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Song of Amergin
I am a threatening noise of the sea
I
am a wave of the sea
I
am a stag of seven tines
I am a wide flood on a plain
I am a wind on the deep waters
I am a shining tear of the sun
I am a hawk on the cliff
I am fair among flowers
I am a god who sets the head afire with
smoke
I am a battle waging spear
I am a salmon in a pool
I am a hill of poetry
I am a ruthless boar
Who but I know the secrets of the unhewn
dolmen?
I am the womb of every holt
I am the blaze on every hill
I am the queen of every hive
I am the shield the every head
I am the tomb to every hope.
Origin
of Ogham
It
is generally believed that the Ogham symbols were first created as
hand symbols by the Druids. By
using the five fingers of the hand and their placement along the shin
bone or the straight line of the nose different symbols could be
constructed. It is
believed that they were never used as we know an alphabet today, but
rather as coded symbols classifying things in a cosmological order and
representing a secret, esoteric set of teachings held and committed to
memory by the Druids. The
were used both as coded secret messages to each other and as teaching
tools for the people they led and the students they trained.
Historically, the credit for their invention goes to Ogma, a
man well skilled in speech and poetry, thought to be a champion of the
Tuatha De Danann.
What
is it that was created by Ogma Sun Face, the all powerful?
What is it that has five sets of fingers as do five hands?
What is it that goes first in small steps to the left, then
small steps to the right, then in a diagonal, then right across, and
then fits neatly into a Crane Bag?
What is it that is formed with the fingers and the thumb,
against the straight nose? What is it that is formed with the fingers
and the thumb, against the shin bone?
What is it that lies hidden within a poem, like a salmon in
deep water, to rise only when the initiate calls?
Why did the great beast fail to give MacVurich the wild fig,
the aspen of the cross, the crooked yew, the blackthorn and the ivy?
Big MacVurich and the Monster
This
story recounts haw the whelp of a magical beast is captured by MacVurich, who, in return for its release, extracts a bargain from the
beast. Part of the bargain was the building of a house.
“That thou build me a dwelling house with nine couples in its
roof, thatched with birds feathers, and no two feathers of the same
hue.” As the monster
worked she sang, the last verse of her song being,
Every
timber in the wood save the wild fig,
Every
timber in the wood
To
the house of treachery
Save
the aspen of the cross and the wild fig.
(Alternate versions use the crooked yew, the blackthorn and the ivy)
Should you not know the Ogham, these words would have little bearing
on the story, but understand the essence of Ogham, the story is
different!
Wild
fig - an imported tree, a fertility symbol
Aspen
- protection against illness and death -
Crooked
yew - associated with the passage of the soul
Ivy
- self knowledge
By
omitting these woods the monster has denied MacVurich fertility, the
chance of being reborn to a better life, the mechanism by which that
rebirth can be effected, and the determination and self knowledge that
would be necessary for it to succeed.
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