Wordsworth, the poet, complained that not one English mountain "...though 'round our sea-girt shore they rise in crowds..." had been "...by the celestial Muses glorified...." But, thanks to the scholars who have unveiled the ancient Gaelic and British mythologies, and to our own religion of Y Dynion Mwyn, such is no longer true. On Ludgate Hill in England once stood temples to the British Zeus. A mountain not far from Bettws-y-Coed, Wales was the British Olympus, the court and palace of our ancient pantheon.

The stories have lived in legend with the gods portrayed as kings of ancient Britain reigning in the fabulous pre-Roman past; such as Ludd, founder of London; Brennius, who conquered Rome, and many others. They lived on as long-dead saints of the early churches in Wales and Britain whose wonderful adventures are only those of their namesakes, the Old Gods of Prydain, told anew.

The elemental powers of earth and fire, and the spirits who haunted the streams and winds appear again as kings and saints in the Welsh stories. To trace these kings, saints and princes to the powers of earth, water, air and fire, and to reveal the Pagan deities under the Christian romance trappings of good King Arthur and his Knights, will be one of the objectives of this lesson.

What evidence is there of Y Dynion Mwyn? The evidence is contained in parchment and vellum manuscripts long preserved from destruction in mansions and monasteries in England, Wales and Scotland ... These include the renown "Thirteen books of mystery" kept by the followers of Y Dynion Mwyn. Others which allude to our ancient religion are to be found in various libraries and museums.

The earliest of these which can be dated are the Irish manuscripts which comprise Celtic mythology. The books of Dun Cow preserved the romances of the Old Gods and heroes of Ireland. The Book of Leinster supplements the books of the Dun Cow. Others include the Book of Ballymote, Yellow Book of Lecan, and Books of Lecan and Lismore. Unfortunately, many now are only fragmented manuscripts.

Scottish manuscripts corroborate the Irish documents. These two country's stories, added to the Cuchulainn saga, detail the deeds of Finn, Ossian and the Fenians. They contain stories of other characters more ancient than Finn or Cuchulainn, the Tuatha De Danaan, the goddess tribe of the ancient Gaels.

Welsh manuscripts embody the same time period as the Irish and Scottish. Four of these are the most important, The Black Book of Caermarthen, The Book of Aneurin, "The Book of Taliesin, and the Red Book of Hergest. Within these sacred writings are the ancient triads, the ancient poems of the bards, and the Mabinogion, which is a collection of ancient Welsh mythology fashioned to the then-current Arthurian romances.

Within Y Dynion Mwyn's Thirteen Books of Mystery are the legends, beliefs, magickal knowledge, and power of Y Dynion Mwyn. These thirteen books are named after the thirteen treasures of the Cymry, and were commissioned to be preserved in written word by Prince Llewellyn around 1275-81. Supporting the Thirteen Books are oral teachings which have been passed from offieriade to probationer for centuries. Among the oral teachings are those associated with Red Dragon Power or Psychic/Sexual energy. This is the primary power available to Witches when performing Magick.

Gaels and Welsh Celts formed the Aryan race. In this coming together, many languages mixed to be known as Indo-European. This primeval speech evolved from the original inhabitants of Hyperborea, a kingdom that sank, like Atlantis, thousands of years ago. They spoke a language similar to High Elvish. With time, this language spread to Europe and Asia. Latin, Greek, Slavic, Teutonic and Celtic languages are Aryan, as well as Persian and other Asiatic dialects, derived from the ancient "Zend" and Indian languages, originating in Sanskrit.

The priests of the Celts were the Druids, a word derived from the Sanskrit root "dru" signifying the oak tree. Celtic Druids in Gaul believed their religion descended from Britain. Therefore, Druidic students were sent to Britain to learn the Druidic doctrines at their purest source. Caesar roughly recorded the scope of the Druid teachings, "... as one of their leading dogmas, they include this: that souls are not annihilated, but pass after death from one body to another...and they hold that by this teaching, men are much encouraged to valor through disregarding the fear of death. They also discuss and impart to their young many things concerning the heavenly bodies and their movements, the size of the world and of our earth, natural science, and the influence and power of the immortal gods...." The British revered Stonehenge as its cylindrical religious center where these teachings are represented in symbolic form by stones and columns.

Druidic students trace the ancestral lineage of the Welsh gods as a primary tool of their education. These gods form three families: the children of Don, the children of Nudd, and the children of Llyr.

The children of Don are gods of the heavens. The constellation Cassiopeia is called "Don's Court." The constellation of the Northern Crown is called "Caer Arianrhod," daughter of Don. The Milky Way is called the "Castle of Gwydion," son of Don. Nudd is the equivalent of the Greek god Zeus, and in Wales, is the same as Nuada of the Silver Hand. Lludd is the god of heaven and battle, his symbol is the sun. He drives a chariot drawn by four horses. Gwyn ap Nudd, son of Nudd, is the equivalent of Finn Mac Camahil, the Irish hero. Gwyn means "white." He is a hunter of men, the god of battle and of the dead. He is the god king of Y Dynion Mwyn, and ruler of the mountain mist. Gwyn conducts the soul at the time of death to the Summerland, a place of rest and preparation for rebirth. Gwyn's rival is called Gwyrthur (Arthur) ap Greidawl (Grendel) which translates as Victor, son of Scorcher. As in all Celtic myths, we must consider the two rivals as merely aspects of the same deity, and Gwyn is, as we know, the god of summer.

Creuddylac, Welsh Persephone, is the goddess of spring and the daughter of Lludd...she is the child of the shining sky. Gwyn and Gwyrthur are rivals for the love of Creuddylac and each, in turn, steals her from the other at midsummer until (in the Welsh Arthurian tales) Arthur interferes, sends Creuddylac back to her father's house, and decrees that Gwyn and Gwyrthur "...shall fight every first of May from henceforth until the day of doom, and that whichever of them should then be conqueror, should have the maiden...." So here we have the powers of winter and summer in contest, each winning and losing a bride who represents the spring with its garlands of flowers.

Beli is the consort of Don and the father of Nudd. Don had a brother, Math, son of Mathonwy. Math means "treasure." It was a belief common to Aryan races, that wisdom and wealth came from the underworld (Atlantis). Math hands down his magickal lore to his sister's son and pupil, Gwydion...who is believed to be "Woden" or "Odin" to the Teutonic tribes of Scandinavia. Thus equipped, Gwydion became the Druid of the gods...the "master of illusion and fantasy, the teacher of all that is useful and good, the friend and helper of mankind, and the perpetual fighter against the powers of evil for the good gifts." Gwydion's brothers, Amaethon, god of agriculture, and Govannan, god of smithcraft, fought shoulder to shoulder with Gwydion in the war of learning against ignorance. Gwydion's sister, Arianrhod, was also his wife. She gave birth to two sons: Dylan of the Waves, and Llew of the Steady Hand. These two represent the duality of darkness and light. Dylan was killed by his Uncle Govannan with a spear and the "...waves wept for him because he was of the sea." The sea was inseparably connected to darkness by the Celts. Llew became the Celtic sun god Llew Llaw Gyffes, Light of the Long Hand.

Gwydion and Math created a woman out of flowers using charms and illusion. She was called Blodeuwedd and she became the wife of Llew. Legend holds that Gwydion turned Blodeuwedd into an owl after she attempted to murder Llew and join with Gronw, a prince of darkness.

The last child of Don was Penardun. She married the sea god Llyr, and they had a son named Manawyddan. Llyr's second wife, Iweridd, bore two children, a daughter, Branwen, and a son, Bran. Branwen, "Fair Bosom," is a goddess of love identified with the sea. Bran, however, is a dark deity of Hades or Heaven (do not confuse Hades with the Christian hell). Colossal in stature, he delights in battle and carnage. He was also the patron of bards, minstrels and musicians.

The modern county of Pembrokshire in Wales, Dyfed, was ruled by a local tribe of gods whose greatest figures are Pwyll, Head of Annwn; his wife, Rhiannon, Lady of the Birds; and their son, Prydain. Hades was to the ancients as heaven is to the Christians. Following Church policy, the Pagan after-world was made into an abominable place. From contemporary records, however, we know that this simply is not true.