At a glance

• Letter: G
• Tree: ivy
• Place: letter 12 of the 20 original letters, the second of Aicme Muine
• Written with: 2 strokes slanting across the stem line
• Keywords: growth, persistence, ivy, tenacity, resilience, binding, connection, endurance

Lore and history

In the medieval Irish texts, Gort is named as the second letter of Aicme Muine, the third of the four aicmi that make up the ogham alphabet, and it is written as two strokes slanting across the stem line. The tree most often named for Gort in these old sources is ivy, the climbing plant long familiar across the Irish countryside, known for winding itself around oak and stone and holding fast where it takes root. Ogham letters like Gort were cut into standing stones as well as written in manuscripts such as the Auraicept na nEces and In Lebor Ogaim, where each letter was paired with a tree or plant as part of a larger tradition of remembering the alphabet through the natural world. Ivy's habit of binding itself to whatever it climbs, and of staying green long after other growth has faded, made it a fitting companion for this letter in the old tree lists.

In a reading

In modern ogham practice, Gort is read as a letter of growth and persistence, and when it is drawn many of us take it as a sign to keep reaching even when the way forward is not straight or easy. Ivy does not grow in a single upward line, it winds, it circles back, it finds a crack in the stone and holds on, and that is the spirit many practitioners call on when Gort appears in a casting or a reading. We turn to it when a project, a relationship, or a piece of inner work needs quiet, stubborn persistence rather than a single burst of effort. Ivy's evergreen nature also makes it a symbol of endurance through hard seasons, and many of us feel its gift as the reminder that steady, patient growth is still growth, even when it cannot be rushed.

A little more

Ivy is one of the few trees on the ogham list that stays green all winter, so while many of its companion trees stood bare, ivy alone kept its leaves through the cold Irish months, a detail the old tree lists would have known well.

Keep exploring

• Before it: Muin
• After it: nGeadal
• All 25 ogham letters