Cerridwen and Rage

Let’s talk about rage.  You know what I mean.  That moment when you become just furious.  The heat rises to your brain and you feel like screaming or wringing someone’s neck.  There are no shades of grey here.  The red mist descends, and all sense of perspective vanishes.  It is a powerful energy that sweeps over you leaving any feelings of calm far behind.

I feel that Cerridwen, more than any other Goddess, really understands rage.  That moment when the cauldron cracks and She realises that all her hard work, for a year and a day, has come to nothing.  All those sleepless moonlight nights collecting herbs with the frost still on them, Her fingers frozen to the bone, were wasted.  Her rage is immense.  Her son will never have the Awen.  This upstart has defied her.  He has stolen from Her son.  In that moment, there are no ifs and buts.  He must die.

I feel that I understand Cerridwen better because of Her very real human emotions.  She is not some prissy little thing sending down abstract ideas from a place on high.  She is so real to me.  She got mad.  She made a mistake.  She got things wrong.  It is Her love for Her son that pushed Her to make the Awen but because Cerridwen did not ask Her son if he wanted Her help the whole thing went wrong and She dropped into a rage.  It is Her own mistake that fuelled Her anger.  So, when I am enraged I feel She really understands me. 

Rage is labelled as a ‘bad’ emotion.  We must not get angry.  We must radiate love and light at all times.  Really?  Seriously people?  You do know we’re human, don’t you?  No-one is capable of radiating love and light all day every day.  It just isn’t possible and then when we get mad, we are made to feel ashamed.  It is just gaslighting.  And this is particularly directed at women.  When men get mad, they’re being strong and forceful.  If a woman loses her temper, she’s being hysterical.  This is how we are being controlled by patriarchal stereotypes.  We must be nice quiet little girls and keep our knees together.  Oh, give me a break!  We are now in the 21st century and it’s time to put rubbish like that away.

Rage is not always bad either.  When Greta Thunberg found out about global warming, she got angry and started her school strikes.  What she did has turned into a global movement.  Rage can inspire.  The Me Too movement, the Civil Rights movement in America, the Anti-Apartheid movement, the Suffragette movement, all came from a place of rage.  We get mad when we see injustice and nothing is being done about it.  Then we stand up and say this is wrong.  And we are not going to put up with this anymore.  Rage can empower us.

Cerridwen’s understanding of rage leads naturally into forgiveness.  She forgives us when we get mad and yell at our husbands because She’s been there.  And I feel her lesson is to learn to forgive ourselves when we lose our tempers and do things we shouldn’t do.  We are often much too hard on ourselves, playing judge, jury and executioner in our own hearts and minds.  Blaming and shaming ourselves for one little outburst that most people have long forgotten about.  Her message of letting go is so powerful because rage can so easily morph into shame and shame is such a toxic emotion, far more than rage, in my opinion.  Don’t waste your time hating yourself for something you did in the heat of the moment.  Unless you murdered someone, which is pretty unlikely, it doesn’t matter.  Let it go.  Forgive yourself because in your heart you know Cerridwen already has.

Janet

 

Janet Parfitt – Priestess of Cerridwen

Glastonbury, UK

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Janet Parfitt is a Priestess of the Goddess and a Priestess of Cerridwen.  She has also written three books, is a professional Tarot Reader, a soul healer and a qualified funeral Celebrant.  She is a regular Melissa in the Glastonbury Goddess Temple and with Bee Helygen, takes part in the Dark Moon Rituals at every new moon.