History and Uses of the Cauldron

The cauldron is the symbol of the Goddess, the womb, the center of being and transformation. It is an ancient cooking vessel full of magick and tradition. This can be the hardest tool to find and crafting one can be difficult but when you spy the perfect vessel, you will know it was meant to be! The cauldron conjures the essence of femininity, fertility, reincarnation, immortality and inspiration. The cauldron can be a powerful personal tool when doing transformation work.

Cauldron can also represent spirit or Akasha and the center of being. Any work relating to connection with Divinity and the Goddess can be enhanced with cauldron work. The cauldron is a representation of the womb. As such it can be symbolic of the birthing process be it a child, idea, business or creative process -  any project or idea that you wish to flourish and grow. 

In prehistoric Europe, the dead were cremated and buried within a cauldron. We still see this custom today when beloved ones are sealed in urns. This is symbolic of transformation to a new plane of being. The cauldron is also used for mundane chores such as cooking, making teas or potions or brewing mead. A smaller cauldron can be used as a mortar or holder for sacred candles. Cauldrons are often made of bronze, copper or iron.

Much lore surrounds the cauldron. The Babylonian goddess Siris stirred the mead of regeneration in the cauldron of the heavens. The Norse God Odin drank blood from a cauldron to obtain wisdom. In Greek myth, Medea had the ability to restore youth with a cauldron. In Celtic myth the cauldron plays a central transformation role. Dagda held the Undry cauldron which issued forth food. And perhaps one of the best known Celtic myths is of The Cauldron of Cerridwen.

This is from a Welsh Witchcraft site: http://www.tylwythteg.com/Entrance/pair-cerridwen-1.html .
 
“Cerridwen is a Welsh (Celtic) goddess who was originally a corn goddess, best known for her role in the story of the poet Taliesin's childhood. The consort of Tegid Foel, she had a daughter, Creirwy, and a son, Afagddu. In the Taliesin story, Cerridwen prepared a brew in a great cauldron which was to give her son Afagddu the gifts of inspiration and knowledge to compensate for his ugly appearance, and set the child Gwion to stirring it.
However, Gwion tasted the brew and thus obtained its benefits. Cerridwen, realizing what had happened, pursued the boy, during which both she and Gwion transformed themselves into a variety of creatures.

Finally, Cerridwen in the form of a hen, swallowed Gwion in the shape of a grain of corn. However, this only served to impregnate Cerridwen, and she later gave birth to the rejuvenated Gwion. She wrapped the infant up in a leather bag and threw him into the river. The child was rescued by a fisherman who, struck by the child's beauty, named him Taliesin ('radiant brow').

The Welsh crone, or goddess of dark prophetic powers, is represented by Cerridwen. Her totem animal is the sow, representing the fecundity of the Underworld, and the terrible strength of the Mother. Like many Celtic goddesses, she had two children representing dark and light aspects emerging from the One Goddess her daughter Crearwy being light and beautiful, and her son Afagddu being dark and ugly. 

Cerridwen is keeper of the Cauldron of the Underworld, in which inspiration and divine knowledge are brewed. She brews for her son, and sets little Gwion to guard the cauldron; but three drops fall out upon his finger, and he absorbs the potency of the brew. The goddess then pursues Gwion through a cycle of changing shapes, which correspond both to totem animals and to the turning of the seasons; this theme is related to that of Mabon and Merlin, in which a divine youth is associated with the orders and creatures of Creation.

The Welsh legend, however, has a significant ending, for Cerridwen, in the guise of a hen, swallows Gwion, in the guise of an ear of corn. Nine months pass, and she gives birth to a radiant child, known as Taliesin, a title attached to the greatest of Welsh poets.
This story seems far older than the period of the historical Taliesin. It is similar to a tale told about the Irish hero, Finn mac Cumhal, and may enshrine a Celtic divinatory practice involving thumb chewing. This practice was known in early Ireland as Imbas Forosnai and seems to have rested on the notion that chewing the raw flesh of the thumb imparted sagacity.

Another way the tale goes is this: "Another Welsh legend tells the story of the well-known bard Taliesin.  Originally, his name was Gwion Bach. As a young man he suddenly found himself at the bottom of Lake Bala in northern Wales where the giant Tegid and his wife, the Goddess Cerridwen, lived. The Goddess set Gwion to stirring a cauldron containing a special brew. At the end of the year and a day of stirring, the last three drops flew out and burned Gwion's finger; he thrust the finger into his mouth and at once realized the power of Cerridwen. He fled the lake in terror. Furious, Cerridwen went after him. The two repeatedly changed shapes, Gwion to escape, and Cerridwen in an attempt to capture him. Finally, he changed into a grain of wheat and the Goddess as a hen ate him.

Upon returning to her own shape, she discovered she was pregnant. When Gwion was reborn, the Goddess cast him into the sea in a little boat. Elphin, son of a wealthy landowner, rescued the baby and named him Taliesin (radiant brow). Taliesin remembered all the knowledge he had gained from Cerridwen's magick potion. He became a great bard, magician, and counselor of kings perhaps even the great Merlin the magician.

The people of Wales said Cerridwen lived on an island in the middle of Lake Tegid with her two children, the beautiful maiden Creidwy and the ugliest boy in the world, Afagdu. To compensate her son for bestowing such a body on him, the goddess brewed a magical formula that would make her son the most brilliant and inspired of all men.
For a year and a day, she kept herbs simmering in her great cauldron, which she left in the care of a young boy named Gwion. One day, while the goddess was out collecting more herbs for her brew, a few drops of the bubbling liquid splashed onto Gwion's finger. Scowling in pain, he stuck his burned finger in his mouth. Suddenly and miraculously, he was able to hear everything in the world and to understand the secrets of both the past and the future. His enchanted foresight showed him how angry Cerridwen would be when she found a mere mortal had acquired the inspiration intended for her son, so he ran away.

The all-knowing Cerridwen realized what had happened and pursued him. Gwion changed himself into a hare; Cerridwen pursued him as a greyhound. So they ran, metamorphosing: he as a fish, she as an otter; he as a bird, she as a hawk; he as a grain of wheat, she as a hen. It was in this final form that she caught and devoured him, bearing him nine months later as a child.

She threw the baby into the water where he was caught by a prince and grew up to be Taliesin, the greatest poet of his language. Thus the Welsh expressed their understanding that death and rebirth were necessary for true inspiration to be brought into this world.
In the ancient Celtic traditions, the Cauldron was the central religious mystery, the theme of regeneration within the womb of the Goddess. The shamans of Scandinavia made their soul journey to the Mighty Roaring Cauldron, source of life-giving waters at the foundation of the earth.

The Cauldron of Regeneration belonging to the Goddess Branwen became the Holy Grail as the stories were Christianized. The Welsh bard Taliesin received his wisdom from the Cauldron of Cerridwen. The silver cauldron found in a peat bog in Gundestrup depicted the Horned God, Cernunos. He was dismembered and cooked in the cauldron to rise again.
 

Cerridwen is just one of the faces of the dark Goddess. She is the womb of potential from which all manifestation springs. She is both the beginning and the end of the flesh.
There has always been a power in naming but the Goddess cannot be contained in one name for we only see one of her faces at any one time.  We call on Cerridwen and look for the attributes of her to be born and become visible in us.�?BR>