Following up my last delayed post, I am going straight into my 6th draw with Ceirt. Being as this is kind of a double draw, it’s relevant then to say how Ceirt came to me in an interesting way. When I drew Coll, Ceirt slipped out of the bag as well and almost immediately started delving into the finding of Ceirt. In a way, Ceirt was just as ready to come to me as any of the others, so here we are. I’ve also made it past the first five weeks of my Ogham Journey. I find this significant because in the normal course of the Ogham order, there are five Aicme groups and five Ogham in each group. We are now one-fifth of the way through. Ceirt is one of the better known of the Ogham, and thus a good Ogham to begin our next set.

Attributes and Associations

Ceirt. Quert. KWAIRT. Ceirt means Apple Tree. Apples have a particular significance in both magick and divination. Apple trees are also associated with the Otherworld, it is by our choice that when we pass on, we go to Avalon, the Summerland, also known as the Isle of Apples. Apples have a great significance in just about all western spiritual practice. As it is, Apple was one of the first trees to be harvested for her delicious fruit. In linguistics Ceirt is transcribed as Q. She expressed the primitive Irish labiovelar phoneme. It’s phonetic value is Kw. In the briatharogam, there are three meanings to take from. In Morainn mac Moín: Clithar baiscill ‘the shelter of a lunatic’, in Maic ind Óc: Bríg anduini ‘substance of an insignificant person’, and in Con Culainn: Dígu fethail ‘dregs of clothing’. The name is also compared to the Welsh perth, meaning ‘thorn bush’, and also quercus, meaning ‘oak’.

Other associations are known as wholeness, healing, faithfulness, beauty, choice, generosity, harmony, and regeneration. Ceirt has a close association with elves and the goddess Rhiannon. There are many varieties of apple, with the crab apple being the likely ancestor of all. Choice is among the chief associations of Ceirt, of which all actions and meaning spring.

The Contract

Ceirt brings us to the cross-roads of choice. In the act of choice we can take many paths, that of healing, or harmony, or even fertility in sense of creating from ourselves. Even in the ancient meanings we can find relevance in choice. It takes many choices in life to reach a point of culmination and finding of truth in those choices. In choice, we in fact do find the “shelter of a lunatic”, a shelter of someone who has opened themselves to finding truth and a path in life. That is sometimes scary, and sometimes seems impossible or insane, given our choices at times, but to make a choice we must. In “substance of an insignificant person”, and “dregs of clothing”, we see what the beginning of choices are, there is not much there. There are dregs, there is insignificance, it is not until we start making choices and fill those decisions and reasons, do we begin to have substance. Thus to have insignificance is choice.

As apple trees are symbol of the Otherworld, we must also pay our respect to its meaning as symbol of death and regeneration. To know the apple of the Otherworld is to know deep vision, physical healing, and cleansing. The Apple will come to show a choice to make, or that there is great restorative healing needed. Either way Ceirt’s energies can lead you to the choice or healing. Ceirt will lead us on a path of inner strength needed to make difficult choices and to find the right healing for our energies to be restored. As with anything, if Ceirt is called upon too much, its own strength can wane along with our own, and only with patience and time can Ceirt be called upon effectively.

This week’s drawing is Oir.