Three Drops from a Cauldron

Triple Goddess, Maid, Mother, Crone

 

Three Drops from a Cauldron is a fortnightly web journal. I'm pleasantly surprised tonight to have a poem accepted for the September 16th issue.

The roots of this journal sprouted from the editor’s (Kate Garrett) long-term obsession with folklore and mythology – particularly of the Welsh variety – and poetry. And who better to represent this than Cerridwen and her cauldron?

Cerridwen was a sorceress in Welsh legend, who has since been elevated to deity status – she is the crone goddess of poetry, magic and inspiration.

Cerridwen was also the accidental mother of Taliesin, the greatest of Welsh bards. According to legend, this is due to a mishap involving three stray drops from her cauldron of inspiration. These tiny drops of powerful potion turned her servant-boy Gwion Bach into the celebrated poet-storyteller, but not before a series of shape-shifting incidents that resulted in his being eaten by the sorceress.

Thanks to Adrienne Leavy, editor of Reading Ireland: The Little Magazine , for her generous review of Boyne Berries 1916 in the latest issue of Reading Ireland which is a 1916 centenary issue.