The Goddess Cerridwen (KARE-id-win) is from Wales.  She is a full Goddess, meaning she incorporates the three traditional aspects of Maiden, Mother, and Crone.  Most often though, she is called upon in her Mother aspect as a type of Muse or as a Crone in her aspect of holding the Cauldron of Transformation and its links to the Underworld and death and rebirth. 


 Image (c) Hrano Juanto

Cerridwen has many aspects.  She is considered a Goddess of death, fertility, regeneration, inspiration, magic, astrology, herbs, science, poetry, spells, and knowledge.  She is linked to the Moon with the symbolism of her cauldron and dealing with the cycles of life, death, and rebirth.  Her powers include the gift of prophecy.
The three main aspects we will focus on are her gifts of Inspiration, Transformation, and Liberation.  These are intertwined gifts and work together.

The gift of inspiration can lead us to what we need to change, it can give us the motivation for making the change, and it can bring us the ideas and insights on how to make the changes that are right for us.  The flame of transformation can ignite our will to make the change and burns away what we no longer need.  From this, we are given the gift of liberation, being freed from “gunk” that has been holding us back.   When we stop resisting the change we can gain a sense of freedom and it opens up the clogged energy our resistance and worry about making the change has caused. 

Cerridwen can be a caring mother, looking out for the best interests of her children, giving them inspiration, and sharing her wisdom.  Cerridwen gives us the gift of inspiring us to be more than we are now, to reach for greater wisdom within us, and to express our Selves.  As the Goddess of Inspiration, she is a Muse.  Cerridwen's role of a Muse is more about pushing us to reach beyond where we've been before than it is to encourage us to ban an artist.  There is that aspect as well, but her gift of inspiration is tempered by the gift of transformation.

As a Crone, Cerridwen understands the cycle of life, death, and rebirth and connecting with her we can begin to understand this as well.  This understanding can help us not only with the greater cycle of a lifetime, but the lesser cycles of periods in our life. 

Cerridwen has two children, a girl, Creidwy, who was beautiful and fair, and Afgadu, who was ugly and dark.  These are representations of duality.  Not only does Cerridwen birth the dual natures, but as Mother, she stands in the balance between them.  She embraces both the light, in the form of her daughter, and the dark, in the form of her son.  Even though her son is described as the “ugliest boy in the world”, she loves him and wants the best for him.  As her children, they are aspects and parts of herself.  This reminds us that we are also both light and dark, feminine and masculine, beautiful and ugly.  We have the capacity within us to be fair or judgmental, to be kind or cruel, or to be benevolent or malevolent.  We have the choice how we balance on the scale of duality and opposites.

Excerpted from Attuning to The Goddess Study Series:  Cerridwen, by Tora Moon.  To read more about Cerridwen, including an original short story, the full 30-page study guide is available at www.thegoddessliving.com.  The study guide includes more on the three focused qualities of inspiration, transformation, and liberation, thought-provoking questions, suggested activities, and a ceremony to be done at the new, full and dark moons.

Special Cerridwen Attunement Products™ have been developed by Wise Woman Alchemy to assist you in attuning and aligning your energies with Cerridwen, and her three qualities of Inspiration, Transformation, and Liberation.  These can be purchased on-line at www.shop.thegoddessliving.com   Products available are:  Cerridwen Attunement Oil, Cerridwen Attunement Aura Spray, and Cerridwen Tea (both loose leaf and teabags).

If you are interested in connecting more deeply with the Goddess and learning about Her, Tora leads an Attuning to The Goddess Study Series in Orange County, CA.  The monthly series begins with a New Moon Healing Ceremony, to connect to the energy of the Goddess and her focused qualities.  It then moves to the Goddess Gathering for intellectual learning and group discussion (the study guide is included in this gathering).  It concludes with a Full Moon Celebration Ceremony to celebrate and express gratitude in community for the gifts of the Goddess.  All of the Attuning to The Goddess Study is open to women and men.