perception • research • creative
ESSAY – KERDIWEN: CELTIC MYTH OF TRANSFORMATION
The story of Keridwen and her cauldron comes to us from the ancient Druidic traditions and has a particular connection to the Welsh or ‘Bardic Tradition’. The myth discusses the journey of transformation and perhaps offers some keys to the Celtic understanding of initiation (Spence, 1928).
The story begins beneath Llyn Tegid (Lake Bala) in Snowdonia, where the Goddess Keridwen resides. She is troubled on account of her son Avagddu, who was so ugly and hopelessly without talent she despaired of what to do with him. One day Keridwen determined to make a magical brew that would confer upon Avagddu the sum total of divine knowledge and inspiration… To make this magical mixture the Goddess set her cauldron upon a sacred fire to burn for a year and a day. During this time she gathered various herbs and plants according to the hours of the planets and celestial bodies before adding them to the elixir. Keridwen appointed a little boy called Gwion to help keep an eye on the cauldron whilst she was away. At one moment (accidentally or not) three drops from the magical cauldron splash onto Gwion’s hand, he draws the drops to his mouth and tastes the magical brew… Immediately he gains the sum total of divine knowledge and inspiration, the past and future is clear to him and simultaneously Keridwen has understood what has happened, that Gwion has taken what was intended for her son Avagddu. (Evans,1906).
Gwion flees, first transforming himself into a hare, he flits like a flash over the landscape but Keridwen transforms herself in to a greyhound and pounding the earth she closes in on him. Gwion then dives into the river, transforming himself into a fish but Keridwen transforms herself into an otter and tracks Gwion along the riverbank. Gwion then leaps into the air and transforms himself into a bird but still Keridwen pursues him, this time as a hawk. Finally Gwion spies a pile of grain on the ground and falls towards it, transforming himself into a single grain of wheat but Keridwen then transforms herself into a hen and eats the grain…Gwion gestates within her body for nine months until she gives birth to a baby boy but the Goddess doesn’t acknowledge him and ties him a leather bag, casting the baby into the sea. Upon being found after being brought in with the tide, the baby is able to speak in rhyme and verse and is the poet Taliesin (Evans,1906).
This is a mysterious myth with several keys of interpretation. The Bardic cosmovision saw all of creation as existing within three circles. Abred, Gywnvydd and Ceugant. Abred being the circle of graduation from evil to a balance of good which the human being crowns in a state of liberty, having the propensity to choose what portion of good or evil they attach themselves to in life. Gywnvydd is also a circle of graduation but of only good leading to ever more perfected states of good. Ceugant, is the circle of God only. The myth could be describing the shift in conscious between Abred and Gwynvydd, a mastery of the human being who no longer does evil and enters into the circle of the hero’s and gods. In addition to these three circles, the tradition also speaks of Annwn which might be considered as invisible side of Abred or earthly life. The psyche consciousness or soul where things first stir to then emerge and have their existence in Abred. The myth might describe the relationship of the consciousness to Annwn the invisible world where divine inspiration must be sought and is first received as the three drops or three apples that fall from the divinity - love, knowledge and truth.
Siobhan Cait Farrar
London 2022
Reading List
D. Delta. Evans. 1906. The Ancient Bards of Britain (Sometimes Called “Druids”). Being a Critical Inquiry into Traditions concerning their History, Religion, Ethics and Rites, in the Light of Science and Modern Thought. Merthyr Tydfil. The Educational Publishing Company.
Theosophy. 2022. Wisdom of the Druids. [online] Available at: <https://blavatskytheosophy.com/wisdom-of-the-druids/> [Accessed 4 June 2022].
J.A. MacCulloch. 1911. The Religion of the Ancient Celts. [online] Available at: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/rac/index.htm [Accessed 4 June 2022]
Spence. L. 1928. The Mysteries of Britain. London Rider & Co.