The Witch Goddesses of Samhain: Cerridwen - Keeper of the Cauldron

When I asked which Goddesses wished to come through for my Goddesses of Samhain* blog series, I received three names: Celtic Goddess Cerridwen - Keeper of the Cauldron. Greek Goddess Hekate - Keeper of the Keys. And British Goddess Elen of the Ways - Keeper of the Forest. 

*Samhain in Irish translates to November, so, I very much see these as Goddesses whose wisdom can support us right from Samhain as the veil thins and the year turns to the Darker Half of the Year, throughout the dark & Witchy month of November  and indeed throughout the Winter season as these are all Goddesses who can help us to find light when facing darkness.

This post on Welsh Celtic Goddess, Cerridwen, Keeper of the Cauldron, is the first of three Witchy Wednesday posts…

Mother am I, and Wise One. And my wisdom is this: that dark and light are equal, the dark being but a cloak that hides the light. And my knowledge is this: that the power of night is found in birthing day, and the power of winter in begetting spring, and the power of death in bringing forth new life.

• Ceridwen from Maiden, Mother, Crone - Voices of the Goddess, by Claire Hamilton 

Cerridwen, the Dark Goddess of Death, the Underworld, the Cauldron. She has been variously called the Great Witch, the White Sow and the Dear One. She was known as Keeper of the Cauldron - a magickal cauldron of transformation, inspiration and rebirth and governs the cycles of Life, Death and Rebirth. She is a Crone Goddess but is also one of the Goddesses considered a Triple Goddess in that she embodies the wisdom of Maiden, Mother and Crone. She is a Goddess of Witches, of Herbalism, Potions, Magic and Shapeshifting but was also considered a Goddess of Inspiration, particularly poetic inspiration and Prophesy who can tell the fate of all beings. Her magickal cauldron has been referred to as the Holy Grail, what King Arthur spent his life searching for. The cauldron that could transmute, transform, heal and make whole. 

As Goddess of death, transformation and also a Mother Goddess of Fertility, She calls the seasons to their ending and new beginning so is a wonderful Goddess to work with during Samhain season when the Light half of the Year dies giving way to the Dark Season of the Underworld. She asks ‘What needs to die and be alchemised in order to fertilise and re-birth the Spring?’ There can be no Spring beginning without the ending of Winter. There can be no Imbolc without Samhain - no new seeds of inspiration generated (Imbolc - in the Belly) without the Summer’s End (Samhain). There can be no life without death. 

Her legend goes as such:

Cerridwen was the Mother of two children: a dark, deformed son black as a crow and a beautiful, bright daughter as light as the sun. The children were symbolic of her dual powers of Dark and Light - the foundation of her wisdom. Ceridwen decides to create a herbal potion, the sacred seed of wisdom, which the myths claim was to heal her son’s deformities and give him the ultimate knowledge and inspiration but the Goddess had her reasons for creating the elusive Awen, the magical elixir.

The potion was to be stirred in her cauldron constantly for a year and a day and she enlists the help of a local boy Gwion to assist with the stirring. After a year of stirring, three drops jump out onto Gwion’s thumb - the first the drop of Knowledge, the second the drop of Wisdom and the third the drop of Inspiration. Gwion sucks the drops off his thumb and knowing he’s taken the Awen and become possessed of all Knowledge he flees fearing Ceridwen’s wrath. 

Ceridwen pursues Gwion down the valley as they both shape-shift. First she pursues him into the Earth, Gwion shape-shifts into a hare & Ceridwen into a greyhound, then she pursues him into the Water - he as fish and she as an otter and finally she pursues him into the Air - he as bird and she as a hawk and finally, coming near the fiery Sun, he transforms into a seed of wheat grain and falls to the Earth. Cerridwen transforms into a hen and eats him as a seed. The seed falls into her womb and she, restored to her Mother self, gives birth to a son who became the greatest of all Welsh Bards, Taliesin, who was also said to be a teacher of Merlin, the Magician of Avalon. 

Cerridwen’s wisdom for us is deep and transformative. She will often show up for us at times of loss or facing an ending of some sort. Her medicine is loving but potent - whenever she comes be prepared for change, transformation and initiation! Often the ending is because we’re being called to transform into something greater that can use our gifts and talents - particularly creative talents or gifts of inspiration. Her cauldron represents the Womb of the Great Mother. It’s a place of receiving and transmuting and alchemy. It’s a safe space where we can put all of our fears, our sadness, our confusion. Any losses. Anything in our Shadow. Anything heavy we’ve been carrying. You don’t need to do anything with it - you can leave it in her cauldron and Cerridwen will alchemise it all into Knowledge, Wisdom and Inspiration. 

However that’s not where it ends. If you are lucky enough to receive the gifts of alchemy - any pearls of knowledge, wisdom or inspiration that may spring from some dark episode or some ending, know that you have been called and you cannot run from the Goddess now you have awakened these gifts. As Claire Hamilton explains in her book, Voices of the Goddess, the transformations undergone by Gwion when chased by Ceridwen are of an initiatory and shamanic nature. These are initiations into harnessing the four elements of creation - earth, water, air and fire. Once you’ve given over your darkness to Her, you’ll be called (or chased!) into a Rebirth. A greater way of being. Be prepared to use, share or teach your inspiration, wisdom or knowledge in some way. The Muse may strike - alchemising your pain into poetry, your sorrow into story, your trauma into teaching.

Ways you can connect with Cerridwen: 

• Do a Letting Go ritual - use a cauldron or something that represents a vessel. Write anything down you wish to release in your life and put it into the cauldron and burn it, asking Cerridwen to release the energy from you and transmute it into wisdom and inspiration.

• Cerridwen was also a Grain Goddess, so you could create an altar to Cerridwen and offer her grain or something made of grain in her honour.

• Cerridwen’s symbol is the sow - you could cook a creative feast with pork in her honour. Or if you’re vegetarian, make something creative that represents a pig to you.