Cauldron of the Otherworld (Alchemy)
The brewing cauldron symbolizes the goddess's powers of replenishment in everyday life. In the brewing of earth's elements, alchemy and medicine are formed. The cauldron conveys healing to the body and emotions, and wisdom to actions. Lost aspects of the self may be returned.
Invoking Healing and Replenishing the Spirit.
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are likely to attract the return of health, vitality, and optimism to your life. If you have been feeling weary, ill, or depressed, you are likely to feel more active, energetic, confident, and cheerful in the weeks ahead. The brewing cauldron signifies the potential to heal and replenish your emotional and spiritual well-being.
The brewing cauldron resides in the Otherworld and appears on the earth to heal and give wisdom. In her semblance as a hag, the goddess tends the cauldron, adding elements of the earth and stars to preserve the ancient brew. Mythological warriors travelled to the Otherworld to seize the sacred chalice or cauldron to convey it to the Middle World. The Cauldron of the Otherworld symbolises the goddess's powers of healing and replenishment to everyday life.
The cauldron conveys gifts from the Otherworld to restore health, replenish vitality, and grant wisdom and prophesy. It derives its supernatural power from the womb of the goddess, the inexhaustible cauldron of creation. Through the art of alchemy and healing, the brewing cauldron of the Otherworld brings healing to creatures of the Middle World, or those dwelling on the earth.
Archaeological evidence and mythology portray cauldrons, pots, buckets, chalices, and vats as sacred symbols indicating replenishment, prosperity, and abundance. Precious objects including brooches, weapons, shields, and cauldrons - cast as offerings - have been found in lakes and at the source of springs. Domestic and temple statues found in Britain, France, and Germany frequently portray the Celtic goddesses Rosmerta and Nantosuelta, and occasionally their consorts Sucellus and Mercury, as holding or accompanied by various bowls, pots, and goblets. In the wine-producing regions along the Rhone and Rhine Rivers, the containers seem to hold wine, a supernatural elixir associated with the blood of birth and regeneration. In Irish and Welsh myth and legend, cauldrons and chalices appear frequently as symbols of replenishment, rebirth, and inspiration. In the story of Taliesin's origins, as retold here by John Matthews, Ceridwen the Hag brews a supernatural potion for her son:
"In the time of Arthur there lived in the region of Llyn Tegrid a nobleman named Tegid Foel [the Bald]. And he had a wife who was named Ceridwen, who was skilled in the magical arts. Tegrid and Ceridwen had two children: one who was so ugly that they called him Morfran [Great Crow]. The other child was a daughter, whose name was Creirwy [Dear One], and she was as fair as Morfran was dark. Ceridwen thought that her son would never be accepted in the world because of his hideous looks ... so she resolved to boil a Cauldron of Inspiration and Wisdom according to the Books of the Fíerllt, and the method of it was this: she must first gather certain herbs on certain days and hours, and put them in the Cauldron, which must then be kept boiling for a year and a day, until three drops of Inspiration were obtained.
Spiritually, the presence of the brewing cauldron signals the return of elements of your essential nature that have been lost through harmful, neglectful, or wrong actions in the past. In the days and weeks ahead, you may recall personal qualities and hopes long abandoned. Some may have been cast off in childhood by trauma or disappointments. Others may have been left undeveloped, or discarded as impractical, ridiculous, frivolous, or childish. Still others may have been corrupted through lies and self-deceit. Having drawn this oracle, some of these qualities and hopes may now be returning to you.
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This story is taken from the book [The Celtic Shaman - A practical guide.]
THE STORY OF TALIESIN
A young boy named Gwion Bach (Gwion the Little) is set to watch over a cauldron prepared by the Goddess Ceridwen. The brew distilling within it is intended for her son, the hideously ugly Afagddu (Utter Darkness); when drunk it will give him all knowledge, and the wisdom to use it. But while Ceridwen is absent three drops of liquid splash out of the cauldron on to Gwion’s finger. Sucking it to alleviate the pain he imbibes the wisdom meant for Afagddu. But with this comes danger. Ceridwen, aware by her magic of what has occurred, comes in pursuit of Gwion, who flees from her in the shape of various animals, birds and fish. Each time he assumes one form, Ceridwen assumes that of its natural predator. Finally, after a long chase, Gwion becomes a grain of wheat in a heap of chaff and Ceridwen, in the form of a red-crested hen, eats the grain. Nine months later she gives birth to a beautiful boy, whom she cannot bear to kill and so sets adrift in a leather bag on the sea. Eventually the bag fetches up in the salmon weir of Gwyddno Garanhir, where it is
discovered by Gwyddno’s hapless son Elffin. On opening the bag he sees the bright forehead of the child and exclaims: ‘Behold, the radiant brow!’, whereupon the child answers ‘Taliesin be he called’ (Tal-iessin = shining brow). He then proceeds to give forth an extraordinary stream of inspired poetic utterance, prophecy and wisdom, the products of having imbibed the brew of inspiration. Taken back to Elffin’s home he becomes a famous bard and shaman, later serving at
the court of Arthur.
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