Who is Cerridwen?

Tiana feather cloak
Feather Cloak by Tiana
Or more like... who is Cerridwen for us as a tradition and lineage?

Some call Her the Goddess of Death and Rebirth, some call Her the Goddess of Change and Transformation,

I call Her the Goddess of Manifestation and Healing Presence in the world.

I also call Her my Beloved Soul Friend.

I have worked with Her for 25 years and She has never, ever, let me down. She’s kicked my backside a few times, She’s turned me around to face the right path more than once but She has never done so without also showing me Her love and my value in Her eyes. 

In the last ten years Cerridwen has been calling many more women and men to step into service to ease suffering in the local and global community. There is so much suffering now that every helping hand is needed. Some people ask: why can’t Cerridwen cure everything? The answer to this is Free Will!

No matter how much the Goddess/God?Spirit Guides/ Ancestors wish to help us find the right path, we keep messing it up: greed, anger, envy, jealousy…the list is endless and could make a grown woman weep.

We mortal humans need to take responsablity for our actions, each and every one of us, now, pronto… – Cerridwen can hold us and guide us but it is we who need to do the work.

Cerridwen is the foremost Goddess of the Brythonic Celtic people, who basically came to Britain to die. I want you to truly hear me… She is not a Welsh Goddess, She is an immigrant just like me. I hear so much junk these days about cultural appropriation but the facts speak for themselves. If you disagree, crack a book, a recent one, on the migration of the Celtic people across Europe. 

To some She is the ultimate Bad Girl of the Welsh pantheon, before you get excited, most of what was written about Her was done so by monks in the early Christian church.

So ‘we’ took it upon ourselves to re-write this History.

For us, Herstory talks about SpellCraft, Transformation, Transmutation, of initiating/ chasing a young boy who inadvertently swallowed the brew of liquid Awen She had prepared for Her own son and gaining the ultimate knowledge and understanding of the cycles and mysteries of the world. 

From Her experience with the pain and suffering of a Mother of three magical children, She recognizes the darkness in our hearts, the deep wounds of all our life times, the history of our souls, and She loves us despite all of our human frailties. She forgives us our faults. Through Her own journey into the misery of life, She understands us when we falter and fall. She gently lifts us up, dusts us down, and guides us back to the path of our expansion.

In the video below, Priestess Janet tells Cerridwen’s story.

 

There is no more loving, caring Goddess. Seven cycles of students have been guided through the two year training to become Priestesses and Priests, and most importantly to develop a strong resilience and understanding of the Self. There has been so much struggle and strife and, eventually, success and joy. Cerridwen welcomes all who seek Her secrets, and wish sincerely to be in service to their community.

We come before Cerridwen in Perfect Love & Perfect Trust. We look to Her for guidance, knowing She will never let us down, and yet She also claims our responsibility and strength. This is not an easy path, yet when we walk out of the labyrinth of Her mysteries, we step into our Priest-ess Self, into our independence and into our best version yet. 

She is the consummate herb healer, plant medicine wise woman. She brings the knowledge of Tree Spirit Wisdom, Healing with Master Crystals, Sacred Sound & Toning and Seven Bodies Energy Healing.

Those of us who have trained to be Ovates and Swynwraig (Wise Woman), to be Healers of Body, Spirit and Soul, dedicate our lives to working with the Goddess of our Heart, so that we may be of service to those who come in search of comfort.

The Nine Aspects of Cerridwen

These are represented by the eight directions and the centre of the seasonal goddess wheel. The goddess year starts with Samhain in the Northwest and moves clockwise with approximately six weeks per season each with a major festival.

  • Northwest – Samhain – Initiatrix
  • North – Yule/Winter Solstice – Cerridwen of Air
  • Northeast – Imbolc – Swynwraig
  • East – Ostara/Spring Equinox – Ceridwen of Fire
  • Southeast – Beltane – Lover
  • South – Litha/Summer Solstice – Cerridwen of Water
  • Southwest – Lammas – Mother/Creatrix
  • West – Mabon/Autumn Equinox – Cerridwen of Earth
  • Centre – Omnipresent – Lady of Magick & Mystery, Death & Rebirth

Click on the directions of the wheel below for more about each aspect.

Wheel of Cerridwen by Sephira

Coming soon

Coming soon

Cerridwen’s Seasonal Wheel by Sephira Dunja Denise

Cerridwen is our Dark Mother, She speaks to those of us who are called to Her. You can read some of the recent guidance from Her as received by her Sacred Raven Priestess Guidance from Mother Cerridwen.

See also our Blog written by Priestesses and Priests of Cerridwen for all things inspired by Cerridwen.