Page 3 Tripple Goddess
Whereas the Boann links the creative person to the elemental powers of water, Brighid frees them from all unnecessary constraint. As goddess of fire, she inspires those who come to her for aid with the powers of light, warmth and the kind of consciousness that derives from being linked to primal energy. As goddess of smithing, she forges the tools of the creative vocation. As goddess of crops, she tends to the Fields of the Imagination, there chanting spells of fertility over the sproutlings and chasing away foxes, crows and any other animals symbolic of powers that would destroy an artist’s work if they could.
She it is who is invoked when a fire is kindled in the hearth. When the broom is used to sweep the house, Brighid is called upon. When an herbal poultice or elixir is being concocted, it is Brighid’s help that is invoked (for she is the household healer). Brighid is the weaver who mends broken hearts and tends to the soul-wounded. Her healing power in this regard is invoked by the use of a spell called a ciam; a protective charm that diverts trouble from the house and from the community.
Go to a hearth (either in your imagination or in the external world) and sit down by it. Feel the warmth and power of the fire and see the cauldron hanging over it; here the daily meals are cooked and the concoctions of magic (draÃocht) and healing (corrguine) created. Inhale the steam and smell the smoke of the nine sacred woods (usually apple—hawthorne—willow, oak—ash—thorn, rowan—holly—hazel) burning below the cauldron. What is being made in that cauldron? It is a brew for you; it represents whatever you need at this moment to be inspired and sustained in your life’s ongoing work.
Go to a garden (either in your imagination or in the external world) and sit down. Imagine the various beds of vegetables, fruits and grains growing all around you. See the paths that Brighid has created in her garden and meditate on their meaning. The pattern that each of us discerns in this garden evinces something of the nature of our own life’s quest; it symbolizes the journey we are on and what we need to be inspired and creative enough to succeed at what we are doing. If you see a black cat with green eyes or perhaps a white cat with red or pink ear-linings, realize that you are in the presence of Brighid in one of her animal forms (like many Celtic deities, she is a shape-shifter).
Whenever you go to the hearth or to this enchanted garden in your imagination you are seeking a kind of sustenance; that which brings inspiration, deepens creative ability and intuition, and that ultimately helps one aspire toward the ‘best�?goals life has to offer at any given point. Brighid represents the domestic setting of the spiritual life whereas the Boann represents the watery source of our empowerment and resourcement in the Earth. Ceridwen �?partnered as she is to each of these two goddesses �?represents the wild and ecstatic source of inspiration in our lives. With Brighid’s blessing, it is Ceridwen who draws us toward the precipices of transformation and transfiguration that, if we are not careful, may destroy us or drive us mad; i.e., make us ‘loony.�?/STRONG>
Ceridwen is the Celtic Mistress of Poets and Inspiration. As the Boann is a goddess of water and Brighid is a goddess of fire, Ceridwen personifies what you get when you boil ingredients in water in a cauldron over fire. As the Boann is a Mother figure and Brighid is a Virgin, Ceridwen is seen as an old ‘hag�?or ‘crone,�?(i.e., a Cailleach), a wise-woman and a Gwrach (female counterpart of a Druid). She tends one of the most powerful cauldrons in the Celtic tradition. She is a creator as well as one who initiates artists, storytellers and bards into the path of their chosen vocation.
The Cauldron of Ceridwen was often stirred for “a year and a day�?(a symbolic period of time, indicating “completion�? before one could partake of its contents. Being very witchy, Ceridwen knew all manner of combinations of herbs and other substances that could be thrown into the cauldron and what effects they would bring about in the one who imbibed her concoctions. As Ceridwen’s son �?Afagddu �?was the ugliest boy ever known in the land, the goddess decided one day to concoct a brew that would bestow a high degree of wisdom on him, thinking that if he was ugly he could at least be wise.
However, as fate would have it, Ceridwen asked her young protégé Gwion to tend the cauldron while she went about other work for the year and a day during which the elixir was brewing. Just as the brew was getting done, three drops leapt out of the cauldron and onto Gwion’s fingers! As they were scalding hot, his immediate reaction was to stick his fingers in his mouth to soothe them! Thus he inherited all of the wisdom intended for Ceridwen’s son; he also knew that Ceridwen would not let him get away with this theft �?and so he fled! He left Ceridwen’s home beneath the lake and ran, changing form as he went. The goddess, immediately knowing what had happened, took off after him! Gwion went through a number of changes, ultimately transforming himself into a grain of wheat, which Ceridwen �?as the hen-mother �?then ate! Nine months later she gave birth to him as the Poet Taliesin.
This whole story is a parable of the nature of creativity, the nature of the poet and the dangers of the aesthetic vocation. Inspiration originates in the wild; not in the domestic setting �?it comes from ‘far, far away;�?perhaps even from ‘beneath a lake.�?nbsp; The poet �?representative of any artist �?must seek this wild and invigorating inspiration at the Cauldron tended by Ceridwen and accept whatever opportunities arise for tasting the brew she is making. Upon getting a taste, the creative vocation is set in motion!
To experience Ceridwen you must venture out into the moonlight, especially when the Moon is full. She is most likely to be encountered (1) where the moonlight is reflected in the surface of water, (2) in a moonlit clearing in a wood or (3) by a fence along a field, along a lonesome country road, or perhaps at the gate leading into a field or wooded area. Go to one of these places (either in your imagination or else in the external world) and center yourself. Look up at the Moon. ‘Feel�?the moonlight bathing you. Then chant her names: Rhiannon—Ceridwen—Arduinna. (“Rhiannon�?and “Arduinna�?are two other Celtic goddesses connected with the Moon.)
If you want to partake even more fully of the Moon’s power, fill a chalice with fresh water (from either a rushing stream or a clear spring pool) and sit down with it in a position that enables you to see the Moon reflected in the surface of the water. Hold the chalice and meditate on the power of the Moon to induce inspiration and enhance the creative imagination. As you meditate, watch the reflection of the Moon. Feel her power flowing into you when you inhale. To lean over the chalice and inhale air from near the surface of the water is to ‘imbibe�?the Moon’s light symbolically. You can engage in a lunar divination by asking a question and then blowing lightly on the surface of the water in the chalice. A pattern in the water’s disturbed surface may then spark an intuition of an ‘answer�?as you gaze into it.
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By imaging these two Triple Goddesses and seeking an encounter with them, a person may connect with (1) all of the major phases of life, from its origin to its destination (ANU), (2) both in the domestic setting (BRIGHID) and in the wild (CERIDWEN), (3) its movement (DANU) as well as its earthen source and context (TAILTIU) and then (4) in the pathway between the source and flow of life and our expression of our gifts (BOANN). Many other Celtic goddesses embody more particular expressions of the ideas, desires and needs expressed in the mythos of these two Triple Goddesses. While all Celtic deities express something interesting about life, in these two Triads we have, in my experience, all of the basic parameters of existence and experience distilled for our edification and enlightenment. By meditating on their aspects we may some day learn the deeper secrets of life. By invoking them we aspire to an encounter with the ultimate Mystery of the cosmos within a Celtic symbolic framework.
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