Maiden
What you need to sow
Begin the long brew. Start something that will not be ready for a year.
Welsh / Brythonic
Cerridwen
Keeper of the Cauldron of Awen
Medieval Wales; drawn from earlier Brythonic tradition
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Her story
Historical context
goddess · Medieval Wales; drawn from earlier Brythonic tradition
Cerridwen brewed a cauldron of awen — poetic inspiration — for a year and a day so her son might have genius if he could not have beauty. The boy set to stir it, Gwion Bach, took the three scalding drops by accident and got everything instead.
Mythology & traditions
The chase that follows is the myth's heart: hare and greyhound, fish and otter, bird and hawk, grain and hen. She swallows him as a grain of wheat, carries him nine months and gives birth to Taliesin, the greatest poet. She is both the pursuer and the womb — inspiration that hunts you down and then bears you.
Domains
- Inspiration
- Transformation
- Herbcraft
- Rebirth
- Patient labour
Symbols
- Cauldron
- White sow
- Herbs
- Grain of wheat
- Year and a day
In the oracle
Her guidance
Mother
What you need to grow
Nurture the slow work. Stirring is the job; the drops come when they come.
Crone
What you need to know
The accident was not a theft. What spilled onto you was always going to be yours.