t thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest except God be with him.' Jesus answered and said
unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be
born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb
and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit."

Water is one of the most general religious mother symbols (baptism). With
the earliest alchemists the brazen man becomes silver, the silver man,
gold, by being dipped in the holy fountain.

A mythological representation of introversion with its danger and with
regeneration was given previously [see Vishnu's adventure]. Detailed
examples follow; first the Celtic myth of the birth of Taliesin.

In olden times there was a man of noble parentage in Peelyn named Tegid
Voel. His ancestral country was in the center of the lake of Tegid. His
wife was called Ceridwen. Of her he had a son, Morvram ap Tegid, and a
daughter, Creirwy, the fairest maiden in the world. These two had another
brother, the ugliest of all beings, named Avagddu. Ceridwen, the mother of
this ill favored son, well knew that he would have little success in
society, although he was endowed with many fine qualities. She determined
to prepare a kettle [introversion] for her son, so that on account of his
skill in looking into the future [Siddhi] he should find entrance into
society. The kettle of water began to boil [cooking of the child in the
uterus vessel] and the cooking had to be continued without interruption
till one could get three blessed drops from the gifts of the Spirit
[treasure]. She set Gwyon, the son of Gwreang of Llanveir, to watch the
preparation of the kettle, and appointed a blind man [mutilation or
castration] named Morda to keep alight the fire under the kettle, with the
command that he should not permit the interruption of the boiling for a
year and a day. [Cf. the activity of the wanderer in the parable, Sec. 14
ff.] Meanwhile Ceridwen occupied herself with the stars, watched daily the
movement of the planets, and gathered herbs of all varieties that
possessed peculiar powers [Siddhis]. Towards the end of the year, while
she was still looking for herbs,