Celtic Women's Spirituality: Accessing the Cauldron of Life - Edain McCoy 1998

The Threefold Blessing: Group Ritual

The ritual in this chapter has no origins that can be positively pinpointed. It may be more accurate to call this blessing a Celticstyle ritual rather than a Celtic ritual. I first saw similar blessings used in the early 1980s, and the Irish coven of which I was part in the late 1980s had its own version. While this blessing cannot be said to be ancient in form, it is certainly ancient in symbolism, and it is possible that similar ones were used by Celtic women.

The Threefold Blessing incorporates two important Celtic feminine archetypes, the Triple Goddess and the cauldron. The Irish coven I belonged to when I lived in Texas made use of this blessig settings. It was always part of our initiation rituals and our coming-of-age rites, and was employed frequently during healings. I introduced it to the women’s group I briefly worked with and found it took on an added sense of mystery in the all-female setting.

The Threefold Blessing requires only one tool—a cauldron of some type containing a small amount of salted water. Do not use more than a few pinches of salt since it is corrosive and can damage carpets, clothes, and grass. A chalice can be substituted for the cauldron, but I feel this detracts from the deeper meaning of the blessing. The cauldron is such an important archetype in Celtic spirituality, representing the womb of the Goddess and a portal to the Otherworld, that trying to use anything else just does not have the same impact on the mind and soul. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on a cauldron or set out to find something fancy to use. The symbolic impact is the same whether you have a $10 cauldron or a $1,000 one. Even the plastic cauldrons, found cheaply in every grocery and drug store around Halloween, will suffice. This is what I use and it has always served me well.

The blessing as it is written here requires at least four women participants—one to be blessed, and three women to portray each aspect of the Triple Goddess. It can be easily reworked for use by fewer women, or even by solitaries. For instance, two women can do this with one playing all the Goddess roles and blessing the other. Then they can reverse roles, so that both can receive the blessing. A solitary can offer the blessing to herself by rewording the ritual so that she is calling the blessing of each Goddess aspect into herself, rather than having the deities address her. Of course, this blessing can also be adapted to suit larger covens or mixed-gender group workings.

The Threefold Blessing

You may plan to do this blessing at any point within any ritual. I feel it works best as a closing element, but you should place it where it feels right to you or to the other women with whom you are working.

At the appropriate time, bring the woman (or women) to be blessed into the center of the circle or ritual space, and have the three women who are going to be portraying the Triple Goddess take the cauldron and stand be fore her. They speak in unison as they hold the cauldron before them.

Triple Goddess (in unison):

Behold my cauldron! Through it I give life and nourishment, death and rest, regeneration and renewal. To look into its depths is to peer into my womb, to see all time and space, and to know the unity and eternalness of me. To accept my blessing is to enter into my mysteries.

Virgin:

Blessed be the water—my blood from which all life emerges.

Mother:

Blessed be the salt—my body which nourishes and sustains.

Crone:

Blessed be the cauldron—my eternal womb which creates, and destroys, and creates anew.

Triple Goddess (in unison):

(Each placing one hand in the water and stirring in a clockwise motion.) Water and salt, blood and earth. Life, death, and rebirth. All these I created, and by these I bless her who follows me.

The person portraying the virgin aspect removes her damp hand from the cauldron and stands in front of the woman to be blessed.

Virgin:

Do you know me?

Woman being blessed:

You are the Triple Goddess—the virgin.

The virgin kneels in front of the woman to be blessed and touches the salted water to her feet.

Virgin:

By my blood I bless your feet that you may always walk the right pathway as you travel this life. May your feet lead you boldly into new ventures and bring you safely home again. May you walk in beauty and confidence, in sacredness and truth, boldly and freely as befits a warrior among women. Blessed be, sister.

The virgin aspect retreats to stand with the other aspects as the mother aspect removes her damp hand from the cauldron and stands in front of the woman being blessed.

Mother:

Do you know me?

Woman being blessed:

You are the Triple Goddess—the mother.

The mother leans over and places her damp hand low on the woman’s stomach, at the level of her womb.

Mother:

By my body I bless your womb, your creative center, so that fertility and fruitfulness shall be part of every aspect of your life, both the inner and outer world. May all you touch grow, all you dream flourish, and all you hope for richly manifest. May all you achieve allow you to grow in strength, in power, and in confidence, as befits a warrior among women. Blessed be, daughter.

The mother aspect retreats to stand in line with the others while the crone aspect removes her damp hand from the cauldron and comes to stand in front of the woman being blessed.

Crone:

Do you know me?

Woman being blessed:

You are the Triple Goddess—the crone.

The crone stands as eye-to-eye with the woman as possible—she kneels to no one—and places her damp hand on the woman’s forehead.

Crone:

By my womb which gives and takes, I bless your head that you may find your inner wisdom. I cannot give you that which you do not already possess, but I can show you the way to find that which is within you, warrior among women. I bless you that you may think clearly, seek knowledge, and come to understand my mysteries and how they work in your life and in the universe. Know that you are connected to all things. You are mine, as all that is, was, or ever shall be, is mine. Like you they came from me, and like you, to me they shall return. Go forth, my warrior, and be wise. Blessed be, my warrior child.

If you are working with a large women’s group, you may have another woman come to the center of the circle to be blessed, and so on, until all have had their tum. A nice finishing touch for this ritual is to have each woman in tum tell the various aspects of the Triple Goddess how her blessings have so far been manifesting in her life. This is also a way of offering the Triple Goddess a blessing in return.

When you are finished with the ritual in which this blessing was used, dispose of the water as befits a sacred object. Pour it onto or into an appropriate place. If you feel you must pour it down a common drain, do so with the clear visualization that it is somehow returning to its source—the Goddess.