The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

I
148 HISTORY OF INITIATION
will not receive thee. Take out the gloomy one. From
my territory have I alienated the useful steed; my
revenge upon the shoal of earthworms is, their hopeless
longing for the pleasant allotment. Out of the receptacle
which is thy aversion did I obtain the Eainbow." 71
But the fearless aspirant who surmounted all these
dangers was triumphantly received from the water on
May eve72 by the Arch-druid, the representative of
G-widdno, and his companions, and unhesitatingly announced
his own inspiration by proclaiming himself
capable
to foretell future events. Thus the three
precious drops of efficacious water from the cauldron
of Ceridwen ; or, in other words, the three mysterious
degrees, were no sooner attained, than the candidate
received the undisputed power of vaticination in its
highest form. 73 The fermented contents of the cauldron
were reputed poisonous, after the three efficacious drops
had been disengaged from the boiling vessel, and appropriated
to the fortunate aspirant, which referred to the
doctrine of regeneration ; for the refuse of the concoc-
tion was supposed to be deeply impregnated with all
the impurities of which the renovated novice was now
disburdened. But the three drops in which the accumulated
virtues of the cauldron were concentrated, had the
reputation of conveying, not only unlimited wisdom and
knowledge, but also the inestimable gift of immortality.
The completion of the Three Degrees was termed
being thrice born; the adept thenceforward was denomi-
71 Welsh Archseol., vol. L, p. 165. Dav. Druid., p. 251.
72 The following custom may have originated from an indistinct
tradition of this ceremony. "Near Clifton is a famous spring where
xhe people go annually every May-day to drink, by a custom beyond
all remembrance ; they hold it an earnest of good luck in the ensuing
year to be there and drink of the water before sunrise." (Stukeley.
Itin. Cur., vol. ii., p. 45.)
73 How questionable soever these powers might be, they conferred
an actual superiority on the initiated, which he seldom failed to exert
to his own personal advantage. Let us raise our hands in devout
gratitude to Him who brought life and immortality to light, for
delivering us from the power of such a gross and dreadful superstition
as that under which the first occupiers of our soil were
enthralled !
74 In a poem of Taliesin, to which I have often referred, he pronounces
himself thrice born after the concluding scene of his initiation.
First he was born of his natural parent; then from the