Where Humanity Went Wrong and the Wisdom of the Ogham

As I have spent most of my life looking into the religions of the world, history, a little archaeology, philosophy, etc… I have come to some conclusions. One thing is quite clear. At some point in prehistory there was a vague sense of similarity around the world when it came to the beliefs and perspectives of the human race. We were somewhat united in the belief of animism. Animism is clearly present in the beliefs of modern indigenous peoples across the globe. It was clearly present on the American continent before the European invasion. It was clearly present in Asian cultures before the modern era and still is in many ways. When modern world religions are closely examined you can see a remnant of animism, a trace of it, a shadow of what was. In our earlier development as a species we were united by one global belief system, animism.

I define animism very simply…. “The world is full of people, only some of which are human, but all of which deserve respect.” Now I realize this comes with a bit more. Like how you must believe in the unseen in some way (I do), maybe the belief in the soul or spirit, or collective consciousnesses or what have you. But really it’s simple. If you have pets you know. Human beings around the globe living as hunter gatherers for the first several thousand years of our existence, had a relationship with nature. They had respect for and relationship with the elements, systems, and cycles. They had respect for and relationship with the plants and animals. They assigned and/or recognized the essence or “spirit” of a thing. They saw everything as sacred, everything sustained their lives, nature, mother earth provided for them. There was a recognized reciprocal relationship between humans and everything. Back then humans were a part of nature, not above or beyond it. We didn’t strive to control or correct it. We lived in balance, in homeostasis with the environment. Sounds like paradise, like the garden of Eden. I bet it wasn’t, but we at least weren’t in danger of destroying our planet with one push of a button, or whittling away at it with pollution.

If there is anything in us to be concerned for the environment, to want to be more eco-friendly, we need to go back to looking at the world and everything in it with respect, with relationship in mind. We need to see the things that nature provides in a relational way NOT as resources for us to plunder. And that right there is where I think humanity took a wrong turn. We somehow ended our relationship with nature and started viewing it as a “resource” for our use and abuse. We went from a global religion of respect and relationship, to religions promoting “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” We went from respect to dominance. We went from being one with nature, to subduing it, using it, placing ourselves above it. In the process we have destroyed the environment, subdued and killed one another fighting over these so called “resources”, created world wide systems of ecological destruction, and colonization.

The wisdom of the Ogham can help. The ogham feda (letters) each represent a thing, a concept, often but not always trees. Roughly ten of the twenty ogham feda represent trees, the rest, other things or concepts like sulfur, molten metal, fear, soil, and more. These things meant something to ancient Irish culture. They still had remnants of animism in their culture before being colonized by the Church then the English. They had relationships with the trees, they understood what the trees can provide, but they also saw spiritual lessons in the lives of trees. They knew that half of a tree was underground, unseen, and that they were rooted in the unseen world and then fruit above ground for the benefit of procreation and the benefit of others. We know now with modern science that we breathe in what trees breathe out, we have a reciprocal relationship with plants and trees. We could not exist with out them. We will not exist without them. We are one.

As I explore each ogham feda, their literal meaning and my poetic understanding, I can learn more about nature, I can explore concepts in nature and relationship with nature. Ogham is a way for me to focus my mental energies in the mundane to see the spiritual, the sacred. The wisdom contained in the ogham is the wisdom of nature and a culture more in tune with nature than ours. There is a lot to be learned. I endeavor to take on an animist perspective. I endeavor to become Ogham Wise!