In some of my recent tweets I have talked about Taliesin, the legendary Bard. Lets take a look at his mythical origin.

The story begins with Ceridwen 'fair/white song'. She is the ancestral spirit (think 'Elf', also meaning "white", 'song' being the ancestral knowledge.)...

Ceridwen lives in the middle of a lake (yes, the womb/barrow) and she has two children, a beautiful daughter named Creirwy 'sacred symbol of the egg'
and a hideous son named Morfran, nicknamed Afagddu 'utter darkness'...

He is described as being ugly with dark skin, as he is the body of the ancestor in the burial mound, 'utter darkness' because there is no light, ugly with dark skin because he represents a rotten corpse.

Morfran is an alt spelling of Cormoran, in my latest blog post you will...

see that that Cormoran (in that tale a giant) just also happens to represent the ancestor in the barrow (just a coincidence ;)).

Ceridwen wants to give Morfran 'Awen' which is the gift of poetry, knowledge and foresight (ancestral knowledge, of course)...

So she starts to brew the potion in her 'Cauldron of Inspiration'.

She tasks Gwion Bach 'Little Innocent' to tend the potion and Morda 'Good Sea' to kindle the flame, which they must do for a year and a day. After which 3 drops will fly out and give the person Awen...

However, on the year-and-a-day Ceridwen was out collecting herbs when the 3 drops flew out the cauldron and landed on Gwion Bach's thumb, they were very hot so he put his thumb in his mouth to cool it. With this he gained Awen.

Knowing Ceridwen would be furious he fled...

and with this the cauldron burst open, and the poisonous liquid within trickled into a stream which killed the horses drinking downstream.

The symbolism here could not be clearer....

Gwion Bach 'Little Innocent' is the Fetus (you only need to see the name meaning alone) he puts his thumb in his mouth, exactly like the Fetus does in the womb.

The number three is symbolic of the 3 pregnancies and the year-and-a-day is a full cycle of nature...

The cauldron is the womb, and the liquid that comes out is the amniotic fluid.

The seemingly random inclusion of the dying horse(s) makes no sense unless you have the key.

The horse is of course the placenta, which has to die when the Fetus is born...

Ceridwen chases Gwion around as they both change forms (symbolic in itself), until finally Gwion changes into a grain, which Ceridwen, in the form of a Hen, eats.

She becomes pregnant with Gwion and gives birth to him, he is so beautiful that...

she doesn't want to kill him, so decides to put him into a leather bag and throws him into the sea (clear symbolism...). This occurs on the 29th of April, and so I guess may relate to Easter.

Gwion is found by Elphin 'Pure Element' at a weir, he opens the bag and sees Gwion...

He crys out "behold a radiant brow", and decides to name him that. Welsh for 'Radiant Brow' is Taliesin. The baby Taliesin then recites a poem for Elphin.

Notice how Gwion goes through 3 Pregnancies before he finally 'becomes' Taliesin, the legendary bard.

Thanks for reading.