Three Cauldrons Are Born in Every Person
©2007 Mary Pat Mann, PhD
Cauldrons are sources of nourishment, objects of quest, and containers of transformation simmering at the heart of Celtic myth. They are sought after yet out of reach, redemptive yet threatening, holding mysteries that few ever plumb. And yet one medieval Irish manuscript says we each have cauldrons of our own, born within us to safeguard our wellbeing and initiate our transformations.
How many cauldrons do we have? Not hard: Three is ever the sacred number of the Celts.
The three Cauldrons of Poesy appear in an early sixteenth century manuscript. Poetry interspersed with prose, the text is a training manual for poets, although its teachings can apply to anyone seeking inspiration (Breatnach, 1981). The Irish have long recognized the vital links between creativity, transformation, and vision; the Cauldrons of Poesy are part of this ongoing tradition. Ireland is famous for her visionary poets and poetic seers.
The poetry at the core of the Three Cauldrons was put into written form during the eighth century and credited to Amergin, bard of the Milesians who arrived on Ireland's shores to claim her from the Tuatha de Dannan.
Explanations in prose were written during the eleventh century by a monk sympathetic to the poets. The result is "a collaboration between native poet and Christian cleric" that preserves one portion of a bardic lore now largely lost (Henry, 1979). The only known copy of the Three Cauldrons is dated to the early sixteenth century, with a probable date of 1539.
The first cauldron is Coire Goriath, which can be translated as the Cauldron of Warming (Matthews, 1994), Incubation (Laurie, undated), or Maintenance or Sustenance (Henry, 1979). Coire Ermai, the second, is the Cauldron of Vocation (Matthews, 1994) or Motion (Henry, 1979; Laurie, undated). Coire Sois, the third, is called the Cauldron of Knowledge (Breatnach, 1981; Henry, 1979; Matthews, 1994) or Wisdom (Laurie, undated). Most authors believe all three cauldrons are present at birth, but Henry's (1979) interpretation is that each cauldron is only 'born' or generated within us when we are ready.
Each cauldron can be in one of three positions: upright, tilted, or inverted. The position indicates the ability of a cauldron to function. An upright cauldron can hold and 'cook' its ingredients; a tilted cauldron allows ingredients to slip away; an inverted cauldron cannot hold on to anything.
Henry (1979) links the cauldron positions to physical postures, noting that the word used for the upright position of Coire Goriath, faen, also describes the upward-facing posture used in late Bardic schools for composition, the position maintained by placing a stone on the belly. The inverted starting position of Coire Sois, for beolu, is the same as the prostrated posture of poets seeking the enlightenment of imbas forosnai, the wisdom that illuminates.
The Role of Each Cauldron
Coire Goriath "distributes wisdom to people in their youth," (Laurie, undated) including the basics of language that every poet and learned person needs. The word "goriath" is obscure and seldom used, but seems to connote sustenance and maintenance, as well as the warmth of generosity (Breatnach, 1981). One line of poetry locates this cauldron in the belly. Coire Goriath is born upright, ready to hold the sustaining broth of life. While its contents may vary in amount and quality, the cauldron itself remains upright unless we are very ill or near death.
Coire Ermai, the second cauldron, is the key to developing poetic inspiration. Never upright at birth, this cauldron starts out on its side in some people and inverted in others. Coire Ermai does not hold a particular kind of knowledge, but rather the "fire of knowledge" which is inspiration (Breatnach, 1981). It mediates between the basics of Coire Goriath and the advanced knowledge of Coire Sois and is the most influenced by life experiences. Laurie (undated), Breatnach (1981) and Henry (1979) name Coire Ermai the Cauldron of Motion to emphasize the turning of this vessel as it empties and fills again and again. Its status determines whether we ever experience the wisdom of the third cauldron.
Coire Ermai is affected by what we inherit from our ancestors and by spiritual gifts as well as our life experience. The poem states that Coire Ermai will be upside down in the "unenlightened," on its side in poets, and upright in those who are masters of poetry. The manuscript makes clear that anyone, no matter how lowly his or her birth, can develop the position and contents of this cauldron through appropriate effort.
What experiences will influence the second cauldron? Sorrows and joys turn Coire Ermai. The poem carefully categorizes them for us: First, there are four sorrows, which are longing, grief, jealousy, and the pain of exile. Each sorrow can inspire poetry and, over time, lead the apprentice poet to mastery.
Four human joys turn the cauldron, and they are human indeed: The first is the joy of sexual longing, which a gloss makes clear is neither courtly love nor the sanctity of marriage, but rather the pleasure of illicit relations. The second is the joy of freedom from want; for example, a place to live and sufficient food. The third is the joy of poetic accomplishment after hard study, and the fourth is poetic inspiration itself, that imbas contained in the nine hazels of Segais' Well. Breatnach (1981) relates this procession of joys to the stages in a poet's career: adolescence, apprenticeship, first accomplishments, and finally, true inspiration.
Although no location is given in the poem, both Matthews (1994) and Laurie (undated) place Coire Ermai in the chest, surrounding the heart.
The Celts had a passionate attachment to earthly life and its joys and sorrows, so it is not surprising that emotions in response to life experiences are key to poetic development. But are the emotions listed are specific to poets? It might be that these life experiences lead all of us to develop sensitivity. On the other hand, if we had parallel manuscripts for the training of judges or warriors, the list of key emotions might be somewhat different.
Coire Sois, the third cauldron, is clearly the font of wisdom, yet little is said of it in the manuscript. Perhaps this lesson was for beginning poets still learning about the second cauldron. Or perhaps the understanding of this final cauldron is based on mystical work leading to direct personal experience.
This last cauldron is said to start out upside down in all of us, to be turned by divine joys. Once again, no placement is given in the poem, but this cauldron is generally located in the head, which the Celts considered to be the seat of the soul. The gifts of this cauldron are not limited to poetry, but include many other gifts: "...out of it is distributed the knowledge of every other art besides poetic art" (Breatnach, 1981). Perhaps this cauldron offers initiations leading to all the gifts of Spirit.
Chi and Fire-in-Water
Traditional Chinese Medicine is an ancient, complex system that integrates mind, body and spirit. Chinese herbs, acupuncture and other modalities are used to balance flows of energy, called chi, throughout the body. Over thousands of years, healers developed a detailed map of energy channels called meridians and hundreds of points at which the meridians can be accessed.
Energy today means machines and wires, an invisible force that crackles and burns like fire. But the ancient Chinese model for the human body was a garden. The meridians were seen as irrigation channels, and chi as flowing water carrying nutrients to all growing things (Beinfield and Korngold, 1991).
This image of energy as water fits the ancient Celtic imagery in the Cauldrons of Poesy. Wells, rivers, lakes, and the ocean itself are all sacred to Celtic peoples, seen as sources and carriers of energies of healing and inspiration. It might be difficult to see a cauldron containing electricity, but when the image of energy is wet and fluid, the cauldron becomes the ideal container.
The idea that the fire of energy could be carried in water is found in the Indo-European heritage Celts share with many other peoples of Europe and Asia. This theme, recognized by mythographers and folklorists, is called "fire in water... a potent essence preserved in a body of water, accessible only to a chosen few, and endowing those elect with extraordinary powers" (Ford, 1974).
Evans-Wentz (1911) shares this tale from an Irish mystic:
"In the world under the waters--under a lake in the West of Ireland in this case--I saw a blue and orange coloured king seated on a throne; and there seemed to be some fountain of mystical fire rising from under his throne, and he breathed this fire into himself as though it were his life. As I looked, I saw groups of pale beings, almost grey in colour, coming down one side of the throne by the fire-fountain. They placed their head and lips near the heart of the elemental king, and, then, as they touched him, they shot upwards, plumed and radiant, and passed on the other side, as though they had received a new life from this chief of their world."
In Irish myth, one of the most famous instances of the fire-in-water theme is imbas forosnai, the wisdom that illuminates, found in the nuts that fall from the hazel trees growing around Nechtan's Well. It is not surprising, then, that this Well appears in the Cauldrons of Poesy. The fourth human joy that helps turn the middle cauldron, Coire Ermai, is this same imbas, poetic inspiration. It is given the most detailed description of any of the emotions in the list, which Breatnach (1981) translates as:
"[J]oy at the arrival of imbas which the nine hazels of fine mast at Segais in the sid's amass and which is sent upstream along the surface of the Boyne, as extensive as a wether's fleece, swifter than a racehorse, in the middle of June every seventh year regularly."
Wells are in-between places where waters from the Otherworld enter our world. They are important features in Celtic myth. Nechtan's Well at Segais, the head of the Boyne; Connla's Well under the sea; Bec's Well and Fec's pool are only a few of these magic places.
Nechtan and his three cupbearers guard the Well at Segais and only they are allowed to approach it. One day, Nechtan's wife Boann decides to visit the well. As she draws near, three waves arise and take from her an eye, a hand and a thigh. The waters overflow, carrying Boann away with them to the sea, thereby creating the Boyne River.
The Shannon River was created in a similar fashion when Sinend, another forbidden woman, decided to visit Connla's Well under the sea to gain its knowledge. It is at Connla's Well that the hazels of wisdom grow, sacred trees that bring out foliage, flowers and fruit together. The hazel nuts, full of magical wisdom, drop into the water creating a "royal surge of purple" which is then carried in special bodies of water throughout the land. Note how these images echo the Chinese concept of chi as something carried in water through channels.
The Salmon of Wisdom eats the magic nuts, becomes wise, and displays an outward sign of this wisdom in its speckled skin. Finn Eces the poet waits seven years to catch the ancient salmon, then sets young Demne to watch as it cooks. When the young boy is splashed by hot oil from the cooking fish and puts his fingers in his mouth to cool them off, he gains the wisdom the old poet was waiting for. Renamed Finn mac Cumhal by the disappointed poet, the boy begins a life of magical adventures.
All these tales include a dangerous quest for magical knowledge contained in water. In Ireland, this poetic inspiration is imbas. In Wales, it was called awen and figures in the tale of Cerridwen's cauldron and the initiation of the great poet Taliesin. This is the inspiration that turns Coire Ermai and prepares the poet for divine initiation.
The Cauldrons of Poesy echo key themes in Celtic myth, weaving wells, flowing water, energy and poetry into a path of healing and inspiration. These cauldrons create openings for us to explore our own cauldrons and learn to work with them in support of our own creative work.
Exploring the Cauldrons
The Cauldrons of Poesy manuscript gives us three cauldrons that, by turning over or remaining upright, regulate the internal states and external accomplishments of poets. Laurie (undated) describes two breathing exercises she developed, one calming and one energizing, to meditate on and activate the contents of the cauldrons. She found that the contents of the cauldrons can be "solids, liquids, objects, or symbols" including oghams or other mystical symbols, colors, herbs, birds, animals, or artwork.
Laurie (undated) is able to "sense the positions and contents of the cauldrons within others," and apply this in healing, divination or other work. She stresses the importance of expressing what we learn from the cauldrons in the form of poetry, which she sees as essential to understanding and expressing this ancient tradition. Matthews (1994) suggests we journey to our own cauldrons to meet their guardians and examine their contents. She also examines the cauldrons of others, and uses this in her shamanic work for them.
This workshop offers three opportunities to explore your own Cauldrons of Poesy. On each of the next three nights, I invite you to incubate a dream about each of the three cauldrons. If you use other visioning techniques such as shamanic journeying, visualization, or meditation, feel free to use the approach most comfortable for you to explore this material.
We will be meeting meet here over the next few days to share our dreams and visions of the three cauldrons.
First Incubation: Coire Goriath, Cauldron of The Dagda
Coire Goriath, the first cauldron, supports and protects our physical health. Its contents vary in quantity and quality, but the cauldron itself is born upright and remains up unless we are very ill or near death.
For me, Coire Goriath is the Cauldron of the Dagda, the Good God. The Dagda's Cauldron is linked closely to our physical needs, as is the Dagda himself. Who better to serve as guardian of our first cauldron than the god renowned for his appetites, and his enjoyment in satisfying them?
The Dagda's Cauldron gives its gifts abundantly and generously. All of us have physical needs, and this cauldron gives to each until satisfied. This cauldron is sometimes called "Undry," because it is ever full. The manuscript of the Second Battle of Mag Tuired (Gray, undated) tells us, "From Murias was brought the Dagda's cauldron. No company ever went away from it unsatisfied."
So should our Coire Goriath be for each of us: a source of constant nourishment and support, available to us at our need, not based on our worthiness. Yet how many of us are open enough to life to experience her full abundance, appreciate her gifts?
Lady Augusta Gregory (1904) tells of another cauldron associated with the Dagda: "The Dagda himself made a great vat one time for Ainge, his daughter, but she was not well satisfied with it, for it would not stop from dripping while the sea was in flood, though it would not lose a drop during the ebb-tide."
This vat may have been inconvenient in the kitchen, but behaves exactly as Coire Goriath needs to: When our tide is at ebb, our energy is conserved; when our seas are in flood, energy is dispersed. Unfortunately, we are not always wise enough to use our energy when it is abundant, or conserve and replenish it when it is low.
Many energy systems locate the main holder of energy in the body right where Coire Goriath is found. In Japan, the belly is the location of the Hara. In Chinese Medicine, it is the Tan-Tien, also called the Triple Heater, or Sea of Chi. Practices related to raising and supporting energy in this area of the body will also relate to Coire Goriath.
Incubation:
As you fall asleep, picture your first cauldron. Do you see it within your body, or imagine it outside in a landscape? Either approach is fine.
If you have an issue in your life related to nurturing or nourishment, focus it and ask for information and guidance. If there is no specific issue, think generally about how you accept abundance, and allow your needs for nurturance to be met.
Ask for a dream that connects you to your Coire Goriath. Record what you receive. I invite you to share your experiences here.
Second Incubation: Coire Ermai, the Cup of Truth
Coire Ermai, the second cauldron, is for me the Cup of Truth that Cormac finds when he follows Mannanan mac Lir to the Otherworld. This is the cauldron of our heart and hands, of our vocation and how we express ourselves in the world.
Cormac was a King beguiled by the sea god, Mannanan mac Lir, into trading his wife and family for a magical branch. Ever the trickster, it seems Mannanan wanted to draw Cormac into his own Otherworldly kingdom. After realizing his loss, Cormac goes in search of his family and finds, among other treasures, the Cup of Truth.
When this magical Cup hears three lies, it breaks apart. When it hears three truths, it mends itself. In my experience, Coire Ermai behaves in a similar fashion: Our second cauldron is whole and strong when we are following our right path and acting out of our own truth.
It is important here to remember we are speaking of inspiration and creativity rather than morals and ethics. These two areas are related, but not the same. In suggesting that we each need to find our own truth, I do not suggest all morals are relative and individualistic, but rather that each of us has our own path to walk in life, and our own unique ways of creative expression. Coire Ermai will be strongest when we express our best and unique self.
When visiting Mannanan's kingdom, Cormac sees the Well of Segais, source of poetic inspiration. The Well is a fountain; the magic hazel trees grow over it, dropping magic nuts into the water and imbuing it with power. Five streams issue from the fountain. Cormac is told he beholds the Fountain of Knowledge, whose five streams represent the five senses through which knowledge is gained. No one can be wise without drinking from the fountain and the streams, and the wisest, the folk of many arts, drink from both.
Incubation:
As you fall asleep, picture your second cauldron, Coire Ermai. Do you see it within your body, or imagine it outside in a landscape? Either approach is effective.
If you have an issue in your life related to finding your path and expressing your best self, focus on that issue and ask for information and guidance. If there is no specific issue, think generally about how you learn about your truth and express that truth in the world.
Ask for a dream that connects you to your Coire Ermai. Record what you receive. I invite you to share your experience.
Third Incubation: Coire Sois, the Cauldron of Cerridwen
Coire Sois, the cauldron of wisdom, is the most mysterious and dangerous of the three. Little is said of this cauldron in the Cauldrons of Poesy manuscript. It is possible that poetry or prose related to this cauldron has been lost, yet to be found in some monastery library or ancient chest. But it may also be that little can be written about this cauldron because each of us experience its transformations in our own way.
For me, this is the cauldron of Cerridwen, the witch goddess of Welsh mythology. Her tale is part of the collection called the Mabinogian, and is also the tale of how the great poet Taliesin gained his poetic inspiration.
This tale is set in the time of King Arthur, and tells how Cerridwen, a powerful magician, had a son who was very ugly. Sad to see her boy spurned by the world, Cerridwen decided to give him great powers of prophecy and poetry. She cast spells, gathered herbs, and set them to simmering over a fire that must burn continuously for a year and a day.
Cerridwen told the serving boy Gwion Bach to tend the fire. As he helped, Gwion Bach learned just what this cauldron was. As the fateful day approached, Cerridwen stood her ugly son near the cauldron, to catch the first drops that would spring from the magic mixture when it was ready.
Now many versions of this story say that Gwion Bach just happened to be standing by when the mixture bubbled up, but Patrick Ford's translation (1977) states clearly that Gwion shoved the hapless son out of the way to take the magic for himself. The burning drops fell on Gwion's fingers, which he quickly put in his mouth to cool, tasting the magic potion.
Whether by accident or on purpose, it was indeed Gwion and not Cerridwen's son who received the illumination of the cauldron. Gwion's first realization was that Cerridwen would kill him if she could, and he ran. As he ran, he changed shape again and again to escape the witch's wrath. Cerridwen changed right along with him, and finally, when Gwion thought to hide himself as one grain of wheat among many, she became a small black hen and swallowed him up.
Cerridwen found herself pregnant with the transformed boy, and after carrying him in her womb for nine months, was unable to kill him outright. She put him in a tiny boat in a river, which leads to another tale of how the boy Gwion is reborn as the mighty poet Taliesin.
Poetic illumination is one kind of magical transformation offered by Coire Sois, but it is vital in approaching this cauldron to remember that illumination brings great changes in its wake, and not all the changes will be comfortable ones.
One message in this tale is that we do not become "worthy" of this kind of illumination. "Worthiness" in the sense of conventional virtue has little to do with imbas, or awen as it is called in Welsh. To attain the highest levels of poetic inspiration, we must be willing to take risks, place ourselves in danger, open ourselves up to experience, and reach out our hands for something we know might burn.
Incubation:
As you fall asleep, picture your third cauldron. Do you see it within your body, or imagine it outside in a landscape? Either approach is effective.
If you have an issue in your life related to inpiration, creativity, or transformation, focus on that issue and ask for information and guidance. If there is no specific issue, think generally about whether you are ready to be inspired and transformed, and what that might mean for you.
Ask for a dream that connects you to your Coire Sois. Record what you receive. I invite you to share your experience.
References
Beinfield, H. and Korngold, E. (1991) Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine. Bantam Books, 243.
Breatnach, L. (1981) "The Caldron of Poesy," Eriu #32, 45-93.
Evans-Wentz, W. Y. (1911) The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries. 64. Available online at: http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm.
Ford, P. (1974) "The Well of Nechtan and La Gloire Lumineuse," in Myth in Indo-European Antiquity, ed. Gerald James Larson, co-ed. C. Scott Littleton and Jaan Puhvel. Berkeley: University of California Press, 67-74.
Ford, P. (1977) The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gregory, A. (1904) Gods and Fighting Men. Available online at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/gafm/index.htm.
Gray, E. (undated) The Second Battle of Mag Tuired. Available online at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/cmt/cmteng.htm
Henry, P. L. (1979/1980) "The Caldron of Poesy," Studia Celtica #14/15, 120.
Laurie, E. (undated) "The Cauldron of Poesy," Obsidian, available online at: http://www.obsidianmagazine.com/Pages/framemaster3.html or: http://www.flash.net/~bellbook/faolcu/cauldronofpoesy.htm.
Matthews, C. (1994) "The Three Cauldrons of Inspiration," in The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom by Caitlin and John Matthews. Element Books, Ltd., 218-237.
