The Great Initiator

Introduction: The Legend of Taliesin

(reproduced from the Encyclopedia Mythica)

Once there was a witch named Cerridwen, and she had two children. The one, her daughter, was as beautiful a child as you could ever hope to see; the other, her son Morfran, was so ugly, ill favored, and stupid that he sickened everyone who saw him.

Cerridwen was grieved that Morfran was so horrible, and resolved by her magic arts to make him into such a great bard that no one would mind his ugliness. She began to cast a great spell. Many were the plants that she cast into her cauldron, many the incantations said over it. An old blind man named Morda was set to keep the fires burning beneath it, assisted by a young boy, Gwion.

The Cauldron of Wisdom and Inspiration must be kept boiling for a year and a day, and then the first three drops from it would impart ultimate knowledge to the one who drank them. However, the rest of the liquid would be deadly poison.

Long labored Cerridwen, roaming far to find the rare and exotic herbs she required, and so it chanced that she fell asleep on the last day of the spell. The boy Gwion was stirring the brew when three drops flew out onto his thumb, and they were scalding hot, so that he thrust it into his mouth to stop the burning. Instantly, he had the wisdom and inspiration of ages, and the first thing that occurred to him was that Cerridwen would be very angry.

He ran away from the house of Cerridwen, but all too soon, he heard the fury of her pursuit. Using his new magical powers, he turned himself into a hare. She turned into a greyhound bitch, and gained ever more on him. He came to a river, and quick as thinking became a fish. She became an otter. He leapt from the water, and in the middle of his leap became a bird of the air. The witch Ceridwen became a hawk. In desperation, he looked down and saw a pile of wheat. He dived, landed, and as it scattered he turned into a single grain. Then she landed and became a hen, and pecked at the grain until she had swallowed Gwion.

Soon after, Cerridwen found herself with child, though she had been with no man. When she realized that the baby was Gwion, she resolved to kill it, and Morfran wished this as well, in revenge for his not becoming a bard. In due course, the babe was born, and Morfran would have slaughtered him on the spot, but the mother said no, because it was the most beautiful child ever seen. However, she took him and, sewing him in a bag, set him adrift on the ocean.

 

An Analysis of the Legend of Taliesin in the light of the Mystery of Initiation

By Lux Ex Tenebris, IIIº

"While I was held prisoner, sweet inspiration educated me and laws were imparted to me in a speech which had no words"
- The Legend of Taliesin, Encyclopedia Mythica

Every dabbler in the occult and would-be practitioner wanders his way through the mire of "occulture"(Thank you Mr. Koenig for such a wonderful word) looking for the Secrets of Magick or the Lost Word of this and that. After years of study and practice, the Magician abruptly stops and realizes that he has gotten nowhere. It is then that many say: "If only I could attain to the _____ degree of ______, then I would be at the level I need to make things happen."

What is Initiation?

How is it that a ceremony or ritual would bestow such revelation and Wisdom upon an individual?

If a single ceremony has this most sublime effect, how is it that we are not a more enlightened people?

Is there is a group or a person who is withholding this knowledge from the public?

There can be no such secret or group in existence. If this knowledge and "legendary" formula existed as we think it does, why would an individual or group want to hoard it? Certainly if the secret is so sublime and would raise someone to wisdom and mystery, then a being enlightened by it would certainly share it. If not, the secret would not be what they claim.

Conclusion: There is no such secret.

For what reason then, do we make this effort?

The True Secrets of Magick are something that can never be told. I could stand atop the highest point in the city where I live and shout the 'secrets' of magick and no one would be better or wiser for it. The true secrets of magick may only be attained through Initiation.

(Wait a second? Did he not just say there was no such single ritual or rite that could confer the secrets, or even Initiate?)

What am I talking about? That is simple: experience.

 

Experience is the great Initiator.

To use an example of one of my favorite authors, Mr. John M. Greer;

"A Virgin, once again, is ignorant of certain central aspects of the human experience of sexuality, not because these things have been concealed by someone, but because understanding them is possible only through the experience of lovemaking....

Similarly, the great unifying realizations that come further on in the process of magical training are realities to be experienced, not facts to be learned. Until they have been experienced, they remain as secret as anything can possibly be."
- J.M. Greer, Inside a Magickal Lodge

How do we know we are on the right path to experience? Allegory.

Over the centuries, and even millennia, our predecessors have left us a road map of magical and religious experience in the form of legends, scriptures, and mythology. This is what is meant by "He who hath an ear let him hear." The way has been paved for us, the only requirement to its use is to realize and see it. This is encoded in the Mystical imperative: "Awaken, See, Act." Hidden within Symbol and Text, code and prayer are the methods designed to generate the experiences, which in turn, produce Initiation. Self-Initiation. This is why no one can "raise" you to a certain degree or level. This is also why the Friary operates on a Recognition "meta" system. We acknowledge your attainment; we cannot make or produce that attainment in you.

There are so many legends and stories and scriptures that define this process of realization, we will be discussing but one. You are free (and encouraged) to research the lives of Saints, Lamas, and Gods for that (in combination with the books on the Reading List and regular correspondence with members of the III°+) will bring about an understanding of its own.

On to the topic at hand.

What does the Legend of Taliesin hold for us as Initiates?

Cerridwen, in our analogy can be compared to Life and Experience, The Great Initiator. Often in life (and especially in magick), we, like young Gwion, tend to things we do not fully understand or comprehend. When we take our first steps in magick, it is without knowing and without understanding. We go about with no instruction on how to live or how to act, let alone understanding Magick.

Through mistake, experimentation or fate, like young Gwion tending to the brew, something happens and we are left with a taste of understanding and a realization. This produces a certain effect that is different in everyone.

For some it reinforces the things in life that one only theorized about; for others it produces awe and wonder. For me it produced an awe combined with a fear akin to being in the middle of outer space with nothing to hold on to. I almost burned my notes and journal because of it. This is the beginning of Initiation. A Light in the Midst of the Darkness.

As with young Gwion, this new revelation shows that it is just one of many. When we take our first step and taste the from the Cauldron of Gnosis, even as we are illuminated, so are we made visible to the 'bumps in the night' and The Great Initiator turns Her head to our direction.

In our flight we, like Gwion, assume all manner of shapes and forms, even as a person learns to blend with his surroundings in society when need be. Nonetheless, we are pursued without cessation.

What happens now? Well let us look at Gwion: After a long but futile fight (this can also be described as the Dark Night of the Soul) Gwion transforms himself into a grain, only to be devoured by Cerridwen in the form of a Hen.

It is herein that the Allegory exposes the chief secret of our 'map of experience'.

"Whoever shall save his life shall lose it and whoever shall lose his life shall save it."

Like Gwion, we must 'die' and be resurrected while yet alive. Many early Christian Gnostics believed that we must be Resurrected while alive. This is the journey of the Initiate into Adepthood. This has its parallel in every culture.

In Greece, we find the Legend of Zeus' first wife Mêtis. In the legend, Zeus devours Mêtis because he fears she will bear a son more powerful than himself. It was later that Mêtis (now as Athena) burst fully armed from the Head of Zeus (much like Gwion being born as Taliesin).

In Mithraic Initiation, it is called the Initiation into the Grade of Corax. We find parallels in the Gods of Egypt, with the death and resurrection of Osiris (this also includes the creation of Horus who would later avenge his death). This also (and most obvious to a Westerner) parallel's to the Life of The Christ, who gave himself up to die that he might be resurrected eternal and thus show us the way to return unto the Father while living.

So, Gwion is born again as Taliesin. Happy Ending? Our story is not over yet, nor is our Initiate at his Supreme Goal.

"But she took him and, sewing him in a bag, set him adrift on the ocean."

This ocean is the Great Sea of Binah and though our comparison ends here (as the Legend moves into mundane story), herein is contained another analogy and allegory: that of the Ascent of the Master of the Temple. That, however, we will discuss later.