Cauldron
Magick
(Vessel
Magick)
By Ardriana Cahill
“Every
hollow holds a hallow.”
This essay
began as an essay on cauldron magick but it was impossible for me to not see the
comparison of certain kinds of magick and divination that can also be done where
chalices or bowls are employed, such as in my family magickal tradition. So
although it is primarily regarding cauldron magick, I will touch on other
vessels.
The
cauldron’s life began as a simple cook pot. It was a practical well of
nourishment to a family. To the herbal wise woman or man, that definition was
extended as a vessel for boiling healing brews and poultices. To the witch, its
use moved a step away from the practical to the magickal where potions were
brewed. The lines over the centuries have blurred trying to define when it took
on magickal properties.
At its very
essence the cauldron is made of metallic earth, heated by fire, cooled by air
and tempered by water. It is a vessel of the elements. In contemporary
Witchcraft, a cauldron will be a pot made of cast iron which stands on three
legs and has a handle. For safety’s sake, it should also have a lid.
In modern
witchcraft, the very shape of a vessel evokes the feminine divine, the sacred
womb and the origins of life. This tradition is evoked and repeated from many
cultures.
“This
nine-fold power of the goddess, known as the Toradh of Ana, is especially potent
in wells, springs and sacred vessels, such as cauldrons. The specific components
of the Toradh are described in:
“Nine
Gifts of the Cauldron”
The Cauldron of
Life-Work
gives and is replenished,
promotes and is enlarged,
nourishes and is given life,
ennobles and is exalted,
requests and is filled with answers,
sings and is filled with song,
preserves and is made strong,
arranges and receives arrangements,
maintains and is maintained.
Good is the well of measure.”
Cauldron
Lore
More than
just a symbol of the goddess, the cauldron and its contents have specifically
represented abundance, poetic inspiration (i.e. knowledge, wisdom and
eloquence), physical restoration, regeneration, alchemical transformation,
spiritual or psychic awakening or vision and the ability to discern truth.
In Celtic
mythology, these abilities were gained from being near or in the cauldron or
eating or drinking the contents mixed in a cauldron. Similar stories can be
found using a chalice, a bowl or a horn.
The most
commonly known stories of the cauldron can be found in Celtic mythology. In
Irish lore, Eochaid Ollathair, also known as the Dagda, possessed a cauldron
that was one of the four sacred objects brought to Ireland by the Tuatha De
Danaan. Its name was Undry and it had the magical capability of providing
infinite sustenance doled out by each man’s merit. In Tara, the home of the
High Kings of Ireland, this was used to magically grant a royal claimant the
authority of divine kingship after eating a meal prepared within it. Sacred
vessels of the goddess often bestow sovereignty and kingship in the myths of
Irish High Kings.
In Welsh
lore, Cerridwen’s cauldron, Amen, bestowed knowledge and inspiration. Bran the
Blessed had the Cauldron of Rebirth which resurrected slain warriors. His legend
may be the forerunner to the Keeper of the Holy Grail, the chalice of Jesus. On
the Gundestrup cauldron, a Celtic horned God popularly believed to be Cernunnos,
is depicted being reborn after having been torn apart and boiled in a cauldron.
In Norse mythology, a draught which bestowed poetic inspiration and knowledge
was brewed in the kettle/cauldron, Odhroerir. In Greece, even today, every four
years the modern Olympic flame is lit in a cauldron during a ritual at the site
where the Greek temple of Hera used to stand. The great flame that oversees the
games is carried by a torch but the vessel that holds that overseeing flame is
called a cauldron.
The
Gundestrup Cauldron is thought to have been crafted in Gaul circa. 100 BCE. It
was discovered in a peat bog in Denmark in 1891 where scholars suggest the
Druids may have placed it as an offering to the deities of Nature. One of the
cauldron's 13 panels clearly shows the Celtic horned God known as Cernunnos.
Other forms
of a cauldron with identical or similar lore include fire pots which have
historically symbolized the god himself and were special pots made for the
protection of a sacred flame. Censors are another form of cauldron used as a
fire pot or bowl to hold either sacred fire or sacred incense.
Magickal Vessel uses:
The modern
use of a witch’s cauldron is to represent the God on an altar or on the ground
representing the element of Fire within the ritual circle. Placed on an altar or
on the grass one must make sure it sits on a fireproof ceramic tile or hotplate.
Pour rubbing
alcohol over the salts until the alcohol is about an inch higher than the salts.
Hold a lighted match just above the alcohol. The liquid will light and produce a
strong orange flame. The flame burns cool, unlike a wood fire, and is difficult
to burn things in. When the flame gets low, cover to snuff out completely. Add
more rubbing alcohol to the cauldron and relight carefully. The warmer the
rubbing alcohol, the quicker it ignites. This fire recipe leaves a significant
amount of sediment in the cauldron.
Other times
the cauldron is filled with soil or sand to hold a small charcoal brick which is
lit for loose incense to be burned upon. Cone incense can also be simply placed
on the sand or stick incense is stuck into the sand and burned that way.
Letters to
the divine or the ancestors, burnt spells and burnt offerings are often lit and
place in the cauldron to burn.
Divination
is one of the key uses for the cauldron given its historical nature to impart
vision and truth. Several forms of cauldron divination can be done with fire or
dry ice. Create the cool alcohol fire as above and look into the flames for
images and their symbolic meaning.
In a
cauldron filled with sand, (or as in my tradition use a sand-filled ceramic
bowl) we do smoke divination. We judge the curl of the smoke from dried herbs or
incense burnt on a charcoal brick placed in sand. Blow the smoke softly away
from you as you concentrate on a question. Smoke twisting deasil
(clockwise) means NO. Smoke twisting widdershins (counter or
anti-clockwise) means YES. Burn dried Rose or Cherry blossoms for divinations of
love. Use Pecan for questions of employment. Burn Mugwort to ask about prophetic
dreams and Lilac for questions concerning the ancestors. Use Mint, Clove or
Basil for money questions. Use Cinnamon or Sandalwood for questions of success.
Try Carnation, Apple, Bayberry or Cedar for insights into health issues.
You can also
fill the cauldron or a bowl with warm water and, with a pair of tongs, drop many
small pieces of dry ice into it. (Dry ice can be purchased from a grocery
store.) Keep adding warm water and more ice as needed to create a steady rise of
mist. As the mist rises, look for images and their symbolic significance that
may reflect your hidden desires.
Scrying with
a cauldron or bowl filled with water or wine is an ancient practice. It is a
meditation device whereby, if you can relax your mind and eyes, you may see
images or get impressions of those things you need to attend to or might be
calling to you to investigate further. If meditation is more difficult for you,
add a teaspoon of olive oil or other sacred oil to the water. Stir with you
finger and watch how the oil merges and separates to mesmerize or form symbolic
pictures.
In my
tradition, we never used a cauldron. We use a ceramic bowl on the altar for
sympathetic or small burnt offerings such as herbs or flower petals. (Cauldrons
were way too witchly for witches in hiding. A magickal bowl could be left on a
table unnoticed.) I often place glass enclosed spell candles dressed with oils
in the bowl then surround them with stones and sprinkle appropriate herbs. Here,
I place written spells under the candle at the beginning of a spell or burn them
before or after the completion of the spell. The bowl becomes a magickal altar
unto itself, much like the cauldron which is used for many sacred purposes with
or without an altar. Like the cauldron, the bowl is feminine in nature but is
largely used with element of Fire in the tradition of Helios, the sun god, who
completed his daily rounds “floating” back to his Eastern palace in a golden
bowl.
Bowls called
Phiales were also used by the ancient Greeks for oil or wine libations, poured
into the ground or river to honor the dead or the gods. The Patera, a broad,
shallow dish was used for ritual drinking and was thought to impart blessing.
Much like the food or drink from the sacred cauldron, these vessels were first
designed for material sustenance and later interpreted for use in spiritual
sustenance. The cauldron or bowl can also be used filled with water for a floral
offering to celebrate joy or to burn flowers in to denote sorrow.
Chalices of
oil were burned on ancient Greek and Roman altars. In modern witchcraft, the
chalice is another vessel of the goddess or feminine divine and not often used
with the element of fire, but it could be with the same precautions of sand and
fireproofing that metal cauldrons and ceramic bowls use. However, never try this
with glass chalices. Chalices may also be placed on an altar or on ritual ground
as a symbol of the element Water. Magickal chalices evolved in history much the
same way cauldrons did, imparting the gifts of transformation, healing and
immortality.
Ardagh Chalice, c. 800-899 AD.
Found in 1847 by a small boy digging for potatoes
The most
famous chalice is the cup of Christ as told in Authurian lore which bestows
immortality to anyone who drinks from it. The Cup of Jamshid, was a cup of
divination and also bestowed immortality in Persian mythology. In Greek
mythology, the cup of Circe brings Ulysses under her control. Apollo had a
magickal cup called Crater. And Dionysus had a magickal cup called a kantharos,
that like so many magickal vessels, would never empty.
What is
stated in James Joyces’ Finnegan’s Wake is a long established
tradition that “every hollow hold a hallow.” These “hollows”, be
they cauldron, bowl or cup, have been used throughout mythology as magickal
tools for divination, transformation and rejuvenation. Let these serve you this
Samhain, to evoke abundance, poetic inspiration, restoration, regeneration,
transformation, spiritual or psychic awakening or vision or the ability to
discern truth. Or if not these, use them to connect you to the history of your
magickal heritage.
©
2009 Ardriana Cahill
Sources:
Finnegan's
Wake, James Joyce
p.25
The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom ~ By Caitlin Matthews, and Matthews
John, p. 229
Circle Round: Raising Children in the Goddess Tradition ~ by Starhawk,
Anne Hille and Diane Baker
Other
References:
Wikipedia
Celtic Religion in Roman Britain ~ By Graham Webster
Giants, monsters, and dragons: an encyclopedia of folklore, legend, and myth
~ By Carol Rose
The Sacred Bee in Ancient Times and Folklore ~ By Hilda M. Ransome
Wake Rites: The Ancient Irish Rituals of Finnegan’s Wake ~ by George
Cinclair Gibson
Ardriana
Cahill lives in Western USA and is a Hereditary Witch, den of Clan McCormick and
a Kell of Brighid since 1998.
www.ArdrianaCahill.com
Best
wishes and Blessed Be
