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Cerridwen & Gwion by Yvonne Rathbone |
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Tales & Fun |
Cerridwen
was a Celtic mother goddess. She possessed a magic cauldron named
Amen. Her children represented to duality of beauty and ugliness
as well as male and female. Her daughter, Creirwy was the most
beautiful girl. Avagdu, her son, was the ugliest boy. It made
her sad that her son had to suffer the cruelties of others because
of his ugliness so she decided to make a potion that would give
him inspiration. Gwion was a young mortal boy in Cerridwen's household. It was his duty to carefully stir the potion which had to brew for a year and a day. One day when the potion was almost done, Cerridwen was out picking herbs. As was his duty, Gwion stood by the cauldron, Amen, and slowly stirred the bubbling potion. Suddenly, the potion popped and sloshed searing hot drops on Gwion's hand. Out of reflex, the boy brought his hand to his mouth and sucked at the burn. Upon tasting the potion, he was magically able to understand the language of the plants and the animals and to see all things both past and future. For a few moments he was stunned and amazed at his new abilities. But then he saw how angry Cerridwen would be that he'd tasted the elixir. Knowing that she would surely slay him when she returned, Gwion made good his escape. He ran into the woods, but Cerridwen already possessed the gift of all-knowing. She saw Gwion's crime and immediately set after him. Just as she was about to grab him, Gwion, having received the power to transform himself from the potion, turned himself into a hare. Cerridwen changed into a greyhound and pursued him still. Gwion approached a river and immediately transformed himself into a fish, but Cerridwen turned herself into an otter. Again she was about to grab him when he took to the air as a wren. She followed as a hawk. Now Gwion was very tired, so he fell to the earth and became a stalk of wheat in a field. Not one to give up easily, Cerridwen changed into a hen and began to eat the wheat. In the end she found Gwion and devoured him. Nine months later, she gave birth. Not wanting to care for a mortal, she threw him into the water where he was found by a prince. He grew up to be Taliesin, the greatest bard in his language. Through this we see that the only way we can truly be creative and speak with the voice of the goddess, is to let her devour us and rebirth us again anew. |
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