CERYDWEN - MERLIN

 Cerydwen

Cerydwen is the Lady of Transformation. She calls us to enter onto our darkness to seek out the seeds of our wholeness. She teachs us that the only path of to wisdom is through trial and experiences. In her cauldron the mysteries of death and rebirth are revealed, and we emerge to initate the process once more. We ride the Wheel with our newfound insight and understanding, so that we may illuminate the next phase of that journey with what we have learned.

The Goddess Cerydwen is the keeper of the cauldron of inspiration. The pearl-rimmed vessel from which all knowledge can be obtained. In the dark abyss of her Cauldron ; Cerydwen brew the Graal of Wisdom ; a powerful potion that requires much time and many conponents. When complete, the liquid will yeld three potent drop containing all wisdom ; the rest is a poison that crack the vessel open. We must drink of this cauldron to obtain the three fold gift found in the shadow’s darkness. Cerydwen teaches us we can transform the darkness within us into the greatest of beauty thoughobtaining the illumination of wisdom. This tranformation is not without its price ; we must change ourselves on every level and a part of us must die so we may be truty reborn in wisdom. The Draught of ilumination is brewed only by the distillation of the self ; that seeking of our inner truths mired in the poison of shadow. Connecting with these energies causes us to break our vessels open, catalizing the death of our old selves and the freedom of our truth from outmoded perspectives and limitations of our beings.

Throught this alchemical process we gain the three rays of Awen. The triple illuminationthat activates the dormant seeds of wisdom within us. Once obtained, this seeds must be incubated and brought to te surface, breaking through the once fallow ground to sprout with new potential for a bountiful harvest. It’ only when we allow our old selves to be consumed by Cerydwen that we can be born anew

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Merlin

The first thing that the Merlin seeker and enthusiast should understand is that Merlin is a title, not a name. This bit of information will make other story details make sense. The Merlin is the title of a lineage of spiritual masters, mystics, and healers.

Merlin is one of the most fascinating figures in the Welsh literature and the Arthurian legend. Merlin is a man of mystery and magic; contradiction and controversy surrounded his life.

Merlin wore many hats: he was a wizard or sorcerer, a prophet, a bard, an adviser and a tutor. He appeared as a young boy with no father. He appeared as an old, wise man, freely giving his wisdom to four successive British kings. He was dotting old fool, who couldn't control his lust over beautiful women, who hold him in fear and contempt. He had even appeared as a madman after bloody battle, and had fled into the forest and learned how to talk to the animals, where he became known as the Wild Man of the Woods. Merlin was the last of the druid, the Celtic shaman, priest of nature, and keeper of knowledge, particularly of the arcane secrets.

According to the Welsh historian, Nennius, Merlin appeared as a young boy, but under the name of Emrys or as Ambrosius in Latin, with the British king, Vortigern. In a similar account with Vortigern, it was Geoffrey of Monmouth, who had named this boy – Merlinus Ambrosius (Merlin Emrys in Welsh).

Merlin had being identified to the Welsh fictional bard named Myrddin of the late 6th century, in the Welsh poem called Afallenau and several other poems, preserved in the manuscript known as the Black Book of Carmarthen, c. 1250. These rather old Welsh poems appeared rather obscure and gibberish.

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Geoffrey of Monmouth composed a similar tale of Merlin's madness, written in Latin, known as Vita Merlin or the "Life of Merlin", in 1150. In this version, he was known as Merlin Calidonius. Here, he has a sister and a wife, but there's no mention of his parents. It is the only text that mentioned Merlin having a wife.

Scholars claim that Geoffrey of Monmouth relied on two historical characters in creating Merlin. One was Myrddin Wyllt (or Merlinus Caledonensis), a bard, prophet, and madman from the south of Scotland, and a character who never had any historical connection with Arthur. Legend has it that, after witnessing the Battle of Arfderydd (in the 6th century), Wyllt lost his mind and retreated to the life of a savage in the woods. A second character believed to have inspired Geoffrey of Monmouth was Ambrosius Aurelianus, a Roman military leader in Britain. Monmouth calls the sorcerer “Merlin Ambrosius.” This character, in turn, appears in versions of the story as a brother of Uther Pendragón, uncle to the legendary King Arthur

Many of the legends of Merlin also relate him closely to legendary women. Merlin was the lover and teacher of the witch, Morgan Le Fay, half-sister and adversary to King Arthur. Still other versions of the story have him falling in love with Nivian (or Viviane), daughter of the King of Northumberland, and to whom Merlin teaches the powers of conquest. In the end, she rejects him and bewitches him, and in one version brings about his death. Other sources put the death of the magician at the hands of the famous Lady of the Lake, the sorceress responsible for having given Arthur the famous sword, Excalibur.

All of these sources have, over the centuries, created and recreated a figure who’s become one of the most famous magicians in history. They portray him as many beings at once, sometimes in contradiction one from another, and often forcing us to rethink Merlin’s character as an archetypal value; as a complex set of values that define humanity, our

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deepest desires and needs. It is at this point that the historical value of the character ends and it is then possible to see him as a product of the magic he actually bore

Merlin is one of the most important mythical figures in the western world. He represents the epitome of those who have harmonized, within themselves, the earth’s energies and the forces within their own souls, thus achieving inner freedom and a higher mode of consciousness. Through his power over wild animals and nature, he became identified with the Celtic Horned God. With one foot in both worlds, the world of animals and the world of kings, he is also manifested as the archetype of the trickster.

As trickster and sage, he challenges us to move beyond the warrior archetype and to live in harmony with the earth and with one another. As sage and teacher, he reminds us of the treasure we often neglect to see in our elders. As a guide, The Merlin represents the divine masculine spirit of nature. The spirit of the Merlin lineage is older than any of the ancient texts have been able to tell us, though we get a subtle hint at the grandness and timelessness of the Merlin spirit in this account by Nennius in Historia Brittonum:

Merlin, priest of nature, guiding spirit of magical transformation, was the sovereign of the land of Britain before any humans had even arrived!

“But fate, as Merlin always taught us, is inexorable. Life is a jest of the Gods, Merlin liked to claim, and there is no justice. You must learn to laugh, he once told me, or else you'll just weep yourself to death.” Bernard Cornwell

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