Ceridwen
Original Art by Luna Blaid Llwyd
Background - The Tale of Taliesin
Ceridwen was the wife of the lord Tegid Voel, who ruled the lands beside the lake Tegid, they had two children; Creirwy and Affagdu. Creirwy was a beautiful child; Affagdu was quite the opposite, he was hideously ugly.
To give her son the best chance in life she decided to use her powers to brew a potion; the brew of inspiration (or Awen), which bestowed vast knowledge and creative wisdom onto the person who drank the first three drops; a most powerful potion which had to be simmered and stirred continuously for a year and a day.
After gathering together all the ingredients and finding a suitable hut among the hills, she entrusted
Morda, an old man, and Gwion Bach, a young man to undertake this task.
Morda and Gwion set about their tasks of tending the fire and stirring the brew.
After a year and a day of tending the brew, while awaiting the arrival of Ceridwen, Gwion was splashed on the finger by three scolding hot drops of the potion. Naturally wishing to soothe his burnt finger, he sucked the brew from his finger and was of course immediately endowed with the vast knowledge and creative wisdom intended for Affagdu.
Fearing Ceridwen's reaction, Gwion fled.
Upon discovering what had happened, Ceridwen flew into a rage and pursued Gwion. Desperate to escape the raging Ceridwen, Gwion transformed into a hare. Ceridwen responded by transforming into a grey wolf. Chasing Gwion through fields of corn and grassy meadows.
Approaching the banks of a river, and with Ceridwen closing in, Gwion plunged into the river morphing into a salmon as he did so. Still enraged and unwilling to let him escape, Ceridwen followed, transfiguring into an otter as she dove into the flowing water.
Ever hot on his heels, Ceridwen pursued Gwion with unrelenting fury, hurtling ever closer; in growing desperation Gwion leapt out of the water and morphed into a hawk.
This did not slow Ceridwen one bit; ever pursuing, ever furious; metamorphosing into an eagle as she shook away the water.
Diving and weaving; high and low; hither and thither; the pursuit continued, and until nearing exhaustion and utterly desperate; spying a mound of wheat grain in the yard of a farm, Gwion took the form of a grain of wheat and landed; plop; among the myriad other grains.
After a brief moment; Gwion, relieved, thought "she will never find me among so many seed grains"; was horrified to see Ceridwen bearing down on him in the form of a hen; and with one gulp Ceridwen swallowed him up.
Satisfied at last, Ceridwen reverted to her human form, only to discover to her utter chagrin that she was pregnant, and that the child she carried was none other than Gwion!
For the next nine months Ceridwen festered with anger and vowed to kill the baby Gwion as soon as he was born. However, upon the birth of the child, Ceridwen's heart relented and she could not find it in herself to kill the newly born babe. Instead she placed him in a leather sack and cast him adrift upon the vast ocean.
For many a day the baby drifted, until coming to rest in the salmon weir of Elphin, who was the only son of the king Gwyddno.
Elphin fishing the bag from the waters, thinking he had discovered treasure, opened the bag to find a baby with an astonishingly shining-white brow.
Taking the child in his arms, he vowed to raise him as his own, naming him "Taliesin" (meaning: one with the shining brow).
Taliesin grew to become the most famed bard in Britain who was able to weave the most magical tales with his words, using the knowledge and wisdom which the three drops of Awen had bestowed upon him.
What is Sacred to Her?
Ceridwen is the Goddess of inspiration, transformation, knowledge and rebirth. She is a Mother Goddess, who has both light and dark aspects.
Mother of the Welsh bard Taliesin.
Symbols: cauldron, hen, otter, hawk, wolf,
Who
is Ceridwen?
Ceridwen is often considered a vengeful or angry Goddess, yet seen from another angle she is simply a mother, whose hard efforts to improve her son's situation were laid to ruin by a mishap, and so she lashes out at the perceived perpetrator.
But after the nine months of pregnancy and the subsequent birth of baby Gwion (soon to be Taliesin) she softens and cannot bring herself to kill him; so she casts the baby Taliesin adrift in the sea.
Ceridwen is a Celtic Goddess from medieval Welsh myth collection The Mabinogion.
Ritual
Need: handful of wheat grain; cauldron or similar vessel like a bowl; two candles (one white and one black).
To bring Ceridwen's inspiration or transformative powers into your life take a handful of wheat grain and place them into a cauldron.
Placing each candle on either side of the cauldron. Light first the black candle and then the white. While doing so say:
"Ceridwen, Mother of Inspiration and Transformation, I ask for your blessings to bring change (and/or inspiration) into my life. as the darkness changes into the light. Awen."
Blow the candles out and take the wheat grain outside and bury it so that the inspiration and/or change may take root and grow into your life. Or if you have hens, feed them the wheat to the let the Goddess transform your seed into creative potential.
Images
~ www.sacredsources.com/Ceridwen-Statue-7-3_4/productinfo/MCER/#
Original Art ~ Ceridwen sketch
References
and links:
- 365 Goddess, Telesco, July 3rd entry
- The Mabinogion, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest
- Naming the Goddess Edited by Trevor Greenfield, pg 145 - 147
- http://www.timelessmyths.com/celtic/mabinogion.html
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/society/myths_taliesin.shtml
- OBOD - www.druidry.org.uk