Ogham Tuesday: Apple/Quert

Healing, Recreating, Delighting

Apple/Quert is the tenth letter in the Ogham alphabet.

Everything about apple is sweetness—the scent of the blossoms, the healthful fruit,  the  not-so-healthy delicious pies and pastries made with that fruit, and the lovely, warm smell of an applewood fire in the hearth. Even the famous maxim “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” lends itself to the sheer goodness and wholesomeness associated with apples.

Apple is the 10th letter in the ogham alphabet and represents the /kw/ phoneme, pronounced much the same as in the English “qu.” The Bríatharogaim for Quert are not helpful at all, but I mention them simply for the sake of scholarship. The kennings, whose meanings seem unrelated to modern understandings, deal with shelter for the mentally ill, the substance of an insignificant person, and cast-off clothing. Any serious meaning from these relating to the commonly agreed-upon would take a few mental gymnastics, so I’ll just leave those here.

Aengus mac Og, as mentioned in another post, is the god of love and beauty and stuff. (Just about all of the Gaelic deities can rightfully add “and stuff” to their CVs.) According to Paul Rhys Mountfort, one story has Aengus giving three apple trees in various stages of fruit as a wedding gift to Milesians at Bruig na Bóinde (known today as Newgrange.) Arthurian legend has the magical land of Avalon, known as the Isle of Apples. In the British Isles, the wassail bowl, containing a spiced apple drink, was used to show generosity and hospitality. Apples appear in many European cultures as a symbol of wholeness, health, and goodness.

Another part of the ogham’s meaning is choice. Apple, as probably the most positive omen in the ogham divination tool,  presents an array of goodness, sweetness, and joy to the querant. You only have to choose, and there isn’t really a bad choice to be made. When Apple comes up in a reading or ogham-taking, you have permission to reach out and take what you want and enjoy it.