PART 1:  Lichen Oracle THE LICHEN
Graphis scripta has an unusually wide distribution and is found throughout much of the U.S. and Europe, although it is less common than it was fifty years ago because like many lichens, it is quite sensitive to air pollution. It is the best known of the Pyrenolichens, a group of crustose lichens that grow on tree bark.  Their name means "fire lichen" and refers to the apothecia, which are typically black and carbonaceous, like charcoal.  Most are tropical, but there are several species in the eastern U.S., especially in the southern and mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain.  In this specialized group of lichens, the apothecia (spore-bearing structures) are called lirellae because of their unusual ridgelike form (most lichen apothecia are shaped like round balls, disks, or cups).  Depending upon the species, the lirellae may form dots, straight or wavy lines, irregular glyph-like shapes, radiating clusters, or complex labyrinthiform patterns. Graphis scripta is one of the most common and variable species, and is named for its lirellae, which are reminiscent of ancient writing.  The lirellae are only a few millimeters long.  In the forests of the Outer Banks it grows with Graphis elegans, a rarer species with double-bordered lirellae, Phaeographis inusta, a close relative with broader, star-shaped lirellae, and Sarcographa tricosa, a species with lirellae in labyrinthine disks.

THE ORACLE
Graphis scripta was one of the first lichens that I learned as a child, and I have always thought its mysterious glyphs were beautiful and compelling, and wondered how to "read" them and what message they might contain.  On a visit to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I photographed the abundant lichens that grow on holly bark in the rare remnants of old-growth maritime deciduous forest.  In a couple of hours walk through the woods, I passed through ancient groves, vine tangles and coastal shrub thickets, black pools in freshwater swamps, sand dunes and maritime wildflowers, and eventually reached the Atlantic surf.  This journey, which has the essence of a sacred pilgrimage, suggested the theme of the oracle.  Since the seasons are so strongly differentiated in this place, and the tide has so much influence, I decided to make it a moon calendar oracle.  A lunar year month is 28 days, and a lunar year is 13 months + 1 day.  I studied the photos and carefully chose four radiating Phaeographis inusta glyphs for the moon's primary phases, and 24 Graphis scripta glyphs for the remaining days.  I was surprised to see them quickly fall into an order that seemed quite natural and logical, and that each one had an obvious "upright" orientation. Interpretations were assigned intuitively, by looking at the shape of the glyph.
The glyph drawings are slightly stylized depictions of the lirellae as viewed under the microscope, with a central fissure that shows the black, carbonaceous interior.  I further simplified these drawings into a series of smaller, more generalized glyphs or runes that resemble an alphabet.
The oracle itself is tied to a specific place, but I hope that the symbols and interpretations are general enough that it will be useful anywhere.   The place itself – the Islands of the Morning -  will soon be a mythical land outside of time, as remote as Atlantis or Avalon, if the global warming predictions prove true and rising seas drown the coast, or human greed prevails and the islands are destroyed before then.  By that time, perhaps someone will carry this oracle inland, that in the future it may open a small door on a lost world.

Graphis scripta	Phaeographis inusta  The gray patch at upper left is Graphis scripta.

The 28 glyphs (top left to bottom right) correspond to phases of the moon. Left column (New, First Quarter, Full, and Third Quarter Moons) is Phaeographis inusta, the rest are Graphis scripta. Lichen Glyph Descriptions

Some other lichens growing alongside Graphis: Pertusaria xanthodes (white dots) Pyrenula cruenta (red dots) Trypethelium virens (green/brown, lower right)	The lichen glyphs simplified and numbered.  The oracle is explored in more detail in this post on my  BLOG.

Island of the Morning PHOTO ESSAY More about the Outer Banks maritime forest. Artwork HOME