Mystery Play of Taliesin and Elphin

SCENE: Statement of intent has just finished. Taliesin  walks into the centre of the circle and curls up into a ball (wear a black robe as he did at Samhain, and pulling the hood up to cover his head)

Throughout the following narration, drums are played and Cerridwen and Taliesin engage in a hunter-dance. The volume and tempo speeds up gradually until the climax.

Narrator: “In the dark, cold expanse of the ocean, a newborn baby floats, tied up in a leather bag.

Once he had been a grown boy named Gwion, tasked by Cerridwen to stir a cauldron. Within the cauldron had been a potion designed to grant wisdom and knowledge to Cerridwen’s son Morfran. However, Gwion had accidentally spilled the potion onto his thumb, acquiring the great wisdom intended for Morfran. Cerridwen had been outraged, and had pursued Gwion across the mountains and rivers of Wales, determined to wreak her revenge upon him.

Desperate to escape, Gwion had used his new-found wisdom to turn himself into a rabbit, so as to run faster from Cerridwen. But this did not stop her, and she turned herself into a dog to continue the pursuit. Gwion had then turned himself into a fish, and leapt into a river, but Cerridwen had simply turned into otter, and swam after him. He then turned himself into a bird, that he might fly away, but she had turned into a hawk, and the chase had taken to the skies.

Finally, Gwion had turned himself into a single grain of corn, that he might hide from Cerridwen. But Cerridwen turned herself into a hen and devoured Gwion whole.

But Gwion had not died within the belly of Cerridwen. Instead, he grew within her, and nine months later she had given birth to a boy.

Still outraged, Cerridwen had placed the baby in a leather bag, and hurled him into the ocean. Here he now floated, barely clinging to life.

But just as the spark of Gwion and the wisdom acquired from the cauldron had not died within the belly of Cerridwen, so too it did not die floating in the sea. Instead, the currents propelled him back to the land of Wales, and so the child was washed ashore on a beach."

(Elphin enters the circle, and kneels down in front of Taliesin)

"It so happened that on that day a young man named Elphin was out fishing for salmon, and he happened upon the leather bag. He opened it, and discovered the child."

(Elphin pulls back Taliesin’s hood to expose his face).

"Elphin took the child from the beach, and gave him to his own wife to raise, for this was no ordinary child, but was to become famous as Taliesin, the greatest bard who ever lived."

(Taliesin stands up, and recites excerpt from The Hostile Confederacy, while pacing around Elphin, who stands in the centre facing the door. Finishes poem while standing over Elphin’s shoulder. Taliesin then returns to the circle while Elphin/Steve moves to the door to begin the naming ceremony.)

Leading into the Ritual:

Taliesin was thrice born: first, from mortal woman; second from Cerridwen’s cauldron; and third from the sea.  His death at Samhain when he was consumed by the furious Hag Goddess led to his growth and birth from the waters of her womb at the waters of the ocean.

[Longer pause] 

Imbolc is a time when the earth itself is breaking the waters: ice flows as rivers once more, snow melts, the soil warms, and life starts to break through.  The labour pains of the earth are almost at an end, as we return from the long, dark stasis of winter and are delivered once more into warmth and light.

[Longer pause]

Brighid, Irish Goddess of midwifery and new beginnings, invites us to recognize this time of year with initiation, new projects, plans, healing of old wounds, and inspiration.  Knowing her, asking for her aid, and communing with her eases the difficult starts of our new beginnings…