Ogham is an early medieval alphabet found primarily on stone inscriptions in Ireland, Wales, and parts of Scotland. It consists of groups of parallel lines or notches carved along the edge of a stone, each group representing a letter. In later manuscript tradition, each letter was associated with a tree — Birch (Beith), Rowan (Luis), Alder (Fearn), and so on — giving rise to the concept of a tree alphabet.
Whether the tree associations are genuinely ancient or a later literary embellishment is debated among scholars. For modern practitioners, the question is less important than the practice: each Ogham letter becomes a doorway into meditation on the qualities of a particular tree. Birch speaks of beginnings and purification; Oak of strength and endurance; Yew of transformation and the threshold between life and death.
As a divinatory system, Ogham staves — small sticks or tiles inscribed with Ogham letters — can be drawn or cast to provide reflective prompts, much like runes or tarot cards. The goal is not fortune-telling but self-knowledge: using the symbolic language of trees to illuminate patterns in your life that rational thought alone might miss.