Cylch Blodeuwedd

 Cauldrons date back to at least 1800BCE to the Bronze Age.

They are essentially a container that transforms the contents into something else. (Think metaphorically here!) They also represent the source of all nourishment, standing upon the alter of the hearth where all elements come together in alchemical transformation. (The Fire of the hearth, the fuel used to feed the fire (Earth), the liquid used to cook with (Water) and the smoke which rises up the passageway (chimney)to higher shamanic worlds (Air). The fifth element of spirit is represented by the human presence).

The cauldron represents the process of incubation and birth; of growth, of emergence into the light. In spring it is the dawn, Imbolc/Gwyl Ffraid and the Spring Equinox. It nurtures, provides, actualises the root energy of the source.

Conversely it provides the shelter and focus into which we must return; either annually at Samhain/Calan Gaeaf after harvest for our temporary introspective period which prepares us for the next growing season, and also ultimately at the end of our lives when we must return from whence we came to enable us to rejuvenate and be reborn. (Cauldron of Anwn… Ceridwen’s cauldron, etc..)

Cauldrons of Poesy: an old Irish text which says that the cauldrons are inside us.

Cauldron of the Dagda: one of the four magical talismans of the Irish Tuatha De Danann, from which “no company ever went unsatisfied”

Mythic Cauldrons	Poesy Cauldrons	Fires of Life
Bran – regeneration	Physical warming and incubation	Healthy body, personal hearth
Dagda – bounty	Motion, action, achievements, emotions, talents, fire	Smith’s forge, community fire
Ceridwen – inspiration	Wisdom, ultimate abilities and potential	Wisdom, sacred inspiration, Awen, Soul, cosmic purpose

Also covers three aspects of life:

Bran (Body):Cauldron of physical regeneration and restoration, (but minus speech, for none may return from the realm of death and tell of their experiences).

Dagda (Mind): Plenty, livelihood, vocation.

Cerridwen (Spirit): Wisdom, sacred inspiration, Awen.

Physical prosperity… material and spiritual wealth… womb of the Goddess….

….Cauldron symbolic prototype of the “holy grail”?