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Ceridwen

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in British mythology, was the goddess of nature, but also goddess of death as well as of the renewal of life, according to the Druid's doctrine of the transmigration of souls. Ceridwen was married to Tegid Voel, a man of high birth, whose fatherland lay in the middle of the Tegid Sea. A son, Morvran, and a daughter, Creirvym, the prettiest girl of the world, were their children; besides these they also had another son, Avaggdu, the most hateful-looking of all creatures. In order to comfort the latter under his deformity, his mother had a mystical vessel made, into which it was only necessary to look to discern the future. The preparation of the vessel, by boiling the contents, had to be carried son night and day without intermission, until the indwelling spirit presented three blessed drops. Ceridwen employed a man, therefore, the little Gwion, to oversee this process. But towards the end of the process, out of carelessness, the three drops flew out of the vessel on his finger; he swallowed them, and found that the future lay open before him. But Ceridwen, when she discovered that her pains for Avaggdu had been lost, followed Gwion. After various changes, both of the pursued and pursuer, Gwion changed himself into an ear of wheat, Ceridwen into a hen, and ate the ear, whereupon she became pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful child, which she placed in a small boat and left to its fate. It was found by Elphitis, the son of Gwydnos, who named it Taliesin (radiant forehead), and discovered that the child was full of all wisdom, and able to make revelations. The vessel of Ceridwen was the symbol of a special order among the bards, who were the depositaries of certain secrets, and at festivals declaimed mysterious songs.