by Ann Finnin/The Roebuck Coven at PCR 2022
In the Welsh tale The Birth of Taliesin, an ordinary boy named Gwion Bach takes a taste from the Cauldron of Wisdom and begins the flight of his life. The dark mother goddess Cerridwen uses all of her powers to try to catch him. She finally devours him and he is reborn from her womb as the immortal bard, Taliesin.
The Great Mother in mythology has both light and dark aspects. Rebirth from the Dark Mother constitutes an initiation, and like all initiations, initiation tests must be passed before mastery can be achieved. These tests aren’t easy. But if you pass them, you are reborn as a person of power and master of your own fate.
What will your initiation tests be? During a short meditation, you will take a taste from the Cauldron of Wisdom. Then, start running for the Dark Mother will be on your heels.
Ann Finnin has been involved in the magical community for nearly fifty years. She and her husband Dave originally studied with Ed Fitch in 1974 and began the Roebuck coven in 1979. In 1982, she and Dave were adopted into the Clan of Tubal Cain, the group originally founded by British witch Robert Cochrane. Ann is also a member of the Church of Hermetic Sciences (OTA) and has a second degree initiation in the British Gardnarian tradition. She is the author of two books on magic, The Forge of Tubal Cain and the Journey to the Castle, as well as two fiction works featuring magical themes. Ann and Dave live in the north San Fernando Valley.