Heads or Tails? Both?

My brain is on fire today, so I hope you’ll bear with me while I connect a few things in my stream of consciousness:. 

• Why I don’t use reversals in my readings

• What that has to do with our recent New Moon Divination*

• How Jeff Jenkins reminded me of all of this

First, reversals are much less of a thing in ogham than in a system like tarot. There’s certainly a sense of each tree symbol having a range of interpretations that aren’t always rainbows and kittens. But, since this is an alphabet, turning one letter upside down often just makes it a different letter with a meaning that isn’t necessarily opposite. 

For example, Ash and Apple are mirror images of each other on the horizontal plane. Heather is a symmetrical symbol, so it looks the same whether it comes up heads or tails. Something like Honeysuckle could be viewed upside-down, and all of the symbols can be read backwards, if that’s how you like to do things. It’s just not how I do things. 

What drives my interpretation is a letter’s POSITION in the reading and how it connects to the question I’ve asked. For example, in last night’s New Moon Divination, I pulled Oak in the position that answers the question, “what shall I let go?”

Ordinarily, Oak is a symbol of much-needed reassurance, safety, and stability. Why on earth would I want to let that go? (Some of you are already ahead of me here.) As I thought about it more overnight and this morning, I realized it’s about moderation. Leaning too hard in any direction, for any ogham, is going to pull us out of balance. 

In the case of Oak, stability is great; stagnation is not. If I wait for 100% certainty before I take action, I’ll miss opportunities and shut down those instinctive drives to grow and GO. This is especially true when I consider that the ogham pulled for the theme this month was Honeysuckle, which is all about survival and raucous striving. 

A million proverbs (approximately) spring to mind, along with more questions I can ask myself when I hesitate to take a leap of faith in the direction of light and hope and discovery:

• Have I already taken reasonable steps to ensure my safety? 

• Am I clinging to the established way of doing things out of habit or because it’s truly useful?

• Whose example and support can I follow, to help me detach from “analysis paralysis” and have some faith in my next steps?

• Am I caught up in tasks that keep me in place or that drive me forward?

• What if it all works out just fine?

You get the idea. Now, let me connect the dots to Jeff Jenkins,** who brings us the travel adventure series “Never Say Never” through National Geographic. This amazing human loves to explore and discover, and often speaks of life being just outside his comfort zone. And I think that’s what letting go of Oak is all about. This isn’t “Naked and Afraid” or “Survivor.” He listens to his guides, uses safety gear, and talks about feeling scared or tired or out of place. Then he does the thing anyway. The series is a delight and I’m happy to binge it today as part of my devotion to consuming positive content. 

Oak is our comfort zone. We need a strong foundation and assurance of safety, but growth doesn’t happen if we STAY there, you know? I’m not saying we should all jump off waterfalls today, but maybe we can take a few steps into the wild, with friends. 

*If you'd like to receive a New Moon Divination message each month, just subscribe to the Nine Fires website. We can even send you past months for reference, if you'd like!

**Follow Jeff Jenkins on IG at https://www.instagram.com/chubbydiaries/, where you can find links to more of his work.

~ Nicole (Nikki, sometimes Saffron Hare) is founder and general manager at Nine Fires Press. Her Druidic practice has included solitary, small-group, and congregational worship, with a focus on liturgy and seership. She is rehabbing an underground home in the Midwestern US and loves to fall in love with bad ideas.