Tag: awen of taliesin

Summary of the Year 2014 – Chris

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Yearly Update

Taking a leaf from Kal’s book I will summarise my year in terms of the quests that I have been involved with. The year had many more facets than this, but I think the quests are the important factors, as they form a developmental framework for my druidry work. They show the progress of my spiritual quest. Ultimately, for me, that’s what this blog is about.

I will put the quests into a chronological order, but also show how they relate to the tarot reading that I did at the start of the year. I quickly lost sight of this as I began to work, but now I have re-visited it to see just how the reading relates to the activities of the year.

TAROT FOR THE YEAR

My tarot reading for the year was done using the Tree Angel Oracle deck. This seems appropriate, as the sacred trees of the druids match the lunar cycles. The cards were drawn to show either a sign or a challenge – something that would guide me onwards, or that I would have to overcome in order to progress.

Here are the cards listed against their positions in the Celtic Wheel of the Year:-

  1. IMBOLC – Ivy (sign)
  2. SPRING EQUINOX – Rowan (sign)
  3. BELTANE – Blackthorn (sign)
  4. SUMMER SOLSTICE – Almond (sign) + Elder (challenge)
  5. LAMMAS – Hawthorn (sign)
  6. AUTUMN EQUINOX – Elm (sign) + Lime (sign)
  7. SAMHAIN – Juniper (challenge)
  8. WINTER SOLSTICE – Birch (sign)

What follows is the detail of the year’s work. See whether it coincides with any of your own work this year – if it does, let us know!

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Muse of Taliesin 3 – In The Bosom of Ceridwen

Posted on By Gwas No Comments on Muse of Taliesin 3 – In The Bosom of Ceridwen
Ancient Sites, Crystals, God or Goddess, Natural Magick, Quests

In the third (final?) part of the Muse of Taliesin quest stories, Kal and I found ourselves taking the difficult path up the hillside towards Deganwy Castle. high above the mouth of the River Conwy. As usual we were making it hard work, or rather let me say that all of the work in this particular quest was characterised by having to really work to find and arrive at the correct location. Perhaps that was a part of the work?

No matter how much effort was involved in getting there, at the top Kal and I split into our respective places – him staying at the old outer fortifications, and me heading to the very centre of the old castle grounds. We seemed to be arriving at exactly the right time. I’ll explain that in a moment when you see the celestial objects some together in a perfect synchrony.

Deganwy Castle - April 2014 (11)
Sunset over the River Conwy from Deganwy Castle

As I walked into the barely-lit dark cauldron of the castle I was faced with the two silhouetted breasts of Ceridwen. These were two hills which a well-known feature of the castle’s upper formation – like the Paps of Anu in Kerry, Ireland. To me they were symbols of the Mother Goddess. My thoughts moved back to Taliesin whose mother was Ceridwen – the crone goddess associated with inspiration. Surely, I thought, I was now in the bosom of the goddess at this site associated with her son? For Kal, he has experience of the crone goddess in the form of Cailleach. For me, currently, it is Ceridwen. She is the owner of The Cauldron of Poetic Inspiration (awen).

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