Tag: Ogddu

Ogddu ‘Black Cave’ – Devotional Art

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Oggdu ‘Black Cave’ is not known from existing Brythonic myths or folklore but has come through to be me as the mother of Orwen, ‘Very White’, who was the mother of Orddu, ‘Very Black’. They were a lineage of ‘witches’ who lived in a cave in Pennant Gofid, in the north, and had associations with Gwyn ap Nudd, a King of Annwn.

Ogddu first came through as a name, then as a voice, now finally in an image. I wasn’t sure how she was going to look until I started drawing. I’m not sure how she lost her eye(s). A story waiting to be told or a mystery that will never be known?

The Voice of the Dark Cave

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I.
You are not perfect
distant daughter of mine

and life is filled with lumps
and bumps and knots and cracks.

There will always be problems.
You will learn to solve them.

There will always be pain.
You will learn to heal.

That is the secret of our art –
of the inspired one and the witch.

II.
There is a cauldron in the cave
and a vision in the cauldron,

the lining of the womb
of Old Mother of Universe

and this is the Web of Fate.
You are the needle travelling

in and out of the weft of time
to re-weave the tapestry.

III.
You are not perfect
distant daughter of mine

and life is filled with perils
worse than the monsters of Annwn.

One-eyed giants, eyeless, blind.
You will learn not only to face

but to help these things
that should not have been made –

to help them return to the dark
of the Old Mother’s womb.

IV.
A universe is in the cauldron
and the cauldron is in you

kindled by the breath
of ninefold wise women,

by wisdom of the ancestors.
In it our visions boil and brew.

Be a strong vessel distant child
so this old world can be born anew.

These words were received from Ogddu on a spirit journey to the Cave of the Ancestors this morning. I believe Ogddu to be the mother of Orwen and grandmother of Orddu. Her name derives from ogof ddu ‘black cave’ and one of her epithets is ‘the Voice of the Dark Cave’. Receiving this poem from her confirmed that my choice to walk Orddu’s path and to begin working more deeply with this lineage of Inspired Ones of the North (who I perceive to be spiritual ancestors rather than blood ancestors) is the right one.