Ogham – Ancient History

Definition

by Jenni Irving
published on 11 May 2012

One of the stranger ancient scripts one might come across, Ogham is also known as the ‘Celtic Tree Alphabet’. Estimated to have been used from the fourth to the tenth century CE, it is believed to have been possibly named after the Irish god Ogma but this is debated widely. Ogham actually refers to the characters themselves, the script as a whole is more appropriately named Beith-luis-nin after the order of alphabet letters BLFSN.

DESCRIPTION

The script originally contained twenty letters grouped into four groups of five. Five more letters were later added creating a fifth group. Each of these groups was named after its first letter. There are some four to five hundred surviving ogham inscriptions throughout Britain and Ireland with the largest number appearing in Pembrokeshire. The rest of the inscriptions were located around south-eastern Ireland, Scotland, Orkney, the Isle of Man and around the border of Devon and Cornwall. Ogham was used to write in Archaic Irish, Old Welsh and Latin mostly on wood and stone and is based on a high medieval Briatharogam tradition of ascribing the name of trees to individual characters. The inscriptions containing Ogham are almost exclusively made up of personal names and marks of land ownership.

To read the rest of this article please click on this link: Ogham

Scottish Witchcraft

These pages are based on a book “Scottish Witchcraft, The History & Magick of the Picts” by Raymond Buckland. Many things were reworded and omitted because of space on the web site. My personal comments are usually in brackets.The Highlands of what is now Scotland were earlier inhabited by people known as the Picts, or Pechts. In fact, this area was then known as “Pictland” and did not become “Scotland” until as late as the eleventh century. A second century Roman geographer, Ptolemy, drew the earliest map of the region. On it he showed four tribes: the Venicones, Tazali, Vacomagi and Caledoni. By the third century these four had become two tribes, the Caledoni and the Maeatae, and by the end of the third century merged as one nation, the Picts.These people have long been a mystery, partly because they spoke a language that is now lost. When the Scots became a dominant force in the welding together of medieval Scotland, it was not in their interests to keep alive any Pictish traditions.

The Scots, incidentally, were immigrants from Ireland who, having come first as raiders, by the fifth century had settled in the under-populated areas of the west. By the seventh century they were virtually masters of the lowlands.

The right of succession to the throne was matrilinear-in other words, reckoned through the mother. This practice was in existence for well over three hundred years, that we know of, and probably much longer.

Most of what was learned about the Picts was through their art. They used powerful animal symbols and geometric forms. Jewelry, metalwork, stone carvings: all show the same highly skilled craftsmanship.
To read the rest of this article please click on this link: Scottish Witchcraft