A Northern Illinois Prairie Ogham
Mar. 24th, 2021 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kimberlysteeleFor those of you who are like, "What the heck is Ogham?" I have a website for you! Also, I do free Ogham readings every Monday.
I highly recommend researching one's own Ogham for the unique are where you live. Unless you live in Antarctica, it will be a fascinating dive into the flora of your environment.
Here is the alphabet:
Northern Illinois Prairie Ogham
1. Beith, Beginnings. This was Birch and stays Birch, but instead of Betula Alba or silver birch I have changed it to the North American native birch Betula papyrifera or Paper Birch. They are called paper birch because the bark at the trunk peels off like paper. This is a tree that I saw a great deal growing up, usually in front yards. It's not so popular these days but it is still around.
2. Luis, Protection. This was Rowan in the old system. I have changed it to Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) because of my many relationships with maple trees and the commonness of the tree in the Chicago area. I have two older maples on my parkway as well as one of their saplings in my front yard -- I pull up hundreds of maple saplings every year in my yard. The sugar maple is a glorious tree that can grow to astounding heights. They are beautiful in every way. Their fall color is a glorious gold. They are also a food tree (you tap their trunks for syrup) and I think they'll become much, much more important as food sources in future eras when petroleum isn't cheap and food cannot be shipped from great distances at low cost.
3. Nuin, Communication. This was Ash in the old system. I have changed it to the quirky yet graceful Ginkgo biloba. The Gingko biloba or maidenhair tree is the only living tree in an extinct species of tree called Ginkgophyta. This species has been around since the Jurassic era (200 million years ago). Though it is a native tree of China, it is a tree that is widely cultivated in the Midwest. I think of it as an autistic's tree -- I mean no insult as I am a high-functioning autist -- as it is an oddball among trees for its ancientness, for its smooth, fan-like leaves, and its medicinal properties. Ginkgo helps improve mental concentration.
4. Fearn, Guidance. Though the Black Alder or Alnus glutinosa is considered an invasive non-native in my area, I am not changing it for the moment because it is an important tree for preventing shorelines from eroding (a big problem for anyone near Lake Michigan). Alder is a colonizer tree that goes where other trees dare not go. It loves wet, swampy conditions.
5. Saille, Sensitivity. White Willow or Salix alba. This is another "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" tree that I grew up with. It's not native but it is common in my area. Willows are great for taming bogs and swamps and they are one of nature's greatest medicinal plants. I take white willow bark most nights to sleep through the night; it is a gentle sleep aid and painkiller. Willow branches aren't just medicine -- a tea of them can help other plants to root. Willow is very flexible (hence its attribution to perfect balances of sensitivity in my Ogham system) and one can make all sorts of cool things from baskets to chairs to fences from the branches.
6. Huath, Barriers. This was a tough one to decide. I felt I had to change it because hawthorn trees (the original tree in the "regular" Celtic Ogham) just aren't common around the Chicago area. I don't even see them in nurseries with any reliability. So I decided to change it to the Sycamore tree or Platanus occidentalis. Like the hawthorn, there are myths about sycamores that forbid them from being cut down. In the case of the sycamore, an old Wyandotte Indian myth warns of a horrible death befalling a settler who dared cut down a sycamore tree.
7. Duir, Gifts. Though the White Oak (Quercus alba) is a European import, it is literally Illinois's state tree. There are huge forests here dominated by white oak. It is also my favorite tree in the world. The native oak here is Quercus rubra or red oak. One can tell the red oak from the white oak by its leaves. The red oak has sharp-tipped leaves and the white oak has rounded leaves. As a child, I learned that the tipped leaf was red like the American Indian's arrowhead and the rounded leaf was the shape of the white man's bullets.
8. Tinne, Defense. Holly trees and bushes aren't common in my part of the US. The grassland here gets too hot and dry for them in the summertime. I have nearly killed a large nursery holly tree in my yard -- pray for that poor guy, please, he needs it. For this one, I have chosen the equally prickly Eastern cedar, Juniperus virginiana, which is actually not a true cedar but as the name belies a member of the juniper family. Juniperus virginiana is reliably common in my area and can be seen along roadsides, in forest preserves, and in my yard. Unlike holly in my area, Eastern cedar tolerates drought, extreme Midwestern cold, and high wind.
9. Coll, Wisdom. The Red Oak or Quercus rubra, as previously mentioned, is native to the Midwestern US. It's a bit faster growing than white oak and its acorns provide food for everyone from squirrels to deer to humans. The oak is my favorite tree. I also attribute Coll to another native Midwestern oak: the grand Burr Oak or Quercus macrocarpa.
10: Quiert, Delight. This is the Apple or Crabapple tree of many varieties and hybrids. I kept this one the same, considering Johnny "Appleseed" Chapman's efforts to propagate the Europe-imported Malus species not far south from here. The first pie I learned how to make as a child was apple pie.
11. Muin, Harvest. For this, I felt compelled to change the vine of this Ogham from grape to tomato. There is a family of plants that most of the world (especially people who aren't born in the Americas) take completely for granted: Solanaceae or Nightshades. Solanaceae is a huge family that includes tomatoes, potatoes, and every kind of pepper except black peppercorns. Imagine Szechwan, Indian, or Thai cuisine without hot peppers. Italian food without tomatoes. Imagine Ireland without potatoes. Yep. It never happened before the European discovery of the Americas. Nobody ever burned their mouth out on overzealously spicy Indian cuisine before 1500 or so. All of the Solanaceae plant family is native to South and North America, period, full stop, end of sentence.
12. Gort, Perseverance. The Hedge Bindweed, an Illinois native, replaces Ivy. Hedge Bindweed looks a great deal like Morning Glory or Ipomoea because it is also in the huge Convovulaceae family, but its Latin name is Calystegia sepium. I battle to keep bindweed from throttling the young oak sapling in my yard. It's a very pretty plant, with delicate, round white flowers and thin, trowel-shaped leaves.
13. Ngetal, Hygiene. Broom is the original attribution in the European Ogham. Broom simply does not grow around here unless you buy it. Instead of broom, I have chosen the similar looking Goldenrod, Latin name Solidago riddellii. It is in the same family as sunflowers. Goldenrod is extremely common in the Illinois prairie and grows profusely along roadsides and fields. Medicinally, it is a potent tonic and was used in Native medicine to cure infections, especially UTIs.
14. Straif, Inevitability. The thorny Honey Locust, Gleditsia triacanthos, replaces Blackthorn in this case. Honey locust is another tree I grew up with. It is native and so robust that it is considered an invasive species. It sheds obnoxious black peapod-things every fall and has a distinct odor. People have an affinity for the tree anyway. For whatever reason, two of my neighbors growing up had honey locust trees, and one ended up with a bird impaled on its branch for enough time for the bird to completely rot away, right in the front yard in fancy pants suburbia. They were strange neighbors.
15. Ruis, Regret. The native to Illinois Black Walnut replaces the Elder in this case, despite the fruit not being as easily edible to humans because of the extra hard husk of the nut which is under a thick ball of green fruit. The black walnut, like the elder, is a formidable tree with legends swirling around it. Like the elder, it is a tree of great medicinal value. Black walnut was used by the American Indians for dye and by early settlers to cure parasitic worms and syphilis.
16. Ailm, Transcendence. Ailm or Elm is another tree I did not have to modify, as the original attribution is either fir or elm. I choose the Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila) in this case, as the American elm has been sadly devastated by Dutch elm disease and has become uncommon because of it. Siberian elms are fast growing with tiny leaves that stick to clothes like cat or dog hair.
17. Onn, Community. Gorse is also not common in northern Illinois, so I have replaced it with the extremely common Wild Bergamot, also known as Monarda fistulosa or Bee Balm. Like gorse, Monarda is a happy, tough plant beloved by pollinators. Also like gorse, it is used medicinally. Monarda is known as a throat soother and a fever reliever.
18. Ur, Intimacy. Heather is not a common plant in the Midwestern prairie, so I have replaced it with Big Bluestem, a native grass that is one of many that populate almost any patch of land that is allowed to be wild. Big Bluestem is so abundant that it is Illinois's official prairie grass.
19. Eadha, Limits. The Quaking Aspen stays for this tree designation, as it is a North American native tree and by that virtue not a tree of the ancient Druids in the first place.
20. Ioho, Grace. Yew also retains its position in my Prairie Ogham. Yew is found commonly in cemeteries just as it is across Europe. It's a hardy nursery evergreen.
21. Koad, Grove. My particular area in the far western Chicago suburbs is wooded -- when wild spaces take over in the not too distant deindustrial future, they will be as much woods as grasslands. My micro-niche in Aurora is dominated by maples and oaks. The white oak is the most common tree in our local woods.
22. Oír, Epiphany. The old attribution for this position is the Spindle Tree. I replace it with milkweed, which is crucial to monarch butterfly populations and native to my area.
23. Phagos, Teaching. The mighty Beech tree stays put for this spot in the Ogham. Beeches were once used as paper -- that's how I think beech ended up with this attribution, because Phagos is about immersing oneself in enough knowledge to be able to pass it on.
24. Mór, Change. There is no tree for this one that I know of, so I attribute it to the Typha, otherwise known as Cattail. The Cattail is a native plant that loves wetlands and watersides.
25. Uilleand, Generosity. Uilleand was Honeysuckle, and though honeysuckle are not difficult to find in the Upper Midwest, I have altered it to Trumpet Vine. Trumpet Vine is a similar plant to honeysuckle -- it's a climber, graciously offering its nectar to pollinators and hummingbirds, and its blooms are a cheery orange-yellow.
What's the Ogham of your area? What trees and plants in your area best suit the designations currently allotted to the traditional Celtic Ogham that I based my Ogham upon?
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Date: 2021-03-31 03:54 am (UTC)