The Goddess Cerridwen
Cerridwen was a Welsh Goddess, Mother Crone and Witch. Keeper of the Cauldron in which she brewed a powerful potion that bestowed the Poet who later became Bard the Talisman.
The Goddess Cerridwen - The Silverwitch-
She is called by many different names. Some of these names are Cerridwen; Celtic Goddess of death and transformation, The Silverwitch, The
Celitc Goddess of witchcraft, Dark Moon Goddess, The Gain Goddess & The Great Mother to be a few...
Cerridwen lived on
island in the middle of a lake with
Tegid, and her two children. Her daughter whose name was Creidwy, w
as truly a beautiful child while her son, who was known as Afagdu was perhaps the ugliest child to ever grace the earth.
Like any other loving and caring mother, Cerridwen wanted only the best for her children. It was obvious that Creidwy would do well in life. Unfortunately, Cerridwen knew all too well that her son looks would only act as a detriment in his life.
So in order to counteract his
physical appearance, Cerridwen began to brew a
magic formula which would give her son all the knowledge; wisdom and prophecy in the world. Making her son the most B
rilliant and I
nspired of all
man in the world. Cerridwen continued to work on her formula in her cauldron gathering herbs from the forest for 1year & one day. She did this all for the love of her son, simply to make three precious drops of this
liquid potion in her cauldron. It would take over a year to make because it was a powerful potion. And it took a powerful witch to find the
ingredients in the forest to make the potion work. During the year Cerridwen had trusted a young boy named
Gwion Bach to watch over the cauldron & stir it when it was needed. The boy had basically lived and made camp in the forest where Cerridwen had hidden her cauldron, where
it brewed for a year and a half. This way she could come and go as she pleased. So when she would go into the forest and look for the rare and
special herbs, that were needed during the years time, she could very
easily get them quickly to her cauldron.
But faith would turn on our dear Goddess. One day while
Gwion Bach was stirring the Magick brew it happened.
While Cerridwen was out in the deep forest gathering the last of the herbs for her precious potion; 3 drops of
liquid potion accidentally flew out of the boiling cauldron and onto the fingers of the young boy Gwion, who had been
faithfully stirring it for a year & almost a day.
As the boiling potion flew upon Gwion's fingers,
his automatically responded as anyone one's would
be - he quickly put his fingers into his mouth to ease the pain. Of course not realizing that the powerful potion was already
on his fingers. This potion with just one drop, by a
most powerful witch it would change anyone who had put their lips to it, with just one small drop.
The Betrayal-
Well you could only image the anger that Cerridwen felt when at that very moment when she sense her potion being used by Gwion instead of her son. After a long year's work of gathering herbs in the deep forest, and getting the all the right herbs to make the potion just right!
The Goddess realized that her beloved son, whom she had created the powerful potion for! Would
never be
used for him. The potion had accidentally ended up
in the boy, that had been caring for her cauldron all this time. But that didn't make any difference to Cerridwen.
To The Goddess it was done on purpose, it really didn't matter the deed was done and VENGEANCE WAS ON!
VENGEANCE WAS ON!-
Cerridwen immediately began to purse the young boy
Gwion with a Vengeance! Know one would want to be in his shoes, even if he had the powerful potion within him. Besides being a very caring mother, she was a very powerful witch and a shape-shifter too.
Now as for
Gwion, his whole world began to change very quickly once the magic formula got into his system. Which didn't take too long. It happened only in a matter of minutes. Suddenly he was able to hear everything that went on in the world. In fact in that one brief instant, he was able to understand all the secrets of the universe as well as the knowledge of the past, the present and the future. For the young boy it was an amazing feeling to have, but he also could feel another presence, this of course was the anger of the Goddess Cerridwen. He could also sense her wrath. So his new sudden perception made him keenly aware of where the Goddess was too!
The Race was On!-
So the race was on-
The boy realized with his new powers he too had the power to shape-shift into anything he wanted just
like the Goddess Cerridwen.
So he decided to change into a hare thinking they run very fast and he needed to get away. He went across the fields as a hare. While The Goddess Cerridwen was much more powerful in magic than the boy even with the potion she had made-
So Cerridwen
decided to change herself into a black greyhound dog and chase him [the hare -Gwion] into a stream.
Gwion seeing the stream ahead, he turned into a fish, but Cerridwen then changed into an Otter.
Rising from the stream was a bird, yes the boy changed himself into a bird and took flight out of the stream, but Cerridwen didn't stop there! Oh! No... She
became a hawk and swooped over him.
Then
Gwion finally decided to
shapeshift into a piece of grain of wheat, thinking Cerridwen would never find
him in a barn. Well of course the poor boy was wrong and the Goddess found her big moment to eat the piece of grain as a black hen. The seed took root
inside her. Nine months later she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.
There was little surprise, and not doubt about the fact that the child that was born to Cerridwen was actually
Gwion Bach. It was however, the Gwion that he had previously been when he was nothing more than a very young child.
The story doesn't end here...
There is More!
Cerridwen soon made the decision that enough was enough and that all the intrigue finally had to come to an end. She was, however unable to find it within her heart to kill the child. So she placed Gwion Bach the infant inside a leather pouch and then set the pouch
a float in the sea. Luck was definitely on Gwion 's side.
Because Elphin, the son of a wealthy
squire, discovered the pouch with the sleeping
Gwion Bach inside.
The Life of Bard the Taliesman begins-
Elphin and his wife happened to be childless, so they decided to adopt the baby boy and because he was such a beautiful child, they named him Talisman, which's means "Beautiful Brow".
Even at an extremely early age Talieman had the most wonderful gift for poetry and when he grew into a man, the poet Taliesman became known as far and wide as the greatest poet to ever come out of Wales.
This tale of the people of Wales was early to identify with because it's dealing's with Death and rebirth which is part of life.
I found a certain sorrow and understanding for the Goddess Cerridwen, being a mother myself. I truly could understand her pain, sorrow and anger to some level. Yet through it all this; Goddess, Mother, and very Powerful witch that had great compassion for life and for even the child that took everything that was dear to her.
Cerridwen has taken on the role of the Crone in the typical Welsh Triple Goddess Trinity. She has also been known to have dark prophetic powers and
since her Totem animal is that of a sow, she
is easily Identified as a Goddess of the Underworld with all the dark and frightening powers that are associated with it.
It is well known that in ancient Wales the Goddess Cerridwen, took the Totem
animal that of the Sow. In this shape she is that of the hag and is also the
devonver, Scathach, the Shadow one, took this shape upon herself when she appeared to Fionn Mac Cumhal. {Later I might post another view of the Goddess] that I have in some of my Celtic books.
She was also easily identified as a Goddess of the underworld with all the dark and frightening powers that are associated with it.
Like many other Celtic Goddess - Cerridwen had two children one child representing darker aspects and the other representing the light.
Cerridwens daughter Creidwy represented everything that was beautiful and light while her son Afagda represented everything that was not.
Cerridwen is also known as the keeper of the Cauldron of the Underworld, from which Divine inspiration and knowledge flow in the Ancient Celtic Tradition. The cauldron is the central part of their religious mystery and regeneration which grows deep within the womb of the
Goddessess.
Although Cerridwen may only be one out of many Dark Goddessess, she has one particular aspect which makes her truly unique.
Cerridwen is the womb of potential from which all manifestations flow and because of that she is believed to represent the
wheel of Life-
The beginning - the end - And the beginning once again-
People seem to have no trouble picturing the Goddess Cerridwen
standing there,
strirring her cauldron, and brewing within
it life and death. Stirring her cauldron is not something Cerridwen just happens to do, nor is it even something that she chooses to do. Rather, the act of Cerridwen stirring her cauldron is one of necessary obligation. She has no choice in the matter, nor would she ever desire one, because by Cerridwen
Constantly stirring the souls of the dead, it is then and only then that rebirth will come forth from her cauldron.
She has also appeared as the Dark Hag. It is truly unfortunate that people all
to frequently misunderstand Cerridwen and the amazing regenerative powers that she has because that she has all of these powers, is what causes people to fear her.
These are many of the names that have been tagged
to the Goddess-
Dark Moon Goddess-
The Great Mother-
The Goddess of Nature-
The Gain Goddess-
Patroness of Death-
Fertility Regeneation-
Inspiration Magick Enchantment Knowlegment-
Wendy-
