Publisher's Synopsis
"The 21 plants of Ogma Sun-Face - each one stands for a sacred rune, and each for a lesson... the Ogham plants have remained the cornerstone of Druid Magic since the Cad Goddeu of ages past..." (-The 21 Lessons of Merlyn) Trees are an inseparable icon to the Druidic archetype and they are central to this second volume of the Fferyllt series. The Seeker is led into deep forests of woodland mystery wherein lies the Great Magical Arcanum, initiation to the Divine Secrets of the Universe hidden within the runes of twenty-one Keys - the OGHAM - the secret language and alphabet of the woods. For two decades a modern movement of neodruids influenced by modern Pheryllt Druidism have become bystanders amidst the unbreakable schism. Alleged authorities on Druidry raise one hand screaming how these documents supporting an ancient Welsh Bardic Druid (and Pheryllt) tradition are a hoax, but with the other hand they borrow from these same sources for their own purposes. The authentic premise guiding the modern Pheryllt Druid tradition are works that exist from the Welsh MS. Society and the continuing efforts of the National Welsh Eisteddfodd in preserving the genuine Celtic Bardic tradition in Wales. Sources for the Ogham Tree Alphabet include the "Ogham Tract" and 14th Century "Book of Ballymote" transcribed by George Calder as "Auraicept na n'Eces" - named after the opening lines meaning "primer of the poets" or "beginning of the lessons." All modern "Ogham Tree" systems revived for 'New Age' practices derive from the Scholar's Primer. The Ogham origins, however, are from the "Tower of Babel" and attributed to the "god" OGMA SUN-FACE, Patron to Bardic Druids (poets, writers, scribes and artists) and the "Mercurial" messenger current that appears elsewhere with Nabu, Merlyn, Thoth, Hermes, and so forth. "OGMA, a man well skilled in speech and poetry, invented the Ogham. The cause of its invention, as proof of his ingenuity, that this speech should belong to the learned alone, to the exclusion of rustics and herdsmen." (-Auraicept na n'Eces) In ancient Keltia, the Druid Order consisted of learned men, those educated in Bardic Arts: cosmology, native history, legendary history of heroes and spirituality, penal laws and punishments, geography, healing, botanical medicine, astronomy, astrology and magic. It is no wonder the Bard is viewed as transmitter or catalyst of awen, the essence, divine spark or spirit of inspiration that the Greeks termed gnosis. It is to the 'ebb and flow' of the 'awen field' that the poetic genius of Bards is attributed. "--So Ceridwen took to the crafts of the Book of Pheryllt to boil a cauldron of Awen..." The Book of Pheryllt (Volume Two) reveals an incredible "Druid Database" - the original mainframe - of knowledge and wisdom that unified the Celtic lands for at least a millennium and forever shaped the consciousness of the planet thereafter.
