The Cauldron Born
gies arose out of a need, but unlike the revealed orthodox religions, they did not arise out of a need to understand death and to be assured of the survival of the apparent identity beyond it. They arose to exemplify that life is the current embodiment of mystery—that truth exists in living, not in the fear of dying and the hope that we may survive it. The revealed religions teach a system of continuity, where the immortal human spirit retains its current, ever-changing identity and carries it onto the next world. By retaining this aspect of the identity, the spirit can then be rewarded or punished in a manner that would instill joy or terror. But the form of effective reward or punishment is entirely dependent on the fact that we do retain our apparent identities, without which the reward or punishment would be ineffective. This mythology arose into a structured dogma, one that offers comfort to the faithful and fear to the sinners. When we examine some of the Celtic myths and poetry, we find within them recurring themes that speak of various states being experienced by the initiate simultaneously. Taliesin himself talks of having been myriad things before attaining his current form: “I have been a multitude of shapes before I assumed this form; I was a drop of rain in the air, I was the brightest of stars…”3 The mysteries within the Celtic mythologies speak of a constant, permanent state of being that preceded this life, is woven into this life, and simply continues on its merry course after this experience comes to its natural end. This life is simply one chapter in the book of the universe. The mysteries of Celtica do not teach an abandonment of living but instead inspire us to a state of lucid living. Within this state of lucidity we become aware of the fine threads that connect us to nature, to an understanding that we are an integral aspect of this world and of the spiritual realms, not something that is separate from it or in some state of perpetual suffering. The mythologies of the Celtic people continue to inspire and to teach, reaching into the twenty-first century like fingertips of wisdom that rise from the depths of the cauldron. It can be said that a culture does not retain 3 From the poem “Kat Godeu” in the Book of Taliesin.
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