Coire Sois

Cauldron of Wisdom / Knowledge

Coire Sois — the Cauldron of Wisdom, sited high in the body. The poem says it is born inverted in most people: it pours nothing out until it is righted, and only the events of a contemplative life — or great poetic and spiritual labour — can right it. In the Cauldron of Poesy this is the vessel of imbas, of poetic inspiration that arrives whole; it is the source of fír-flatha, the true judgement that filidh and brehons were trained to render. It is what the modern Druidic movement has tried to recover under the name awen. The text is precise: it is not given freely; it is born upside-down, and to right it is the work of a life.