Ogham Staves Reading Set.

Spread a cloth, gather the bundle in both hands, and let the staves fall. The ones that land face up are the ones you read: each notch a letter, each letter a tree.

The set holds twenty staves cut from seasoned hazel, each notched by hand along one edge in the manner of ogham, the early Irish tree alphabet whose letters are called fews. Hazel is a fitting wood: in the old Gaelic tales it is long associated with hidden knowledge drawn from wells and streams.

Ogham was carved into standing stones across Ireland and western Britain from around the fourth century, mostly to mark names and boundaries. Later folk tradition gave each few a tree, and in time a meaning, turning a working script into a set for casting and reading, much as runes grew from an alphabet into a divinatory set.

Details

• Contents: twenty hand-notched staves, a linen tie, a printed guide
• Wood: seasoned hazel, workshop-carved

How to use

Cast the full set onto a cloth and read the staves that land face up, or draw one at a time from a bag or pouch for a single answer. The guide gives the traditional tree and meaning for each few, a starting point rather than a fixed rule. Sold as a curiosity, with no medical or scientific claims.

An old alphabet in hazel, for long evenings and quiet questions.