Ceridwyn

Her Domain

Ceridwyn is a goddess of witchcraft, herbalism, and arcane knowledge. Her interests include poetry, and shape-shiting (or glamour). She is the teacher through experience, and the source of Awen (inspired knowledge and creativity). In her cauldron, one can be transformed into the best version of themselves. She is an aspect of the Crone, and wisdom that comes with maturity and experience. She is associated with the Dark Moon. Although Ceridwyn does not suffer fools gladly, she provides a safe space for healing and incubation before metamorphosis.

Symbols

• Cauldron
• White Sow
• Corn

Her Myth

This story is first attested in a sixteenth-century manuscript written by Elis Gruffydd who claimed that it was widely known in Wales at that time in both written versions and in oral lore. The story tells that Ceridwyn's son, Afagddu, was hideously ugly – particularly compared with his beautiful sister Creirwy – so Ceridwyn sought to make him wise in compensation. She made a potion in her magical cauldron to grant the gift of wisdom and poetic inspiration, also called Awen.

The mixture had to be boiled for a year and a day. She set Morda, a blind man, to tend the fire beneath the cauldron, while Gwion Bach, a young boy, stirred the concoction. The first three drops of liquid from this potion gave wisdom; the rest was a fatal poison. Three hot drops spilled onto Gwion's thumb as he stirred, burning him. He instinctively put his thumb in his mouth, and gained the wisdom and knowledge Ceridwyn had intended for her son. Realizing that Ceridwyn would be angry, Gwion fled. Ceridwyn chased him. Using the powers of the potion he turned himself into a hare. She became a greyhound. He became a fish and jumped into a river. She transformed into an otter. He turned into a bird; she became a hawk. Finally, he turned into a single grain of corn. She then became a hen and, being a goddess (or enchantress, depending on the version of the tale), she found and ate him without trouble. But because of the potion he was not destroyed. When Ceridwyn became pregnant, she knew it was Gwion and resolved to kill the child when he was born. However, when he was born, he was so beautiful that she could not do it. She threw him in the ocean instead, sewing him inside a leather-skin bag (or set him in a coracle, depending on the story). The child did not die, but was rescued on a Welsh shore – near Aberdyfi according to most versions of the tale – by a prince named Elffin ap Gwyddno; the reborn infant grew to become the legendary bard Taliesin.

Cognates from other pantheons

• Hecate (Greek)