The history of early Wales is bedeviled by the lack of contemporary written sources. As a result, there are long periods of time where modern historians know little or nothing about large areas of Wales. This problem is compounded by the tendency of some of these same historians to retrospectively apply evidence from later Medieval Wales, which first occurs in thirteenth-century copies of twelfth-century manuscripts. There was also a tendency among some earlier historians to apply the contemporary evidence from other Celtic nations to the Welsh, wrongly believing that there was a “common” Celtic society sharing the same attitudes and institutions. In reality, the Celtic peoples considered themselves to be individual tribes and not part of some greater “Celtic” nation. The Welsh thought of themselves as Cymry or Britons. The Irish thought of themselves as Gael, etc.

It is from that Celtic racial pool that the Cymry developed their unique culture and familial beliefs. Certain family legends state that the forests near Betws-y-coed Wales have been the home of a tribe/family of Welsh Celts (the Dynion Mwyn) for countless generations. The legends say this tribe migrated to the valley from the west and south and settled the region because of the presence of a very ancient and sacred grove of oak trees. The tribe built a village near the grove and made a living from the land (hunting, fishing etc.). It is rumored that the sacred grove still exists, though only the remaining family knows its precise location. We pick up the story with Taliesin Einion Vawr.

Taliesin was born in the forests of North Wales in 1927. During the next thirteen years, because of his father’s government position, the family traveled throughout Europe. They returned to England in 1938, and the children were sent to live with relatives in Wales. In September 1940, their father and mother were killed in the bombing of London during the Battle of Britain. He and his sister were taken in and raised by an uncle and auntie in a small village in North Wales. It was here they learned of their family’s heritage of Druidism and Witchcraft as they met Y Tylwyth Teg (Welsh Faeries) at Fairy Ring near Betws-y-Coed, and swam with the water sprites in the local river. He says in his journal this was the happiest time of his life. Taliesin became a spokesperson for Dynion Mwyn in the early 60s and taught the knowledge of Gwyddon until his death in 2001.In 1965 Rhuddlwm Gawr met Sarah Wentworth while on holiday in Majorca. She invited him to London and then they drove to Wales where he was introduced to Taliesin. Rhuddlwm stayed in Wales and studied The Old Ways with Sarah and Taliesin.

In 1966 Rhuddlwm returned to the US and established the Coven and Church of Y Tylwyth Teg in Landover Maryland.