Ceridwen

Ceridwen was the most famous of all the Welsh witches. She is sometimes
linked to the Irish goddess Brighid, and is best remembered for her children
– including the greatest bard ever to walk the earth, Taliesin.

According to the legends, Caridwen lived in the middle of Lake Tegid in
Penllyn, in Wales, at the time of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round
Table. Her home was a lovely mansion of stone and marble, and it sat upon a
rocky outcrop at the centre of the lake. Her husband, Tegid Voel, was of
noble descent, and rumour says he was half-giant. Together, Caridwen and
Tegid Voel had three children, Morvran, Creirwy and Avagddu.

Morvran, the eldest, was a healthy son, and he later appeared at King
Arthur’s court, offering advice on a way to make life more pleasant for the
people of the realm. The next child, Creirwy, was a girl – the most beautiful
maiden in all the world. Such beauty carries its own adventures with it, and
legends are told about her, but Caridwen was not worried for the girl,
knowing that her loveliness would win her acceptance and champions aplenty.
It was the last child who worried Caridwen. Avagddu was the complete opposite
of his sister, dark where she was fair, moody where she was happy, and ugly
where she was lovely – the ugliest man in all the world, in fact.

Caridwen was very aware of how important it is to be good looking in order to
be successful, and feared that despite Avagddu’s learning and decency, he
would be cast out of the courts for being so plain. The only answer was to
make sure that his knowledge was so impressive that no-one would ever be able
to deny him his importance. She spent long years in research in her magic
tomes, the books of the arts of the “Fferyllt”, evaluating options.
Eventually, she decided to brew a potion called Greal, that gave Inspiration
and Knowledge, in her cauldron. That way, even in the highest courts,
Avagddu’s knowledge of the mysteries of the world and the future would win
him respect and honour.

Once her preparations were complete, she knew that she would have to keep her
cauldron boiling for exactly a year and a day without pause. She got a blind
man, called Morda, to keep the fire burning fiercely, and stole a child named
Gwion Bach, the son of Gwreang of Llanfair in Caerinion, to keep stirring the
cauldron so that the potion would not burn. She herself had the task of
gathering each charm-bearing herb and ingredient that she would need every
day. Each item had to be collected at precisely the right moment, when the
correct astrological forces were in operation, so it was full-time work
finding out what she could gather at which moment, locating it, and then
collecting it when the stars were right.

Cauldron by Audringje

One day, very near the end of the year, Caridwen was out gathering plants and
reciting incantations. As Gwion was stirring the potion, it just so chanced
that three drops of the Greal brew spat out of the cauldron and caught him on
the finger. Having been boiled for so long, the liquid was incredibly hot,
and Gwion instinctively sucked his burned finger to cool it down.
Unfortunately, those were the drops that bore the charm of Inspiration and
Knowledge. In the instant that he placed them into his mouth, he became
enlightened and saw everything that was to come. The cauldron split in two,
because all of the liquid within it was poisonous save for the three drops.
The now-useless potion drained away into the river, where it went on to
poison all the horses of King Gwyddno Garanhir of the Lost Land.

Gwion, meanwhile, was seized with terrible fear, because he knew how great
Caridwen’s powers were, and he could see that her fury would be without
measure. He burst his chains with a thought and immediately ran away, heading
for his own home.

When Caridwen returned, she saw that all her work for the whole year had been
wasted, and flew into a mighty rage. She grabbed a nearby chunk of wood, and
smashed poor, blind Morda round the head with it so hard that one of his
useless eyes popped out onto his cheek. He protested, as best he was able,
that he was innocent of any wrongdoing. Caridwen was calmed enough to realise
what must have happened, and agreed with him, setting out to chase Gwion.

Caridwen followed Gwion’s trail at a terrible speed, so that in a short time
he saw her coming after him. Using his new powers, he changed himself into
the shape of a hare, and fled away at top speed. Caridwen saw the change
however, and transformed herself into a greyhound to follow. Soon she was
catching up again, and as he approached a deep river, Gwion switched into the
form of a sleek trout, and sped off underwater. Caridwen saw the change
again, and dived in after him, transforming herself into an otter to continue
the chase. They darted down the river, through weed and round rock, and still
Caridwen gained. As she got close, Gwion desperately flicked himself up into
a leap and, as he burst the water, turned himself into a bird and flapped
off. As soon as she saw what he had done, she too broke the water, and
transformed into a hawk. Her keen eyes quickly spotted him, and she powered
towards him. Twist and turn as he might, Gwion could not shake her. Deep in
mortal fear, as she was about to dive and rend him, he spotted a big pile of
wheat-grains winnowed out on the floor of a barn. He darted into the pile,
and transformed himself into a grain of wheat. Caridwen, undaunted, changed
herself into a tall-crested black hen, and scratched her way through the
wheat, looking for him. Eventually she spotted the grain that was Gwion, and
gobbled him up.

But that was not the end of it. She found that she had become pregnant, and
nine months later she gave birth to a beautiful golden-haired boy. Her
intention had been to kill the child and reclaim the potion, but when she saw
him, she was unable to do the act because of his beauty. Instead, she wrapped
him in a bag of leather, and on April 29th, she cast him to the sea and God’s
mercy. He was eventually found, and he was named Taliesin, which means
‘golden brow’. Taliesin became the first and greatest of bards with his gift
of Inspiration and Knowledge… but that is another story.