Faces of Arthur Index

Vortigen Studies Index

In this day and age of the resurgence in interest in all things "pagan", much has been made of the ogham tree alphabet. But though there have been those who claim to have deciphered the mystery of the ogham, most scholars believe that either the mystery has remained unsolved or that it actually exists only in the imagine of writers such as Robert Graves and those who adhere to his system of thought.

The truth is that an answer to the ogham mystery may explain the significance of Arthur's presence in the Otherworld Avalon. A solution to this mystery may also tell us more about Myrddin/Merlin, who is himself in ancient Welsh poetry placed at an Otherworld apple tree with a maiden for whom he contends. 

What follows is my brief investigation of the ogham and its possible correspondences with the ancient Celtic calender.

The ogham are marks that represent letters, originally carved on stone and wood and bone. There are 20 such letters, gathered into four groups of five. The proper arrangement of the letters, which run from left to right and from bottom to top, are as follows:

N (Ash)            Q (Apple)             R (Elder)               I (Yew)
S (Willow)         C (Hazel)             Z (Blackthorn)       E (Poplar)
F (Alder)           T (Holly)             Ng (Reed)              U (Heather)
L (Rowan)         D (Oak)               G (Ivy)                 O (Broom)
B (Birch)           H (Hawthorne)      M (Vine)               A (Fir)

The Irish latter added an extra set of five letters called the forfeda to the ogham alphabet. This fifth set of letters is composed of symbols which all display a center (see Rees and Rees, CELTIC HERITAGE). I will have more to say about the forfeda below.

But are these letters, as Robert Graves contended, symbolic of months? The problem with his system is that one is forced to both drop out letters and combine others in order to make things work. The method employed is random and cannot be checked against an independent source.

According to the Irish, Ogma Sun-Face invented the ogham alphabet. Ogma is known on the Continent as Ogmios. This god or culture hero (Ogmios is identified with Hercules) created the Celtic alphabet by raising four pillars of equal length. He then carved the sacred letters on the pillars. 

We know from the ancient Gaulish calendar found at Coligny that there were five seasons in the Celtic year. Three seasons of two months each spanned the summer half-year, while two seasons of three months each covered the winter half-year. There was also a five year cycle; the Gaulish calendar, in fact, is composed of just this many years. 

Now, it seems to me that, especially if we include the 5 letters of the forfeda, that we have a perfect match of 20 letters with 20 seasons or exactly 5 Celtic years.  Remember, the forfeda letters all incorporate a symbolix "center". As such, the forfeda probably represented the five seasons of the middle year of the five year cycle.  In other words, the forfeda is to be positioned between the other four groups of five letters. It thus became the middle year of five years.

Now, if I am right about this arrangement, which follows the pattern of the ogham and that of the Coligny calender without having to omit or recombine letters, where did the apple season belong in the sacred calendar? 

The Gaulish calender began the year in May/June or Samonios. I have laid out the months below. Please note that a couple of the interpretations of the Gaulish names are mine alone. 

We can now understand that the four pillars raised by Ogma were, in a sense, four Maypoles, which each represented Cantlos as it is found in four years. 

The proper association of the tree-letters with the seasons and the months these seasons contain are, therefore, as follows:

B -  May/June, June/July
L - July/August, August/September
N -  September/October, October/November
F -  November/December, December/January, January/February
S -  February/March, March/April, April/May


H -  May/June, June/July
D -  July/August, August/September
T -  September/October, October/November
C -  November/December, December/January, January/February
Q -  February/March, March/April, April/May

And so on…

Now we can see why Arthur was taken to Avalon and why it was believed that it was from that place that he would return. For the season of the apple was the time of Spring, when all of Nature is reborn. Was this not why Bran son of Febal was given a flowering apple branch from Emhain Ablach, the Irish name for Arthur's Aballava?  And was this not why Cormac son of Art was brought an apple branch in Maytime?

Did not Myrddin contend for his maiden at the foot of the apple tree? And are we not told that Arthur made Gwyn and Gwythyr fight every May Day for Creiddylad?

The Welsh god Lleu was killed by his twin while he stood with one foot on a goat and the other on a bath tub's rim. The goat here is to be seen as a symbol for the Zodiac sign of Capricorn, while the bath tub is Aquarius the water-bearer. In other words, Lleu was ritually slain around the beginning of February or on the ancient religious festival of Imbolc. In the same myth, we are told Lleu is resurrected from an oak tree. When we look at the ogham calender above, we notice that the oak governed the month of August, the time of Lughnasad. It is for this reason that we can know Lleu was reborn at Lughnasad.

Arthur, Avalon and a New Theory on an Ancient Ogham Calender is Copyright © 2003, August Hunt. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Comments to: August Hunt