Cauldron

Long linked with Witches in the popular imagination, cauldrons were once the common cooking pots used throughout Europe. Made of iron, marked with ribs used for measuring, and standing on three long legs, millions of cauldrons have swung or stood on hearths to cook the family meal —the stockpot so loved by contemporary cooks has its origins in the lowly cauldron. The cauldron’s association with Witches derives from the infamous “three Witches” scene in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. To use an iron pot for brewing (such as in making teas)or cooking wasn’t unusual in the sixteenth century. What was unusual, and what attracted the public’s attention, was the type of cooking being done by these three women.

Among modern Wiccans, the cauldron is honoured as a symbol of the mother goddess, just as bowls, jars, and pots have been. Cast-iron, three-legged pots are still produced for decorative and occult purposes, but I don’t recommend trying to cook in a cauldron unless you have an open hearth and plenty of time. It takes hours to boil water in one of these big iron pots.

## About

Usually an iron pot, the cauldron is a tool of witches and sorcerers. In European witch lore, the cauldron was the receptacle in which poisons, ointments and philtres were brewed. Wiccans may have cauldrons, but use them for burning fires and incense in rituals or for decoration in the home. If used in rituals, the cauldron is placed on the witches’ altar inside the magic circle. As a vessel, it is a feminine symbol and is associated with the womb of the Mother Goddess.

The cauldron has had a magical significance throughout history. In the lore of ancient Ireland, magic cauldrons never ran out of food at a feast. The early Celts associated cauldrons with fertility and abundance, and revival of the dead. Cauldrons were used in human sacrifice— the victims had their throats slashed over the bowls, or were drowned or suffocated in them. The Cauldron of Regeneration, of death and rebirth, the receptacle of souls and the source of inspiration, is associated with the Celtic goddesses Cerridwen and Branwen and with the Babylonian fate-goddess, Siris, who stirred the mead of regeneration in the cauldron of the heavens. Cerridwen’s cauldron was said to provide the mead of wisdom and inspiration. Among the Celts, the priestess of the Moon goddess was required to sacrifice human victims by cutting off their heads over a silver cauldron. The blood was boiled to produce a magical drink of inspiration. The Celtic god, Cernunnos, identified with the Horned God, was torn apart and boiled in a cauldron, to be born again.

Decorations on the Gundestrup cauldron, fashioned out of silver in about 100 b.c.e. and recovered from a peat bog in Gundestrup, Denmark, depict victims being plunged headfirst into a sacrificial cauldron. Sacrificial cauldrons A witch’s cat familiar, described in the St. Osyth witches trial, 16th-century also appear in some shamanic traditions. In Norse mythology, the patriarch god, Odin, drank magic blood from a cauldron of wisdom to obtain divine power. In Greek mythology, the witch goddess, Medea, could restore people to youth in a magic cauldron. The cauldron is linked to the chalice of the Holy Grail, which became incorporated into Christian myth.

In medieval art, literature and folktales, the cauldron was in every witch’s house, set over a blazing fire. During the witch hunts, it was believed that witches stirred up vile brews made with ingredients such as bat’s blood, decapitated and flayed toads, snakes and baby fat. Before a sabbat, witches prepared their flying ointments and drugs in cauldrons. They often carried their pots to their sabbats, where they used them to boil small children for the feast. Witches could cause storms at sea by dumping the contents of their cauldrons into the ocean. One of the more bizarre cauldrons allegedly belonged to Lady Alice Kyteler, an accused Irish witch of the 14th century. Lady Alice reportedly used the skull of a beheaded robber for mixing up her poisons and potions.

According to one tale with an ironic twist, a 14th-century Scottish wizard was executed in a cauldron. William Lord Soulis, described as a pernicious wizard and perpetrator of “the most foul sorceries,” was convicted for various evil crimes and boiled to death in a cauldron. The cauldron also was an important tool of the alchemist in the search for formulas to change lead into gold or silver, and mold small gems into big ones.

## Cauldron Magick

In contemporary Witchcraft, the cauldron is an important magical tool that symbolically combines influences of the ancient elements of air, fire, water, and earth. Its shape is representative of Mother Nature, and the three legs upon which it stands correspond to the three aspects of the Triple Goddess, the three lunar phases (waxing, full and waning), and to three as a magical number. Additionally, the cauldron is a symbol of transformation (both physical and spiritual), enlightenment, wisdom, the womb, of the Mother Goddess, and rebirth.

Since early times, cauldrons have been used not only for boiling water and cooking food, but for heating magical brews, poisons, and healing potions. They have also been utilized by alchemists and by Witches as tools of divination, containers for sacred fires and incense, and holy vessels for offerings to the gods of old.
If a large cauldron is needed in a ritual, it is generally placed next to the altar, on either side. Small cauldrons, such as ones used for burning of incense, can be placed on top of the alter.

In Middle Ages, most of the population believed that all Witches possessed a large black cauldron in which poisonous brews and vile hell-broths were routinely concocted. These mixtures were said to have contained such ingredients as bat’s blood, serpent’s venom, headless toads, the eyes of newts, and a gruesome assortment of animal and human body parts, as well as deadly herbs and roots.

In fourteenth-century Ireland, a Witch known as Lady Alice Kyteler was said to have used the enchanted skull of a beheaded thief as her cauldron. Also in the fourteenth century, a male Witch by the name of William Lord Soulis was convicted in Scotland for a number of sorcery-related offenses. His peculiar form of execution was death by being boiled alive in a huge cauldron.

According to an old legend, if a sorceress dumped the vile contents of her cauldron into the sea, a great tempest would be stirred up. Ancient Irish folklore is rich with tales of wondrous cauldrons that never run out of food at a feast, while an old Gypsy legend told of a brave hero who was boiled in a cauldron filled with the milk of man-eating mares. It is said that bad luck will befall any Witch who brews a potion in a cauldron belonging to another. If the lid is accidentally left off the cauldron while a magical brew is prepared, this portends the arrival of a stranger, according to a superstitious belief from Victorian-era England. The cauldron and its powers are associated with many goddesses from preChristian faiths, including Hecate (the protectress of all Witches), Demeter/Persephone (in the Eleusinian mysteries), the Greek enchantresses Circe and Medea, Siris (the Babylonian goddess of fate and mother of the stars, whose cauldron was made of lapis lazuli), the Celtic goddess Cerridwen, from whose cauldron bubbled forth the gifts of wisdom and inspiration.

Although the cauldron has traditionally been a symbol of the divine feminine since the earliest of times, there exist a number of male deities from various Pagan pantheons who also have a connection to it. Among them are the Norse god Odin (who acquired his shape-shifting powers by drinking from the cauldron of wise blood), the Hindu sky god Indra (whose myth is similar to Odin’s), Bran the Blessed (the Welsh god of the sacred cauldron), and Cernunnos (the Celtic horned god who was dismembered and boiled in a cauldron to be reborn).

Depicted on the famous Gunderstrup cauldron (circa 100 B.C.) is the staghorned Cernunnos in various scenes with different animals. Believed by many to be of Celtic origin, this large silver cauldron may have once been used in sacrificial rites.

The use of sacrificial cauldrons can be traced to the ancient religious and magical practices of various European cultures, as well as to some shamanic traditions. Human and animal victims would first be beheaded over the cauldrons and then have their blood drained out into the cauldron, where it would be boiled to produce a mystical substance. Among the Celts, a potion of inspiration was said to have been brewed in such a manner by the priestess of the lunar goddess.

The cauldron is linked to the Holy Grail – a chalice that is believed by Christians to have been used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper. However, prior to its incorporation into Christian myth in the twelfth century, the Grail belonged to British paganism as a symbol of reincarnation and the divine womb of the Goddess.

## Cauldron Divination

Divination is an art that has been practised in one form or another since ancient times and in all levels of culture.

There are a number of ways in which a cauldron can be used for divining. One method is to fill the cauldron with water or wine and place it between two burning candles or under the bright silver rays of the Full Moon. Relax, clear your mind of all distracting thoughts, and then gaze into the cauldron as you would a crystal ball. As with other forms of scrying, your vision will begin to blur after a while and a slight haze will begin to materialize. Keep your gaze focused and eventually a vision, either of actual or symbolic nature, may be revealed to you.
To determine good or bad omens, according to an old Pagan method, place a cauldron on the ground and burn some incense (traditionally frankincense) or a handful of dried herbs in it. Mugwort, rose petals, vervain, and yarrow are popular herbs of divination among Witches. If the smoke rises straight up to the heavens, this indicates a good omen. If it does not rise or if it touched the ground, this indicates a bad one.