Daily Devotional Chanting // Chanting the Ogham

Chanting is one of my favorite ways to express my devotion. It appears in several Indo-European traditions and though I haven't found any evidence of chanting other than the catholic sort in Irish Europe, I feel there must've been something. And while the videos below are modern pagans using forms of vocal chanting probably developed in Asia, our Tocharian Ancestors might somewhat be responsible.

Lifford Ogham Stone by Kenneth Allen 

A distant reconstructionist friend, Dreoilin, made some youtube videos once that I really enjoyed and I still use his Dagda Chant to this day. But I want some Wardruna level celtic chanting to exist and to follow along to. Alas, I haven't found such a thing. It'd be way cool to find something done by some Morrigan Priestesses or potentially even some musical folks from Ireland. I did find a couple handy videos linked below when when I saw them, my heart knew they were what I wanted to aim for, as these fit much of my folk magic criteria for liminality and bringing the edge and center together.

I found this video and this video.

The combination of overtone singing and throat singing is the perfect ideal form of chanting in my opinion. Western Overtone singing is also very nice for chanting god names, Old Irish phrases from the sagas, and Ogham.

Photo by Jessica Spengler

But however you do it, make it good and good for you. Do it well, do it with skill and develop it. The more otherworldly it sounds the better it'll do toward the purposes of a magician of any sort.

Pronouncing the Ogham

Any Irish that you don't know how to pronounce, go to http://abair.ie, paste in the modern Irish and listen to all the available dialect pronunciation to get a bearing on pronunciation. Trust yourself and your ear once you've listened to it multiple times. You can slow down the speed or increase it. For Old Irish, you'll have to use pronunciation keys still.

Chanting Ogham

The key to any chanting is rhythm. In one of our littanies we say "May the blessings of the gods and the ancestors be upon this cup." The Irish for that is:

Go raibh beannachtaí na ndéithe agus na sinsear ar cupán seo.

With the total sylables being divisble by 3 we end up with something that sounds like this:

Go Ruv Byan, knock tee nuh, nay huh are, shin sheer are, cuh pawn shuh.
Breaking it down you've got:

1. Go
2. Ruv
3. Byan


4. knock
5. tee
6. nuh

7. nay
8. huh
9. are

10. shin
11. sheer
12. are

13. cuh
14. pawn
15. shuh.

You don't have to learn all of the Ogham at first, or the liturgical Irish chants, especially if you're chanting the Ogham to learn them. Everything you learn you do within a context and the context of chanting is a good container for remembering the qualities, Britharogham kennings, and the qualities they yield in their name.

Ogham Names

There are many ways to study the ogham. Use trusted sources like Skipp Ellison and Erryn Rowan Laurie. Stay away from Edred Thorson, Blum, Tree Calendars and things like that.

Visit the Ogham Wikipedia article and the Britharogham article on the Kennings. Again plug the Irish forms into http://abair.ie to learn how to pronounce them.

Prayer before Prayers

In the Carmina Gaedelica, you'll find prayers that are to be said before prayers, bringing a heavy liturgical and ritual practice to even the smallest expression of devotion. If you're like me and are this intense you can use this repaganized CG Rune.

The Book of Ballymote

Rune Before Prayer

As you are the God over the Spear,
Tend to us, we, your descendants, and your folk.
Bless us beneath Your own glorious mantle,
Your Shield of protection, guard us for ever.
Be You a hard triumphant sword!
To shield us securely from the Fomori,
From the fiends and from the Other crowd,
And from the lurid smoke of the house of Domnu.
My soul is in the trustance of the Skilled King,
Lugh the powerful is in charge of my soul. Bíodh sé amhlaidh.

The Purpose to Chant

There are more reasons to chant that I can list here. The most important one is devotional practice, to express devotion toward some divine being. After that, mystic practice using chants as a mental tool to get behind ego and to become closer to the gods. Next, I'd imagine for magical and or learning purposes. To bring in, or send out, aspects or qualities that are wanted or unwanted, through folk magic which relies on vocal execution of enchantments, chants and charms, is a powerful reason to use this. If such were the case, one could pick ogham based on those qualities and use the qualities of the voice to give the sense of sending out or pulling in with increasing or decreasing speed, intensity, and volume. Sometimes I chant them in and out like an oscillating wave.

A Sample Ogham Chant

Apotropaic, Evil Eye, Curse Removal Intention

Úath, condál cúan, bánad gnúise, ansam aidche

or

Oo Ah Con Doll Coo On Bawn Adj Noo Ish Uh An Sam Aide cuh

This can be broken up into 5 sets of 3 beats with a silent 4th beat. I can recall the English of the Kennings to seed a visualization in my mind that plays into my intention and is consistent with the principles in Indo-European folk magic.

It is as simple as that, but as complex as making a regular daily practice around it. All of this applies to the Runes as well or any other script with kennings and names which carry a spiritual association.