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Cerridwen
Celtic (Welsh)

Celtic deities are particularly hard to define. Greek and Roman gods clearly had specific niches in which they fit - jobs, if you will. Demeter commanded the seasons, Nike symbolized victory, Eros infected people with love through his bow and arrows, Selene literally was the moon, flying across the sky every night in her chariot. They has personalities besides their assigned duties, but most of them did in fact have duties.

Celts viewed their gods very differently. Their gods behaved in certain ways and that associated them with certain tasks, but many of them do not appear to have rigidly determined positions.
Cerridwen is one of these deities. She is known mostly for a potion that she attempted to brew for her hideous looking son, Afagdee. To make up for his deformity, she wished to impart upon him great knowledge and wisdom. Unfortunately, her assistant, Gwion, accidentally spilled three drops on his hand as he stirred. It burned, so unthinkingly he put his hand to his mouth and thus tasted the potion.

Some tales say this rendered the rest of the potion useless. Others say the knowledge was meant for Afagdee and no other. Regardless, Cerridwen wanted Gwion dead. Gwion, however, now had the benefits of the potion, and the two embarked upon a great chase in which both shapeshifted numerous times to outwit the other. At last Gwion transformed into a speck of grain, and Cerridwen became a hen and ate him. This merely impregnated her, and she gave birth to the great bard Taliesin.

Goddess of Wisdom, Intellect, Knowledge and Inspiration - This is Cerridwen's primary role as keeper of the Cauldron of Inspiration. In this role she also teaches us persistence. None of these things come to us overnight. Her potion took a year and a day to brew. She is also a patron of poets.

Goddess of Rebirth - Later stories depict Cerridwen's vessel as also being the Cauldron of Regeneration - any person placed within it would return to life. There is also the fact that through her womb Gwion was reborn as Taliesin.

Goddess of Magic and Transformation - The powers of her cauldron and the great shapeshifting chase gives her this association.

Goddess of Death and the Moon - Cerridwen is frequently depicted as a destructive "white, corpse-eating Sow representing the moon,"¹ thanks to Robert Graves The White Goddess. Cerridwen

features in Welsh legend as a witch and in later Welsh bardic poetry as a Muse. Nobody associated her with a sow form until Graves twisted an interpretation of her name by Canon MacCulloch (itself now largely rejected by philologists) to give her one and so assimilate her to his notion of the dark, or destructive, aspect of goddess. 2

This view of her is largely what makes Cerridwen a Crone goddess. Some see her more appropriately as a Mother goddess.

Goddess of Grain - The death of Gwion in the form of a grain kernel is reminiscent of sacrificial, agricultural gods that die in autumn so that the people can be fed for the winter months. Cerridwen is frequently referred to as a Corn Goddess.