| To the ancient Britons,
this isle in the marshes, later named 'Glastonbury' by
the Saxons, was known as Ynys Witrin or (The Glass
Isle). This was their beloved sacred ground, the
threshold of 'Annwn' - (their 'Otherworld' paradise.)
Gwyn was the protective warrior god of 'Ynys Witrin'
and the British 'Lord of Paradise'.
The book takes the reader back to
the beginning of the 1st century - to the tribal
society of the Native Britons specific to this area;
the tribe that are known to us as the Durotriges. We
glimpse their spiritual world by looking at The
Children of Don; the Durotriges’ pantheon of gods,
goddesses and specifically Gwyn ap Nudd, the ancient
god of Glastonbury. By doing this, we begin to
understand Ynys Witrin as their most sacred ground.
The author deals with the Roman
invasion of Britain, and of how these ancient Britons
adapted to their new Romano-British lifestyle. Despite
their cultural changes the Durotriges continued to use
Ynys Witrin as their sacred island at least up until
the 5th century.
Controversially, this view
challenges the popular legend that Jesus' kinsman,
Joseph of Arimathea, founded a Christian church at
Glastonbury in the 1st century - Yuri explains that
whist Christians were the enemies of Rome well into
the 3rd century, and that the lack of any
archaeological remains indicating Christian presence
until the 5th century shows how Glastonbury probably
functioned as a sacred burial ground until the Dark
Ages.
Gwyn also accounts for the
first Christian missionaries of the 5th century who
made very deliberate attempts to banish the old god
from Glastonbury Tor.
By taking the reader step by step
through medieval Welsh literature, Yuri Leitch
explains how Gwyn has an intimate link with many of
Glastonbury's unusual characteristics. The Tor’s ;
it's placement on the St. Michael Line alignment, with
the Mid Winter sun-roll up the Tor, and most
curiously, with the landscape enigma of the
Glastonbury Zodiac.
This is the tale of the Saxon
invasion of Britain and the mass exodus of the native
Britons from their homeland and their sacred isle. It
tells the evocative tale of Centwine, the Saxon king
of Wessex, who 'pushed the Britons to the sea' in the
7th century and the forced retreat into Wales,
Cornwall and Brittany and beyond.
Here is some of the history, giving
rise to the legendary tales of 'Avalon' and the sacred
‘otherworld’ and- related faerie-realm mythology.
Gwyn, the Lord of Paradise, is diminished by time and
the newly imported traditions to become the 'King of
the Fairies'. And then finally debased into the 'Demon
King' of the Celtic Hades by ignorance; in this book
you will discover the true god of Glastonbury.
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