This week I’m attempting to get this out in between so many other events. We’ll see how this goes. The last two weeks have been a whirlwind with doctors, being sick, phone calls, a car screaming at me, attending to family, gatherings, rearrangements, events, let alone work fit in there somewhere, and so here we are a bit late. Either way, here we stand at our first meeting with the Forfeda, which are often the more contested set of Ogham from what I’ve learned. This week Oir has come to me.

Attributes and Associations

There is a clear lesser amount of valid information on the forfeda, and oftentimes people don’t even consider them in their discussions of the Ogham. I felt when meditating on what I wanted to include in my path work with in the Ogham that the forfeda had their place however. In time, regardless of what I learn now, I feel my deeper learning of the forfeda and my contract with them will grow. One of the reasons the forfeda are left to the side is because they were added centuries after the original alphabet, which lends them to being thought of as less valid than the others. I feel this shouldn’t dismiss them as a means of divination or spiritual bonding. They obviously had some connection to those who created them and used them so long ago, and for that information to survive to this day. Those spirits have grown and thrived and I feel they have something to say, so I have included them.

I won’t get too much into the history of the Forfeda here, but I will sum it up to say that hte forfeda were outlined in three different Briathargaim, or “word-ogham”, and that the forfeda are not associated with trees like the other twenty Ogham, save Oir, which is being discussed here. Otherwise, the forfeda are found in other inscriptions in use with the rest of the Ogham, which allows for precedence.

Returning to Oir itself, Oir is pronounced like ore in English, and is also spelled Ór. They are associated with the Spindle Tree. In the Kennings, Oir means “most venerable substance”, and “splendour of form”. This has led many to see their association with gold. Other associations are commitment, honor, inner peace, thunder, wealth, favorable change, hidden dangers, and truth.

The Contract

I’ve spent a lot of time with Oir in the last couple weeks and so I’ve had time to really let this one, this spirit, meld more with my thoughts and energy. My central feeling with Oir, is comfort. I am comfortable with them. They sit beside me and just feel good. It’s not happiness, not melancholy, not joy or excitement, and not even doldrum. The feelings simply are, not devoid, but just calm and peace. It is good. The sun shines with a light overcast, a goldness. I find myself understanding that Oir is the moment before something new. A change is coming but you are ready for it. To find commitment and honor as is Oir’s associations, to accept the dangers you may not see, but to know this change is good, and face it head on. The calm before the storm. Oir presents you with this. Oir, I am ready, lead me on.

Next week’s drawing is Eamhancholl, another Forfeda.