Cauldron of Creation (Source)
The womb (or cauldron) of the goddess is the source of creation. As the inexhaustible cauldron, she restores the dead to life. Her presence signals a need for repose, rest, and a complete overhaul of life energies before life is regenerated again.
Invoking the Quality of Repose and Replenishment.
Life begins in the womb of the goddess. Ceaselessly, she births the Milky Way. The stars, moon, planets, trees and plants, animals, people, and all that is yet to exist issue from her womb. From an enormous force within, life spews forth, magnificently, hugely, intensely, and relentlessly. No god, no man or woman can tame this rite of passage. Like the mythic cauldron that symbolizes her womb, life tempestuously brews.
Yet, men and women try to ease the advancing passage. In a poem entitled "Mór Hatching," originally written in Gaelic, contemporary Irish poet Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill addresses the age-old mother with all the awe and ambivalence of an ancient Celt:
"I'm telling you, unruly Mór, that green snakes will emanate from your womb if you stay hatching out this poisoned kernel one day more.
Gather to yourself, like a bee, the hours that are blossoming in the sun's sharp sting: they ripen in the heat.
Gather them from them create honeyed days."
On the Gundestrup Cauldron, one of the prominent side plates portrays a large figure, probably divine, standing before a procession of Celtic warriors. One by one, the deity appears to dip and remove them from the cauldron, as though to restore them to life. Irish and Welsh folk tales tell of enchanted pots and bowls ever full of meal or tasty brew.
In the Tale of Branwen from the Second and Third Branch of the Mabinogion, Matholwch, an Irish king, sails to Wales, and hoping to form an alliance, approaches Bendigeidfran, son of Llfr, the king of Wales. When Matholwch is hideously insulted by an outraged chieftain, the king's half-brother, Bendigeidfran, appeases his anger by giving him a gift above price, a magic cauldron.
"I will give you a cauldron with a special property: should a man of yours be killed today, cast him into the cauldron, and by tomorrow he will be as good as ever but he will be without speech."
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you may be feeling weary or inwardly depleted. This oracle calls for repose, rest, and a complete overhaul of life energies before energy and vitality are replenished. While the goddess is inexhaustible in her powers to restore, you are urged to cooperate by retreating from the activities of life. Seek solitude. Do as little as possible. Sleep. Relax. Engage in small and subtle activities that quiet rather than excite the mind. Meditate or pray. Let the mind unwind and settle naturally.
Once you are emptied of your automatic and perhaps busy life, you will begin to feel more spacious and free. If you are rested and quiet within, you may notice subtle changes in your awareness. As with any birth, beginnings may at first be unsettling and even messy. Nonetheless, in time new life will naturally arise within you. You will feel replenished, as though filled up by an unknown and timeless source.
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