represents wisdom in relation to the lower, middle, and upper worlds.
This position relates to the roots of the World Tree, and the roots of your query and situation. The underworld is the place of rest and regeneration, the realm of ancestral wisdom, that which has passed, and the earth’s deep energies. It is the realm of the sidhe, the faeries, the weaver goddess, and the three Fates. The underworld, called Annwn in the Celtic tradition, is said in Taliesin’s poem “The Spoils of Annwn” to hold a great cauldron, the sacred womb of the goddess which is attended to by nine otherworldly priestesses. An ogham placed in this position advises you on what has brought you here and what is at the core of the situation. It suggests avenues for transformation and what constrains you due to past actions.
The middle world is called Abred in the Celtic tradition. This is not only physical matter, but the indwelling spirit present in all manifest reality as well. This position highlights your present circumstances and the issues and support that surround you in the everyday mortal world. The middle world is often overlooked and disrespected, and an ogham placed here serves as a reminder of how to relate to the sacred earth and the human world around you in a more effective and conscious manner; that is where real change, healing, and empowerment can occur. The middle world is also the place of our animal and elemental allies, the spirits of nature and seasonal connection. The middle world is subject to constant cyclical change, as are our mortal selves. Even mundane and practical issues are subject to this pattern, and are manifestations of spirit as much as anything else. The ogham placed here reminds and advises you how to act for the best outcome as well as how to embrace the present effectively.
The upper world is called Gwynfyd in the Celtic tradition and is the place of divinity and of our highest selves. Here the blueprints of all creation are held in their most perfect form before they interact with manifest reality. In the upper world, we may find our first and best intentions, reconnecting with our original potential. As a place at one with Source, our divine aspects, as well as the gods, it is somewhere from which we can draw energy and ideas. Contact with the upper world allows fresh starts and the endless compassion of the Creator in whatever form resonates with us. Here is the place our destiny is held and remembered, as well as the place from which we may draw support and effect change. The ogham placed here reminds us of our highest aims and potential, suggesting a possible future should we navigate true to our soul’s purpose. It may also point out how to reclaim a positive perspective or come to terms with the effects and consequences of our actions, should rectification need to occur.
Sample Reading
Roy wanted a reading concerning how to progress his career and insight into how he should best focus his energies most effectively with career in mind. As a creative person, he was often commissioned, and this provided a focus, but other times he was inundated with ideas but unsure which ones to choose. This led to times of intense activity followed by periods of inactivity and lean finances. The three staves that appeared in his reading were as follows.
The yew counsells perseverance, patience, and small steps towards progression. Roy was either working or had little income, leading to an imbalance. Yew in the underworld suggested a need for in-between commissions, other more long-term creative projects, or tasks that could shore up and develop his reputation to create a sound foundation. Yew also encouraged a more compassionate and positive attitude towards his accomplishments, seeing times of focused activity and repose as part of the rhythm of his life. With greater perspective, yew suggested he would see that he had in fact been making steady and fruitful progress all along; a positive future lay ahead.
Willow in the middle world suggests a need for balance and harmony, in all different aspects of life. It suggested here that Roy needed a flexible attitude about his creativity and career. He was encouraged to go with the flow, seizing upon inspirations and opportunities as they arise. Having a harmonious, grounded environment in which to nurture his creativity would also be conducive to seizing opportunities and ideas, and being able to make the best of them.
Aspen in the upper world suggests that creative ideas and inspiration would be especially forthcoming for Roy, but that an imbalance with the earthy and practical aspects of his job would lead to difficulties in turning these ideas into grounded manifestation. Time needed to be taken to correct this imbalance, and to create an environment and attitude that held this creative flow in balance. Trusting that there would always be more ideas and more commissions was a basis for greater confidence and the instigation of more long-term plans. Communication and communal effort were also highlighted here, suggesting collaborations would also be worthwhile.
Five-Ogham Stave Reading: The Celtic Cross
(Also Known as Brighid’s Cross)
In addition to the three-stave spread, we may choose to use an additional two oghams on the left and right of the tree. These refer to our feminine side or ancestral line and our masculine side or ancestral line respectively. The spread can also be interpreted as a breath in on the left and a breath out on the right. Thus the ogham placed on the left side suggests that which supports us and from where we may draw energy. The ogham on the right suggests what needs our attention and where we should place our energy and best efforts. Taken as the four points of the compass with a central point in the middle world, directional and elemental correspondences may also be gleaned. This spread is best read going first around the compass points and then to the central, middle world position.
Sample Reading
Morgan had long-standing chronic health issues that conventional medicine helped only a little. She requested a reading to gain a deeper insight into her condition and what could be done generally to improve her health and well-being.
Birch counselled a fresh start, especially so in the position of the upper world and the north, the place of earth. Here, the birch suggested that this was an auspicious time for renewal, and that cleansing needs to take place in order to make way for this new fresh energy and vision. Birch advised that it was time to let old patterns of behaviour or stuck, stagnant energies be cleared away and released—an emotional, energetic, and physical detox. It was time for a new phase of life and renewed energies. As the north also represents the element of earth, a new fitness or diet regime was advised as a way for Morgan to reconnect with her highest potential and greatest health.
Gorse’s wild, fiery energy in the east is like the sun—bright and full of illumination. Placed here, it suggested that Morgan had a highly active mind, readily inspired and creative. Periods of excessive highs and lows of energy were also indicated where creative or intellectual fires would burn fiercely (and potentially out of control), leaving her drained in the aftermath. The pattern could have been inherited from her male line, as it certainly pointed to her more active side, suggesting she could physically burn off energy in action and achievement. Held in balance, Morgan could be extremely productive and inspired, but out of balance the effects on her health would be profound. Gorse counselled her to learn to mediate these energies more calmly, and that cleansing and rectification may be required to restore this balance.
Morgan received apple here, suggesting that her health problems stemmed from a mind/body/spirit issue, where emotional or spiritual pain or wounds were taking their toll on her physical body. Apple encouraged her to consider how things felt, rather than rationalise her condition, and take an instinctual feelings-and-intuitive approach to her well-being. The need for greater compassion and kindness towards herself and others was also highlighted. The presence of apple suggested that Morgan needed to be “in her body” more often, rather than distancing herself from her physicality due to her discomfort. Positioned in the south and relating to the element of fire, apple also suggested this attitude towards her own body affected her energy levels, vitality, and sense of enthusiasm. An approach more in tune with her subtle senses and their effects on her body would have corresponding effects upon her physical stamina and general well-being.
Oak in the west suggested great emotional security and strength. Stability and experience led to a grounded understanding of the watery realms of emotion and the intuitive realms of spirit, implying that Morgan was able to practically apply this with maturity. Oak, the tree of sovereignty, in the west also showed that this was where Morgan was at her strongest and healthiest. That strength could have been inherited from her female line, or it could have suggested that she was very comfortable with her own womanhood, finding it a source of power. Oak’s presence here meant that she was very present in her emotions and intuitions, and in turn they were a place of internal growth and well-being that could then lead her into better health in other aspects of her life. If emotional pain was the cause of her illness, as suggested by the apple, she had undertaken considerable emotional healing by this point; the effects of it upon her physical state would be felt at some point in the future.
The World Tree positioned in the middle world and place of the self suggested that Morgan was determined. She had reserves of inner strength, and better health and well-being would come from maintaining balance in all the various aspects of herself and her life. Here we see the axis mundi, or divine centre, in the central position—highly auspicious. An upright, focused, and centred approach bears the best fruit. A balance between being and doing is highlighted here, as is harmony between the three worlds and the inner masculine and feminine. Here ash advised the famous spiritual adage found above the entrance to the Delphic Temple of Apollo—medén ágan, “nothing in excess”—breathing in and out, times of action and rest in equal measure lead to the great improvement in health she longs for. Ash also represents the lightning flash; it may be that, should she seek that balance, she may find that a surprise improvement in her condition takes place sooner than previously thought.
Open Ogham Reading
An open ogham reading is when the ogham staves are gently thrown upon a surface to all fall where they may. This relies on the visionary abilities of the person casting the ogham to interpret their various positions in relation to each other. The divination may be further assisted by the reader’s spirit allies and the ogham spirits themselves via inner journey or seership.
Open Ogham Reading: Fionn’s Window
Named after the Irish hero and magician Fionn mac Cumhail, Fionn’s Window is an arrangement of ogham sigils including the forfeda in concentric circles. Another name for it is the Fege Find. A fege is the central ridgepole used to hold up an Iron Age round house. Ridgepoles have been used for divination and shamanic purposes in numerous cultures where the central pole represents the great World Tree, granting access to the other worlds.207 Fionn mac Cumhail was a powerful magician due to his consumption of the mythical salmon of knowledge that contained access to all magical lore, history, and spiritual experience. He is a deeply shamanic character, and it may be that Fionn’s Window demonstrates a shamanic divinatory technique particularly Celtic in detail but universal in nature.
In the diagram, we see each of the four aicmes or tribes placed in the four directions, one ogham of each aicme occupying the same circle as those of the same position in the other three. Thus the aicme of birch lies vertically along each circle, descending from the north. The aicme of the hawthorn descends along each circle from the east, the aicme of the blackberry ascends through each circle, coming up from the south, and the aicme of the pine does the same from the west.
Each circle may be seen to represent a different layer of existence spiralling back and forth from Source into the material world. In this way, the relationships between each ogham and thus the journey of the seeker begins with birch. It then develops through that aicme and continues to the outer realms of the next, weaving in and out until it reaches the yew in the position of the furthest inner point of the west. Here is the direct interface point with the spirit realm and our eternal selves. Here we meet the gods, and may choose either communion with them or return to be reborn via the birch. We have a map of our spiritual journey that may also be used metaphorically to answer some of our lives’ most complex matters, granting us direct insight from spirit.
Each ogham and the aicme to which it belongs can be ascribed to have a direction and elemental aspect (north, earth; east, air; south, fire; west, water) to aid in their interpretation. When casting oghams upon Fionn’s Window, we may also have the added insight of how each ogham relates to the position in which it lies.
Obviously this technique is quite advanced and relies on the experience and abilities of the seeker to be really effective. Remember, there is no substitute for practice. How each person interprets the ogham when using this technique will be personal and heavily reliant on inner vision, intuition, as well as the support of spirit guides and allies.
207 Ananda Coomaraswarmy, The Door in the Sky (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997), 18.