Daily Draw

Daily Draw Monday, 07 November 2016 Method: Ogham Ogham Drawn: Coll – Hazel Ogham phrases: Friends of Nut-Cracking – Fairest of Trees. Inspiration. The first time this Ogham has appeared. Hazel suggests to me that I use its qualities of being both strong and flexible. Those qualities made hazel a precious wood, used for many purposes, such as fencing, sweat lodge construction, basket weaving, wattle and daub construction and a few years before my time, in the construction of coracles. This led to the practice of coppicing where every 7 years it would be cut back and it would grow in long, straight lengths. Left to its own devices it would form a beautiful tree, growing up to about 12 yards in height. It seems man has to ruin everything natural. Of course, everyone knows about the fruit of the tree, the hazel nut. They are gathered in the Autumn, which of course it currently is and it is also the stage of my life. Birds and animals also like them, but I wonder how much of them they actually get, as the crop means profit, the God of our society. In Celtic mythology, the hazel is regarded as the tree of knowledge, eaten by the oldest animal of all, the salmon of wisdom as they dropped into the pool, which was Connla’s Well in Ireland, the source of the river Boyne. Nine hazel trees grew around it. Nine being the number of completion and an important number in pagan mythologies. Hazel is used for dowsing and often wands are made from the wood. So, the wood is associated with wisdom, knowledge and poetry. Poetry is gained through inspiration which is Coll’s message to me, seek inspiration or be open to inspiration and use it to be creative. I hope this is referring to my photography, but maybe a poem will come to me, both can be shared with the world at large.