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(and the spelling of Llewelyn)

WORD TO THE WISE!

GENERAL INFORMATION AND FAIR USE:  The idea of a free press in America is one that we hold in the highest regard. We believe in bringing our site visitors the widest possible array of information about Welsh Witchcraft, Metaphysical Information and Freedom of Religion that comes to our attention. We have great trust and respect for the American People of every religion, and our worldwide Pagan audience, and believe them to be fully-capable of making their own decisions and discerning their own realities.

Thank you for visiting.  Enjoy.

  RELIGIOUS PRACTICES AND BELIEFS: The practices, principles and beliefs, depicted on this homepage represent a Welsh Tradition of Witchcraft.  They are, for the most part, from one tradition:  Dynion Mwyn, a Welsh branch of Witchcraft of North Wales.  The information found on these web pages does not apply to any other religion but Witchcraft or with any other tradition but that of Dynion Mwyn.  We do not claim to be historical experts on the Welsh nation, we are not experts in the language and may have grammatical errors on our Welsh language page, if you see a grammatical error please call it to our attention; we do not claim to have known what was in the heart and mind of Llewelyn the Last, the last great Prince of Wales who died in an ambush by forces of King Edward, in 1282.  We have derived our beliefs from oral traditions and written documents in the possession of a single Welsh Family.   And no, you cannot contact them for the reason you are asking.  They don't wish to be harassed.

  RUMORS: It is inevitable that there will be rumors about us - it's unavoidable since we are controversial, publicly known and there are many that are jealous of our success.  We have heard many amusing rumors over the years, and not so amusing ones!  Our policy is to expose rumors 'by the light'.  In our experience they are like a virus which relies on damp, dark places to survive and die when exposed to the light of truth.   Usually we attack the rumor not the rumor monger because in our experience most rumors are self-defeating and tell you more about the purveyor of the rumor than the person the are aimed at.  The exception is when slander occurs accusing us of illegal acts; we respond with appropriate action as anyone would.

  OTHER RELIGIONS:  We are Welsh Witches. We do not 'hate' other religions including TRUE Christianity or other true spiritual paths. The enemy is fundamentalism even when it exists within Paganism. A Witch should be comfortable in any place of worship and should see the similarities rather than the differences between religions

  SPELLING OF LLEWELLYN.  In doing our research. We have come to the inescapable conclusion that most people in Wales have a problem with the spelling of Prince Llewelyn (we believe his bards were the source of our tradition).

As an example:

"The spelling of the name, Llewellyn, has fluctuated over the years, alternating between Llewellyn (with four l's), Llewelyn (with three l's), and Llywelyn. However, for the past fifty years Llewellyn has been accepted as the norm, not with the profound conviction that this is correct, but primarily to ensure uniformity"

"United Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of England; Province of South Wales, Eastern Division; Cardiff, Wales Prince Llewellyn Lodge No. 2570 Warrant date 25th June 1895"

So what are we to make of this? Those of Welsh Blood and Welsh ancestry have a problem with the spelling. From now on, Llewellyn or Llewelyn will be acceptable to us.

  HOW ARE WE RELATED TO OTHER SITES CLAIMING TO BE OF WELSH WITCHCRAFT AND?OR GWYDDON ORIENTATION?  Please do NOT confuse us with other Internet Sites claiming to be Welsh Witches.  Some are very positive.  Some are very negative.  And some are rather silly!  But you will have to discover which is which on your own.  We can only suggest.   It's a learning experience.

WHERE ARE WELSH COVENS AND GROVES AND STUDY GROUPS?  We are actually everywhere and can be found near Cardiff and Denbigh, Wales; New South Wales, Australia; Patagonia, Argentina; London, England, Cincinnati Ohio, New York, Florida, Rhode Island, California, and Massachusetts.

  WELSH CULTURE AND LANGUAGE: We cannot say strongly enough that the information in this Homepage or in our books, or our courses, is not a substitute for learning the Welsh culture first hand at a school in Wales if you are of school age.   If you are an adult, our suggestion first would be to join a Welsh oriented news group or Study Group.  If you are interested in joining our controversial religion, you will need to study with a knowledgeable High Priest or High Priestess, and if you wish to experience the religion, you should locate a reputable Welsh Coven in your area.  Seekers: you should consult your spiritual guides and look deep inside yourself regarding any of the information you read here so that you will be working correctly within your own karmic line.  This Site and Tradition is in NO WAY connected to other individuals and groups claiming to be "GWYDDON" or "Welsh Traditional Witches" or "Welsh Atheists" who have a personal agenda which involves slandering and defaming our religion.   We in NO WAY claim to be a spokesperson for Welsh Historians and people who believe in the "PC or party line." 

  GOD, GODDESS AND GREAT SPIRIT:  We consider ourselves to be polytheists as well as duality believers. We see the Great Spirit as immanent and therefore in ourselves as well as in nature.  We work with several Welsh god and goddess forms; elementals from nature, and ancestral spirits.  We regard them as REAL spirit forms and personalities.  To us, everything is The Great Spirit, and we and the God and Goddess are part of it.  And we always honor the duality of nature for there cannot be a Goddess without a God.

THE OLD WAYS: Over the past fifty years there has been a great resurgence of belief in "The Old Ways". This has meant that with popularity has come a tendency of some people to counterfeit that which they wish they were. Hundreds of different Pagan religions and traditions appear and disappear each year, usually with the appearance of a Book or Movie that has become popular.   Some seekers form false or pseudo-covens because they have just seen the film "The Craft", and want to have control over the person who's just ditched them, or they have seen "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" and want to be able to change their dress in an instant, or they have seen "Charmed" and want to win the lottery, or they just watched "Practical Magick" and wanted Sandra Bullock's powers, or they were watching reruns of "Bewitched" and got excited about the prospects of twitching their nose.  No matter what reasons they have for being a "wannabe", they fail when confronted with reality.

ORIGINS OF WITCHCRAFT AND WICCA:   We believe there are true traditions of Witchcraft which were founded hundreds if not thousands of years ago with a connection to the earth. Some are English, some are Irish, some are Italian and yes, some are Welsh.   Our founder was initiated in 1966 by a descendant of two families in North Wales who practiced a form of Witchcraft.   Because there are only a few members of these families left and they would rather not be attacked by their neighbors, we will have to wait a few more years to hear the "rest of the story".  Modern Wicca on the other hand does not go back much beyond the 1940's (See Below).  This does not invalidate Wicca, since the underlying philosophy is true and valid, even in today's modern society.  Wicca is a dynamic, evolving tradition which will survive. We believe that Crowley, Parsons, Gardner, Sanders etc. did what needed to be done during their period of history, and Wicca is the result.

  TRUE TRADITIONS AND DYNION MWYN: The Welsh Dynion Mwyn Tradition in its essence is related to Wicca, or Wiccae, or Wica in the same way distant cousins are related. Wicca was founded by Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente between 1939 and the 1960s, and derived from an older New Forest tradition of Witchcraft in England.  But, a large number of Witchcraft "Traditions" which claim a Pre Gardnerian origin are still only copying information which they have researched out of old books and are actually Gardnerian in philosophy.  Some of these traditions claim to be Welsh. There is no problem with that, except those same traditions defame and slander anyone else that may also have a claim.   The Welsh families and the Pagan traditions that our religion derives from, have been around since at least the 1200's. We believe that they in turn derived their basic religious practices from Pictish and Druidic origins.  The surviving practicing members of the family now live in Wales, England, Scotland, Australia and Argentina. 

  MODERN FOUNDERS: The modern founders of Dynion Mwyn are a good example of members of a Welsh Craft family who chose to live outside Wales.   Taliesin and Patricia, brother and sister, were among the last family members to practice the Old Religion.  Although Taliesin wanted to return to the Gwyder Valley where he was born, he retired to an Island off the coast of Scotland in 1998 where he died in January 2000.   His sister Patricia decided that the New Wales was too English for her and moved to London in 1997.  They were both retired and in their 70s when they passed to Summerland.   Their family is also dying.  Although there are over thirty new Elders of Dynion Mwyn in Wales, none of them are members of "The Families".   These new members were all Adopted into the tribe of Dynion Mwyn in Wales, and make their home there.  They are also more secretive than in the U.S., because of past incidences of Witchwars, and persecutions by so called Welsh neo-pagans. See Plagerize.

  EXISTING WELSH TRADITIONS: There are at least eleven traditions that are authentic and call themselves Gwyddon, and/or describe themselves as a Welsh Tradition on the internet.  Some derive their lineage from Prince Llewelyn's Bards, some from the Druids which were chased from Anglesey in 59 A.D., and others from accurate research into Welsh mythology and history.  If you know of any others, please let us know.

1)Dynion Mwyn,which is our Mother tradition in Wales, and founded by Taliesin einion Vawr,

2)Y Ygraisal Cymry, (Plant Math): a very private group practicing on the Isle of Anglesey;

3)Y Tylluan Gwydion,a secretive group with a cenedl (Coven) located near Cardiff Wales.

4) Plant Branwen, another secretive group located in North East Wales.

                    WELSH

5) Dynion Mwyn - USA founded  in the late sixties by Rhuddlwm Gawr, incorporated in Georgia in 2003 and derived from the  Dynion Mwyn family of Wales.  They represent several cenedl's around the United States;  

6) Y Tylwyth Teg is the first Welsh Dynion Mwyn tradition founded in the United States in 1966, incorporated in 1977, by Rhuddlwm Gawr, is autonomous and makes its home in Kennesaw Georgia.  It is led by Lady Cerridwen.  They have students all over the country.

7) Y Tylwyth Tylluan is a sister Tradition of Y Dynion Mwyn.  They are a Cincinnati, Ohio-based cenedl of a Welsh Tradition founded in the early eighties. The parent cenedl is located in Columbus, Ohio. They offer their services to the community as teachers, ministers and as a resource.  Y Tylwyth Tylluan is lead by Lady Maeve;   

8) Nemeton founded by Gwyddion Penderwen in the late sixties and derived from a family tradition in South Wales.   Nemeton is no longer a spiritual organization, but the name has been recently used by the Church of All Worlds as a Publishing Arm.

CELTIC/WELSH

9)The Welsh Rite Gwyddonaid, a Welsh/Celtic offshoot tradition of the New York Welsh Traditionalist Wicca (NYWTW) originally founded by Herman Slater and Hermes back in the early seventies and derived from Gwen Thompsons New England Celtic Tradition.  The Welsh Rite Gwyddonaid is a Welsh/Celtic Tradition of Wicca, worshipping a Welsh Pantheon of Gods and Goddesses. Gwyddonaid, roughly translated from Welsh means "Tree Witch". The elements which currently make up the Welsh Rite were fragmented and scattered until Lord Gwion pulled them together in 1993. Lord Gwion blended the New York Welsh Traditionalist Wicca (NYWTW) with its original sources forming a cohesive, fully functional Tradition which is known as the Welsh Rite Gwyddonaid.

10) WTW an offshoot of The New York Welsh Tradition located near Boston founded in the early eighties; 

11) Covenant of Rhiannon Community, The Witches of Cape May; 

All except for a few of the above listed groups have been in continuous operation for a number of years.  All describe their religion as A Welsh or Welsh Celtic Witchcraft Tradition, with their essence and roots derived from the Land, Lineage, Language and the Culture of the Welsh Nation.   If you are interested in a Welsh orientation to your pagan beliefs, visit the above sites and look them over.  If you know of a Welsh group which should be listed here, please click HERE to contact us..

  WE NEED MORE WELSH TRADITIONS: We have no problem with other groups which may call themselves a Welsh Witchcraft Tradition.  We say, "lets have onehundred and twenty Welsh Traditions!!!".  The more the merrier.  Unfortunately, because of individual inflated ego's and invented scandals, a large number of Pagans AND Christians who should know better, would rather take part in gossip, character assassination and slander, than in a spiritual Quest for the truth.  If you are not sure of a Welsh group, or are looking for a history of a particular Welsh Witchcraft group, contact:  dynionmwyn23@hotmail.com   and send them your question.   They have a database of over sixty groups claiming a Welsh heritage.  Some of these groups and leaders are real but a large number are not.  Most are harmless and are founded on ethical principals.  Some are very unethical and practice a form of Satanism.  They are Charlatans (CLICK HERE).

  WE ONLY REPRESENT OURSELVES: Obviously Y Dynion Mwyn represents only ourselves and no other group, tradition, tribe, coven, et al. We would encourage everyone who holds an interest in Welsh pagan traditions to visit all of these other Sites and decide for themselves which seems more attractive and matches their own philosophy.  Y Dynion Mwyn is not for everyone.   All we can do is offer an introduction to our Tradition and let you then judge for yourself if our honesty and integrity meet your criteria, and is of value to your Spiritual Development.  We are not interested in attracting interest and boosting the numbers of our membership.  Our site already receives well over 2500 visitors a day.  We are answering tons of e-mail asking for information about Welsh Witchcraft. 

  TRAINING IN THE COVEN:  Training is the most important factor in Witchcraft. The learning process never stops, even after death. There is no one person who knows everything about Witchcraft. Some people are just a little farther down the path. For us, the Coven provides a forum for training and brother/sisterhood.

  WITCH WARS:  Our views on Witchwars is that it is not our policy to get involved in disputes and conflict situations between individuals or groups.  We rarely know both sides of the story.  Nor are we particularly interested. We prefer to remain neutral in situations where we are not directly involved. We make sure that BOTH parties know this when this occurs. For our views on Witchwars CLICK HERE.   Remember, you cannot change the views of your enemies; only your friends.

  PREJUDICE:   We do not accept prejudice of any kind, be it homophobic, racist, sexist etc. We do not believe that prejudices should be tolerated, and feel they go against the our principles and ethics.

  THE MYSTERIES: We believe the Spiritual Mysteries are intrinsic part of Dynion Mwyn/Welsh Witchcraft. This is important because when the Mysteries are revealed to the seeker, the first thing that happens is the seeker is changed.  It is therefore impossible to be a Welsh Witch without having to go through periods of self-development and personal growth. We work the nine mysteries related to the level system.

  SELF INITIATION:   We do not believe there is such a thing as 'self-initiation', because we believe initiation comes from the Gods.  We believe that the Gods will not initiate you until you have learned the Mysteries.   Therefore, if you perform an initiation by yourself and have not learned the mysteries, how can it be 'self initiation' when it is deity that initiates you!  Nor do we believe you can 'self-initiate' yourself into any tradition such as Dynion Mwyn or Gardnerian or Alexandrian - their initiates must meet certain requirements, and you must abide by the rules of those traditions.  In most books that promote Self Initiation, what they are really describing is self dedication.

  SEXUAL INITIATION:  It is important that any coven who uses sexual initiation, should inform the student at the beginning of their studies about its use. We believe in the policy of informed consent.  The student must be given the choice to participate or not and if they do not agree to its use they may walk away and find another coven/initiator.  Sexual initiation must always be safe and consensual.   

  WITCHES DO NOT BELIEVE IN SATAN, MUCH LESS WORSHIP SUCH AN EVIL IDEA:  Real Witches of any nationality do not connect themselves to Satan, Lucifer or a Devil as an object of worship - these are Christian heresies.   Satanists rationalize their choice of affiliation with Lucifer or Satan by saying that "It was mentioned in the confessions of those accused of Witchcraft during the Inquisitions, so it must be right!!"   WRONG!!!  A large number of the people who died during the inquisition were NOT Witches.  They were Christians who had a land dispute with their neighbor.  They were the strange old ladies who healed people with their herbs.   They were the attractive single females who were killed because they looked at someone's husband the wrong way.  Why mostly women?  Few men were killed as Witches.  Most of the Inquisitors claimed that it was a "known" fact that only women were Witches.  Yes, there were Witches killed during the inquisition.   But, most of them talked about a Goddess or God of Nature, not a Devil.

  WHERE DO THE NEGATIVE IDEAS ABOUT WITCHCRAFT COME FROM:  During the Inquisition, Confessions were tortured out of the accused, and it was very easy to put words into the mouths of those tortured, i.e. "If you will just say that you had sex with the devil we will give you a quick death!"  or  "If you will just say that you worship Satan and fly with the Devil, there will be an end to your suffering" or "When you spoke of the Goddess, you really meant The Devil, isn't that right?".  In medieval Wales, basic Witchcraft was "of the people".  These were people who were more interested in growing adequate food for their families than in trying to make a pact with "the devil."  Real Witches practice a religion emphasizing Mother Earth, and promoting a linking with Nature, not Satanism.  BUT we also have self serving pagans who wish to bring down a coven, religion, leader, etc., which they have a dispute with.  They lie about, and slander any one they disagree with.  These are petty, unhappy, insecure people who want power at the expense of truth and honor.

  SEXUALITY:  Our view is: 'all acts of love and pleasure are mine' sayeth the Goddess and this applies to all safe, sane and consensual forms of sexuality.  For us sexuality is a personal, spiritual thing, as with most witches, and should be treated with maturity. We consider sexual manipulation, rape, pedophilia and other sexual crimes to be an anathema to the Goddess.

  HOW DO YOU SEPARATE THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF?  If you are confused by the claims of other "Witchcraft" or "Wicca" groups, look elsewhere in these pages for definitions, descriptions and contacts with Real Witchcraft groups which practice their religion without relying on Personal Attacks, Brainwashing and Cult type behavior to keep their members, or surf the net.  Remember "Caveat Emptor," "Let The Buyer Beware."

Then http://www.dynionmwyn.net/dynionmwyn23.html

Then http://www.dynionmwyn.net/welsh1.html

Then http://www.dynionmwyn.net/index.html

Then http://www.dynionmwyn.net/dynionmwyn/lesson1/thirteen1a.html

For More information: contact us

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Brief History of the Welsh Faerie Folk	What is the Ogham Alphabet?
What is Welsh Witchcraft?	Are there trees sacred to Witchcraft?
What is the difference between Shamanism and Druidism?	Do Witches perform Human Sacrifice?
What is the Faerie Faith?	What is Wicca?
What God's do Welsh Witches Worship?	What are Druids?
What are the Precepts of Merlin and Taliesin	What is the Difference between Witchcraft and Druidism?
What is Reincarnation?	What were the Sacred animals of Witches and the Druids?
What are the Tylwyth Teg Symbols?	Was Stonehenge built by the Druids?
What are the Welsh Witchcraft Holy Days?	Did the Druids build Glastonbury?
Is there a Welsh Celtic and Druidic Timeline	Did Druids build any of the Sacred Sites?
What is a Seeker?	Are there Modern Druid Organizations?
What is a Neophyte	Are there Modern Witchcraft Organizations?
Is there a List of Witchcraft Words and Terms?	What is a Priest or Priestess
Do Witches worship Nature?	What are the Celtic Nations?
Where are Welsh Resources?

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Author:  Boudicca Copyright © 1977, 1992, 2003 by Church of Dynion Mwyn.   All rights reserved. Revised: 16 Apr 2009 17:35:41 -0400

For information on all individuals and organizations listed in this website, or the name of a contact person in your area that can give you further information on the Church of Dynion Mwyn, contact Laura. Let us hear from you! You may also call us at 000-000-0000 If you access our voice mail, we will call you back collect if long distance. Or, you can write to Laura at: Dynion Mwyn, P.O. Box 672125, Marietta, GA 30006-0036

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