Ankh Layout

 

 

Difficulty: Kind of tough

The Ankh Spread is for questions about the causes behind trends. It is similar to the Celtic Cross and Secret of the High Priestess layouts, but it covers the reasons behind the circumstances in question differently, perhaps giving a better explanation of why things are the way they are.

The loop of the upper section of the ankh reveals the spiritual background and causes of the situation, while the stem of the base focuses on prospects for the outcome.

The first two oghams represent the two parent causes of the situation. They will either complement each other or show two opposing sides of a conflict, depending on how they relate. These are the significator oghams of the Ankh layout.

3. This ogham shines light upon the early causes of the trend in question.

4. Pinpoints the causes that triggered the current situation.

5. Reveals the spiritual perspective of the subject at hand.

6. This ogham examines the reasons why this course of action had to unfold, as a means to this end.

At this point, it is good to pause to soak in the meaning of the first six oghams before moving forward to the last three oghams. The last three reveal prospects for the future.

7. The Next Step gives clues about the immediate future.

8. Surprising Experiences encountered en route to the result.

9. This represents the result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Ankh Reading

Early Causes	Higher Perceptions Eabhadh	Triggering Causes
Iphin	Necessary Conclusions	Duir
Significator #1	Saille Blocked	Significator #2
Quert	Next Step	Uilleann
	Ruis
	Surprising Experiences Émancholl Blocked
	Outcome Ur

 

 

 

 

Significator #1

Quert

• Tree/Plant: Apple
• Kenning: ‘Fruit of the Otherworld’

Quert is the sweet fruit hanging just beyond reach, the Otherworld’s promise of abundance, beauty, and healing. You are called to enjoy life's sweetness without shame or fear. Taste joy fully, live fully, love fully. Gifts are meant to be accepted. Pleasure, properly honoured, is a spiritual act.

• Spiritual Lesson: True abundance is joyful, generous, and reverent.
• Reflective Question: Where am I denying myself the blessings of life?
• Affirmation: ‘I taste joy without fear.’

 

 

 

 

 

Significator #2

Uilleann

• Tree/Plant: Honeysuckle
• Kenning: ‘Hidden Sweetness’

Uilleann wraps and winds—sweetness found not in plain sight, but in spirals. This is the glyph of unseen blessings and secret pathways. Trust the detour. Trust the fragrance that pulls at your soul. Follow what draws you, not what shouts at you. Life’s richest nectar is rarely on the main road.

• Spiritual Lesson: Not all that tempts is treasure—but real treasure rarely announces itself.
• Reflective Question: What unseen blessing have I ignored?
• Affirmation: ‘I follow sweetness hidden in shadow.’

 

 

 

 

 

Early Causes

Iphin

• Tree/Plant: Gooseberry
• Kenning: ‘The Tang of Life’

Iphin is the tart, the zing, the sudden clarity in the back of the throat. It is freshness through contrast. Change arrives like a sour wind—but it clears the air. You are invited into the bracing joy of truth, the bitter clarity that awakens. Let yourself be refreshed. Let the sting revive you.

• Spiritual Lesson: Life stings—but it stings to wake you.
• Reflective Question: What bitterness must I bless so it can become my medicine?
• Affirmation: ‘I rise refreshed from the bite of truth.’

 

 

 

 

 

Triggering Causes

Duir

• Tree/Plant: Oak
• Kenning: ‘Door to Strength’

The Oak stands unshaken through storms. Duir is the threshold of endurance, power, and sacred kingship. You are asked to hold fast—not just stubbornly, but with righteous clarity. Lead where you must. Take the seat of responsibility you’ve earned. The door is open to those who dare to claim their place in the order of things.

• Spiritual Lesson: Power without purpose is decay.
• Reflective Question: Where must I claim authority—or surrender pride?
• Affirmation: ‘I am the door that withstands all storms.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Higher Perceptions

Eabhadh

• Tree/Plant: Aspen
• Kenning: ‘Stone of Memory’

Eabhadh is mystery incarnate—the glyph that marks death, silence, or what cannot be said. It is the absence that still speaks. You are in a liminal space now: between known and unknown, voice and silence, life and the afterlife of meaning. Mark this moment. It matters more than it can ever explain itself.

• Spiritual Lesson: Some mysteries are meant to be honoured, not solved.
• Reflective Question: What silence am I afraid to name?
• Affirmation: ‘I honour the nameless and remember the unsaid.’

 

 

 

 

 

Necessary Conclusions

Saille Blocked

• Tree/Plant: Willow
• Kenning: ‘Sweeping Elegance’

Saille blocked is a dammed river—emotions swell, distort, and may burst destructively. You may cling to numbness, or become imprisoned by nostalgia and mourning. Let it move. What you suppress becomes the flood that drowns you. What you grieve becomes the seed of your rebirth. Surrender is not weakness; it is navigation.

• Spiritual Lesson: Mastery of emotion is achieved through movement, not denial.
• Reflective Question: Where am I refusing to let grief or inspiration flow?
• Affirmation: ‘I bend; I do not break.’

 

 

 

 

 

The Next Step

Ruis

• Tree/Plant: Elder
• Kenning: ‘Death’s Gateway’

Elder stands at the threshold of endings and beginnings. Ruis calls you to sacred surrender: mourn, release, and prepare to be reborn. Transformation is not gentle; it strips you down. Accept the death of what must fall away. Only then can the new roots find soil.

• Spiritual Lesson: True rebirth demands true mourning.
• Reflective Question: What am I still carrying that must be laid to rest?
• Affirmation: ‘I bless the ending and welcome the new.’

 

 

 

 

 

Surprises

Émancholl Blocked

• Tree/Plant: Double Hazel / ‘Lover’s Vine’
• Kenning: ‘The Sacred Pair’

Blocked Émancholl is entanglement without purpose. You may be caught in patterns that mirror old pain, not new growth. Not all bonds are sacred. Some vines must be cut to allow new growth.

• Spiritual Lesson: True connection is mutual transformation.
• Reflective Question: What relationship calls me to become more than myself?
• Affirmation: ‘I grow through sacred union.’

 

 

 

 

 

The Outcome

Ur

• Tree/Plant: Heather
• Kenning: ‘Flower of Dreams’

Heather carpets the wild hills, a dreamscape of resilience and mystery. Ur asks you to trust in subtle magic: quiet dreams, soft longings, secret hopes. Nourish them patiently. Some dreams need slow seasons to grow before they break into bloom.

• Spiritual Lesson: Dreams demand roots as much as wings.
• Reflective Question: What fragile dream do I need to protect and nourish?
• Affirmation: ‘I dream with rooted hope.’