Ceridwen (Old Welsh *Cyrridwen*) combines cyrrid (crooked) and (g)wen (white, blessed). **The Welsh goddess-witch of inspiration, transformation, and the bardic awen** — keeper of the **cauldron of awen, the source of poetic genius**. **She brewed a year-and-a-day potion for her ugly son Morfran**, but the boy Gwion Bach licked three drops by accident and gained all wisdom — fleeing through shape-shifts until he was swallowed by Ceridwen and reborn as **Taliesin, the greatest bard in Welsh tradition.**
Featured in the *Hanes Taliesin* (the Tale of Taliesin).
Ceridwen reduces to nine — the number of bardic awen.